A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



sum in repairing them, as may be seen from a study 

 of the various ministers' accounts. For instance, the 

 farmer of Old Alresford in 1399 8 ave ' n 8 reat detail 

 the debts he had incurred in repairing the various 

 mills, including the hire of four men to bring a new 

 mill-stone for the mill of the borough from Ports- 

 mouth to Alresford. 36 Only two of these mills now 

 survive Weir Mill and a disused fulling-mill built 

 across the Alre. 



The church of OUR LADY was 

 CHURCH entirely rebuilt in 1753, a west tower 

 was added in 1769, and in 1862 the 

 eighteenth-century work, except as regards the tower, 

 was Gothicized, and a south transept, north organ- 

 chamber, and vestry added. As a result the building 

 is of very little architectural interest, though the tower 

 is a good specimen of its kind, of red brick with round- 

 headed western doorway and belfry windows, and 

 finished with a parapet carrying stone ball finials at 

 the angles. 



The only thing of note in the church is the monu- 

 ment of Mrs. Jane Rodney on the north wall of the 

 nave, dated 1757, a fine piece of eighteenth-century 

 work in white marble with figure sculpture. Her 

 husband afterwards became the famous admiral, Lord 

 Rodney, and in the church are monuments to the 

 second and third lords. 



There are six bells, by Wells of Aldbourne, dated 

 1 769 and 1 770, a tablet on the west face of the tower 

 recording their casting, as well as the building of the 

 nave and tower. 



The plate comprises an undated seventeenth-century 

 communion cup and paten, a standing paten of 1679, 

 a flagon of 1717, and a small bowl of 1845. 



The first book of the registers contains baptisms 

 1556-1727, marriages 1559-1729, and burials 1562- 

 1701. The second has the burials in woollen, 1678 

 1728, and the third runs from 1728 to 1779, the 

 marriages only to 1752. The fourth and fifth have 

 baptisms and burials 1780-1812, and the sixth marri- 

 ages 1754-1812. 



At the time of the Domesday 



ADVOWSON Survey there were three churches in 



Alresford worth ^4 " ; one of these 



churches possibly became later the parish church of 



Medsted, the other two the parish church of Old 



Alresford with the chapelry of New Alresford attached. 

 The church of Old Alresford with the chapel were of 

 considerable value at an early date ; for in 1291 they 

 were valued at 26 13^. 4</., w in 1340 the ninths 

 came to ^8 l6/. 4<^., 39 and by 1535 the rectory of 

 Old Alresford alone was valued at ^50.' 



The advowson of St. Mary's Church at Old Aires- 

 ford has always been in the hands of the bishop of 

 Winchester. The living is now a rectory in the gift 

 of the bishop. 



Peter Heylyn, the distinguished theologian and 

 historian, became rector of Old Alresford in 1633. 

 He lived at New Alresford, and while there was a 

 good friend to smiths and carpenters, saying that ' he 

 loved the noise of a workman's hammer, for he thought 

 it a deed of charity as well as to please his own fancy 

 by often building and repairing to set poor people a 

 work and encourage painful artificers and tradesmen 

 in their honest callings.' 41 At the time of the Com- 

 monwealth he was voted a delinquent, and his goods, 

 chattels and livings sequestered, but in 1662 he was 

 restored to his living. He died, however, shortly 

 afterwards. Another distinguished rector was the 

 poet and dramatist John Hoadly," youngest son of 

 Benjamin Hoadly, bishop of Winchester, who was 

 presented to the living in 1737. 



In 1642 John Pinth gave 10, 

 CHARITIES and John Edgur (date unknown) 

 gave 10 for the use of the poor. 

 The two gifts were united, and by accumulations 

 amounted in 1822 to ^30, which was kid out towards 

 building two tenements, in respect of which 30;. a 

 year is distributed in half-crowns to indigent persons. 



In 1705 Christopher Perin by his will devised 

 1 7 perches of land and cottages thereon for the occu- 

 pation of poor widows. The cottages are let at weekly 

 rents to poor persons, and after payment of rates, 

 insurance, and repairs, about 2 los. a year is distri- 

 buted among the poor. 



In 1886, I a. or. 24 p. and buildings thereon, was 

 conveyed to trustees for the establishment of an insti- 

 tution for the orphans of Primitive Methodists and 

 others. In the event of the determination of this 

 trust, the trustees are empowered to sell the premises 

 and apply the proceeds for the benefit of the Con- 



AVINGTON 



Avintun (xi cent.) ; Avintun, Yabyndon, Abingdon, 

 (xiv cent.). 



The parish of Avington lies to the east of Win- 

 chester, the land rising southward from the west bank 

 of the Itchen to Cheesefoot Head, which attains a 

 height of some 600 ft. above the sea level, and tops 

 the chalk downs stretching to the east from Win- 

 chester. The area was extended in 1889 by the 

 addition of detached portions of Easton, Itchen 

 Abbas, and Itchen Stoke, and now contains 26 acres 

 of water and 2,927 acres of land, of which 1,107^ 

 acres are arable land, 914 acres permanent grass, and 

 388 acres woodland. 1 



Avington Park, with its fine stretches of undulating 



country and its magnificent trees, described by Cobbett 

 in 183035 'one ofthe very prettiest spots in the world," 

 covers nearly the whole of the north of the parish, ex- 

 tending over about 300 acres. Avington House, the seat 

 of the Shelley family, stands almost in the heart of the 

 woodland. The western corner of the park is in 

 Easton parish, from which direction a narrow wind- 

 ing road runs south-east across the park to the eastern 

 gate. As the road curves to the south a few yards 

 past the western lodge Avington House lies to the 

 left, with its background of dark woodland and with 

 the lake, a narrow strip of water about a mile long 

 on the north and north-west, in the foreground. 

 Cobbett describes how the high road through the 



86 Mini. Accts. bdle. 6112, No. 366. 

 7 V.C.H. Hants, i, 459. 

 88 Pope Nich. Tax. (Rcc. Com.), zn. 

 > Lay Subs. R. 14 Edw. Ill, ^/. 



4(1 Valor Eccl. (Rcc. Com.), ii, 9. 

 41 For life of Peter Heylyn see Diet. 

 Nat. Biog. tub nomint, 



306 



Ibid. 



1 Statistics of Bd. of Agric. (1905). 



1 Cobbett, Rural Rides, 335 



