A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



FROXFIELD 



Froxafeld (x cent.). 



Froxfield is a parish of irregular shape containing 

 several small groups of houses, the principal settlement 

 being at Froxfield Green, where the old church 

 formerly stood. Petersfield station on the London 

 and South-Western Railway is about four miles from 

 the Green, and reached from it by the road ' which 

 winds up the steep wooded slopes of Stoner Hill, 

 reaching a height of over 750 ft. above sea level at 

 the eastern boundary of the parish. This road runs 

 north-west through the north of the parish, its highest 

 point being 807 ft., and from it and the branch road 

 leading to the Green fine views can be obtained over 

 the valleys in which Petersfield, East Meon, West 

 Meon, and the other villages lie. Beyond rise Teg- 

 lease Down, Chidden Down, Wether Down, Oxen- 

 bourn Down, Butser Hill, and Ramsdean Down, and 

 on a clear day the sea is distinctly visible. An earth- 

 work or vallum which runs through the parish from 

 south-east to north-west is supposed to have formed 

 part of the boundary of the kingdoms of Wessex and 

 Sussex, and a Roman encampment in the south of the 

 parish in which several interesting remains have been 

 discovered proves that there were settlers here at an 

 early date. Froxfield Green, which is in the south 

 of the parish at the junction of roads from High 

 Cross, Stoner Hill, and Bordean, consists of a small 

 triangular green round which are clustered several 

 cottages and farms, a smithy, some old-fashioned 

 houses of the better sort, one of them being the 

 school house endowed by Mr. Robert Love in 1733, 

 a post office and general shop, a reading-room, and 

 the little church of St. Peter-on-the-Green. This 

 was built in 1887 on the site of the chancel of the 

 old church, which was pulled down, the expense being 

 borne by Mr. William Nicholson, D.L., J.P., of Basing 

 Park. At High Cross, about a mile north-east of the 

 Green, stands the church of St. Peter-at-High-Cross, 

 erected in 1862, Mr. John Silvester of The Slade 

 presenting the site. Opposite to it are the schools 

 which were built in 1876 and the vicarage, while a 

 little to the east, on the north of the road leading to 

 Week Green, is The Slade, the residence of Mr. John 

 Silvester. The Trooper Inn, the police-station, and 

 a general shop lie near each other in the east of the 

 parish a little to the north of Week Green Farm, along 

 the main road from Petersfield to Ropley. To the 

 east, at the corner of Honeycritch Lane and Old 

 Litten Lane, is a small Wesleyan chapel which was 

 opened in September, 1851. A mission chapel with 

 a reading-room attached has recently been erected by 

 Mr. William Nicholson at Warren Corner in the 

 north of the parish. 



Basing Park, the seat of Mr. William Nicholson, 

 lies in the north-western extremity of the parish, 

 and extends into the neighbouring parishes of Cole- 

 more and Privett. The park is very richly wooded, 



and covers an area of 450 acres. The house, which 

 is modern, is approached from the main road by an 

 avenue of pines. Broadha-nger, formerly the property 

 of the Greenwood family and at present the residence 

 of Mr. Reginald Montgomerie Caulfield, is on high 

 ground between Stoner and Bordean Hills, and looks 

 down upon the hanging woods of oak, ash, and chest- 

 nut which sweep down into the vale of Langrish. 

 Oakshott, in the extreme north-east of the parish, was 

 formerly a tithing of East Meon, as also was Week 

 Green near Stoner Hill. 



The area of the parish is 4,909 acres, including 

 2,847^- acres of arable land, 1, 240^- acres of permanent 

 grass, and 47 if acres of woods and plantations.* In 

 1680 there were the following common-lands in the 

 parish of Froxfield The Barnett, Ring's Green, 

 Wheatham Hill, Staples Down, Old Litten, Stoner 

 Hill, and Broadway altogether covering an area of 

 723 acres 2 roods 6 poles. 3 Barnett Common was 

 inclosed in 1805.* The principal landowners are 

 Mr. William Nicholson and Mr. John Silvester, but 

 much of the land is freehold. The soil varies from a 

 stiff clay to a light vegetable loam, and the subsoil is 

 chalk ; the chief crops being wheat, barley, and oats. 

 Among place-names occurring in a survey of the parish 

 made in the seventeenth century are Pikes, Holehouse 

 and Rutters in Froxfield tithing, Ruddlecombe, 

 Hewet's Garden, Great and Little Hatchersnap and 

 Hatchersnap Wood, Chesscombes and Old Lytten s in 

 Oakshott tithing, Treddles, Mary Crosse and Burie 

 Wood in Week tithing, and Basinges 6 in Longhurst 

 tithing. 



The first mention of FROXFIELD is 

 MANORS in the tenth century, when the alderman 

 jElfeah left land at Froxfield to ^Elfwine 

 his sister's son. 7 It is not mentioned in Domesday 

 Book by name, and it is probably included in the 

 entry under ' Menes,' 8 as in after times most cer- 

 tainly it formed part of the great episcopal manor of 

 East Meon. 9 



BASING P4RK.In a rent-roll of the manor of 

 East Meon for the year 1567 John Love is mentioned 

 as holding a messuage and lands called ' Basings ' in 

 the tithing of Longhurst by the yearly rent of 1 7/. iod., 

 two churchetts and two harvest-days. 10 This seems 

 to be one of the earliest mentions of the estate, which 

 in later times came to be called Basing Park. It was 

 held by the Loves of Froxfield for over two cen- 

 turies," and there are frequent mentions of them in 

 connexion with their property in the court rolls of 

 East Meon. For instance, in a court roll of 1675 

 occurs the entry that Richard Love came to the court 

 and surrendered into the hands of his lord Basing 

 Woods in the tithing of Longhurst." On Richard's 

 death in 1690 Basing passed to his son Robert, who 

 by will left 1,000 for the founding of the free 

 school which still stands by Froxfield Green with the 



1 This road was made at the beginning 

 of the nineteenth century. 



3 Statistics from the Board of Agricul- 

 ture (1905). 



8 MS. fines Mr. J. Silvester of The 

 Slade. 



4 By authority of Local and Personal 

 Act, 1803, cap. 59. 



5 Modern survivals are Happersnapper 

 Hanger, Cheesecombe Farm, Old Litten 

 Lane, and Old Litten Cottage. 



8 Represented by the modern Basing 

 Park. 



7 Kemble, Codex Diplom. 593. 



8 V.C.H. Hants, \, 45 2 a. 



9 Feud. Aids, ii, 3 1 9. Froxfi eld, Week, 



7 6 



Longhurst, and Oakshott are always men- 

 tioned as tithings in the court rolls of 

 East Meon (Eccl. Com. Ct. R.). 



10 MS. penes Mr. John Silvester, of The 

 Slade, Froxfield. 



11 A pedigree of the Loves of Basing 

 Park is given in Berry, Hants Gen. 266. 



11 Eccl. Com. Ct. R. bdle. 155, No. 2. 



