FINCHDEAN HUNDRED 



time onwards until the dissolution the abbot and 

 convent of the Blessed Mary of Dureford continued to 

 hold these lands and tenements, which developed into 

 a small manor, for this fixed annual payment, and their 

 connexion with this parish can still be traced in the 

 names Adhurst St. Mary and St. Mary's Well. The 

 prior and convent of Selborne sometimes had some 

 difficulty in securing the payment of the rent, and in 

 1425 brought an assize of novel disseisin against Thomas 

 abbot of Dureford and John Atte Wode about a tene- 

 ment in Sheet, 64 the result of which was that the latter 

 were forced to enter into a bond for 40 for securing 

 the punctual payment of the fourteen marks. 67 In 

 spite of this, however, they owed Selborne Priory over 

 50 fee-farm rent in 1462." The abbot and convent 

 of Dureford in their turn leased out their property in 

 the parish at various times. Thus in 1466 they 

 granted all their lands and tenements in Sheet, which 

 they held at fee-farm of the prior and convent of 

 Selborne, to Nicholas Huse and others to hold for 

 twenty years at a rent of 9 6s. 8^. 69 Again in 1532 

 they leased out to Launcelot Sympson of Petersfield the 

 site of their manor of South Sheet and all the houses 

 built there, with all the meads, leasures, &c., as wholly 

 as Martin Frayll held them, except one moor let to 

 Magdalen College, to hold for the term of sixty years 

 at a rent of 4.01.,'" while in the following year Richard 

 Massam of Henley, who was probably acting for Mag- 

 dalen College, obtained a ninety-nine years' lease of a 

 moor in Sheet for a rent of 8J. n Thus at the disso- 

 lution most of the property which Dureford had held 

 at fee-farm of Selborne '* was let on lease. Like most 

 of the Dureford property the manor of Sheet was 

 granted to Sir William Fitzwilliam, afterwards earl of 

 Southampton, in tail male," and on his death without 

 issue reverted to the king, who in 1546, in return for 

 1,569 1 5-f. 2</., granted to George Rithe and Thomas 

 Grantham 60 acres called Martyns in Petersfield now 

 or late in the occupation of Launcelot Sympson, to- 

 gether with other lands, tenements, rents, and services 

 formerly belonging to Dureford Abbey." In the same 

 year George and Thomas sold Martyns, 10 acres of 

 moorland in the occupation of Magdalen College, and 

 a cottage, to Roger Childe of Sheet, described some- 

 times as a yeoman, and sometimes as a miller, who 

 two years later sold the property for 42 to William 

 Standish of Oxford and others. William was an 

 Oxford notary who was regularly employed by the 

 college, and no doubt he was the college agent in 

 the purchase; but it was not until 1556 that he 

 cohveyed the property to the college," the delay in 

 conveying being probably due to the uncertainty 

 of the time ; when it was doubtful, first whether 



PETERSFIELD 



the colleges would not go the way of the mona- 

 steries, and then whether the monastic possessions 

 might not be reclaimed. Magdalen College still owns 

 Sheet Mill and a great deal of landed property in the 

 parishes of Petersfield and Sheet. 



HEA1H HOUSE (Hethehouse, xvi cent.). In 

 the reign of Henry III a certain Henry de Chalvers 

 granted ' Holemed ' with an aqueduct and a croft to 

 the abbot and convent of Dureford.' 6 In the same 

 reign Aumary, earl of Gloucester, granted to Richard 

 Talbot and his heirs his mill at ' Chalfversh,' the 

 tenement which Warren de Chalfversh held of him, 

 and the tenement which Sigar de Chalfversh held of 

 him," and shortly afterwards William Talbot made 

 grants to the abbey of Dureford of lands which are not 

 specified, but which were probably identical with 

 those which Aumary had bestowed upon Richard. 78 

 In 1292 the abbot and convent were seised of 1 08 

 acres of land, 4 acres of meadow, and a mill at the 

 Heath. 79 Hence it seems clear that these lands com- 

 prised those of Chalfversh, possibly indeed being 

 identical with them. There is no mention of any 

 messuage at the Heath in the survey of the lands of 

 the monastery in 1292, but at the time of the disso- 

 lution of the monasteries the abbot and convent of 

 Dureford were seised of the farm of Heath House m and 

 lands called 'The Est Chal- 

 verishe,' parcel of the grange 

 of Heath House. 81 At the dis- 

 solution Henry VIII granted 

 the messuage called Heath 

 House to Sir William Fitz- 

 William in tail male. 8 ' On 

 his death without issue in 

 i 542 it reverted to the king, 

 who, on 30 May, 1545, 

 granted it to Sir Edmund 

 Mervyn to hold to him and 

 his heirs for ever. 83 On Ed- 

 mund's death Heath House 



passed to his son and heir Henry Mervyn, 81 upon 

 whom it was settled in IS55. 85 In 1613 Henry 

 Mervyn, senior, and Henry Mervyn, junior, and 

 others released all right which they had in the 

 capital messuage called Heath House and closes called 

 ' Chalveries ' and ' Hollwaies ' to Thomas Bilson, 

 bishop of Winchester, 86 the owner of the manor of 

 West Mapledurham, who died seised of them in 

 l6i6. 87 Its subsequent history is obscure, but it is 

 perhaps identical with Heath House Farm, which 

 Edward Rookes left by will in 1694 to his son 

 Edward, with contingent remainder to his brother- 

 in-law, Edward Hunt. 88 



MERVYN. Sable three 

 leopards farted pale-wise 

 or and argent. 



Selborne Chart. (Hants Rec. Soc.), 

 ser. ii. 71. 67 Ibid. 



68 Ibid. (Scr. l), 115. 



"Ibid. (Scr. 2), 71. 



"Ibid. 7 1. 71 Ibid. 



7 s The fee-farm rent ought to have 

 passed to Magdalen College with the other 

 property of Selborne, but it is uncertain 

 whether the college ever established its 

 claim to the rent under the deed of 1281. 



78 Pat. 29 Hen. VIII, pt. I, m. 22. 

 The manor is not mentioned by name in 

 the grant, but it must have been included 

 in it, as the earl held courts at Sheet in 

 1538 and 1539 (Add. R. 28228). 



1* Pat. 37 Hen. VIII, pt. I, m. 38. 

 In the ministers' accounts the manor of 

 Sheet is not mentioned by name, but it is 



probably represented by the entry : renti 

 of assize in Petersfield coming from tene- 

 ments called Berelonds, Athurst, Sand- 

 hurst, Bonneyslonde, Knyghts, Marteyns, 

 &c. (Mins. Accts. Suss. 29 Hen.VIII, 109, 

 m. 17 tt.). It has been shown that in 

 1532 Dureford leased out to Lancelot 

 Sympson the site of the manor of South 

 Sheet formerly held by Martin Frayll. 

 This site was afterwards called Martyns. 

 and was probably identical with the land 

 let out to Dureford in 1281. Probably the 

 right to the manor depended on the pos- 

 session of Martyns. The rest of the pro- 

 perty was granted to other people, and thus 

 the manor was broVen up. 



7 s Ex inform, tne librarian and the 

 estates bursar of Magdalen College, Oxford. 



117 



7 Cott. MS. Vesp. E. xjciii, 96. 

 7' Ibid. 101. 78 ibid. 102. 



7 Ibid. 



80 Mins. Accts. Sussex, 188, m. 16 ; 

 and 109, m. 17 d, 



81 Pat. 35 Hen. VIII, pt. 15, m. 39, 

 Ac. 



8 Pat. 29 Hen. VIII, pt. I. 

 Pat. 36 Hen. VIII, pt. 19. 

 <" Memo. R. L.T.R. East. I & 2 Phil, 

 and Mary, rot. 47. 



86 Pat. i & 2 Phil, and Mary, m. 1 6 ; 

 Add. Chart. 27709. 



88 Memo. R. L.T.R. Trin. 14 Jas. I, 

 rot. 8. 



87 W. and L. Inq. p. m. (Ser. 2), bdle. 

 55, No. 125. 



8d Deeds penes Lord Hylton. 



