BISHOP'S WALTHAM HUNDRED 



BETTESTHORNE. Ar- 

 gent a taltire gales ivitA 

 Jive stan or thereon. 



John de Bettesthorne, however, claimed that the 

 reversion of this moiety of the manor had been sold 

 to him before the death of John de Grymstead." 

 This had undoubtedly been the case, and John de 

 Bettesthorne made good his claim. 18 



With respect to the other moiety of the manor, 

 viz. that which passed to 

 Mabel le Gras, there is an 

 interesting record extant of a 

 covenant between Robert le 

 Gras and his freemen of Ex- 

 bury in the time of Edward I. 13 

 It was then agreed that ' Est- 

 wode and Wynesle ' should be 

 inclosed ; that the men might 

 have common of pasture for 

 their animals all the year 

 round, with litter for these 

 animals in the whole demesne 

 of Exbury outside the in- 



closures ; and that any of Robert's men convicted in 

 his courts should be assessed by their peers and not 

 otherwise. Six marks were payable to Robert for 

 damages, and, in the event of any infraction of the 

 agreement, 60 should be paid to the queen. This 

 second moiety of the manor was held by Mabel le 

 Gras in 1316," after which 

 it passed through various 

 hands 15 until finally purchased 

 by John de Bettesthorne in 

 1 38 1. 16 The descent of the 

 two holdings is henceforward 

 the same. 



On the death of John de 

 Bettesthorne in 1399 his in- 

 heritance passed to his daugh- 

 ter Elizabeth and her husband 

 Sir John de Berkeley, knt. 17 It 

 remained in the hands of the 

 Berkeley family throughout the 

 greater part of the fifteenth 

 century. 18 In 1484 the entire estates of Sir William 

 Berkeley were handed over by the king to John 

 Hoton, esquire of the body, ' for his good service 

 against the rebels. 19 This grant was apparently 

 only temporary, for in 1489 a dispute was in 

 process between the relatives of the late Sir William 

 Berkeley over his lands. 20 The manor was recovered 

 by Sir William's sister Katherine and her husband 

 John Brewerton, 21 and thence descended to the 

 Comptons of Compton Wyniates, Warwickshire," who 

 held it for the next two hundred years. 83 In 1718 

 Henry Compton and his wife Eleanor conveyed the 

 manor to William Mitford, 84 whence it descended to 

 his grandson William Mitford the historian of 



BERKELET. Gules a 

 cheveron between ten 

 crosses formy argent 'with 

 the difference of a border 

 argent. 



COMPTON. Sable a 

 leopard or between three 

 helms argent. 



EXBURY 



Greece. 85 On the latter's death, in 1827, his grand- 

 son Henry Reveley Mitford succeeded to the pro- 

 perty.' 6 He sold it, in the early eighties, to Major 

 John Forster, whose son, Mr. Henry William Forster, 

 is the present lord of the manor. 



It is possible that the moiety which fell to Mabel 

 le Gras in the fourteenth century became a separate 

 manor of LEPE (Lupe, Hupe, Lehupe, Lope, Leope, 

 xiv cent. ; Leepe, xv cent. ; Leape, xvii. cent.), and 

 that the two manors were kept separate even after 

 they had passed into the same hands. It seems, 

 however, more probable that the division in the 

 fourteenth century was one 

 of land only, and that only 

 one court was held, the 

 manor being frequently called 

 the 'manor of Exbury and 

 Lepe.' 



The church, of 

 CHURCH no known dedica- 

 tion, consecrated in 

 1827, is a rectangular build- 

 ing of yellow brick, with three 

 round-headed windows on the 

 north and two on the south, 

 the middle of the south wall 



having been formerly occupied by a 'three-decker' 

 pulpit. It has a west gallery and bell-turret, and a 

 fl:it plaster ceiling, and is entered from the west. Its 

 builder was William Mitford the historian, and to 

 the east of the church is the family vault of the 

 Mitfords. 



The font is of Purbeck marble, c. 1200, with a 

 shallow square bowl with chamfered angles, and prob- 

 ably cut down. It stands on a circular shaft, and 

 probably had formerly four angle columns. 



In the bell-turret is a small bell, uninscribed. 



The plate consists of a communion cup of rather 

 unusual type, c. 1600, with a band of ornament on 

 the lip, a curved base to the bowl, and a trumpet- 

 shaped stem ; a paten of 1902, its ornament copied 

 from the cup ; and a plated flagon and almsdish. 

 The register dates from 1756. 



Fxbury was a chapelry of Fawley 

 4DVOWSON until 1863. The earliest mention of 

 the chapel is in 1291, when 'Master 

 Nicholas de Audeby ' held the church of Fawley with 

 the chapel of Exbury." The next reference is in 

 1 494." In 1863 Exbury was separated from Faw- 

 ley, the curate-in charge becoming rector, while the 

 living remained in the gift of the bishop of the diocese. 

 In 1 840 there was an agreement for the commutation 

 of tithes, in which document Exbury is distinctly 

 spoken of as a parish. 18 There are no dissenting 

 chapels in this parish. 



11 Part. R. (Rec. Com.), ii, 353 ; Chan. 

 Inq. Misc. 3 Ric. II, No. 115. 



"Feet of F. Div. Cos. Mich. 35 

 Edw. Ill, No. 87 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 22 

 Ric. II, No. 6. 



13 Harl. R. E. 9; Cal, of Pat. 1272-81, 

 p. 181. 



14 Feud. Aids, ii, 317. 



is Feet of F. Hants, East. 5 Edw. Ill ; 

 Cal. of Pat. 1334-8, p. 520; Chan. Inq. 

 p.m. 41 Edw. Ill, No. 23 ; Abbre-v. Rot. 

 Orig. (Rec. Com.), 3383; Cal. of Pat. 



>377- 8l > P- !$* 



16 Cat. of Pat. 1377-81, p. 598. 



J 7 Chan. Inq. p.m. 22 Ric. II, No. 6. 



18 L.T.R. Mem. R. 166, m. 173 ; Feet 

 of F. Div. Cos. Hil. 7 Hen. IV ; Chan. 

 Inq. p.m. 6 Hen. VI, No. 50 ; Chan. Inq. 

 p.m. 38-9 Hen. VI, No. 57. 



19 Cal. of Pat. 1476-85, p. 514. 



20 De Bane. R. Hil. 4 Hen. VII, m. 

 405. 



41 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), vol. 10, No. 

 156. 



23 L. and P. Hen. fill, iv (2), p. 1942 ; 

 Exch. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), file 978, No. 75 

 Arch, xliii, 63. 



23 Exch. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), file 992, 

 No. I ; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), No. 37 ; 



Com. Pleas Recov. R. Mich. 1649, m. 

 20, 21 ; Recov. R. East. 13 Anne, R. 



2 3- 



24 Feet of F. Hants, East. 4 Geo. I. 



M Recov. R. Mich. 6 Geo. Ill, R. 258. 



26 Burke, Hist, of the Commoners. 



V Cal. Pap. Let. i, 546. 



88 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), vol. 10, No. 

 156. In this the advowson is entered aft 

 belonging to Katherine Brewerton, lady 

 of the manors of Exbury and Lepe. It is 

 difficult to reconcile this with the other- 

 wise continuous possession of the advow- 

 son by the bishop. 



99 Information from Rev. J. Gillibrand.. 



