A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



Bedales, a large school built six years ago at a cost of 

 about 60,000, with accommodation for 160 boys 

 and girls ; Little Stodham, a stucco house belonging 

 to Mr. Money-Coutts, and occupied by Colonel Sir 

 St. Vincent Hardwick, bart. ; and Stoner House, 

 built by the late Mr. Keeley Halswelle, a well-known 

 artist, and now occupied by his widow. Bowyers 

 Common lies in the east, and is intersected by the 

 main road from Petersfield to Liss. Ashford, Forcombe 

 or Foxcombe, and Aldersnapp were formerly tithings 

 of East Meon, the two former being in the north-east 

 of the parish,* while the latter is now represented by 

 Aldersnapp Farm in the south. There was a water- 

 mill a little to the south of Ashford Lodge, represent- 

 ing one of those formerly belonging to the manor of 

 East Meon, and held of it by rent of 3/. It has 

 been pulled down, however, during the past winter 

 (1906), and the water-power is now used only to work 

 a turbine and supply water to Coldhayes. Sheet 

 Upper Mill is partly in Steep parish and partly in 

 the parish of Sheet. The various fulling-mills in 

 Steep, of which mention is made in connexion with 

 the industries of Petersfield, have long ago fallen into 

 decay. 4 



The soil is marl, clay, and sandy loam, the subsoil 

 gravel and sand. The chief crops are wheat, barley, 

 and oats, and a few hops are also grown. The area 

 is 2,658 acres, including 443f acres of arable land, 

 1,222^ acres of permanent grass, and 233^ acres of 

 wood and plantations. 6 Steep Stroud, Steep Marsh, 

 and Bowyer's Common were inclosed in 1866. 



Among place-names occurring in the seventeenth 

 century are ' Kettle House, Tankerdells, The Moore, 

 Coleheye and Dundhill ' in the tithing of Forcombe or 

 Foxcombe, and ' Stoner Hill, Coaks, Coaks Great 

 Wood and Ridge ' in the tithing of Aldersnapp. 6 



STEEP is not mentioned in Domes- 



MdNORS day Book by name, and it is most 



probably included in the entry under 



' Menes,' as in after times most certainly it formed part 



of the great episcopal manor of East Meon. 7 



AMBERSHAM (Embresham x cent. ; Ambrisham 

 xiv cent. ; Ambresham xvi cent.). 



The first mention of Ambersham is in 963, when 

 King Edgar granted land in Ambersham to the 

 church of St. Andrew the Apostle at Meon. 8 It is 

 not mentioned in Domesday, and the next mention 

 of it seems to be in the reign of Henry II, when 

 the king confirmed the agreement made between the 

 brothers Robert and Andrew Taillard with reference 

 to the land of Ambersham.' Andrew Taillard was to 



hold half of the manor of the king in chief for the 

 service of 50*. a year. Robert was to hold the other 

 half with soc and sac, toll and team, &c., just as his 

 father Durant Taillard had held it in the reign of 

 Henry I. In return for this agreement Robert gave 

 Andrew 20 marks of silver. Shortly afterwards 

 Ambersham was included in the grant made by 

 Henry II of East Meon to the bishop of Winchester. 10 

 From this time onwards the manor of Ambersham 

 was held of the bishopric, and its holders appear as 

 free suitors at the courts of the manor of East Meon. 11 



The manor of Ambersham seems to have remained 

 in the family of Taillard for about four hundred years, 

 although there is not much documentary evidence of 

 this, the only mention of a Taillard of Ambersham 

 between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries being 

 in 1327, when a certain Thomas son of Thomas 

 Taillard of Ambersham is mentioned as owing loo/, 

 to William la Zousche of Assheby." In 1 500 Nicholas 

 Taillard and Alice his wife by fine granted messuages, 

 lands, and rents in Ambersham to John Onley and 

 his heirs. 1 * It was no doubt the manor of Ambersham 

 that was thus conveyed, since in 1537 Thomas Onley 

 and Clemence his wife were seised of the manor of 

 Ambersham, conveying it by fine in that year to 

 Lady Katherine Arundel, one of the daughters of 

 William, earl of Arundel," who four years later 

 sold it to William Yonge of Petworth, clothier, and 

 Anthony his son." The manor remained in the 

 Yonge family for over a century, at length passing to 

 Thomas Bonham of West Meon, 

 by his marriage with Alice, 

 sister of Anthony Yonge, from 

 whom it was purchased in 

 1700 by Anthony Capron, of 

 the parish of Easebourne (co. 

 Sussex). 16 Anthony Capron, a 

 descendant of the last-named, 

 sold it towards the end of the 

 eighteenth century to William 

 Stephen Poyntz. 1 ' On his death 

 it became vested in his three 

 daughters, by whom it was 

 sold in 1 843 to George James, 



sixth earl of Egmont, whose nephew, Charles 

 George Perceval, seventh earl of Egmont, is the 

 present lord of the manor. 



MORE (Moore, xvii cent.) is a manor situated 

 partly in Lodsworth and Easebourne (co. Sussex), 

 and partly in Ambersham (co. Hants). Its descent 

 has been identical with that of Ambersham (q.v.). 



vVWW 



PERCEVAL. Or a chief 

 indented gules with three 

 crosses formy or therein. 



8 As appears from the various place- 

 names in the tithing. The name For- 

 combe or Foxcombe no longer survives. 



4 They were probably worked by the 

 Ashford stream. In 1647 there were two 

 fulling-mills in Steep held respectively 

 by Jane the widow of Joseph Fielder and 

 Elizabeth Colebrooke (MS. penes Mr. J. 

 Silvester). 



5 Statistics from Board of Agriculture 

 (1905). 



6 MS. penes Mr. J. Silvester. These 

 names arc preserved in the modern Kettles- 

 brook Cottages, Tankerdale, The Moors, 

 Coldhayes, Dunhill House and Dunhill 

 Cottage, Stoner Hill, Cook's Farm, Ridge 

 Farm, Ridge Copse, Ridge Hanger, and 

 Ridge Common. In 1556 the common 

 of pasture on Staveles Down was divided 

 among the various tenants of land called 



Ridge land (Eccl. Com. Ct. R. bdle 79, 

 No._2 5 ). 



' Feud. Aids, ii, 319. Ashford, For- 

 combe or Foxcombe, and Aldersnapp are 

 always mentioned as tithings in the court 

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



8 Kemble, Codex Diflom. 1243; Birch, 

 Cart. Sax. iii, 349. 



* Cart Antiq. S. 23. 



10 Add. Ch. 28658. In this grant Am- 

 bersham is not mentioned by name, but in 

 the charter of 1285 Edward I quitclaimed 

 to John, bishop of Winchester, ' Estmenes 

 manor with Ambresham' (Chart. 12 

 Edw. I, m. 5). 



11 Eccl. Com. Ct. R. passim. 



Pat. i Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 28 d. 

 13 Feet of F. Div. Cos. Mich. 16 Hen. 

 VII. 



" Ibid. Hil. 29 Hen. VIII. 



78 



15 Com. Pleas Deeds Enrolled, Trin. 

 33 Hen. VIII, m. I d. 



In 1548, by fine between William 

 Yonge, Anthony Yonge, and John Was- 

 sher and Joan his wife, the manor was 

 settled on William and Anthony and the 

 heirs of Anthony (Feet of F. Hants, Mich. 

 2 Edw. VI). 



16 Close, 12 Will. Ill, pt. 9. The 

 Caprons were an ancient family, and ap- 

 pear to have resided for many generations 

 in a moated house in Ambersham, adjoin- 

 ing Lodsworth. 



V Elwes and Robinson, Western Sussex, 

 142. William Stephen Poyntz and Eliza- 

 beth Mary his wife, Robert Cotton St. 

 John Lord Clinton and Frances Isabella 

 Lady Clinton, Elizabeth Georgiana 

 Poyntz, and Isabella Poyntz dealt with 

 the manor by recovery in 1824 (Recov. 

 R. East. 5 Geo. IV, rot. 225). 



