A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



already held loos, rent in Fareham,* 7 was granted 

 a lease of the park.' 3 In 1641 a lease of the manor 

 was granted to Ralph Riggs for three lives, and in 

 1647 Margery his widow petitioned the Commons to 

 confirm to her and her sons this lease, otherwise they 

 would be reduced to great extremity, because on its 

 security she had lent her husband 1,000 in 1645, 

 which lease was void by the ordinance of October, 

 1646, for taking away bishops' lands, and annul- 

 ling all estates taken of the bishops since December, 

 1 641. Once only the manor passed out of the 

 bishop's hands. After the ordinances of 1646 for 

 the sale of bishops' lands, it was sold in 1648 to 

 Nicholas Bond for 1,632 1 2/. 7^.,* but was restored 

 in 1660 to the see of Winchester, and retained until 

 the estates of the see were taken over by the 

 Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1869." 



Fareham Park has existed from a very 

 PARK early date. In 1279 complaint was made 

 that certain persons had broken into the 

 bishop's park at Fareham and carried away the deer," 

 while on the Pipe Roll for the year 1323 the wage 

 of the park keeper is noted among the expenses of 

 the manor.* 3 Various references to the park are made 

 in the Court Rolls from time to time. In 1477 there 

 was a payment of $s. \d. for a hedge round the park, 

 while during the seventeenth and eighteenth cen- 

 turies 50^. for the farm of the park is a yearly entry 

 among the receipts.* 4 A lease of the park was granted 

 to Sir Thomas Wriothesley about 1541, when he 

 acquired loos, of rent in Fareham from the bishop, 

 and this lease was devised to his wife Jane during the 

 minority of her son, and was held successively by the 

 second and third earls of Southampton." The 

 timber, like that of Titchfield Park, appears to have 

 been in great demand for shipbuilding, and there are 

 various records of sales of the wood made to the 

 Admiralty. 



A letter written on this subject by Sir Antony 

 Windsor to Lord Lisle, deputy of Calais and sheriff 

 of Hampshire in 1 5 3 8 is interesting, and it also 

 throws some light on the political intrigues of the 

 time. ' As to your great wood you wrote for there is 

 a thousand ready tallied in Farahame Park and a 

 thousand more shall be ready shortly and then your 

 warrant is expired. I would advise you to make suit 

 to my lord of Winchester to have a quantity of wood 

 every year for there is a new woodward a servant of 

 Sir William Paulet's. As to game there is no great 

 plenty of male deer but there is a pretty score of 

 rascal as all the borders, gentlemen, and others, re- 

 port . . .** Your lordship will understand that by 

 sudden changes of officers there will be secret enemies 

 and when the wrongdoers are tried it will be well to 

 have a friend about the King. You should write a 

 loving letter to my Lord Admiral to assist your officers. 

 I doubt not the forest will increase in spite of all your 

 enemies, and this will be a good means to stay war- 



rants which are like to come thick and threefold if 

 some persons can help it.' The ' bishop's meadow ' 

 containing 1 5 acres, is mentioned in the sale of the 

 Fareham estate in 1648." 



It is probable that the 7 \ hides in Fareham held by 

 Ralph in 1086 M developed later into the manor of! 

 NORTH FAREHAM (Norfarham, xiii cent.), which 

 always belonged to the bishops of Winchester." At 

 the beginning of the thirteenth century this manor 

 was held by William Fitz Roger, though there is no 

 evidence to show how it came into his possession. 

 On his death about 1225, Peter des Roches, in right of 

 his see, held the wardship of William's daughter Emma 

 Fitz Roger, whom he gave 

 in marriage to his nephew 

 Geoffrey des Roches. 40 



North Fareham, which 

 about this time became known 

 by the alternative name of 

 Roche Court, descended to 

 Martin their son, but as he 

 left no child on his death in 

 1277, the property passed to 

 his brother Hugh subject to 

 the life interest of Lucy widow 

 of Martin. 41 On the death of 



Lucy, who survived her husband certainly ten years, 

 John des Roches son of Hugh came into possession 

 of the manor, which he held for half a knight's fee, 

 for which he did suit at the bishop's court of La 

 Soke, and at his view of frank- 

 pledge at South Fareham. On 

 his death in 1312 his widow 

 held the estate in dower, 41 

 it being then worth yearly 

 7 l-js. She died in 1361, 

 and was succeeded by her 

 daughter Mary des Roches, 

 widow of Sir John Boarhunt, 

 and the property passed on 

 Mary's marriage, about 1381, 



Du ROCHII. Sallt 

 nvo Uopardi argent. 



to Sir Bernard Brocas, 4 * one 



BOARHUNT. Argent a 

 Jau beewitn tin mart- 

 Itts gules. 



of a family of great importance 

 at this period. Sir Bernard 



Brocas represented Hampshire in most of the Parlia- 

 ments of the reign of Richard II, and he obtained, 

 first by right of his wife and afterwards by purchase, 

 the mastership of the Royal Buckhounds," an office 

 which remained in the Brocas family for three cen- 

 turies. In 1363 he received a grant of free warren 

 in his demesne lands of North Fareham. 4 * After 

 his death in 1395 the manor was held in dower by 

 his third wife Katherine, 4 ' from whom it descended 

 to her step-son Sir Bernard Brocas, who was beheaded 

 in 1400 for his share of the conspiracy in favour 

 of Richard II. 47 Much of Bernard's property being 

 in trust escaped forfeiture, but North Fareham, 

 together with other manors in Surrey and Dorset, 



W Feet of F. Mich. Hants, 33 Hen. 

 VIII. 



88 Cal. S.P. Dom. 1598-1601, p. 601. 

 19 Hist. AfSS. Com. Rep. vii, App. pt. i, 



6* 



80 Add. MS. 9049, fol. 21. At a survey 

 taken in the previous year the rents and 

 profits of the manor were valued at 

 243 izi. ;</. while the timber was said 

 to be worth i 64 121. I od. 



11 Lund. Gax. I Ap. 1870. 



M Cal. of Pat. 1272-81, p. 349. 



PipeR. 17 Edw. II. 



w Eccl. Papers, var. No. 6 ; Eccl. Com. 

 Ct. R. bdle. 8 1, No. 9. 



Cal. of S.P. Dom. 1598-1601, p. 601. 



M L. and P. Hen. VIII, xiii (l), 382. 



" Coll. Top. et Gen. i, 123. 



< V.C.H. Hants, i, 4623. 



M feud. Aids, ii, 307 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 

 22 Ric. II, No. 8 ; ibid. I Ric. HI, 

 No. 23. 



212 



40 Burrows, Family of Brocat, 321. 



41 Close, 14 Edw. I, m. id. 



<s Chan. Inq. p.m. 5 Edw. II, No. 44. 



Ibid. 35 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, No. 49 ; 

 ibid, (and Nos.), No. 19. 



* Chan. Inq. p.m. 41 Edw. Ill (2nd 

 Nos.), No. 4oA. 



<s Chart. R. 37 Edw. Ill, pt. I, No. 9, 

 m. n. 



Chan. Inq. p.m. 22 Ric. II, No. 8. 



* Viet. Nat. Biog. vi, 366. 



