A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



de Kendal, 105 died seised of the same in 1346, held of 

 Joan the widow of Hugh de Brayboef. 106 Margaret 

 widow of Thomas had dower in the manor providing 

 that she did not marry again without royal licence. Her 

 dower was extended as part of the manor of Norton, 

 namely a chamber at the east end of the hall with the 

 adjacent kitchen, a third of the farmhouse, a third of 

 the dovecote, one house called La S w House, the 

 house of the Westgate, and one third part of all the 

 other houses, a court between the hall and Westgate 

 with free entry and exit to a certain chapel, a small 

 room attached to the chapel, a garden with free entry 

 and exit at all gates, another plot of land, the third of 

 a field called Brethfeld, and many other fields and 

 pastures. 107 Ralph de Norton, son and heir of Thomas, 

 was a minor on his father's death, 108 and hence the ward- 

 ship of Thomas de Norton's lands was given to Peter 

 de Brewes and the prior of Selborne. 109 



In 1368, on the marriage of Ralph de Norton with 

 Margaret, the manor of Norton was settled on them 

 with reversion, if they died without heirs, to Sir Ber- 

 nard Brocas and his wife in fee, and if the latter should 

 die, to the right heirs of Sir Bernard and his wife in 

 fee." In 1379 Bernard Brocas remitted the whole 

 right in the manor to Ralph de Norton and Margaret. 1 " 

 In 1428 William Harlyngdon held the fourth part of 

 one knight's fee in Norton which Peter de Brewes had 

 held in custody in 1 346, and the prior of Selborne 

 held the twentieth part in fee alms, and ' they did not 

 answer because it was divided between them.' " f This 

 unsatisfactory descent does not grow clearer in later 

 centuries, but the probability seems to be that the 

 second manor passed out of existence in the sixteenth 

 century, when manorial rights were less clearly defined, 

 and was merged in the other manor of Norton. 



The ecclesiastical parish of Blackmoor (Blakemere, 

 Blakemore, xiii cent, et seq.) was formed in 1865 bv 

 the late Lord Selborne, when he bought the estate 

 from a lawyer named Blackmoor." 3 The modern vil- 

 lage is on the northern and western part of the sandy 

 ridges which inclose the basin of Woolmer Forest. 

 Hogmoor, Whitehill, and Walldown rise to the north- 

 east, and to the south-east across the forest is Holly- 

 water or. Holywater Clump. Blackmoor House, a 

 modern house built by the late Lord Selborne, stands 

 on the site of Blackmoor Farmhouse on the right-hand 

 side of the road as it enters the village from Temple. 

 A comparatively short drive from this side leads up to 

 the house, but the grounds extend to the Petersfield 

 Road, from which side there is another and a longer 

 drive. The houses of the village are mostly modern, 

 but opposite the lodge gates of Blackmoor House are 

 two quaint half-timbered and thatched cottages cer- 

 tainly belonging to the seventeenth century. 



BL4CKMOOR was part of the ancient 



MANOR demesne of the crown as pertaining to 



the royal forest of Woolmer. Henry III, 



in 1 240, granted six acres of land which pertained 



to his manor of ' Blackmore ' to the Knights Tem- 



HEIGHES. Sable a 

 cheveron argent between 

 three boar? head* or. 



plars, giving them permission to inclose the same 

 with a dike and hedge so that the deer could not go 

 in and out. 114 During the thirteenth century Roger 

 de Cherlecote made a grant to the prior and convent 

 of Selborne of land in Bradesate (Bradshott) which he 

 had ' by the gift of Laurence de Heyes of the tenure 

 of Blakemere.' m Hence it would seem that Laurence 

 de Heyes or Heighes held Blackmoor probably in 

 custody for the king, and that the manor included 

 Bradshott. However, except frequent mention of 

 Blackmoor in thirteenth and 

 fourteenth century grants," 6 

 there seems to be nothing 

 about the manor in ordinary 

 sources of information. 



In the seventeenth century 

 the family of Heighes held the 

 manor of Blackmoor, together 

 with those of South Heigh 

 and Flood in Binsted. John 

 de Heighes, who held I mes- 

 suage and 12 acres in Binsted 

 in 1268,'" was the ancestor 

 of this family, and was appar- 

 ently either father or son of Laurence de Heighes, and 

 probably held Blackmoor, although there is nothing 

 to prove this. A later member of the family, Simon 

 de Heighes, died seised of I messuage in Heyes in 

 1362, leaving a son and heir, Simon. 118 In 1399 

 Richard Heighes, who possibly was a son of the 

 younger Simon, was holding the same." 9 Henry 

 Heighes died seised of the same and of the manor of 

 Flood in 1595, while in 1600 a certain Edmund 

 Heighes paid rent for the same. 180 Nicholas Heighes, 

 who held these two manors as well as that of Black- 

 moor in 1610, was evidently a descendant of Ed- 

 mund ; hence it seems just possible, although definite 

 proof is wanting, that Blackmoor remained in the 

 custody of the Heighes family from the time of 

 Laurence de Heighes until the seventeenth century. 

 Sir Nicholas settled Blackmoor with his other manors 

 on his wife Martha in 1 6 1 o, but being in debt, with 

 the consent of his wife conveyed the manor of Flood 

 to Richard Locke and Henry Wheeler in 1610 in 

 trust for his debts. In 1620, after the death of Sir 

 Nicholas and of Richard Locke, Martha, widow of Sir 

 Nicholas, brought an action against Henry Wheeler, 

 who had not only seized the manor of Flood, but had 

 abused his trust and seized the residue of her estates 

 for his own use. 121 



During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the 

 manor evidently changed hands many times, until it 

 was sold to the late Lord Selborne, father of the 

 present earl, in 1865. 



OAKH AUGER (Acangre, x and xi cent.; Hohan- 

 gra, xii cent.; Ochangra, Okhangre, Achangre, Hac- 

 hangre, Halkangre, xii cent.). The first mention of 

 the land which became the manor of Oakhanger is in 

 a charter of the early part of the tenth century, giving 



105 De Banco R. No. 286, m. 55. 



106 Inq. p.m. 20 Edw. Ill (ist Nos.), 

 No. 23. 



W Inq. p.m. 20 Edw. Ill (add.), 71. 

 103 Inq. p.m. 20 Edw. Ill (ist Nos.), 

 No. 23. 



1U9 Feud. Aid!, ii, 334. 



110 Feet of F. 42 Edw. Ill, No. 

 loo. 



111 Close, 2 Ric. II, m. 23 d. 

 118 Feud. Aids, ii, 358. 



44- 



18 Information from Lord Selborne. 



114 Cal. Chart R. 1227-57, P- 2 5'- 



115 Selborne Chart. (Hants Rec. Soc.), i, 

 4- 



16 In 1260 Robert de Sanford, master 

 of the Templars, granted the prior and 

 convent right of way for their carts and 

 cattle along the road 'from Sudintone 

 towards Blakemere ' the modern Sother- 

 ington Lane (Selborne Chart, i, 50). 

 Within the next two years James de 



10 



Oakhanger granted the prior and convent 

 an annual rent of pepper and 2 pence 

 from a garden lying at ' La Hunne ' near 

 the highway leading from Selborne Priory 

 towards ' Blakemere ' (ibid, i, 51). The 

 road is still called locally Honey Lane. 

 n < Curia Regis R. No. 184, m. 4. 



118 y. C. H. Hants, ii, 487-8. 



119 Ibid. 

 12 Ibid. 



121 Chan. Proc. Jas. I, H. 37, 42. 



