FAWLEY HUNDRED 



OWSLEBURV 



side of the road, and gives its name to the small 

 hamlet which lies immediately south-west. Woods 

 also rise from the south side of the pond, which is 

 thus one of the most beautiful spots in the neigh- 

 bourhood. Water fowl of all sorts haunt the banks of 

 the pond, and the deep water affords good fishing 

 which is carefully preserved. West of the pond goes 

 the main road from Winchester to Botley, and on the 

 east side of this stands the Queen's Head Inn and 

 the two or three cottages composing Fisher's Pond 

 hamlet. Continuing from Fisher's Pond the main 

 road rises to Crowd Hill, on the top of which on 

 either side of the road are grouped the cottages and 

 farms composing the hamlet of Crowd Hill, the 

 southern portion of which belongs to Fair Oak (see 

 under Bishopstoke). From the top of Crowd Hill 

 remarkably fine views open out on almost every 

 side. To the north-west is the fine woodland sur- 

 rounding Cranbury House, followed by the high 

 down land that composes the north-west of Compton 

 parish ; to the north over Twyford village are the 

 fine curves of Twyford Downs, stretching away to- 

 wards the east to the high country round Chilcomb. 

 Colden Common, formed into a separate ecclesiastical 

 parish in 1843, is for civil purposes included partly in 

 Owslebury and partly in Twyford. 



Formerly there was an iron foundry in Owslebury 

 parish ; but all traces of this have disappeared except 

 a few specimens of the work, dated in the latter 

 part of the seventeenth century. The soil of the 

 whole parish is clay with a subsoil of chalk on which 

 crops of wheat, barley, oats, turnips, and sainfoin are 

 grown. 



The tithe map is at the vicarage. 



The common lands were inclosed in 1851.* Of 

 the 5,399 acres of land in the parish, 2,520 are 

 arable land, i,57oj are permanent grass, and 827 

 are woodland. 4 Owslebury Down and part of 

 Colden Common were inclosed in 1861.* 



The following place-names occur in 1400: 

 Varlonde, Waddene, Tichehurst, Okheltislade, le 

 Hurst, and Grenewey. 6 



As early as 964 King Eadgar granted 

 MANORS lands in Owslebury to the bishop of 

 Winchester,' andatthe time of theDomes- 

 day Survey the bishop held the manor of Owslebury 

 under the name of Twyford. It was held under the 

 bishops in the time of Edward the Confessor by Wul- 

 fric, the under-tenant in 1086 being Elded wife of 

 Oswald. 8 



In 1284 the king gave up to John bishop of Win- 

 chester and his successors all his right in the manor of 

 Twyford with Marwell,* the name by which this 

 manor in Owslebury was known. There are occasional 

 notices of the ownership of Owslebury by the see of 

 Winchester. In 1313 Bartholomew of Widehaye who 

 held under the bishop conveyed two messuages and two 



carucates of land in Owslebury held of the bishop to 

 William de Overton and Joan his wife ;' and after 

 this date, though the name of the parish remained 

 Owslebury, the name of the manor in the parish became 

 MARWELL or MARWELL WOODLOCK. A 

 pardon was granted to William Woodlock " in 1316 

 for acquiring in fee without licence land in the manor 

 of Marwell from Henry late bishop of Winchester. 

 The land and tenements were to be subject to a rent 

 of 55/. \d. payable to the bishop ; and service was 

 due at the bishop's court of Marwell." 



Bishop Fox, who founded Corpus Christ! College, 

 Oxford, in 151516, endowed it with the demesne 

 lands round Owslebury, which the college retains at 

 the present day. 1 * 



In 1520 Lionel Norreys held half the manor from 

 the bishop ;" and in 1523 William Holgyle held the 

 remainder and conveyed it by fine to Richard Wotton. 15 



When John Poynet was granted the see of Win- 

 chester in 1551 one of the conditions attached to his 

 appointment was that he should surrender all the epis- 

 copal manors in exchange for 

 a fixed income of 2,000 marks, 

 and thus Marwell passed into 

 the hands of the crown. 16 In 

 the same year the manor and 

 the advowson of the vicarage 

 were granted to Sir Henry Sey- 

 mour, the king's uncle. 17 The 

 manor of Marwell, among 

 other lands, was restored by 

 Queen Mary to the bishop- 

 ric of Winchester ; but Sir 

 Henry Seymour evidently com- 

 pounded with John bishop of Winchester for Mar- 

 well, as in 1577 he died seised of it, leaving a son 

 and heir John, 18 who died in 1 6 1 8 and was followed 

 by his son Edward. 1 ' 



In 1625 Sir Edward Seymour and Henry Seymour 

 conveyed the manor with all appurtenances to Susanna 

 Holliday widow, 10 daughter 

 of Sir Henry Rowe ; who 

 married as her second husband 

 Robert earl of Warwick." In 

 1626 she and her husband 

 conveyed the manor of Mar- 

 well to Sir Henry Mildmay 

 and his wife Anne, the latter 

 being Susanna's daughter by 

 her first husband." The manor 

 then descended in the male 

 line. On the death of Carew 

 Mildmay of Shawford House, 



Hants, at the end of the eighteenth century, it 

 passed to his daughter Jane, who had married Sir Henry 

 Paulet St. John, bart. In 1786 the latter obtained 

 licence to use the name and bear the arms of Mildmay 



SEYMOUR. Gulci a 

 pair of "wings or. 



MILDMAY. Argent 

 three lions azure. 



8 Local and Pers. Acts of Par!. 14 & 1 5 

 Viet. cap. 54. 



4 Statistics from Bd. of Agric. (1905). 



5 Par!. Acctt. and Papers, vol. 71, 485- 



5*3- 



6 Cal.ofPat. 1399-1401^.396. 



1 Birch, Cart. Sax. iii, 412. 

 8 V.C.H. Hants, i, 460. 

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

 10 Feet of F. Hants, Trin. 7 Edw. II. 

 "Walter Woodlock obtained licence to 

 inclose land in Marwell in 1310, this 



licence being confirmed in 1400 (Cal. 

 of Pat. 1399-1401, p. 396). 



12 Pat. 9 Edw. II, pt. 2, m. 3 ; Feud. 

 Aids, ii, 320. 



18 In 1535 iti rents from lands in Owsle- 

 bury amounted to 3 31. 5 \d. ( Valor 

 Eccl. [Rec. Com.], ii 245) and at the 

 same date Lionel Norreys rented lands in 

 Marwell Woodlock from Corpus Christ! 

 for 13 6s. 8J. per annum. In 1648 Sir 

 John Arundel was lessee of the Corpus 

 Christi lands in Owslebury and compounded 

 as a recusant. Cal. of Com. for Camp, i, 105. 



333 



"Feet of F. Hants, East. 12 Hen. 

 VIII. 



"Ibid. Trin. 25 Hen. VIII. 



18 Pat. 5 Edw. VI, pt. 6, m. 20. 



W Ibid. pt. 5, m. 29. 



18 Chan. Inq. p.m. 20 Eliz. (Ser. 2), 

 pt. 2, No. 64. 



19 Ibid. 1 6 Jas. I (Ser. 2), pt 2, No. 39. 

 40 Notes of F. Hants, Mich, i Chas. I. 

 111 G.E.C. Complete Peerage, viii, 67. 



m Feet of F. Hants, Hil. 2 Cha. 1 5 

 Recov. R. East. 52 Geo. Ill, m. 27 ; 

 ibid. East. 54 Geo. Ill, m. 74. 



