TITCHFIELD HUNDRED 



WICKHAM 



^gio its., the income from which, amounting to 

 22 1 5^., to be distributed among the poor. He 

 also left ^oo invested in consols to the amount of 

 45 5 5/. %d., producing an income of i I //. for the 

 repair of the church. 



A recreation ground, 4 acres in extent, was by an 

 award in (866 dedicated to the use of the parishioners, 

 to which an additional 5 acres was given by deed in 

 1897. 



Seymour Robert Delmi, by his will proved in 

 1894, left l, 383 Js. f,J. India stock, producing an 

 income of 41 los., one-third of which is to be 

 applied in the advancement of the children of Crof- 

 ton, and two-thirds for the benefit of the poor. In 



1867 4 acres and 22 poles of land were awarded to 

 Crofton as a recreation ground, any profits from the 

 pasturage, averaging $ a year, to be applied for 

 public uses. 



In 1885 E. J. Sartoris gave a site, and building 

 thereon, to be used as a reading room for Hook with 

 Warsash. 



In 1866 a recreation ground of 6 acres and 

 22 poles was awarded for the use of the inhabitants 

 of Sarisbury, and by deed dated 1892 Mrs. L. 

 Seymour gave a parish room, which was vested 

 in ' The Official Trustee of Charity Lands,' by 

 an order of the Charity Commissioners, dated 

 5 July, 1891. 



WICKHAM 



Wykham (xiii cent.). 



The parish of Wickham, containing 2,446 acres, of 

 which 1 8 are covered by water, is situated in the 

 south of the county west from Portsmouth. In the 

 east the soil is light, black, and somewhat stony ; in 

 the west it is heavy, with a certain amount of clay. 

 There are 796^ acres of arable land, 93 1 of grass, 

 and 332 of wood. 1 The chief crops are wheat and 

 other cereals. Wickham Common, about 20 acres 

 in extent, is a mile from the village on the South- 

 wick Road, and there are golf links on a smaller 

 common on the Bishop's Waltham Road. The main 

 road from Alton, entering the parish from the north- 

 east, runs past the village on the east, whence it takes a 

 direct course south towards Fareham. Another road 

 from Bishop's Waltham joins it a little to the south of 

 the village. The land is undulating, and slopes from a 

 height of 200 ft. above the ordnance datum at Shervill 

 Copse in the north of the parish to Wickham Common 

 in the south-east, which only rises to a height of 1 54 ft. 

 The River Meon, after forming the north-east boundary 

 of the parish for about a mile, flows across it in a 

 south-easterly direction to the neighbouring parish of 

 Titchfield, passing along the east side of the village. 

 The land on either bank of the river is low, and liable 

 to floods at certain times of the year. The church, 

 schools, and rectory are on the west side of the river, 

 and the village proper stands on rising ground to the 

 east. The houses are built round a large market 

 place, from the north-east corner of which a street 

 runs down to the north mill and bridge. In this 

 street are several old timber-built houses, and a good 

 specimen of eighteenth-century cut and moulded 

 brickwork. In the market place are several good 

 eighteenth-century houses, and the general effect of 

 the wide open space, surrounded by an irregular line 

 of buildings, is very attractive. The rectory, which 

 is some little distance south-east of the church, has 

 in its garden a plane tree planted between 1798 and 

 1 80 1 by Dr. Wharton, who was the rector at that 

 time. There are two bridges over the Meon, with a 

 water-mill attached to each, the upper one of which 

 was built from the timbers of the Chesapeake. Just 

 below this mill, on the opposite side of the bridge, is 

 a brewery. There is also an old foundry ; the 



edged tools made in Wickham having been formerly 

 very celebrated, but their manufacture has long died 

 out. Market gardening is the chief industry, fruit 

 especially being cultivated a ready market having been 

 found for it in Portsmouth and Gosport since the 

 opening of the Meon Valley Railway. A fair is 

 held in the market place on 20 May. The lord of 

 the manor owns the tolls on booths and vehicles at 

 fair-time, but at present these dues are sublet. A 

 court leet and court baron are still held in the 

 manor house, and those summoned to the former are 

 sworn in the cellar of the manor house, while before 

 the opening of the court baron all those attending 

 walk in procession across the northern bridge to a 

 low wall opposite the churchyard, and look at the 

 spot where the house of the Uvedales stood. At 

 the court leet tithingmen are still appointed, as also 

 a borough constable, who is sworn for the purpose 

 of driving gipsies off the parish land. The stocks 

 have stood in the public square within the memory 

 of the older inhabitants. Two commons are in the 

 manor Wickham Common and Shedfield Common. 

 ' Place House,' the old manor house of the Uvedales, 

 which stood as already noted in a field nearly opposite 

 the church, was pulled down about 1780. Some of 

 the old garden wall remains, and in a dry season the 

 traces of the foundations are still to be seen. 



A station on the Meon Valley Railway was opened 

 in 1903, and near it there is a small group of cottages 

 built by squatters, who encroached on the crown 

 lands of the Forest of Bere. Rookesbury, a large 

 house on the Droxford road, is the seat of the 

 Gamier family, though now occupied by Mr. Arthur 

 H. Lee, M.P. for South Hants. Little Park, a short 

 distance out of the village on the Botley road, belongs 

 to Col. Radcliffe. Crocker Hill, a small hamlet, is partly 

 in Wickham and partly in Fareham parish. 



William of Wykeham, bishop of Winchester, who 



was born here in 1324, took his name from the place. 



The first mention of the borough of 



BOROUGH Wickham is in 1607, when Sir William 



Uvedale, who then held it, settled it by 



fine upon Mary daughter of Sir Richard Norton for 



life. 1 It passed to her on her husband's death in 



1616,* but in 1626 it was in the hands of her son 



1 Returnt of Board of Agriculture 

 (1905). 



3 



1 Feet of F. Southantt, Div. Cos. Hil. 

 5 J=>. I. 



2 33 



8 W. & L. Inq. p.m. 14 Jas. I. (Ser. 2\ 

 bdle. 24, No. 123. 



3 



