EAST MEON HUNDRED 



EAST MEON 



xcept a plain circular font at the west end, and near 

 it part of a coffin slab, on which is the upper half of 

 a figure in low relief under a gabled and crocketed 

 canopy flanked by pinnacles, of early fourteenth- 

 century date. This would seem to have been com- 

 plete at the time of writing of the Stowe MS. above 

 quoted. 



THE CH4PEL OF ST. M4RrS-IN-THE- 

 FIELDS in the tithing of East Meon was annexed to 

 the parish church of East Meon. It was described in 

 1703 as 'quite down.' " 8 The field called Fair Field 

 or Chapel Close still marks its site. 



In the various documents relating to Bereleigh there 

 is usually mention of the advowson of the church of 

 Bereleigh " 9 which went with the manor. There is 

 no church there now, nor was there one in early 

 times. Possibly there was at one time a chapel here. 

 During the seventeenth century and later, Bereleigh 

 was the centre of a Jesuit community. 



The modern church of ST. JOHN THE EF4N- 

 GELIST, L4NGRISH, a building of flint with stone 

 dressings, in the Early English style, was erected in 

 1871, and a parish was assigned to it, as already 

 mentioned, in 1894. The registers date from 1871. 



There is a Congregational chapel at Ramsdean, 

 which was rebuilt and enlarged in 1887. 



At the time of the Domesday 

 4DVOWSONS Survey there was a church in East 

 Meon which was held by the bishop 

 of Winchester together with six hides and one vir- 

 g.ite. 150 All churches which appertained to the manor 

 of East Meon were included in the grant of the 

 manor made by Henry II to the church of Winches- 

 ter, 151 and this grant was confirmed by King John in 

 I2OO. IS> In 1331, on the petition of John Stratford, 

 bishop of Winchester, it was decreed that, on any future 

 voidance of the see, the custody of the parish church 

 of East Meon should be held by the prior and con- 

 vent of the church of St. Swithun, Winchester, as 

 belonging to the spiritualities of the see, and that the 

 keepers of the temporalities should not intermeddle 

 with the same as Robert de Welle and his fellows had 

 done during the voidance of the see in the reign of 

 Edward II. 14 * The bishop of Winchester was patron 

 of the living until 1 852, 154 in which year it was decreed 

 by Order in Council that on the next voidance of the 

 see of Winchester the patronage of East Meon 

 vicarage, with the chapelry of Froxfield and Steep, 

 should be transferred to the bishop of Lichfield. 145 

 The bishop of Lichfield, however, finding it better to 

 have patronage in his own diocese, exchanged East 

 Meon with the Lord Chancellor, who gave up certain 

 advowsons in Lichfield. The living is still in the 

 gift of the Lord Chancellor. 



In the thirteenth century the vicarage of East 

 Meon was endowed with : Tithes great and small 

 from the four tenements of the hamlet of Froxfield, 

 tithes great and small from the chapelry of Westbury 

 annexed to the church of East Meon, all offerings 



belonging to the church of East Meon with the 

 chapels annexed to it, viz. Froxfield, Steep, and St. 

 Mary's-in-the-Field, five eggs payable at Easter from 

 every man holding land in the parish of the mother- 

 church of East Meon and the hamlet and chapelry of 

 Froxfield, all profits and fees arising from the punish- 

 ment of offenders in the peculiar and exempt jurisdic- 

 tion within the parish of East Meon and the chapelries 

 adjacent to it, five quarters of corn from the granges 

 of the bishop of Winchester, and ten acres of arable 

 land. Henry de Woodlock, bishop of Winchester, 

 had intended to augment the vicarage, but was pre- 

 vented by death from doing so. Finally, in 1318, 

 on the petition of Richard de Wardyngtone, perpetual 

 vicar of the church of East Meon, it was augmented 

 by John de Sendale, bishop of Winchester, who 

 granted to the vicar and his successors for the bettering 

 of the vicarage all small tithes of the parish of East 

 Meon and chapelries annexed, viz. lambs, milk, 

 cheese, calves, chickens, piglets, geese, eggs, mills, 

 honey, hay, apples, pigeons, flax, and hemp. All 

 other tithes he reserved to himself and his successors 

 except tithes of wool from the chapelry of Westbury. 14 * 



The living of ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST, 

 L4NGRISH, is a vicarage, value 256, with resi- 

 dence, in the gift of the bishop of Winchester. 



In 1851 a piece of land contain- 

 CH4RITIES ing 6 acres on Oxenbourn Down 

 was awarded under 2 and 3 Vic. 

 cap. I (Private Act) as to 5 acres for the growth of 

 furze and fuel to be cut and used by the occupiers of 

 small cottages not exceeding the annual value of 4 in 

 the tithing of Oxenbourn, and as to I acre for a recrea- 

 tion ground. These allotments being at a distance 

 from the village were in 1894 under an order of the 

 Charity Commissioners exchanged for 3 acres 3 roods 

 37 poles in East Meon, known as Pill Meadow, of 

 the annual value of 7, to be used as a recreation 

 ground. Under the scheme the managers let the 

 grazing, and apply the annual sum of 5 in the distri- 

 bution of fuel among the poor of the tithing, and the 

 surplus in maintaining the recreation ground. 



Under the same award 5 acres for the right of 

 cutting furze was allotted to the poor of the tithing 

 of Ramsdean and I acre for a recreation ground. The 

 tithing of Ramsdean now forms part of the parish of 

 Langrish. 1 " 



In 1863 Mrs. Joanna Agnes Forbes by deed 

 conveyed to trustees a piece of land containing 

 19 perches with almshouse buildings thereon upon 

 trust to be occupied by poor persons of good character 

 of upwards of sixty-five years of age. In 1 904 an 

 additional site having a frontage to Church Street 

 was purchased, upon which it is proposed to erect 

 new almshouses. The endowment funds consist of 

 certain securities held by the Official Trustees of 

 Charitable Funds producing 197 a year, who also 

 hold 1,979 1 8*. "]d. consols, which is being 

 accumulated. 158 



lw Stowe MS. 845, fol. 56. 



" Feet of F. Hants, Mich. 6 Chas. I ; 

 Close, 3 i Geo. II, pt. 1 1, and 15 Geo. Ill, 

 ft. iz, No. 3. 



150 r.C.H. Hants, i, 461. 



"1 Add. Chart. 28658. 



152 Chart. R. I John, m. 29. 



158 Pat. 5 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 34. 



16 < Inst. Books (P.R.O.). 



164 Land. Gas., a, June, 1852, p. 1578. 



158 WmKn. Efh. Reg. (Hants Rec. 

 Soc.), 103. 



15 7 Charity Com. Rep. Ixxxii, I and 4. 

 " Ibid, xviii, 67. 



75 



