MEONSTOKE HUNDRED 



CORHAMPTON 



contain pairs of birds set back to back. The figure 

 subjects are unfortunately very faint, but enough 

 remains to show that they are of considerable merit ; 

 the best preserved are at the east of the south wall, a 

 female figure standing before a seated bishop. 



The altar-rails in the chancel are of the eighteenth 

 century, but most of the woodwork in the church, 

 including the west gallery, is modern. A new set of 

 pews is recorded to have been made in 1636, and a 

 little carved work of this date is preserved. 



The font at the west end under the gallery has a 

 curious small round bowl, with a line of cable mould- 

 ing round the middle ; the detail suggests a twelfth- 

 century date, but the small size and general reworking 

 of the surface make its attribution to so early a period 

 doubtful. 



There are two bells, the treble inscribed ' In God 

 is my hope, 1619, I.H.,' and the second dated 

 1828. 



The church possesses a communion cup, unmarked, 

 but of c. 1 5 70, with conical bowl and expanding lip, and 

 a saucer-shaped cover paten. Both are very roughly 

 engraved with scrollwork and dotted ornament, and 

 are probably of local make. There is also a standing 

 paten of 1791, given in 1792 by Dr. John Chelsum, 

 rector of Droxford, a plated flagon of old Sheffield 

 ware, and an alms dish of 1874. 



The earliest preserved book of registers is a copy, 

 made about 1760, the baptisms beginning in 1665, 

 the marriages 1667, and the burials 1695. Mar- 

 riages end at 1750, but the other entries continue to 

 1812. The second book is the printed marriage 

 register, 1754-1812. 



There was a church in Corhamp- 

 ADVQWSQN ton at the time of the Domesday 

 Survey," 9 the advowson of which 

 followed the descent of the manor until about the 

 middle of the thirteenth century, when Robert de 

 St. John, overlord of Corhampton, granted it in free 

 alms to the abbey of Titchfield. 140 In the reign of 

 Edward I John de St. John, son and heir of Robert 

 de St. John, attempted to recover the advowson, 

 granting the presentation for one turn only to the 

 abbey of Titchfield in 1288."' The abbot, how- 

 ever, produced the charter of Robert de St. John, 

 which John was ultimately forced to confirm. 14 ' The 

 advowson thenceforward followed the descent of the 

 sub-manor of Corhampton (q.v.). 



The living is at the present day a vicarage, net 

 yearly value 42, including 70 acres of glebe situated 

 in the parish of Clanfield, in the gift of Mrs. Pleydell 

 Bouverie-Campbell-Wyndham. 



The annual value of the church was 6 131. t^d. 

 in the thirteenth century, 143 and the rector, Henry de 

 Guildford, resigned the living in 1 291 ' on the account 

 of the poverty of the same because it is hardly suffi- 

 cient to the support of one chaplain.' 144 



In 1271 by deed between the abbot of Titchfield 

 and John de Petersfield, rector of the church of 



Corhampton, it was agreed that the canons should be 

 for ever free from the payment of all tithes coming 

 from the lands they already possessed in the parish, 

 paying instead to the rector half a mark every year, 

 but that they should pay tithes from all lands subse- 

 quently acquired. 141 " 



There was also a church in Lomer at the time of 

 the Domesday Survey 1<s which Geoffrey de Lomer, lord 

 of the manor of Lomer, granted to the abbot and 

 canons of Titchfield in the reign of Henry III. 147 

 The church was appropriated to the abbey some time 

 between 1 28 2 and I3O4. 148 Its annual value is given 

 as 4 o/. "]d, in I38i. 149 The advowson remained 

 in the hands of the abbot and convent until the Dis- 

 solution, when it passed to the king, 150 who granted it, 

 together with the manor and advowson of Corhamp- 

 ton, to Thomas Wriothesley,' 01 from whom it passed 

 to Henry Wriothesley, earl of Southampton. 15 ' In 

 the inquisition taken on the death of Thomas in 

 1550, it is stated that the rectories and churches of 

 Corhampton and Lomer had been united, annexed, 

 consolidated, and reduced to one by the king. 153 

 They must have been separated again, however, in 

 the seventeenth century, for in 1635 Lady Anne 

 Sandys settled the rectory and the advowson of the 

 vicarage of Lomer upon her grandson John Stewk- 

 ley. 144 The advowson subsequently followed the 

 descent of the manor. 155 It was dealt with by fine as 

 late as ij8j, li6 but only the site of the church 

 now remains. Bishop Stratford (1323-33) ordered 

 the church to be re-consecrated because it had been 

 polluted by the shedding of blood. 157 



Close to Preshaw House is a chapel built by the 

 late Mr. Walter Jervis Long, and opened at Christ- 

 mas, 1 864. Divine service is held here twice a day 

 on Sundays. 



In 1669 William Collins by will 

 CHARITIES proved in the P.C.C. gave to trustees 

 a messuage, then newly erected as a 

 schoolhouse, and garden containing one acre, for 

 the use of a schoolmaster performing the office of 

 minister. The testator also directed that a sum of 

 450 should be expended in the purchase of freehold 

 lands of the clear yearly value of .22 to be paid to 

 such schoolmaster, for the teaching of three poor 

 boys of Corhampton, two of Meonstoke, one of 

 the parish of Exton, and two of Droxford. By 

 deed dated 29 September, 1677, in consideration of 

 450 (with 10 added by Dorothy Collins the tes- 

 tator's widow), a rent-charge of 22 per annum 

 issuing out of land known as Chalfryth, otherwise 

 the Chalverys, at Nursted, in the parish of Buriton, 

 was purchased and settled upon the trusts of the 

 will. 



By a scheme of the Charity Commissioners of 

 27 July, 1900, the old school buildings and gardens 

 may be occupied by the vicar at a yearly rent of 10, 

 and the yearly income of the charity is directed to be 

 applied in the advancement of education by way of 



18 9 V.C.H. Hants, i, 481. 

 ""Add. MS. 33284, fol. 166. Thi. 

 grant was confirmed by William de Clare. 



141 De Bane. R. Trin. 16 Edw. I. 



142 MS. penei the lady of the manor. 

 ' Pope Nicb. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 21 it. 



144 MS. pints the lady of the manor. 



145 Ibid. 



V.C.H. Hants, i, 471. 



14 ?Add. MS. 33284, fol. 165. Hii 



grant was confirmed by his son and heir 

 Robert de Lomer, and by William bishop 

 of Winchester. (Ibid.) 



148 Egerton MS. 2031, fol. 29. 



"'Add. MS. 33284, fol. 162. 



150 Feet of F. Div. Cos. Mich. 19 

 Hen. VIII. 



151 Pat. 29 Hen. VIII, pt. I, m. 32. 

 163 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), 24 Eliz. 



ft. I, No. 46. 



253 



158 W. and L. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), vol. 5, 

 No. 103. 



154 Deeds penes Mr. A. R. Maiden. 



155 Ibid. ; Recov. R. Hil. 4 Geo. II, 

 rot. 139; Feet of F. Hants, Mich. 7 

 Geo. III. 



166 Feet of F. Hants, Mich. 23 Geo. 

 III. 



15 ? Egerton MS. 2032, fol. 63. 



