BISHOP'S WALTHAM HUNDRED 



panel with a half-length figure under a pediment ; it 

 has lately been redecorated. Below it is a marble 

 panel, with the arms of Kerby, to the ' much lamented 

 pious charitable good catholic' Mary Kerby, 1716, 

 and on the north wall of the chancel is a black 

 marble tablet in an alabaster frame, to Anna Cruys, 

 1634. 



A few mediaeval tiles, found during repairs, are 

 kept in the north aisle. 



There are six bells, the treble recast 1901, formerly 

 dated 1724, the second of 1712, the third of 1651, 

 the fourth formerly of that date, but recast in 1901, 

 the fifth of 1599, and the tenor of 1597. The two 

 last bear the initials of John Wallis of Salisbury. 



The church possesses a fine set of silver-gilt plate ; 

 an Elizabethan communion cup without hallmarks, 

 having two bands of engraved ornament on the bowl, 

 a small paten and a flagon of 1 747, a second flagon 

 of 1629, and a large standing almsdish of 1669, 

 though recorded to have been given in 1665. 



The first book of the registers, 161268, contains 

 a note of the fall of the tower and the rebuilding of 

 the aisles ; the second goes from 1669 to 1736, and 

 the third from 1736 to 1812, the marriages ending 

 in 1754 an ^ being continued to 1812 in two more 

 books. 



Parish accounts are preserved from 1759, an ^ there 

 are notes of briefs down to 1823. The record of 

 a curious disturbance in 1688 is preserved at length, 

 and tells how the parish clerk and one churchwarden 

 being excommunicate, for some reason not set down, 

 withheld the key of the church from the parishioners, 

 who eventually defeated the adversary by getting 

 episcopal permission to break open the church door 

 and have a new lock made. 



A homily book of 1683 is kept in the vestry, which 

 having been originally the property of the church, 

 was lost in course of time, but in 1869 was discovered 

 by Mr. A. V. Walters, who bought it and gave it back 

 to the church. 



The church of ST. PETER, CURDRIDGE, re- 

 placing an older building near the same site, was 

 erected in 1887, its tower being added in 1894. 

 It is of flint, with stone dressings. The register dates 

 from 1835. 



It is recorded in Domesday Book 

 ADVOWSONS that ' Ralf the priest holds the two 

 churches of this manor, with two 

 and a half hides.' 69 The first of these two churches 

 was the parish church of Bishop's Waltham, in the 

 gift of the bishop of Winchester, lord of the manor. 

 Henry de Blois (bishop of Winchester, 1129-71) 

 granted the advowson of this church to the hospital 

 of St. Cross, Winchester, some time during his tenure 

 of office. 70 The hospital had, however, lost it before 

 1284, in which year, under an agreement between 

 the bishop of Winchester and the monks of St. 

 Swithun concerning certain advowsons, the monks 

 gave up their claim to Bishop's Waltham in favour 

 of the bishop." The living, which is a rectory, 

 subsequently remained in the bishop's hands." In 



1533 the curate of Bishop's Waltham wrote a pathetic 

 letter to Lady Lisle to ask for a gown cloth which she 

 had promised him : 'you have so many whelps 

 pertaining to you that poor Thomas Gylbert shall be 

 forgotten.' " In 1551 Bishop Poynet surrendered 

 the advowson of Bishop's Waltham, together with the 

 hundred and manor, to the crown. 74 They were 

 granted to William, earl of Wiltshire, the same year, 75 

 and eventually restored to the bishopric by Queen 

 Mary. 76 Since this latter date the living has remained 

 in the gift of the bishop. 77 Bishop's Waltham was 

 a peculiar benefice. The first reference to this is in 

 the fourteenth century, 78 and it is again recorded in the 

 reign of Henry VIII. 79 There is also an entry in 

 the parish registers of the year 1736, saying that 

 mortuaries are due from Bishop's Waltham, Hamble, 

 and Bursledon, to the minister of Bishop's Waltham, 

 ' as having a peculiar jurisdiction there.' * 



Several theories have been put forward for the iden- 

 tification of the second church recorded in Domesday. 



Of these the principal are : 81 (i) That the second 

 church was at Ashton, where the road to Upham 

 meets Ashton Street, on the spot now occupied by a 

 smithy ; the site was at one time occupied by a little 

 chapel of ease. (2) That Bursledon was this second 

 church, the old Waltham registers showing that at one 

 time the rector of Waltham exercised a peculiar 

 archidiaconal jurisdiction over Bursledon. 811 (3) That 

 this second church was at Upham or Botley. 



Curdridge was formed into a district chapelry, out 

 of the parish of Bishop's Waltham, in i838. 88 The 

 patronage of the living, which is a vicarage, was 

 transferred in 1880 from the rector of Bishop's 

 Waltham to the bishop of Winchester, in consideration 

 of a further endowment of Curdridge out of the 

 revenues of Bishop's Waltham. 83 Between 1892 and 

 1893 the advowson passed from the bishop to the 

 dean and chapter of Winchester. 84 



There is a Congregational chapel (built 1862) at 

 Bishop's Waltham, and a Primitive Methodist mission 

 room. There is a mission hall at Ashton, and an 

 iron chapel at Curdridge. 



The charities in the ancient parish 

 CHARITIES of BISHOP'S WALTHAM were by 

 a scheme established by an order of 

 the Charity Commissioners, dated 14 February, 1896, 

 consolidated under the title of 'The Combined 

 Charities,' whereby as modified by a further order 

 of 14 October, 1898 provision was made for their 

 future administration, in equal parts, as educational 

 and eleemosynary. By an order of the said Com- 

 missioners the following charities were specifically 

 allocated for educational purposes, viz. : 



1. The Educational Institute in Bank Street, 

 erected with moneys arising from accumulations and 

 from a grant of the Hampshire County Council on a 

 site conveyed by deed of 30 September, 1898. 



2. Bishop Morley's Charity, deed, 1679, being an 

 annuity of 10, part of a fee-farm rent of $ I, issuing 

 out of the site of the late priory of the Holy Trinity 

 of Mottisfont, and other manors and lands. 



69 t'.C.H. Hants, i, 4613. 



W Harl. MS. 1616, fol. 9. 



n Add. MSS. 29436. 



'- Winton Epis. Reg. (Egerton MSS. 

 203-4) ; De Bane. R. 358, m. 1305 

 Yahr Bed. (Rec. Com.), ii, 22, and App. 



f L. and P. Hen. Vlll, vi, 780. 



74 Pat. 5 Edw. VI, pt. 6, m. 20. 



" Ibid. pt. 4, m. 39. 



7' Pat. 4 & 5 Phil, and Mary, 

 m. 20. 



" Inst. Bks. P.R.O. 



78 Winton Epis. Reg. (Egerton MSS. 

 2031-4). 



' Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), ii, App. 



80 Extract from Pa-. Reg. iii. 



28l 



81 Proc. Hants Field Club, June 1900 ; 

 Addenda Hist, of Bishop's Waltham, Rev. 

 C. Walters. 



81 * Both Bursledon and Hamble owed 

 mortuaries to Bishop's Waltham. 



82 Land. Can. 30 Mar. 1838. 



83 Ibid. 9 July, 1880. 



84 Clergy Lists. 



36 



