FAWLEY HUNDRED 



OVINGTON 



OVINGTON 



Edintune (xi cent.) ; Edyneton (xiii cent.). 



The parish of Ovington, covering 1,288 acres of 

 the country which stretches southwards from the valley 

 of the Itchen to become part of the ridge of down 

 land which stretches south and east of Winchester, is 

 long and narrow, being about four miles in length 

 and barely a mile in breadth at its widest part. Ap- 

 proaching the village from Itchen Stoke a pathway 

 along the river bank between two branches of the 

 Itchen leads to a ford over the widest part of the river, 

 from which the first houses of the village of Ovington, 

 lying on the slope rising to the south from the valley, 

 can be seen. The uphill road leads past the Bush Inn, 

 a small unobtrusive house lying to the west near the 

 river, on past the smithy, two or three modern houses 

 and several low-thatched cottages, one of which serves 

 as the post office, to the church of St. Peter, which 

 stands to the east of the road. Near by the church is 

 a group of tiled half-timbered cottages, on one of 

 which is a tablet G.F.H. 1847. The rectory is 

 almost opposite, south of Ovington Park Farm. South 

 of the church low white gates lead up a short drive to 

 Ovington House, the seat of Mrs. Hewson, lady of the 

 manor, which stands in the midst of finely-wooded 

 country, beyond which Ovington Park stretches away 

 to its boundary, the main road which leads from 

 Winchester through Chilcomb and Tichborne to 

 New Alresford. Beyond the main road the south of 

 the parish is one long sweep of down land, rising to a 

 height of over 500 ft. above the sea level near Long- 

 wood Warren. Ovington Down Farm and Ovington 

 Down Cottages lying along Rodfield Lane, which is a 

 continuation of the village street across the down land, 

 are the only traces of human existence in the midst of 

 this lonely country. 



The soil of the parish is clay, the subsoil chalk, 

 and since this is so and since most of the country is 

 down land there are only 561 acres of arable land and 

 13 acres of woodland as compared with 328^ acres of 

 permanent grass. Ordinary crops wheat, oats, barley, 

 and roots are produced. The common lands were 

 inclosed in 1811 12. ' 



There are two entries in Domesday 

 MANORS with reference to the manor of OVING- 

 TON ' ; in the first it was held by the 

 bishop * ; in the second it is said to be in the posses- 

 sion of the abbey of St. Mary at Winchester, for whom 

 the bishop evidently held it. It had previously been 

 held by Archbishop Stigand. Formerly Ovington 

 had been assessed at one and a half hides ; in 1086 

 the whole of the revenue was appropriated to the 

 support of the nuns.* 



Between 1086 and 1316 the nuns were constantly 

 in pecuniary difficulties 4 ; it is probable that in order 

 to raise money they sold the manor to St. Swithun's 

 before 1284, as in that year John bishop of Winches- 

 ter gave up all his right in the manor to the prior 

 and convent of St. Swithun. 6 The manor evidently 



remained in the possession of St. Swithun's until the 

 Dissolution; 7 and in 1542 Ovington Manor lately 

 belonging to St. Swithun's was granted to the dean 

 and chapter of Winchester ; 8 it was in the possession 

 of the cathedral church of Winchester in 1682 ; 9 and 

 in 1701 the dean and chapter of Winchester were 

 still lords of the manor. 10 



In 1855 and 1859 the manorial rights were the 

 subject of a dispute between the bishop of Winchester 

 and the Baroness van Zandt of Ovington Park, who 

 had inherited the estate from her father, Mr. James 

 Standerwick. Between 1859 and 1866 this estate 

 passed to Captain G. F. Hewson, whose widow, Mrs. 

 Hewson, is the present owner. 



At the time of the Domesday Survey there was half 

 a mill in Ovington worth 7/. ; " there is no mill in 

 the parish at the present day. 



The church of ST. PETER, entirely 

 CHURCH rebuilt in 1865-6, consists of a chancel 

 with north vestry, north and south 

 transepts, a nave with south-west tower, the ground 

 stage of which serves as an entrance porch. In the 

 porch is preserved an ancient holy-water stone. The 

 font is of Purbeck marble, with a bowl ornamented 

 with shallow arcades, after a late twelfth-century 

 fashion, but there is nothing else in the church with 

 any pretensions to antiquity. 



There are four bells, the treble by Warner, 1881 ; 

 the second and tenor by the same founder, 1866 ; and 

 the third by Mears, 1820. 



The plate consists of a cup of 1807, with paten 

 and flagon of i8n,all presented in July 1811 by 

 George Lowther. 



The first book of the registers contains all entries 

 from 1591 to 1738, and the second baptisms and 

 burials 1738-85, and marriages to 1754. The third 

 has marriages 1755-1812, and the fourth baptisms 

 and burials 1786-1813. 



There is no mention of a church 

 ADVOWSOX in OVINGTON at the time of the 

 Domesday Survey. One, however, 

 existed before 1284, as in that year the king gave up 

 to John bishop of Winchester and his successors all 

 his right in the advowson of the church of Oving- 

 ton." In 1291 Ovington church was valued at 

 $, a and by 1535 the value had risen to l2. li 



The bishop of Winchester was patron of Ovington 

 until about the year 1 8 70," when the advowson passed 

 into the hands of the bishop of Lichfield, 16 and re- 

 mained in his gift for some fifteen years. From 1890 

 to the present day the Lord Chancellor has presented 

 to the living." 



There were formerly in this parish 

 CHARITIES about two acres of land considered to 

 belong to the church which became 

 intermixed with private property, and could not be 

 identified. In 1820 Sir Thomas Richard Dyer, bart. 

 (who by marriage had come into possession of the 



1 Local and Pirs.Acts of 'Parl.$2 Geo. Ill, 

 cap. 41. 



a It was in Mainsbridge Hundred at this 

 date. 



V.C.H. Hants, \, 462. 



< Ibid, i, 474. 



* Feud. Aids, ii, 320. 



6 Chart. R. 13 Edw. I, m. 27. 



7 Ibid. 



8 Pat. 33 Hen. VIII, pt. 9, m. 34-40. 

 L. and P. H,n. VIII, xvi, 878 (l). 



Wincb. Cath. Doc. (Hants Rec. Soc.), ii, 

 182-5. 

 10 Add. MSS. Stowe, 845, fol. 53. 



331 



11 V.C.H. Hants, i, 462. 



" Chart. R. 12 Edw. I, m. 5. 



18 Pofe Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 211. 



14 Valor Ecd. (Rec. Com.}, ii, 9. 



15 Inst. Bk. (P.R.O.). 



16 Clergy List, 1865-70. 

 '"Ibid. 1890-1906. 



