FAWLEY HUNDRED 



KILMESTON 



parish." The endowments consist of school, school- 

 house and premises in hand ; a farm at Sheet in 

 the parish of Petersfield, of 53 acres of arable land, 

 ' and 6 acres of meadow ; 1 1 acres or thereabouts 

 of common allotted under Sheet Inclosure Award 

 in respect of the above lands ; a farm at Noah Hill 

 in the parish of Newton Valence, consisting of 

 8 1 a. 2 r. 29 p. of arable land, 4^ acres of coppice, 

 and 5J acres of pasture. The farms produce an 

 annual income of about .145. The official trus- 

 tees also hold 288 ijs. \od. consols arising in 

 part from sale of land and in part from investment 

 of accumulations. 



The trust is administered under a scheme approved 

 I May, 1890. 



Charity of William Blake for Poor. The same 

 testator by his will directed that zoo should be laid 

 out in the purchase of land, the yearly income to be 



applied for the benefit of the poor of the parish. 

 This was laid out in the purchase of 10^ acres at 

 Rogate, Sussex, let at 15 a year. The official trus- 

 tees also hold a sum of 120 6s. loJ. consols in 

 trust for this charity. The income is applied in the 

 distribution of coal, 5/. being paid to the sexton for 

 tolling the church bell as per will of donor. 



In 1 86 1 the Hon. Honora Legge by will left 100 

 consols for the benefit of the poor, which is held by 

 the official trustees. The dividends are given in 

 equal shares to two poor labourers with large families, 

 or to two aged widows. 



In 1898 Mrs. Honora Augusta Cowper-Coles, 

 by will and codicil proved this date, bequeathed 120 

 z id/, per cent, annuities, income to be applied 

 by the officiating minister in the distribution of 

 warm winter clothing to poor women. The stock is 

 held by the official trustees. 



KILMESTON 



Chenelmestune (x cent.) ; Chelmestune (xi cent.) ; 

 Culmiston Gymminges, Kilmeston Gymminges, Cul- 

 miston Plugnett, Kilmeston Plunkenet (xiii, xiv, xv 

 cent.) ; Culmeston, Kympston (xvi cent.). 



The small parish of Kilmeston containing 1,670 

 acres of land lies on the chalk down country south-east 

 of Winchester, the land rising generally from north to 

 south from under 300 ft. near Hinton Ampner to over 

 500 ft. in the south-west near the high down country 

 in the north-west of Exton parish. 



The long straggling village of Kilmeston lies almost 

 in the centre of the parish. As the road from Hinton 

 Ampner, leading south, rises towards Kilmeston village 

 a sudden turn to the west leads past the vicarage, which 

 stands on high ground south of the road, on to the 

 church of St. Andrew, which stands also on the south 

 of the road opposite the fine old manor-house. Past 

 the church the road branches north to College Farm, 

 and south to the scattered cottages, the smithy and the 

 school composing the rest of the village. 



Dean House, the residence of Mr. Charles Naylor, 

 stands in good grounds to the east of the village. 



Westwood, a large copse stretching for about half a 

 mile along the western boundary line of the parish, 

 together with a wood called Broomwood in the east, 

 comprises the greater part of the 8 1 acres of woodland 

 in the parish. The 553 acres of permanent grass are 

 mostly in the south and south-west of the parish, 

 where there are stretches of low downland known as 

 Kilmeston Downs. The 9 1 1 \ acres of arable land lie 

 mostly in the north and north-east. The soil is clay 

 with a subsoil of chalk, producing the ordinary crops of 

 wheat, oats, and barley. 



The manor-house is an interesting building, partly 

 of brick and partly of timber construction. It has a 

 central hall, and wings on the north and south, the 

 latter being of half timber, hung with tiles and con- 

 taining the kitchens and offices. On the east side is a 

 court and terrace leading to the entrance to the hall, 

 but the principal entrance is at the north-west. On the 

 west side are two early seventeenth-century gables of 



cut and moulded brickwork with an enriched cornice 

 and projecting pilasters of very good detail, and the 

 main building is probably of this date, though the 

 timber part may be earlier. The main block is of 

 two stories, the hall having had a flat ceiling with 

 rooms over it ; the detail in this part of the building 

 belongs to the first half of the eighteenth century. 

 The hall ceiling has been taken down, throwing it 

 open to the upper floor, round which a gallery runs. 

 In the north wing is a good Jacobean angle chimney- 

 piece, but this part of the house was remodelled early 

 in the nineteenth century to accommodate George IV, 

 then prince regent, who lived here for some time, and 

 is credited with having written with a diamond on 

 one of the lattice panes in the kitchen window a few 

 lines of verse, which have, however, the appearance of 

 being before his time. 



Land at KILMESTON was in the 

 MANORS possession of the cathedral church of 

 Winchester as early as the tenth century ; 

 for in 961 King Edgar, under a licence from the 

 bishop of Winchester, to whom the land belonged, 

 granted I o mansat at Kilmeston to the thegn Athulf 

 for three lives. On the death of the last survivor the 

 land was to return to the church of St. Peter at 

 Winchester. 1 



At the time of the Domesday Survey the I o mansae 

 were divided equally and formed two manors of 5 hides 

 each, both belonging to the bishop, one being held 

 by Edred, apparently in right of his wife, and the 

 other by Godwin." These manors became known as 

 Kilmeston Plunkenet and Kilmeston Gymming from 

 the names of the families who afterwards held them. 



The manor of KILMESTON PLUNKENET, 

 sometimes called half the manor of Kilmeston, was 

 evidently granted by the bishop to the de la Beres ; 

 and about 1230 Richard de la Bere enfeoffed Alan de 

 Plunkenet of the manor, 3 and he in 1295, together 

 with his wife Joan, granted it to Alan de Plunkenet, 

 junior, and his wife Sybil, to be held for the rent of a 

 rose, with reversion (in case of the failure of heirs to 



al V.C.H. Hanti. ii, ' Schools.' 



1 Birch, Cart. Sax. iii, 304. 

 .Hant!. 1,459, 460. 



323 



8 Cal. of Close, 1227-31, p. 346 ; De 

 Banco R. No. 270, m. 96 d. 



