A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



BIGHTON 



Bykingtune and Bicincgtun (x cent.), Bighetone 

 (xi cent.), Byketon (xiii cent.), Biketon (xiv cent.), 

 Bicketon (xvi cent.). 



Bighton is a parish with an area of 2,095 acres, 

 situated 2 miles north-east by east from New Aires- 

 ford Station, on the London and South-Western 

 Railway. The village is almost in the centre of the 

 parish, and is reached from New Alresford by a road 

 which runs east from the main Alresford and Basing- 

 stoke Road, between Old Alresford House on the 

 north and Old Alresford Pond on the south. The 

 village is set partly on the northern slope of a valley 

 opening westward towards Alresford and partly along 

 the road running down the middle of the valley. 

 The church and manor house are at the highest point 

 to the north, with the rectory immediately south of 

 the church. From the church the road makes a steep 

 descent, and turns sharply to the east towards the 

 schools, the general shop, and the smithy, and then 

 again southward with a second descent to the road in 

 the valley. At the bottom of the hill stands the inn, 

 with three horse-shoes nailed up as a sign, and there 

 are many quaint thatched cottages on either side 

 of the road. Higher up the valley, near to High 

 Dell Farm, a substantial-looking building, the road 

 forks north-east and south-east. To the north-east a 

 shady lane runs to Bighton Wood House, the residence 

 of Col. Heathcote, which is situated on the outskirts 

 of Bighton Wood, in the north of the parish. The 

 house was built in 1844, at a cost of 10,000, by the 

 Rev. John Thomas Maine, and is surrounded by 280 

 acres of copse and woodland. The road to the south- 

 east leads to Medsted. Woodlark Farm, which is 

 situated south of the village, is mentioned as early as 

 1545." The earliest mention of Breach Farm, the 

 occasional residence of the duke of Buckingham, which 

 lies a little to the east of Bighton Wood House, seems 

 to be in 1734." 



The manor house, which has an early eighteenth- 

 century south front with very good moulded brick 

 details, is now occupied by the bailiff of Col. 

 Hanning-Lee. In 1770 Haydell Farm is mentioned, 

 which is represented by the modern High Dell Farm." 

 In the low-lying ground in the south of the parish 

 near Drayton Farm, a stream rises which feeds Old 

 Alresford Pond, and there are also numerous springs 

 which afford an abundant supply of pure water. 



Woods and plantations in the parish cover an area 

 of 295 acres." The following are found as names of 

 copses in a patent roll of 1545 : ' Rosselwayes Coppe, 

 Wike Coppies, Chorlewode Coppe, Rede Coppe, 

 Pikedfelde Coppe, Wilkyns Coppe, Lordesdowne 

 Coppe, and Jelyan Grove.' " 'Golberfield or Goblen- 

 field Coppice or Goldberryfield Coppice or Grovery- 

 field Coppice, Devil Acres Coppice, Spoyle Coppice, 

 Gores Coppice, and Barnes Coppice ' are found in a 

 recovery-roll of 1734." 



The soil is for the most part a harsh flinty loam l8 

 resting on chalk, from which many flints are collected 



for the repair of the roads in this and the neighbour- 

 ing parishes. Following the direction of the little 

 brook which takes its rise in the parish the land is 

 intermixed with gravel and is of a better quality. 

 The chief crops grown in the neighbourhood are 

 wheat, oats, barley, and turnips. Truffles are found 

 in the beech woods, and in the autumn the wages of 

 the labourers are considerably augmented from this 

 source. 



Arable land covers an area of 1, 1 86 acres in the 

 parish and permanent grass 572 acres. 19 



As is shown under Bishop's 

 MANORS OF Sutton, it seems probable that a 



BIGHTON large part of the manor and parish 

 of Bighton, if not the whole of it, 

 was included in a grant of land said to have been 

 made by Ine to Winchester Cathedral in 701.* In 

 959 King Edwy granted 10 mansae in the parish of 

 Bighton to Hyde Abbey (the monastery of St. Peter 

 by Winchester, as it was then called), and shortly 

 after this gift the monks, with the consent of the 

 king, granted this land to a certain minister of the 

 king, called ^Elfric, for life, in return for a gift of 

 60 marks of gold." 



At the time of the Domesday Survey the manor 

 of Bighton was held by Hyde Abbey, and was 

 assessed at 7 hides. The monks, however, did not 

 keep the whole of the manor in their own hands. 

 They only retained 3 hides, the other 4 hides being 

 divided equally between Fulchered and Borghill. 

 What the abbey held was worth 8, while the 

 tenants' holding in the manor was only worth 4." 



The manor continued to be held by the abbey or 

 by tenants of the abbey until the dissolution.* 3 



In 1256 Guy de Heydene granted a carucate of 

 land in Bighton, which he probably held of the 

 abbey, to Roger, abbot of Hyde, and his successors 

 for ever. In return for this grant the abbot promised 

 that he and his successors thenceforth would find a 

 certain secular chaplain to celebrate divine service in 

 the church of the abbey at the altar of St. Grimbald, 

 and would pay this chaplain 5 marks a year. In 

 addition the abbot and his successors were to pay 

 an annuity of 10 to Guy, and on Guy's death an 

 annuity of 6 to his brother Thomas. After the 

 deaths of Guy and Thomas the annuities were to 

 cease, but the convent was to receive yearly from the 

 abbot and his successors 2O/. for pittance on Guy's 

 obit." In 1329 the abbot and convent obtained a 

 grant of free warren in their demesne lands of Bigh- 

 ton.* 5 An inquisition was held in 1388 to ascertain 

 what manors, lands, and tenements had been assigned 

 as the portion of the abbot of Hyde, and what be- 

 longed to the convent as its portion. The manor of 

 Bighton was returned as one of those which had 

 belonged to the convent from time immemorial.* 6 

 In the same year the king by letters patent granted 

 to the abbot and convent and their successors that 

 the premises assigned for the maintenance of the 



" Pat. 37 Hen. VIII, pt. 3, m. 39. 

 18 Recov. R. Trin. 6 and 7 Geo. II, 

 m. 13-15. 



" Close, 10 Geo. Ill, pt. 13, m. 24. 

 18 Statistics from Board of Agriculture 



"Pat. 37 Hen. VIII, pt. 3, m. 39. 



V Recov. R. Trin. 6 and 7 Geo. II, 

 m. 13, 14, and 15. 



"Stonyland Copse is the name of 

 copse in the east of the parish. 



"Statistics from Board of Agriculture 

 (1905). 



Birch, Cart. Sax. i, 148. 



38 



31 Liter de Hyda (Rolls Ser.), 174; 

 Birch, Cart. Sax. m, zji. 

 V.C.H. Hants, 1,471. 

 Feud. Aid:, ii, 315, 334, 359. 

 M Feet of F. Hants Hil. 40 Hen. III. 

 25 Chart. R. 3 Edw. Ill, m. 16. 

 x Inq. p.m. 12 Ric. II, No. 150. 



