A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



There is no mention of SW4NWICK (Swane- 

 wik, xv cent.) in Domesday Book, and the first 

 record relating to it is in 1231, when Henry III 

 confirmed to Peter des Roches, bishop of Winchester, 

 the gift made to him by Humphrey de Millers of all 

 the land and rent in Swanwick, which Humphrey 

 had acquired by grant of William, bishop of 

 Avranches. 161 This land became part of the possessions 

 of the newly founded abbey of Titchfield, and was 

 held of the bishop of Avranches. 16 ' A grant of free 

 .varren was made to the abbot by Edward I in 

 I294. 163 Swanwick was held by the abbey '** until 

 surrendered to the king with the other possessions of 

 Titchfield Abbey in 1537, and in the same year it 

 was granted to Thomas Wriothesley, 165 and from this 

 date follows the descent of Titchfield until the first 

 half of the eighteenth century, when it was retained 

 by the duke of Portland on the sale of a considerable 



TITCHFIELD CHURCH 



'SmiiiM? f * y v = 



porch, the latter probably of two stories. The fea- 

 ture is an early one, and as there are none of the 

 characteristics of the latest style of pre-Conquest 

 architecture to be seen, it is possible that this build- 

 ing may have its origin in the ninth century, or 

 even earlier. Its subsequent history was that a south 

 aisle was added to the nave in the twelfth century, 

 a new west doorway made, and probably towards the 

 end of the century a new chancel -arch. The tower 

 seems to have been raised to its present height about 

 the same time, and about 1220 the chancel was re- 

 built round the older one, becoming of the full width 

 of the nave, and the chancel arch was now, or perhaps 

 later, widened, the old responds being reused. About 

 1 3 20 the south chapel was built, and in the fifteenth 

 century the present north aisle of the nave was built, 

 probably superseding an older one, of which nothing 

 remains, the south and east walls of the chancel being 



.50 feet 



S&xon EH 14* cent. 

 i2*cent. IS! 15* cent. 

 . I I modern 



Modem Yeafty 

 here 



part of the Titchfield estate to the duke of Beaufort 

 between 1734 and 1741."" Its descent is then the 

 same as that of Bromwich (q.v.). 



The church of ST. PETER, T1TCH- 

 CHURCHES FIELD, has a chancel with south chapel, 

 nave with aisles and south-west vestry, 

 and west tower, and is a fine and interesting building, 

 with a long architectural history, the lower part of 

 its tower and the west end of the nave being probably 

 the oldest piece of ecclesiastical architecture now 

 standing in Hampshire. The church to which they 

 belonged had an aisleless nave probably of the same 

 dimensions as the present, a chancel and a western 



remodelled to harmonize with the new work. In 

 1867 the twelfth-century south arcade of the nave gave 

 place to a modern one, the whole of the south aisle 

 being rebuilt, and a few years since a vestry was 

 added at its south-west angle. 



The chancel has a fifteenth-century east window of 

 five lights, and three three-light windows of the same 

 date on the north. On either side of the east window 

 are two tall canopied niches for images of the patron 

 and other saints, one over the other, also of the fif- 

 teenth century. At the south-east are three thirteenth- 

 century sedilia under moulded arches, the eastern 

 seat being higher than the other two ; to the east is a 



161 Cat. of Chart. R. \, 140. There is 

 no evidence of the date of Humphrey's 

 acquisition of the property. 



1M Testa de Ne-vill (Rec. Com.), 233* ; 

 flat, de Qua Warr. (Rec. Com.), 765. 



1M Chart. R. 22 Edw. I, No. 87. 



144 Pat. 3 Hen. VI, m. 13 ; ibid. I 

 Edw. IV, pt. T, m. 25. 



1M Feet of F. Southants, Mich. 29 Hen. 

 VIII ; Pat. 29 Hen. VIII, pt. I, m. 4 5 



230 



being called the manor of Swanwick for 

 the first time. 



166 Recov. R. Southants, Trin. 2 Ceo. 

 Ill, No. 59. 



