PORTSDOWN HUNDRED 



ALVERSTOKE 



opened 1901, and the Thorngate Memorial Hall, 

 1885, while in South Street is the Connaught Drill 

 Hall, built in 1902. 



ALVERSTOKE was among the pos- 

 M4NORS sessions of the Old Minster or priory 

 of St. Swithun, Winchester, in Saxon 

 times. It is said to have been bestowed on the 

 minster by a noble Saxon lady, Alwara, for the soul 

 of her husband Leowin. 1 In 1086 the bishop of 

 Winchester held it for the support of the monks of 

 St. Swithun,' to whom it was confirmed by the pope 

 in 1205, and again in 1243 ;* but in 1284, a 

 critical year in the continuous dispute which had 

 been maintained for some centuries between the 

 bishop and the monastery, the manor of Alverstoke 

 with Gosport was transferred to the bishop with two 

 other manors in return for certain important con- 

 cessions relating to the appointment of obedientiaries 

 and secular servants. 4 In June, 1284, the king 

 confirmed to the bishop the manors which he had 

 thus acquired from the priory, 6 and a second con- 

 firmation of the agreement was issued in the following 

 May. 6 The successive bishops of Winchester retained 

 the manor until, under the Act of 1641 confiscating 

 all episcopal lands, it was seized by the state and sold 

 in 1648 to George Wither/ who was noted early in 

 his life for his lyrics, and later for pamphlets in 

 support of Cromwell's government. At the Restora- 

 tion the bishops regained their lands, and Alverstoke 

 remained a possession of the see of Winchester until 

 it was taken over by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. 

 The tenure of the manor under the monastery and 

 bishops was of a somewhat extraordinary nature, in 

 that the villeins themselves were ' farming ' the land 

 in io86. s Early in the thirteenth century an agree- 

 ment was made between the monks and their men of 

 Alverstoke by which the latter promised to pay ^d. 

 an acre yearly for their lands at Alverstoke with the 

 exception of the land lying between the two water- 

 courses, one where the almoner's mill was situated, 

 and one below the garden of the parson of Alverstoke, 

 for which land 6d. an acre was to be paid by the men 

 of Stokes, Forton, Brockhurst, and Bury. The land 

 for which the extra farm was to be paid was evidently 

 that on which Gosport is now situated, for to the 

 north of Gosport is Forton Lake or Creek, which 

 formerly extended further inland as a mill-pond ; and 

 to the south is Stoke Lake, which terminates a little 

 to the south of the church and rectory of Alverstoke. 

 The same charter recited the privileges allowed to the 

 men of Alverstoke by the prior and monastery : 

 they were to be quit of tallages, pannage, and salt- 

 rent ; they were to be free to make wills and dispose 

 of their goods ; they were to be quit of wards and 

 suit of hundred courts without the manor. At the 

 same time the prior granted that they should hold 

 their lands hereditarily with power to alienate them, 



and that all pleas save pleas of the crown should be heard 

 without delay in the presence of the prior or his 

 steward at the court of Alverstoke. The charter also 

 regulated the election of the bailiff of the manor/ 

 Thus the men of the manor were practically free 

 tenants. They had a common seal which represented 



COMMON SEAL OF ALVERSTOKB 



St. Swithun as bishop of Winchester seated on a 

 throne holding the pastoral staff in his right hand 

 and in his left a book. The legend is as follows : 



SIGILL' COMUNE HOMINUM PRIORIS sci SWITHUNI 



DE ALWARESTOKE. 10 



In 1284, after the priory had transferred Alverstoke 

 to the bishop, the king granted him return of writs in 

 his manor there, 11 and at the same time free warren 

 and freedom from pleas of forest in all his lands. 11 

 Disputes between the bishop and his tenants as to 

 their privileges seem to have arisen in 1461 and again 

 in l6o6. 13 The bishop or his steward held court- 

 baron and hundred court every three weeks for the 

 tenants of the manor, while twice a year they also 

 held the tourn, the tenants being quit of the sheriff's 

 tourn. 1 * The courts were occasionally held at the 

 ' Red Lion ' in Gosport. 15 The bishop also had 

 rights of wreck as lord of the manor, 16 though hi 

 claim seems to have been disputed by the lord admiral 

 in l6l3. 17 The bishop's bailiff or reeve for the 

 manor was always elected in court at the Michaelmas 

 tourn, 18 his chief duty apparently being that of collect- 

 ing the rents of the tenants." A constable or beadle 

 was also elected at the same time. 80 



BEDENHAM (Bedeham, xiii cent. ; Badeham, 

 xiv cent. ; Bednam, xvi cent.) gives its name to three 

 farms which lie on a broad peninsula to the north of 

 Gosport, at the head of Portsmouth Harbour, where 

 it is joined by the estuary of the Wallington River. 



1 Winton Epis. Reg. Pontoise, fol. i6oi } 

 tee Proc. of the Royal Arch. last, at Win- 

 chester (1846), p. 112. 



2 V.C.H. Hants, i, 466*. 



8 Cal. Papal Letters, i, 21 and 201. 

 4 Chartul. of St. Swithun ; Add. MS. 

 29436, fol. 55. 

 8 Ibid. fol. 65. 

 8 Cal. Chart. R. ii, 289. 



7 Close, 24 Chas. I, iv, 33. 



8 V.C.H. Hants, i, 466* ; see also i, 

 442. 



* Proc. of the Royal Arch. Inst. at Win- 



chester (1846), 113. The charter was 

 given by Prior Andrew, whose term of 

 office lasted from 1239 to 1243. 



10 There is a sulphur impression of 

 this seal at the British Museum, xxxvi, 

 185. 



11 Cal. Chart. R. ii, 273. 

 la Ibid. 274. 



18 Proc. of the Royal Arch. Inst. at Win- 

 chester (1846), p. 113. 



14 There is a large number of court- 

 rolls of Alverstoke, ranging from 1378 to 

 1713, among the Ecclesiastical Commis- 



2O3 



sioners' Court Rolls at the Public Record 

 Office. 



" Eccl. Com. Ct. R. bdle. 180, No. 5 ; 

 bdle. 174, No. i. 



" Ibid. bdle. 81, No. 13. 



W Ibid. bdle. 88, No. 2. 



18 On most occasions the jurors ap- 

 pear to have nominated three men to 

 the office, but only one was sworn in 

 each year. 



Ibid. bdle. 163, No. I. 



*> Ibid. bdle. Si, Nos. 9 and 31 ; bdle. 

 1 80, No. 5. 



