A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



BRYDGIS. Argent a 

 frost sable ivith a leo- 

 pard* i head or thereon. 



The declining fortunes of the Buckingham and 

 Chandos families are a matter of recent memory. In 

 the great sale of the late duke's possessions in 1848 

 Avington Manor passed to Mr. (afterwards Sir John) 

 Shelley, in whose family it still 

 remains ; n the present lord of 

 the manor being Sir John 

 Shelley. 



In 1301 a grant was made 

 to the prior and convent of 

 St. Swithun of free warren 

 in their demesne lands of 

 Avington. 84 In 1809 the 

 Grenvilles held courts leet, 

 courts baron, view of frank- 

 pledge, and rights of free 

 warren in Avington.*" 



In 1655 the Commissioners 



for the Sale of Bishops' Lands sold the capital mes- 

 suage or manor-house called YAFINGTON HOUSE 

 in the parish of Avington, possession of John Unwin, 

 whose estate had been forfeited 

 by treason, to Edward Keate. 86 

 This is the only mention of 

 the so-called manor of Yav- 

 ington. 



The church of 



CHURCH OUR LADY VIM 

 built 1768-71 

 by Margaret marchioness of 

 Carnarvon, and is a plain 

 red-brick building of chancel, 

 nave and west tower, chiefly 

 interesting from the fact that 

 it preserves its original arrange- 

 ments with little alteration. Nothing of the former 

 church remains. 



Internally it is plastered, with a moulded cornice 

 and arched ceiling, and is fitted with high pews and a 

 pulpit with a domed tester on the south wall of the 

 nave, the ' squire's pew ' being as usual large and 

 important, on the north side. By a treatment charac- 

 teristic of the time, the details of the panelling within 

 the pew are more ornamental than those on the outside. 



There is a good panelled reredos at the back of the 

 altar-table, which is inclosed by gilded wrought-iron 



GKSNVILLE. Vert a 

 cross argent with f-vt 

 roundels gules thereon* 



SHILLIY. Sable a 

 Jesse engrailed between 

 three shells or. 



rails. At the west of the church is a large gallery 

 with the royal arms, dated 1771, on its front, and 

 the font of grey marble has a small bowl on a baluster 

 stem. 



On the north of the altar-table is the monument of 

 Margaret marchioness of Carnarvon, 1768, and on 

 the south that of George 

 Brydges, 1751. Other monu- 

 ments are those of Anna 

 duchess of Buckingham and 

 Chandos, 1836, on the north 

 wall, and of John, only bro- 

 ther of Percy Bysshe Shelley, 

 1866, on the south, and there 

 are several hatchments in the 

 church. 



There are six bells of 1771 

 by Pack & Chapman of 

 London. 



The plate consists of a 



silver communion cup, a large and small paten, and 

 a flagon, each inscribed 'Avington Church, 1829.' 



The first book of the registers contains all entries 

 from 1 609 to 1812, except those of the marriages 

 from 1754 onwards, which are in a separate book. 



At the time of the Domesday 

 ADVQWSON Survey there was a church at Aving- 

 ton in the possession of the bishop/' 

 The advowson is now and always has been in the 

 hands of the bishops of Winchester. 18 Avington rec- 

 tory was numbered among the bishop's spiritualities. 

 In 1291," I354, 30 an d "535 3I i { was valued at 12. 



At the present day the living is a rectory of the net 

 yearly value of 145, including 24 acres of glebe, with 

 residence, in the gift of the bishop of Winchester. 



In 1761 Mrs. Anne Brydges by 

 CHARITIES her will left 1,000 to be invested, 

 and directed that zo should be 

 paid to the rector for the time being on condition of 

 residence in the parish, or in default to be distributed 

 among poor and decayed old housekeepers living in 

 the parish or adjoining parishes in the discretion of 

 the trustees. In satisfaction of this legacy a sum of 

 666 I3/. \d. consols is in court under the title 

 of Attorney-General t>. Rodney, the dividends of 

 which are regularly received by the incumbent. 



BISHOPSTOKE 



Stoke, Stoches (xi cent.). 



The parish of Bishopstoke, as originally constituted, 

 covered about 3,430 acres of land rising from west to 

 east from the arable lands round Great and Little 

 Eastley farms, a height of 40 ft. to 5 oft. above the 

 ordnance level, to the woodland round Fair Oak Park, 

 a height of 190 ft. to 220 ft. However, in 1894, 

 Fair Oak, the eastern part of the parish, was formed 

 into a civil parish of 1,680 acres independent of 

 Bishopstoke. In 1899 Stoke Park was also separated 

 and made a civil parish of 1,250 acres, of which two 

 are water, leaving the original parish with an area of 

 only 500 acres, of which thirteen are covered by water. 



The main road from Winchester to Southampton, 

 passing through Fair Oak, leaves to the west the low- 

 lying ground composing the modern parish of Bishop- 

 stoke. A road branching off westward leads from the 

 main road through fields and meadows to the village. 

 About a quarter of a mile east of the village this road 

 turns sharply northward for a few yards to the National 

 School built in 1895, then east again past Manor 

 Farm and across the bridge, to enter the village near 

 Bishopstoke (corn) Mill, which is said to be on the 

 site of the mill of Domesday. North of the mill, 

 almost on an island formed by two branches of the 

 Itchen, is the Manor House with its enormous fish 



33 Information supplied by Lady Shelley. 

 84 Chart. R. 29 Edw. I, m. 12, 

 No. 54. 



25 Feet of F. Hants, Trin. 49 Geo. III. 



* Close, 1655, P l - 22 > No - 35 > Stowe 

 MS. 845, fol. 91. 



7 V.C.H. Hants, i, 464. 

 58 Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.). 



308 



M Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 



211. 



80 Cal. Pap. Pet. i, *6j. 



81 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.}, ii, 10. 



