A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



BEDHAMPTON 



Betametone (xi cent.) ; Bodehampton (xv cent.) ; 

 Bedhampton (xvi cent.). 



The parish of Bedhampton is very long and narrow, 

 being about i miles in breadth at the widest part and 

 6J miles in length ; its southern part extending down 

 Langstone Harbour nearly as far as the South Hayling 

 farm, and including the four islands, Baker's Island, 

 Long Island, and North and South Binness. A small 

 part of the town of Havant lies within its boundaries. 

 The London Brighton and South Coast Railway passes 

 through the village, which is about a mile west from 

 Havant Station and 6 miles north-east of Portsmouth. 

 A cluster of low houses near the church forms the 

 older part of the village, while a group of inns, shops, 

 and houses lying along both sides of the high road 

 from Portsmouth to Havant, and separated from the 

 church by a wide meadow called Bedbury Mead, marks 

 the modern outgrowth. Here are the schools which 

 were built in 1868, enlarged in 1873, and again in 

 1895, for about 180 children ; and also a Primitive 

 Methodist chapel erected in 1875. From the 

 schools a footpath over Bedbury Mead leads south-west 

 to Lower Bedhampton, as the part near the church is 

 called. Opposite the church are the rectory, a large 

 white house, and Bedbury House, which is at present 

 unoccupied. Directly north-west of the church the 

 manor house stands on rising ground overlooking 

 Bedbury Mead. Other houses are The Elms, at the 

 corner of the road to the west of the church, occupied 

 by Mr. Lionel Fawkes, and The Towers, occupied by 

 Miss Meiklam, on the main road from Portsmouth to 

 Havant, west of the village. 



There are numerous springs in the village, which 

 have become quite famous for their properties ; St. 

 Chad's Well, near the manor house, being supposed to 

 possess the most health-giving virtues. A stream rising 

 near the post office runs parallel with the village street. 

 The hamlet of Belmont lies on high ground north of 

 the church, and is almost a continuation of the village. 



Belmont Park, the seat of Mr. W. H. Snell, lies to 

 the north and covers an area of some 20 acres. The 

 north-west part of the parish of Bedhampton is thickly 

 wooded, once forming part of the Forest of Bere, 

 which in early times extended as far south as the range 

 of the Portsdown Hills. 



The road which leads northward from Belmont to 

 Waterlooville goes through the heart of this beautifully 

 wooded country, Little Parkwood, Neville's Park, and 

 Beech Wood being the names of the largest stretches 

 of woodland. The area of the parish is about 2,401 

 acres of land, and 4 acres of land covered by water ; 

 228 acres covered by tidal water and 1, 1 66 acres of 

 foreshore. 1 The proportion of land in the parish is 

 542J acres of arable land, 1,125 acres of permanent 

 grass, and 41 3 J acres of woodland.* The soil is loam ; 

 subsoil chalk ; and varies in quality. The chief crops 

 are wheat, barley, and oats. 



Early in the ninth century King 

 MANORS Egbert granted the manor of Bedhampton 

 to the cathedral church of Winchester. 1 

 By the reign of Edward the Confessor it had passed 

 to the abbey of Hyde, of whom it was held by a 

 certain Alsi. However, at the time of the Domesday 

 Survey Hugh de Port held it of the abbey as he held 

 so many other Hampshire manors. 4 



By 1086 the manor had decreased in value, probably 

 owing to the incursions of the Norsemen, who sailed 

 into Portsmouth Harbour and devastated the surround- 

 ing abbeys and lands. The St. Johns continued to hold 

 the manor from the abbey of Hyde, and eventually 

 obtained the over-lordship.* 



Bedhampton was held by Herbert in 1 1 67, the 

 son of Herbert the Chamberlain, ancestor of the 

 baronial Fitz Herberts, who held the manor until 

 the beginning of the fourteenth century. 6 



Herbert Fitz Peter, a descendant of the above, 

 held Bedhampton in 1236, and was forced in that 

 year to acknowledge the right of Walter abbot of 

 Hyde to exact scutage and relief from two knights' 

 fees there. 7 Reginald his brother died seised of the 

 manor in 1281, leaving a son John, a minor, and a 

 widow Joan, 8 who received dower in the manor in 

 1286." Eight years later Bedhampton, which had 

 been taken into the king's hands by reason of default 

 made by Joan against the master of the Hospital of St. 

 John and St. Nicholas at Portsmouth, 10 was evidently 

 recovered by her, and in 1314 she died seised 

 of the manor which she held of the abbot of 

 Hyde." Hugh le Despenser the elder held Bed- 

 hampton in 1 3 1 6 " by enfeoffment from John son of 

 Reginald and Joan in 1305." Upon his attainder 

 and forfeiture in I 326 the manor passed to Edmund 

 earl of Arundel, who held it for a short time before 

 his attainder at the end of the 

 year 1326." In 1327 the 

 manor was granted to Edmund 

 of Woodstock earl of Kent, 15 

 youngest son of Edward I. 

 After the deposition of Ed- 

 ward II the earl of Kent was 

 loon engaged with the earl 

 of Lancaster against Isabel 

 and Mortimer, who therefore 

 plotted to inveigle him into an 

 attempt to release Edward II 

 by inventing stories that he 

 was still imprisoned abroad 

 or at Corfe Castle. The 



earl at once began to take measures for his release, 

 and was thereupon arrested for treason on 1 3 March, 

 1329 ; and having been hastily and unjustly con- 

 demned, he was beheaded outside the walls of 

 Winchester on 19 March. 16 Upon his forfeiture 

 Bedhampton was granted for life to John Maltravers, 



EDMUND OF WOOD- 

 TOCK, Earl of Kent. 

 The arms of England 

 with a silver border. 



'Ordnance Survey. 



'Statistici from Board of Agriculture 

 (1905). 



Dugdale, Mm. i, 2IO ; Leland, Coll. 

 i, 613. 



*V.C.H. Hana, 1,471. 



' Inq. p.m. 20 Edw. II, No. 49. 



'Fife R. (Pipe R. Soc.), 14 Hen. II. 

 7 Feet of F. Hants, Hit. 21 Hen. Ill ; 

 Tula de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 232. 

 8 Inq. p.m. 14 Edw. I, No. 142. 

 'Cat. of Close, 1279-88, p. 399. 

 10 Ibid. 1288-96, p. 439. 

 "Inq. p.m. 8 Edw. II, No. 42. 



I 4 2 



11 Feud. Aids, ii, 320. 

 Feet of F. Hants, Hil. 34 Edw. I. 

 14 Inq. p.m. 20 Edw. II, No. 49. 

 "Chart. R. I Edw. Ill, No. 82, 

 m. 43. 



u Diet. Nat. Biog. vi, 410-12. 



