A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



views in the whole district can be obtained from 

 Noar Hill, especially towards the south-east. Emp- 

 shott with its quaint church spire stretches in front ; 

 further away to the right is Hawkley, and to the left 

 Greatham. Beyond Greatham to the left are Long- 

 moor and Bordon Camps, and in the obscure distance 

 over the group of intervening hills are Hindhead and 

 Black Down. 



Although there are no rivers in Newton Valence, 

 Noar Hill is the watershed between the Rother, which 

 after becoming part of the Avon flows into the 

 English Channel, and the Oakhanger Stream, which 

 becomes a branch of the Wey and flows into the 

 Thames and on to the North Sea. The springs of 

 the Rother are south of Noar Hill in the lower chalk, 

 while the Oakhanger Stream has its source in the 

 north at the outcrop of the upper greensand from 

 beneath the chalk. 



The parish lies entirely on chalk formation ' with 

 a subsoil of clay and gravel. The chief crops are 

 wheat, oats, and barley, and hence the village popula- 

 tion consists almost entirely of agriculturists. Of 

 the whole parish 1,015! acres are arable land, 49 5 \ 

 are pasture, and 264^ are woods and plantations. 6 



An Inclosure Act for the parish of Newton Valence 

 was passed in May, 1848.' 



In the time of Edward the Confessor 

 MANORS Bricteric held the manor of NEWTON 

 VALENCE of the king, but at the time 

 of the Domesday Survey it was held by Turstin son 

 of Rolf. 8 The fief of Turstin was granted to the 

 Ballons, from whom it passed through the Newmarches 

 to Ralph Russell of Kingston Russell as co-heir. 9 Ralph 

 Russell was holding in 1275," but after this date the 

 rights of overlordship seem to have lapsed. 



In 1 249 the manor was held by Robert de Pont 

 de 1'Arche, and was then of the annual value of 

 53 5*. \<3\d., including the dower which belonged to 

 Constance widow of Robert. The demesne was worth 

 lj IJt. ifd, yearly, the freemen paid 4 9*. I of a', 

 and I Ib. of pepper, while their services were worth 

 21. ^d. The villeins paid 8 5*. ^d. in rent, their ser- 

 vices were worth 8 I U. ll \d., their tallage 53*. \d., 

 and for pannage they paid 23^. 4^. The issues 

 of the meadow were worth 40*., while the pasture of 

 the whole meadow was worth 5O/. The perquisites 

 of the manor amounted to 36^. SJ., and the issues of 

 the garden of the manor to 4." In the same year 

 the manor of Newton Valence, among the other lands 

 which had belonged to Robert de Pont de 1'Arche, 

 saving the dower of Constance, was granted by the 

 king to William de Valence and his heirs ' to hold 

 until the king restore them to the right heirs,' with a 

 promise that if the restoration were made William 

 and his heirs should not be disseised without an 

 equivalent exchange." In 1252 the king inspected 

 and confirmed a charter given by William de Pont de 

 1'Arche, brother and heir of the late Robert, by which 



VALENCE. Burelly ar- 



ffent and azure an (trie of 



it 

 martlets gules. 



he surrendered all his right in the inheritance of his 

 brother to William de Valence." In 1251 the king 

 granted to William de Valence that his wood of 

 Newton, of which he had made a park 'enclosed with 

 ditch and hedge, within the metes of the king's forest 

 of " Suthamptonsire," ' should be quit for ever of 

 view of foresters, verderers, &c. 14 But in the next 

 year an inquiry was made as to the encroachments 

 made on the king in Hampshire by William de 

 Valence. His bailiffs had withdrawn the suit due 

 every three weeks from Newton manor to the 

 hundred of Selborne and had refused ingress into the 

 said manor to the foresters of the bailiwick of 

 Woolmer and other bailiffs of the said county." The 

 same charge was brought against 

 him in the hundred roll of 

 1275, where he is also said to 

 have a gallows, assize of bread 

 and ale, and all other liberties, 

 and to hold view of frank- 

 pledge in Newton, though by 

 what warrant is not known. 13 

 In 1280, in answer to a writ 

 of quo viarranto, William de 

 Valence pleaded that Henry III 

 granted that his men and ten- 

 ants of Newton should be quit 

 of suit at the shire and hun- 

 dred court, and that no sheriff or bailiff should 

 enter the manor of Newton for view of frank- 

 pledge. 17 In 1316 Aymer de Valence son of Wil- 

 liam seems to have held Newton in chief, since no 

 overlord is mentioned, 18 and in 1324 the manor is 

 said to have been held ' by the earl of Pembroke of 

 the king in whose hands it now is on the death of the 

 earl.' 19 On his death in 1323 Aymer de Valence 

 left no issue, and his estates 30 were divided between 

 the only two of his sisters, Isabel and Elizabeth, who 

 had left any surviving heirs.* 1 The manor of Newton 

 fell to the son of his second sister Isabel, who had 

 married John de Hastings, second Baron Abergavenny, 

 and had herself died in 1305." Her son John de 

 Hastings died in 1324 before he could enter into his 

 possessions, and the manor passed into the king's 

 hands as guardian of the young Laurence de Hastings, 

 son and heir of John." An enrolment of the pur- 

 party of Laurence, made in 1325, states the value of 

 the manor of Newton Valence at .24 is. id. The 

 custody of the manor during the minority of Lawrence 

 son and heir of John de Hastings was granted in 

 1331 to the bishop of Worcester. In 1339, when 

 Laurence was of age," he entered into the title and 

 estates of his great-uncle," and in the same year 

 procured licence to enfeoff Thomas West of the 

 manor of Newton, said to be held in chief with the 

 knights' fees, advowsons of churches, liberties, warrens, 

 and all other appurtenances." From 1339 to the 

 middle of the sixteenth century the manor of Newton 



' y. C. H. Hants, i, map to face p. 1 6. 

 < Statistics from the Board of Agri- 

 culture (1905). 



7 Stat. 11-12 Viet. cap. 109. 



8 V. C. H. Hants, i, 494* 



See J. H. Round, Peerage Studict, 

 Iht Family of Gallon, and Ike Origin of 

 tie Russtlls. 



10 Testa de Nevtll (Rcc. Com.), 243*. 



11 Inq. p. m. 33 Hen. Ill, No. 45. 



11 Cat. of Chart. R. 1226-57, p. 339. 

 " Ibid. 402. Rudder in his Hist, of 



Clone, p. 23;, makes a misleading state- 

 ment that the Newton included in this 

 grant was Newton a tithing of Ashchurch 

 (Glos.). It is undoubtedly Newton 

 Valence. 



14 Pat. 35 Hen. Ill, m. 8. 



15 Inq. p. m. 36 Hen. Ill, No. 86. 



16 Rot. Hund. (Rec. Com.), ii, 224. 



W Plac. de Quo War. (Rec. Com.), 765. 

 18 Feud. Aids, ii, 31 5. 

 " Inq. p. m. 1 8 Edw. II, No. 68. 

 *>Ibid. 17 Edw. II, No. 75. 



26 



21 Cal. Close, 1323-7, pp. 272-8. 

 M G. E. C. Complete Peerage. 

 *Cal. Close, 1323-7, p. 275. 



* Ibid. 360. 



45 He was five years old on the death of 

 his father in 1324. Inq. p. m. 1 8 Edw. II 

 No. 83. 



* Cal. Pat. 1 338-40, p. 395. 



a ' Ibid. The said Thomas was allowed 

 after an inquisition a.q.d. to entail the 

 manor on himself and his wife. Inq. p. m. 

 33 Edw. Ill (2nd Nos.), No. 36. 



