BISHOP'S SUTTON HUNDRED 



On 14 February, 1551, Stephen Gardiner, bishop 

 of Winchester, was formally deprived of his bishopric, 

 and the episcopal lands came into the king's hands. 30 

 With John Poynet's accession a month later Bishop's 

 Sutton was included in the exchange of the episcopal 

 lands for a fixed income of 2,000 marks, 31 and in 

 1551 was granted to Sir John Gate, together 

 with the hundred and park. 32 Queen Mary, how- 

 ever, restored the manor to the bishopric in I558. 33 

 In March, 1647, the manor of Bishop's Sutton was 

 included in the sale of the bishop's lands, being pur- 

 chased by Sir John Evelyn of West Dean (co. Wilts.), 

 for 2,727 I3/. 9</. 34 The manor and premises 

 sold to him in this year, together with the royalties of 

 hawking, hunting, fishing, and fowling, were stated to 

 be of the annual value of 147 l<)s. o\d. si Two 

 years later the same John for 1,717 js. 6J. pur- 

 chased Sutton Park, which was then in the tenure of 

 Sir Thomas Stewkley, an under-tenant, Sutton Mill, 

 several parcels of meadow or pasture-ground com- 

 monly called Park Down and Brinkworths, and various 

 other premises which were described as late parcels of 

 the manor of Bishop's Sutton. 36 After the Restora- 

 tion the manor was restored 

 to the bishop, and at the 

 present time the Ecclesiastical 

 Commissioners as representing 

 the bishops are lords of the 

 manor. 



WESTERN COURT F^RM 

 (Westercourte xvi cent. ; West- 

 end Courte xvii cent.) is the 

 farm described by the surveyor 

 of Edward VI as 'the faier 

 great ferme-house belonging 

 to the Lorde Chief Justice and 

 holden by copie of the man- 

 ner of Sutten.' " No name 



is given to it in this survey, but in a perambulation 

 of the parish made about the same time it was 

 stated that Sir Richard Lyster was holding a capital 

 messuage called 'Westercourte' 

 with the lands belonging to 

 it. 38 This farm was, as has 

 been shown above, in origin 

 the messuage and lands granted 

 by Henry bishop of Win- 

 chester to William son of 

 William de Overton. In 1346 

 William obtained a grant of 

 free warren in his demesne 

 lands of Bishop's Sutton, 39 

 which shows that by this time 

 the property thus granted to 

 him had developed into a 



manor. He died seised of the so-called manor of 

 Bishop's Sutton in 1362, leaving a son and heir 

 Thomas. 40 A Thomas de Overton, probably son or 



Sti or WINCHESTER. 

 Gules St. Peter 1 ! keys cross- 

 ed -with the sword of St. 

 Paul. 



-tr* -*. 



fT 



LYSTER. Ermine a fesse 

 sable with three molets ar- 

 gent thereon. 



BISHOP'S 

 SUTTON 



grandson of the latter, is described as 'of Sutton 

 gentleman' in 1431." From this date the history 

 of the manor is uncertain until 1501, in which year 

 John Wayte of Titchfield recovered seisin of the 

 manors of Bishop's Sutton and Medsted against 

 Eleanor Courte." From John it passed with Medsted 

 to Sir Richard Lyster, who died seised of it in 1553, 

 his heir being his grandson Richard, aged twenty years 

 nine months." In the inquisition taken after his 

 death it was called the manor of Bishop's Sutton, 

 and was said to be held of the bishop of Winchester 

 in socage for a money-rent. Some time after this 

 Richard Lyster conveyed the manor to Sir John 

 Leigh. The exact date is not known, but it was prob- 

 ably about 1557, for in that year there was a similar 

 conveyance from Richard Lyster to Sir John Leigh 

 of the manor of Coldrey in Froyle parish." In 

 1567 Edward Fitzgarrett and Agnes his wife, daughter 

 and heir of Sir John Leigh, and John Leigh con- 

 veyed the manor of Bishop's Sutton, as it was then 

 called, to John More and Richard Bostock,* 4 obviously 

 intrust, as in 1575 John Leigh, nephew and heir- 

 male of the same Sir John, died seised of it, leaving 

 an infant son and heir John." John's mother Mar- 

 gery married, as her third husband, William Killigrew, 

 and in 1596 John Leigh, William Killigrew, and 

 Margery his wife conveyed 

 the manor in trust to William 

 Onslowe and Walter Dick- 

 man. 47 John Leigh married 

 Elizabeth West, daughter and 

 heir of Sir Thomas West, and 

 died in 1613, leaving a son 

 and heir Thomas, aged six. 48 

 In the inquisition taken after 

 his death he was said to be 

 seised of the manor of Sutton. 

 From Thomas West it seems 

 to have passed to John Ven- 

 ables, who died in 1648 aged 

 twenty-nine." In 1685 it was called the manor of 

 Westerne Court or Westend Court, and was in the 

 possession of John Venables of Woodcote in the 

 parish of Bramdean. 40 



The church of ST. NICHOLAS, 

 CHURCH BISHOP'S SUTTON, has a chancel 

 34ft. 6 in. by i6ft. 6 in. (at the west 

 end 1 6 ft.), nave 55 ft. 4 in. by 19 ft. 8 in., 

 north and south porches, and wooden bell-turret 

 over the west end of the nave. The nave has 

 been but little altered in its main features since its 

 building about 1 1 50, and preserves four original 

 windows, plain round-headed lights set high in the 

 walls, two on the north and two on the south, 

 and north and south doorways set midway between 

 the pairs of windows." The west wall is 3ft. 9 in. 

 thick, and the east wall 3 ft. 5 in., the two side walls 

 being only 3 ft. 3 in. : they are built of flint rubble 



LEIGH. Gules a cross 

 engrailed and a border en- 

 grailed argent. 



so V.C.H. Hants, ii, 65. 81 Ibid. 66. 

 M Pat. 5 Edw. VI, pt. 5, m. 20. 



83 Pat. 4 and 5 Phil, and Mary, pt. 7, 

 m. 24. 



84 Close, 23 Chas. I, pt. 10, No. 14. 



85 Various woods were included in the 

 eale. Old Park Wood or Park Coppice, 

 New Coppice, Ropley Wood and Charl- 

 wood Common. Messuages and lands 

 other than customary lands or tenements 

 held by copy of court roll were especially 

 exceplcd from the sale. 



86 Close, 1649, pt. 15, m. 2. 

 8 ? Duchy of Lane. Rentals and Surv. 

 5 Edw. VI, bdle. 8, No. 22. 



8 Eccl. Com. Ct. R. bdle. 136, No. I. 

 Chart. R. 20 Edw. Ill, m. 4, No. 9. 



40 Inq. p.m. 35 Edw. III,pt. 2, No. 18. 



41 Feud. Aids, ii, 363. 



*> De Bane. R. 17 Hen. VII, m. 249. 



43 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cxxiv, No. 

 22. 



44 Feet of F. Hants, Hil. 3 and 4 

 Phil, and Mary. 



43 



44 Notes of F. Div. Cos. East. 9 Eliz. 

 48 Chan. Inq. p. m. (Ser. 2), clxjcv, No. 

 82. 



f l Feet of F. Hants, East. 38 Eliz. 



48 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccjuucii, 

 No. 162. 



49 He is buried in Ropley Church. 



50 Feet of F. Div. Cos. East. I Jas. II. 

 61 The east jambs of the doorways are 



exactly midway between the east and west 

 walls of the nave. 



