FINCHDEAN HUNDRED 



MS. 6602 that the abbot and convent ofTitchfield and 

 their men of Welbworth, in the time of Edward II, 

 had common of pasture in the Forest of Bere, from a 

 place called Meslyngforth, even to ' Rolokescastel.' 6 

 Another mention of it is in 1528, in which year John 

 Byrcom was pardoned for having received certain 

 cattle from John Yong, who on 10 September, 1523, 

 broke into a place called ' Rowelands Castle at War- 

 belyngton," and carried off the said cattle. 7 But 

 neither of these entries throws any light on the history 

 of the castle, which remains very obscure. 



On the east side of the road going up the hill from 

 the green to Havant is Stanstead College, which was 

 built and endowed by Mr. Charles Dixon of Stanstead 

 Park (' late a merchant of London '), as a house for 

 six decayed merchants of the cities of London, Liver- 

 pool and Bristol. There is no Anglican church in 

 Rowland's Castle itself, but the little church of 

 St. John on Redhill, in the parish of Havant, is not 

 much more than a mile from the green. The Castle 

 Inn in the village has been kept for about two 

 centuries by the Outen family. There were formerly 

 two fairs held in Rowland's Castle one for horned 

 cattle on 1 2 May, and the other for horned cattle 

 and hogs on 1 2 November but they had become 

 obsolete before the middle of the nineteenth century. 

 Four good roads run in different directions from 

 Rowland's Castle one south-west to Havant, the 

 second, along which several modern houses are being 

 built, north-west uphill to Blendworth, the third 

 south-east to Westbourne, and the fourth north-east 

 to Dean Lane End. From Links Lane some of 

 the finest views can be obtained of the surround- 

 ing country. Blendworth Common and the Holt 

 lie to the west, on the east is Stanstead Forest, 

 and on the south Havant Thicket and Emsworth 

 Common. 



The little village of Finchdean is almost in the 

 centre of Idsworth, near the railway line, in the midst 

 of very beautiful country. In the centre of the 

 village is a small triangular green, near which are the 

 smithy, the George Inn, and a small Congregational 

 chapel. The manufacture of agricultural machines is 

 carried on in Finchdean, and there is also a brass and 

 iron foundry there. To the north is Idsworth House, 

 the property of Lieut.-Colonel Sir Henry Clarke- 

 Jervoise, bart., and at present the residence of Mr. John 

 Bradley Firth. It stands in a fine park of 1 50 acres, 

 commanding wide views over the surrounding country 

 and the Isle of Wight. In the extreme north of 

 Old Idsworth Park, a little to the east of the road 

 from Dean Lane End to Compton, is the ancient 

 church of Idsworth. 



The soil varies, but consists principally of chalk. 

 The subsoil is chalk. The chief crops are wheat, 

 barley, and oats. The population in 1901 was 420, 

 including Rowland's Castle. Idsworth contains 882 

 acres of arable land, 809 acres of permanent grass, 

 and 29 1 acres of woods and plantations. 8 Open 

 fields and common lands in Idsworth were inclosed 

 by authority of an Act of 1812. 



CHALTON 



The manor of CH4LTON, which 

 MANORS comprised the parishes of Blendworth, 

 Catherington, Clanfield, and Chalton, 

 a portion of the parish of Hambledon, and perhaps 

 the parish of Idsworth, formed part of the posses- 

 sions of Earl Godwin, and on his death in 1053 

 passed to his son Harold. It was seized in 1066 

 by William the Conqueror, who granted it to 

 William Fitz-Osbern, whom he created earl of Here- 

 ford and lord of the Isle of Wight. At the time of 

 the Domesday Survey Roger de Montgomery, earl of 

 Shrewsbury, was holding the manor of the gift of 

 William Fitz-Osbern.' On his death in 1094, 

 Chalton, with his other English estates and digni- 

 ties, passed to his second son Hugh, called ' Goch ' 

 (the red), 10 who being shot in the eye in the invasion of 

 the Isle of Anglesey by Magnus, king of Norway, died 

 unmarried" 27 July, 1098. On his death his estates 

 passed to his elder brother, Robert de Belesme, earl of 

 Shrewsbury and Arundel, who, in return for a pay- 

 ment of ,3,000, was confirmed in his brother's 

 earldoms in 1098 by William Rufus. He, however, 

 fortified his castles in England against Henry I, and 

 was accordingly expelled from the country, and 

 deprived of all his honours and estates in 1 102." In 

 this way Chalton fell into the hands of the king, who 

 granted it, as parcel of the honour of Leicester, in 

 1 107, to Robert de Beaumont, as a reward for estab- 

 lishing the English rule in Normandy. 13 The manor 

 remained in the possession of the Beaumonts, earls of 

 Leicester, till 1204,'* when Robert de Beaumont, 

 fourth earl of Leicester, died without issue, leaving a 

 widow Lauretta, the daughter of William de Braose. 1 ' 

 In 1214 King John ordered the sheriff of Hamp- 

 shire to cause Lauretta, countess of Leicester, to have 

 at her manor of Chalton as much in ploughs and 

 stock as Henry Fitz-Count 16 received in the same 

 manor when it was committed to him by the 

 command of the king. 1 ' Lauretta probably held the 

 manor for some time after her husband's death. 18 

 In 1207 Simon de Montfort, 

 the younger son of Simon 

 count of Evreux by Amice the 

 sister and co-heir of Robert de 

 Beaumont earl of Leicester, 

 was confirmed by King John 

 in his titles of earl of Leicester 

 and steward of England, but 

 later in the same year he was 

 deprived of all his English 

 possessions. However, eight 

 years later he was restored, 

 Randolph de Blondeville, earl 

 of Chester, being made custoi 

 of the fief of the earldom 

 dolph seems to have been 

 lord of Chalton till 1232, 



MONTFORT. Gulet a 

 lion argent with a forked 

 tail. 



of Leicester. 19 Ran- 

 looked upon as the 

 when the earl's youngest 

 son, the famous Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, 

 was confirmed in all the land held by his father in 

 England. 20 Thus in 1224 Henry III gave Randolph, 

 earl of Chester, permission to hold at Chalton, until 



Harl. MS. 6602, fol. 25. 



L. and P. Hen. VIII, iv (2), 5083 



(5). 



8 Statistics from Board of Agriculture 

 (1905). 



9 V. C. H. Hants, i, 478. 



10 G. E. C. Complete Peerage, vii, 133. 



" Ibid. 



Ibid. 135. 



" Ibid, v, 40. 



11 PipeR. 13 Hen. II. 



15 G. E. C. Complete Peerage, v, 44. 



16 Afterwards (1217-20) earl of Corn- 

 wall. 



I0 3 



V Close, 1 6 John,pt. 2, m. 13. 



18 In the Testa de Nevill she appears in 

 the gift of the king, and her lands in 

 Chalton are valued at 50 (Testa de Ne-vill 

 [Rec. Com.], 236*). 



19 G. E. C. Complete Peerage, v, 44. 

 > Close, 15 Hen. Ill, m. 3. 



