FINCHDEAN HUNDRED 



PETERSFIELD 



barley, and oats. Clanfield Down was inclosed in 

 1816. The population in 1901 was 213. The 

 parish is wholly within the manor of Chalton (q.v.). 



The church of ST. J4MES, CL4N- 

 CHURCH FIELD,** rebuilt in 1 875 in brick with 

 an external facing of flint and wrought 

 stone, and consists of chancel with north vestry and 

 organ chamber, and nave with south porch and west 

 bell turret. It contains nothing ancient, but the two 

 bells in the turret are both mediaeval, the work of 

 Roger Landon. The treble has his founder's mark, his 

 cross, and the lion's face, but no inscription, and the 

 tenor is inscribed ' Ave Maria ' in black letter capitals 

 and smalls, with the three marks as on the treble. 



The plate consists of a communion cup of 1672, 

 with a band of ornament of Elizabethan type on the 

 bowl, and a modern paten. 



The registers, in two books bound together, begin 

 in 1547, the first book ending in 1748, and the 

 second in 1799- 



There are burials in woollen from 1675 to 1735. 



CLANFIELD seems in origin to 

 j4Df r Olf r SON have been a chapelry dependent on 

 the mother church of Chalton. The 

 first mention of it is in 1227, in which year Sybil, 

 prioress of Nuneaton, arraigned an assize of darrein 

 presentment to the chapel of Clanfield against Bartho- 

 lomew, archdeacon of Winchester.* She proved her 

 right to the advowson, but nevertheless had some 

 difficulty in maintaining it, for a year later she sum- 

 moned Alan, the official of the bishop of Winchester, 

 for not having admitted a fit person at her presenta- 



tion to the chapel.' By 1318 the chapelry had 

 become a rectory, for in that year licence was granted 

 to Walter de Mursele, rector of the church of Clan- 

 field, to study at Oxford or elsewhere in England for 

 a year. 4 Sybil evidently won her suit against Alan, 

 for the prior, prioress, and convent of Nuneaton 

 were patrons of the church until the dissolution,* 

 from which time the advowson followed that of 

 Chalton. In 1617 Giles Williams, incumbent of the 

 church of Clanfield, by presentation of Queen Eliza- 

 beth, resigned the church by agreement with the earl 

 of Worcester, during the vacancy of the see of Win- 

 chester, to George, archbishop of Canterbury. 6 The 

 earl thereupon presented John Heathe, whose right 

 to the church was confirmed by James I when he 

 settled the advowson on the earl and his heirs.' The 

 right of the crown to the rectory was re-established 

 when Dr. Gillingham by private agreement with 

 Godfrey Price, rector of Chalton, regained the advow- 

 son of Chalton for Charles I. 8 The advowson of 

 Clanfield subsequently followed that of Chalton until 

 1787, in which year the rectory of Clanfield was 

 united to that of Chalton with Idsworth chapelry by 

 Brownlow North, bishop of Winchester. 



John Richards by will proved in 

 CHARITIES 1846 left 200 to be invested, and 

 income applied at the discretion of 

 the rector for the benefit of the poor. The legacy 

 was invested in 206 9*. \d. Consols, with the offi- 

 cial trustees. In 1905 the dividends, amounting to 

 5 3'-> were applied in the distribution of coals to 

 six deserving persons. 



PETERSFIELD 



Petrefeld and Peterfeud, xiii cent. ; Petresfeld, xiv 

 cent. 



The town of Petersfield is situated near the centre 

 of the parish of Petersfield, in the midst of an ex- 

 tensive agricultural district, forming one of the most 

 picturesque portions of Hampshire. Some two and a 

 half miles to the south-west is Butser Hill (889 ft.), 

 he highest point in the county, with the South 

 3owns stretching away eastward in a long line, while 

 L n the north-west, at much closer range, the steep 

 wooded slopes of Stoner Hill (770 ft.) and Wheatham 

 Hill (8 1 3 ft.) look down on the town. To the east 

 the ground is lower, the upper waters of the Rother 

 running at no great distance, though the main stream 

 is never actually within the parish boundaries. Three 

 of its tributaries flow through the parish : the Til- 

 more Brook, which rises just beyond its eastern boun- 

 dary at Stroud Common, passing through the town 

 north of the High Street ; a second stream running 

 just to the south, and crossed by the Portsmouth 

 road at Fore Bridge, in the south-east corner of the 

 town ; while a third is in the south of the parish, 

 rising in Buriton, and skirting the grounds of Nursted 

 House. The London and Portsmouth road passes through 

 the east side of the town, and on the north side is the 



main road to Winchester, joined a little way west of 

 the town by the road to Alresford. The importance 

 of Petersfield as a market town is much increased by 

 the existence of its railway station on the direct Ports- 

 mouth line of the London and South Western Rail- 

 way, which is also the junction for a branch line from 

 Midhurst and Rogate. Before the coming of the 

 railway the town was a great posting-centre, as may be 

 judged from the number of inns mentioned in the 

 rent-rolls of the eighteenth century. 1 The plan of 

 Petersfield is like that of most English boroughs of 

 mediaeval origin a central square with the principal 

 streets radiating from it High Street and St. Peter's 

 Road to the east, Chapel Street to the north, and 

 Sheep Street to the west. On the south side of the 

 square stands St. Peter's church, until lately separated 

 from it by the town hall erected in 1824, and 

 adjoining buildings. In 1898 they were pulled down 

 by Mr. William Nicholson and Lord Hylton, and 

 although the spot has lost something of its old-time 

 quaintness, the church stands out as it never did 

 before. On the east, at the corner of the High 

 Street, is the Corn Exchange, a white brick building 

 erected in 1866. In the centre of the square is a fine 

 equestrian statue of William III, the money for which 



203 



* Pat. 1 1 Hen. Ill, m. 2 d. 

 8 Bracton't Note Bk. ii, 229. 

 JVintm. Efis. Reg. (Hants Rec. Soc.), 



6 Ibid. 523 ?, 16 ; Egerton MS. 2032, 



Egerton MS. 2034, fol. 36 ; Wykcbam'i 

 Reg. (Hants Rec. Soc.), 201, 222 and 226. 



Nine inns are mentioned in a rent- 

 roll of 1696-7 : the White Hart, the 



fol. 47 and 1 34 ; Egerton MS. 203 3, fol. 9; was one of the two ' livings adjacent.' 



Ill 



6 Exch. Bills and Answs. Hants, Chas. I, Anchor, the Lion, the Half Moon, the 

 No. 49. ^ Pat. 1 5 Jas I, pt. 1 7, No. 3. Crown, the Swan, the Dragon, the Ship, 

 Cal. of S.P. Dam. 1668-9, p. 93. It and the George (Add. R. 19779). 



