FINCHDEAN HUNDRED 



PETERSFIELD 



a tranquil old-fashioned thoroughfare said to be so- 

 called from the Spanish merchants who resorted there 

 for wool-dealing. 9 Hylton Road 10 runs eastwards 

 from the Spain, and crossing the Portsmouth road at 

 Fore Bridge, becomes Sussex Road, skirting the south 

 side of the Heath Pond. The last house in the town 

 to the north of the road is the vicarage. From the 

 north-west corner of the Spain a road leads to the 

 Borough and Borough Hill, close to which runs 

 the railway. 



There is no lack of good eighteenth-century brick- 

 work in the town, especially on the north side of the 

 market square ; and on the south side of High Street 

 is a timber front (No. 19) with a moulded beam 

 beneath the gables having pendants below, on one of 

 which is the date 1613. This house has some good 

 seventeenth-century panelling and a chimney-piece in 

 the ground-floor room to the right of the entrance. 



In the east of the town are several picturesque 

 groups of houses, along Dragon Street n and College 

 Street in the latter the fine red-brick buildings of 

 Churcher's College, 1722," and the blocked stone- 

 arched doorways of Antrobus's Almshouses, 1622 

 now part of a brewery are the chief attractions. 



The Heath, a large public recreation ground in the 

 east of the town, was formed from wet swampy 

 ground in 1867, and comprises 35 acres in the parish 

 of Sheet, 4 acres in the parish of Buriton, and 

 5 acres in the parish of Petersfield. The formation 

 of the large lake within it, which covers an area of 

 22 acres, and lies half in Petersfield manor and half 

 in Mapledurham manor, was the result of certain 

 drainage operations in 1750. The Heath House, 

 the residence of Captain the Hon. William Sydney 

 Hylton-Jolliffe, D.L., J.P., is about half a mile south- 

 east. 



Petersfield parish covers an area of 1,609 acres f 

 land and 23 acres of water." Sheet, which was a 

 tithing in the parish, is now a separate parish con- 



taining 1,350 acres of land and 8 of water." Adhurst 

 St. Mary, the seat of Mr. George Lothian Bonham- 

 Carter, a mansion in the Elizabethan style, erected in 

 1858 and enlarged in 1902-3, stands in well-wooded 

 grounds to the north of the road from Godalming to 

 Petersfield. The river Rother intersects Sheet, and 

 on it are two mills called Sheetbridge Mill and Sheet 

 Mill, the latter of which certainly represents one of 

 the mills entered under ' Malpedresham ' in Domesday 

 Book. 14 The common fields in Petersfield and Sheet 

 were inclosed by authority of an Act of Parliament, 

 1 8 & 19 Vic. cap. 6 1. Among place-names men- 

 tioned in the sixteenth century are Bullockes Leses, 19 

 Whit-redden, 17 Chappel fields, 18 Berelands, and Polehill." 

 PETERSFIELD is a mesne borough, 

 BOROUGH its descent being identical with that of 

 the manor of Petersfield. In the reign 

 of Henry II, William earl of Gloucester granted to 

 the burgesses of Petersfield all the liberties and free 

 customs enjoyed by the citizens of Winchester, and 

 to have a merchant gild. These privileges were 

 confirmed by the charter of his widow Hawise. The 

 charter of the earl is lost, but that of the countess is 

 still preserved. 10 King John, when count of Mortain, 

 confirmed the same liberties and free customs to the 

 burgesses in 1198," and in 1415 Henry V granted 

 them freedom from toll, stallage, picage, pannage, 

 murage, and pontage throughout the realm of 

 England." While Maud countess of Buckingham 

 was lady of the borough," a sum of two marks was 

 exacted every year from the burgesses under colour of 

 a payment pro certo lete, but in 1440 Humphrey earl 

 of Buckingham by letters patent granted to the 

 burgesses of his lordship of Petersfield release for ever 

 from that payment." That the burgesses were after- 

 wards quit from this payment is supported by entries 

 in the accounts of successive reeves of Petersfield.* 5 

 It has not been ascertained by what authority the 

 burgesses of Petersfield assumed the corporate name 



* A sheep-market was formerly held 

 in Sheep Street, and a horse-market in 

 the Spain ; see A History of Pctenjield, by 

 Rev. J. Williams, p. 34. 



10 The following description from the 

 Rev. J. Williams's History is interesting : 

 ' What is now Hylton Road was a 

 street 150 years ago, with small houses 

 on each side, and by the little stream were 

 tan-pits. These houses were pulled down 

 to make the grounds for the house that 

 Mr. John Jolliffe built' (Petersfield 

 House). 



11 So called from the Green Dragon 

 Inn, now gone. 



18 No longer in use for their original 

 purpose ; the new college buildings lie to 

 the north-east on Ramshill. 



18 The parish contains 34.0 acres of 

 arable land and 1,210 acres of permanent 

 grass (Statistics from Board of Agricul- 

 ture, 1905). 



14 The parish contains 476^ acres of 

 arable land, 317^ acres of permanent 

 grass, and 192 acres of woods and planta- 

 tions (Statistics from Board of Agricul- 

 ture, 1905). 



15 Vide manor of Sheet below. 



16 Pat. 1 8 Eliz. pt. 13. 



W Chant. Cert. 30, No. 17. This name 

 is still preserved as White Readins. 



18 Chan. Inq. p.m. Misc. dxxxvii, No. 



"3- 



" Pat. 37 Hen. VIII, pt. I, m. 8. 



80 The charter is preserved in the offices 



of the Petersfield Urban District Coun- 

 cil, and runs as follows : ' Ego Hawisia 

 comitissa Gloecestrie concessi et confir- 

 mavi burgensibus meis de Peteresfeld, qui 

 in burgo de Peteresfeld edificaverunt et 

 manent, que qui in illo edificabunt, omnes 

 libertates et liberas consuetudines in eodem 

 burgo quas homines Wintonie habent in 

 civitate sua qui sunt in gilda mercatorum 

 et easdem habeant in gilda mercatorum de 

 Petrisfeld . . . meus Willelmus comes 

 Gloecestrie eis per cartam suam concessit.' 

 81 His charter, which is also preserved 

 in the offices of the Petersfield Urban 

 District Council, is in exactly similar 

 terms. 



83 Close, 3 Hen. V, m. 20. 

 88 This lady's name is usually given as 

 Anne. She was the wife of Edmund 

 Stafford, earl of Stafford, who died in 

 1403, and had by him a son and heir 

 Humphrey, aged one year at his father's 

 death. She was probably called the lady 

 of the borough of Petersfield during the 

 minority of Humphrey. She died in 

 1438 (G. E. C. Complete Peerage, vii, 21 1). 

 34 The letters patent are also preserved 

 in the offices of the Urban District Coun- 

 cil ; they are as follows : ' Humfridus 

 comes Bukyngham, Hereford, Stafford, 

 etc., omnibus, etc., cum quedam pensio 

 duarum marcarum de burgensibus dominii 

 de Peteresfeld in comitatu Southton per 

 quandam Matildam dudum dominam 

 ibidem tempore ipsius comitisse tantum 



"3 



et non antea neque postea, ut per evi- 

 dencias duorum burgensium hide nobis et 

 consilio nostro ostensas evidenter apparet, 

 minus juste levata et ad duos dies legates 

 nomine cumsdam certi capta extitisset, 

 nos, nolentes quod aliqua injuria burgen- 

 sibus nostris de Petresfeld predictis seu 

 quibuscunque aliis ex parte nostra fieret, 

 concessimus et concedimus pro nobis et 

 heredibus nostris prcfatis burgensibus 

 nostris de Petresfeld, quod ipsi et hcredes 

 eorum de huiusmodi annua pensione sive 

 certo, ut profertur, tempore dicte nuper 

 comitisse minus juste capta et levata, erga 

 nos et heredes ac officiarios nostros omnino 

 sint quiet! et penitus exonerati in per- 

 petuum per presentes, salvis semper et 

 reservatls nobis et heredibus nostris omni- 

 bus aliis redditibus et serviciis quibus- 

 cunque per ipsos nostros burgenses et 

 eorum heredes ac antecessores suos dicto 

 dominio nostro antiquitus debitis et con- 

 suetis, et omnibus aliis juribus nostris 

 prout ab antique ibidem ante hec tempora 

 juste fieri, levari, et reddi consueverunt, 

 volentes quod receptores et auditores com- 

 potorum nostrorum ibidem qui sunt vel 

 qui pro tempore erunt dictos burgenses 

 nostros et eorum heredes de supradicta 

 pensione sive certo duarum marcarum 

 solvenda ad duos dies legates supradictos 

 quietos et exonerates faciant, ipsos contra 

 tenorem harum brevium patentium ea de 

 causa non molestantes.' 



25 Add. R. 27679 and 27680. 



15 



