A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



the land attached to the estate extends into the ad- 

 joining parishes of Bishop's Waltham and Durley. 

 Previous to the building of the Droxford Union there 

 was a poor-house (now cottages) at Upham, the 

 following being one of the rules for the conduct of 

 its inhabitants : ' That all persons, both men, women, 

 and children, shall attend Divine Service every Sunday 

 morning at eleven o'clock, or else go without a 

 dinner ; except such as are not able by infirmity or age.' 



The industry of brushmaking, which at one time 

 occupied the villagers, has now become extinct, and 

 the work of the people is purely agricultural. The 

 chief crops are wheat, oats, and barley. 



Edward Young, the author of ' Night Thoughts,' 

 was born at Upham Rectory in 1684, but left the 

 village when quite a boy. 



There has never been a separate manor 

 MANORS of UPHAM, the lands in the modern 

 parish of Upham forming part of the 

 ancient manor of Bishop's Waltham, 3 which passed 

 from the bishop of Winchester to the Ecclesiastical 

 Commissioners in 1869.* The house known as 

 Upham Manor House was built in the latter part 

 of the nineteenth century, on the site of the old one, 

 by Mr. J. C. Stares. 



The WINTERSHILL estate was also included in 

 the lands of Bishop's Waltham manor, and there were 

 never separate manorial courts for Wintershill. The 

 earliest record of the name is in 1420, when John 

 Fromond de Spersholte conveyed land in ' South 

 Waltham, Cleverly, Upham, Durley, Wintershill, 

 Mincyngfield, and Botley,' to Margaret, widow of 

 one John Tank. 5 This estate, or part of it, was next 

 found in the possession of Edward Upham, 6 after 

 whose death an amusing dispute arose between his 

 widow, Iseult, and the trustees of the property. 7 The 

 account relates that Iseult, who apparently had married 

 again, sent her son to one of the trustees ' with a 

 release from his mother Iseult, and required him (the 

 trustee) to seal the said release, and thereto he said, 

 " Nay I was enfeoffed in the said lands to the use of 

 the heirs of Upham, and not of Barnevyle, and to 

 them will I release and to none other, to die for it or 

 to be drawn with wild horses." Afterward the said 

 Iseult came to him, and asked him why he had not 

 sealed the release that she sent unto him, himself 

 answering that it was not his duty so to do, and not 

 well. Whereupon the said Iseult said unto him, 

 " Thou beggar ! Then keep my land against my 

 will ! " He saying again unto her, "Thou mare ! 

 wouldst thou make me damn my soul ? " And so 

 departed in great anger.' From the year 1500 on- 

 wards the estate was dignified by the name of manor,' 

 and up till at least 1766 passed through exactly the 

 same hands as did the manor of South Ambersham 

 (q.v.). A certain Nicholas Taillard and Alice his 

 wife, who was holding in her own right, quitclaimed 

 the land to John Onley in 1 500,' and in 15 38 Thomas 

 Onley sold it to Katherine Percy, dowager countess 

 of Arundel. 10 She sold it three years later to the 



Yongs of Petworth, in Sussex," and this family were 

 still holding in 1629, when the estate was made over 

 to Sir Thomas Bilson." In 1733 and 1766 Winters- 

 hill was in the hands of the Caprons of Sussex, 13 after 

 which no connected descent of the holders is 

 traceable. 



It is interesting to note that the original manor- 

 house of this so-called manor was the old farm-house 

 now known as Durley Hall Farm, standing about a 

 quarter of a mile away from the upper lodge of 

 Wintershill Hall, and within the parish of Durley. 14 

 This house is now the property of Dr. Maybury, 

 and has no connexion with the Wintershill estate. 

 Wintershill Hall was built by Mr. G. H. Stares in 

 1852, and the larger portion of it rebuilt in 1902 by 

 Mr. J. S. Moss, the present owner and occupier. 



There is an interesting entry in the churchwardens' 

 accounts for II April, 1642 : 'For cleansing the 

 church against Christmas, after the troopers had 

 abused it for a stable for their horses, 2/. dd.' 



The church (dedication unknown) 

 CHURCH has been so much repaired that it 

 shows little appearance of age, but a 

 small amount of thirteenth-century work remains. 

 The chancel walls may be of this date, as their 

 eastern angles have quoins of thirteenth-century 

 character (on the southern of which is an incised 

 sundial), and at the east end of the north aisle is a 

 thirteenth-century arch, though it is not in its 

 original position. 



The chancel, which has a modern vestry and organ 

 chamber on the north, has a three-light east window 

 and a single-light south window, both with modern 

 tracery of fifteenth-century style, though the rear arch 

 of the latter appears to be old. There are two sedilia 

 and a double piscina of doubtful date; and the chancel 

 arch is a somewhat nondescript specimen with clus- 

 tered shafts and a moulded arch. The chancel was 

 restored in 1877, and its present appearance of com- 

 parative newness is doubtless due to that event. The 

 north aisle of the nave was rebuilt in 1 88 1, with an 

 arcade of three bays, having hollow-sided octagonal 

 columns and moulded capitals ; the aisle has a door- 

 way at the north-west and a west and two north 

 windows, all modern. At its east end is the thir- 

 teenth-century arch already noted, with half-round 

 responds, moulded capitals and bases, and pointed arch 

 of two chamfered orders. 



The south arcade, much taller than the north, is of 

 fifteenth-century style but doubtful date, with slender 

 octagonal columns and an east respond with clustered 

 shafts corbelled off" at some distance from the floor. 

 The windows of this aisle, each of two cinquefoiled 

 lights under a square head, preserve some old stone- 

 work of fifteenth-century date, but the south doorway 

 has a plastered arch, and shows no signs of age. Over 

 it is a modern south porch, and the aisle is prolonged 

 westward to the west face of the tower, and has a 

 two-light west window with a trefoiled circle over, 

 and a single cinquefoiled light on the south. 



8 Suitors from Upham are found at- 

 tending the Courts Baron of Bishop's 

 Waltham manor. Eccles. Com. Ct. R. 



4 Lond. Gaa. I April, 1870. 



6 Feet of F. Hants, Mich. 8 Hen. V. 



6 Feet of F. Hants, Mich. 31 Hen. 

 VI. 



' Early Chan. Proc. bdle. 44, No. 

 III. 



8 It it rather perplexing to note that 

 the appurtenances of Wintershill manor 

 after this date are quite different from 

 those in the earlier documents. But 

 the descent has no possible connexion 

 with that of Wintershill in Bramley, 

 Surrey. 



9 Feet of F. Div. Cos. Mich. 16 Hen. 

 VIII. 



300 



10 Feet of F. Div. Cos. Hil. 29 Hen. 

 VIII. 



11 Com. Picas. Deeds Enr. Trin. 33 

 Hen. VIII, m. I d. 



11 Feet of F. Div. Cos. Mich. 5 Chas. I. 



18 Feet of F. Hants. East. 6 Geo. II ; 

 Feet of F. Div. Cos. Hil. 6 Geo. III. 



M From information supplied by Mr. 

 Stares, of Upham Manor House. 



