EAST MEON HUNDRED 



STEEP 



ASHFORD manor is a sub-manor dependent upon 

 the great episcopal manor of East Meon, 18 and was 

 held in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth 

 centuries by the Baker family. 19 In the beginning of 

 the nineteenth century the then holder, who is said to 

 have become bankrupt in making the Stoner Hill road, 

 sold the property to Mr. Wentworth, who in his turn 

 sold it to Lady Williams. Lady Williams married 

 Admiral Edward Hawker, and left Ashford to his 

 younger son, who was curate of Steep, and on the 

 parish being separated from East Meon became the 

 first vicar. It is now held by his grand-daughter, 

 Miss Hawker, who comes of age October, 1907.' 



The church of ALL SAINTS, 

 CHURCH STEEP, has a chancel 16 ft. by 

 1 3 ft., nave 50 ft. 6 in. by 1 6 ft., north 

 and south aisles 1 3 ft. and 5 ft. wide respectively, 

 with north and south porches, and a tower at the 

 west end of the north aisle. All measurements are 

 internal. 



The eastern bays of the south arcade of the nave, 

 c. 1 1 80, are the earliest pieces of detail in the build- 

 ing, but it seems probable that the oldest masonry on 

 the site belongs to a church of the Colemore and Rop- 

 ley type, and probably of the first half of the twelfth 

 century, with aisleless nave and chancel, and a small 

 transept chapel at the east of the nave on the north ; 

 perhaps also on the south. There may also have 

 been a north-west tower, probably of wood, with a 

 masonry base as at present, before the addition of the 

 north aisle. This church was enlarged about 1 1 80 

 by the addition of a narrow south aisle, and some 

 twenty years later the north aisle was added, its 

 width being determined by the projection of the north 

 transept chapel, whose west wall, together with the 

 east wall of the north-west tower, was taken down 

 at the time and the area thrown into the aisle. The 

 different wall-thicknesses in the arcade and aisles 

 suggest that the wall for the length of the first three 

 bays of the arcade was taken down and rebuilt of a 

 less thickness when the aisle was addeJ, the thicker 

 wall being retained at the east and west. The re- 

 building of the chancel, probably of a slightly greater 

 width than the old chancel, followed in the first 

 quarter of the thirteenth century, and no further 

 structural additions took place. There is nothing to 

 show at what time the wooden upper stages of the 

 tower were made. The church has undergone 

 'restoration' in 1839, 370 being spent, and in 1875 

 at a cost 0^^2,377. A plan of the building, as it 

 was before 1839, is in the library of the Society of 

 Antiquaries, and shows the west bay of the south 

 arcade blocked with a thick wall, and the east bay of 

 the south aisle destroyed, a wall being built close to 

 the east bay of the arcade. There is also no chancel 



arch. The destruction of the eastern bay of the aisle 

 suggests that there may have been a transept chapel 

 here which had fallen into decay and been pulled 

 down. 



The chancel has a modern triplet of lancets on the 

 east, a single modern lancet on the north, and two 

 widely splayed lancets on the south, which are ancient 

 though patched with new stone in places. The chancel 

 arch, of thirteenth-century style, dates from 1875, 

 and is said to replace a plain round-headed arch, 

 which, if the plan already referred to can be trusted, 

 was not older than 1839. 



The nave has arcades of four bays, the north arcade 

 having semicircular arches of two orders with edge 

 chamfers, and circular columns with circular moulded 



HE Bwbsw5, 



ALL SAINTS' CHURCH, STEEP, FROM THE WEST 



capitals and bases. The third column, at the point 

 where the wall thickens, is of larger diameter than 

 those to the east of it, and the west respond has a 

 plainer capital, with a square-edged abacus chamfered 

 below, the other abaci in this arcade having a roll and 

 hollow in place of the chamfer. The variation may 

 be merely the result of repair, but the respond is thus 

 given an earlier character, and may have belonged to 

 an arch opening to the north-west tower from the 

 original aisleless nave. The two east bays of the south 

 arcade have semicircular arches of one chamfered 

 order, and circular columns with scalloped capitals 

 and abaci chamfered above and below. The arch in 

 the third bay is of two orders with quarter-round 



18 The tenants of the tithing of Ash- 

 ford paid 10 per annum to the lord of 

 the manor of East Meon. They like- 

 wise paid fines on the surrender of their 

 lands, but all other fines and heriots 

 they divided amongst themselves (from a 

 survey of the manor of East Meon taken 

 in 1647). 



19 A manuscript formerly in the pos- 

 session of the Bakers, and now owned 

 by Mr. J. Silvester, of The Slade, Frox- 

 field, contains an extract of all their 

 copies taken in 1729. From this ex- 



tract the following pedigree can be drawn 

 up: 



William Baker=Elizabeth 

 (living 1615) 



William Baker 

 (living 1615) 



Richard Baker=Winifred 

 (died c. 1706) 



79 



I 



Richard Baker 

 (died c. 1717) 



John Baker 

 (died c. 1711) 



Richard Baker 

 (living 1727) 



There are several handsome monu- 

 ments in the parish church to this family. 

 30 Ex inform, the Rev. H. Peto Belts, 

 M.A., vicar of Steep. 



