BISHOP'S WALTHAM HUNDRED 



DROXFORD 



JOHN DE DROKENS- 

 FORD, Bishop of Bath 

 and Wells. Quarterly 

 axure and or with four 

 (?) heads of croxiert 

 countercoloured. 



comes into notice as the native place of an interesting 

 person, John de Drokensford. He was keeper of the 

 wardrobe to Edward I, and accompanied that king on 

 some of his Scotch campaigns. He afterwards be- 

 came bishop of Bath and 

 Wells, and Lord Chancellor 

 of England. John de Dro- 

 kensford is said to have been 

 the son of the local squire, 

 and an effigy of a lady in the 

 south side of Droxford church 

 has been supposed to be that 

 of his mother. 3 



The connexion of Izaak 

 Walton with Droxford has 

 recently been emphasized by 

 Canon Vaughan. Walton's 

 son-in-law Dr. Hawkins, pre- 

 bendary of Winchester Cathe- 

 dral, was instituted rector of 



Droxford in 1 664, and held the office till his death in 

 1691. Walton passed the last years of his life with his 

 daughter and her husband, and a passage in his will 

 says : ' I also give unto my daughter all my books at 

 Winchester and Droxford, and whatever in these two 

 places are, or I can call mine.' Mr. John Darbyshire, who 

 was Dr. Hawkins's curate, and Mr. Francis Morley, 

 were Droxford residents and great friends of Walton. 4 



The civil parish of Swanmore was formed out of 

 parts of Bishop's Waltham and Droxford in 1894,* 

 the name having originally been borne by a tithing in 

 Droxford manor.' The present parish consists of 

 2,362 acres, of which 1,457^ are arable land, 598^ 

 permanent grass, and 162^ woodland. 7 The chief 

 crops are wheat, barley, oats, and roots. The north- 

 west portion is a continuation of the down land of 

 Droxford, and on this high land stands Swanmore 

 House, the residence of Mr. Myers, M.P., one of the 

 principal landowners in the parish. To the south, at 

 a lower level, lies the village, at the junction of the 

 chalk with the clay, the change of soil being marked 

 by the existence of brick-works. The southern part 

 of the parish, which is bounded on the south-east by 

 the Meon River, was formerly all comprised in Wal- 

 tham Chase. The bishop of Winchester being lord 

 of both Bishop's Waltham and Droxford manors, the 

 queston arose in 1761 as to whether the tenants of 

 Waltham, as intercommoners with the tenants of Drox- 

 ford, had a right to cut bushes and underwood ' in 

 that part of the common that is within the manor of 

 Droxford.' It is interesting to note that this document 

 gives to Waltham Chase its other name of ' Horders- 

 wood Common,' the two names being clearly stated 

 to be interchangeable. 8 The wood called ' Bishops 

 Wood ' lies across the boundary between Swanmore 

 and Shedfield. It is so called from the fact that when 

 Waltham Chase was inclosed in 1870, this was the only 

 part left to the bishop. It has since been sold by 

 the Ecclesiastical Commissioners to Major Daubeney. 



Shedfield, also a former tithing of Droxford, was 

 created a civil parish in 1894.' The chief natural 



feature is an outlying spur of the downs called 

 Shirrell Heath, 250 ft. above sea-level. It is well 

 wooded on the north and east slopes, and a farm called 

 ' Hawk's Nest ' lies on the eastern side. On the sum- 

 mit are several houses, including a convalescent home. 

 The water-works for Gosport are also in process of 

 erection here. From its isolated position, Shirrell 

 Heath commands a magnificent view of the Hamble 

 and Meon valleys, with the blue hills of the Isle of 

 Wight on the horizon. Shedfield village consists of 

 a few houses, with church and school, lying on either 

 side of a cross road in the fork formed by the branch- 

 ing of the Fareham road to Bishop's Waltham and 

 Botley respectively. The common behind the school, 

 though called Shedfield Common, is really in Wick- 

 ham parish. Three fine estates in this parish are 

 Hall Court, Shedfield House, and Shedfield Lodge, 

 owned and occupied respectively by the Rev. A. 

 Murray-Aynsley, Lady Phillimore, and Mrs. Franklyn. 



The parish comprises 2,003 acres, of which Soil- 

 are arable land, 691^ permanent grass, and 158$- 

 woods and plantations. 10 The soil is sandy loam, and 

 the chief crops are wheat, barley, and oats. Fruit is 

 also cultivated. 



Tracei of the old tithing of Hill " are to be seen 

 in the place- names Hill Place (the residence of Major 

 Daubeney), Hillpound, and Hill Grove. 



The manor of DROXFORD, like its 

 MjiNORS neighbour Bishop's Waltham, was one of 

 the manors of the see of Winchester. 

 The first grant of the land was in 826, when King 

 Egbert, ' in gratitude to God for his coronation as 

 king of all England,' gave thevill of'Drokeireford' to 

 the prior and monks of St. Swithun, Winchester." 

 In 953 King Eadwig granted twenty mansae of 

 land in Droxford to the noble lady ^Edelhild, who 

 probably held as a tenant of the monks. 13 According 

 to the Domesday Survey Droxford was among the 

 lands held by the bishop for the support of the monks 

 of Winchester. 14 It was then assessed at 14 hides, 

 in contrast to the 1 6 hides of the time of Edward 

 the Confessor. In 1284 the manor passed wholly 

 to the bishop, the monks renouncing ' all right and 

 claim which they have or shall have in the said manor, 

 for ever.' 14 This agreement marked the termination 

 of a long series of disputes between successive bishops 

 and priors. The credit for the peace was due to 

 Bishop John of Pontoise, who in return for the 

 manor of Droxford (inter a/ia) granted to the monks 

 certain advowsons and rights. In the same year 

 Edward I granted to the bishop the return of all 

 writs within the manor of Droxford. 16 After this 

 Droxford remained in the hands of the bishops of 

 Winchester until the reign of Edward VI, when in 

 1551 Bishop Poynet surrendered the whole hundred 

 of Waltham, including Droxford manor, to the 

 crown. 17 Thence it passed the following month 

 to William, earl of Wiltshire. 18 Queen Mary, how- 

 ever, restored it in 1558 to the bishopric. 19 The 

 bishops retained the manor until the great Civil War, 

 when the Long Parliament found a purchaser for 



8 Information supplied 

 Vaughan. 



bv Canon 



4 John Vaughan, Wild Flowers of 77, No. 23. 



in the hands of Mr. Gunner, Bishop's 

 Waltham ; cf. Eccl. Com. Ct. R. bdle. 



Selborne. 



5 Loc. Govt. Bd. Order 31854. 



Eccl. Com. Ct. R. 10 Ric. II. 



1 Statistics from Bd. of Agric. 1905. 



8 Book of Customs of Droxford manor, 



9 Loc. Govt. Bd. Order 31854. 



10 Agricultural Returns, 1905. 



11 Eccl. Com. Ct. R. 



la Dugdale, Man. i, 205. 

 18 Birch, Cart. Sax. iii, 134. 



14 y.C.Ji. Hants, \, 466,7. 



15 Add. MSS. 29436, fol. 49. 

 18 Chart R. 12 Edw. I, m. 5. 



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



18 Ibid. pt. 4, m. 39. 



19 Pat. 4 & 5 Phil, and Mary, pt. 7, 

 m. 20. 



285 



