A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



PRIVETT 



Pryvet (xiv cent.) ; Piyvate (xvi cent.). 



The parish of Privett, containing about 1,279 acres , 

 31^ acres of which are arable land and 30^- acres 

 permanent grass, 1 lies east of Winchester on high 

 ground which rises to nearly 600 ft. above the sea 

 level in several parts of the parish. The village is in 

 the south of the parish, and consists mainly of a 

 number of scattered farms and cottages grouped for 

 the most part at Filmer Hill in the west, at Bailey 

 Green, and at the junction of the road from West 

 Tisted to Petersfield with a branch road coming from 

 Froxfield. Holy Trinity Church with the vicarage 

 and schools is in this latter group, the nucleus of the 

 village, the church standing in a fine situation on high 

 ground overlooking the Meon valley south of the 

 Froxfield road, while the vicarage is to the north. 

 The schools lie away a few yards to the south, to the 

 west of the road to Petersfield, which here makes a 

 rapid winding descent to the south to meet the main 

 road from Winchester to Petersfield. The Wheat- 

 sheaf Inn and the smithy are situated in the midst of 

 pine trees near Filmer Hill. 



Privett station on the Meon Valley line lies north of 

 the village a few yards east of the Alton road. After 

 passing the railway station the Alton road runs parallel 

 to the railway line, which is, however, hidden by high 

 hedges and pine trees. One of the entrances to 

 Basing Park (which is in Froxfield parish, though some 

 of the copses and farms in the southern part of the 

 estate are in Privett) is on the right of this road, which 

 leaves the parish after passing Basing farm. 



The soil is varied : on the chalk-hills it is loam and 

 stiff clay, in the valleys it is stiff clay. The subsoil 

 is chalk. The chief crops are oats, wheat, barley and 

 beans. 



There is no manor of PRIVETT 

 MANORS at the present day ; and there is no 

 reference to a manor in Privett before 

 the seventeenth century. 



Privett seems to have been merely part of the manor 

 of West Meon ; for in 1391 the chapel of Holy 

 Trinity at Privett in the parish of West Meon is 



mentioned,' and it is mentioned as part of the manor 

 of West Meon in the valuation of the lands lately 

 belonging to St. Swithun's monastery, which were 

 granted by Henry VIII to the dean and chapter of 

 Winchester. 3 From this time the descent of Privett 

 follows that of West Meon manor (q.v.). 4 



The modern church of the HOLT 

 CHURCH TRINlTr, PRIfETT, is a fine flint 

 structure with Doulting stone dressings in 

 thirteenth-century style. It consists of a chancel, a 

 clearstoried nave of four bays with aisles, transepts, and 

 north porch, and a western tower with a spire, con- 

 taining eight bells, cast in 1878. 



The church was built in 1876-8, from the designs 

 of J. L. Pearson, and occupies the site of the old 

 church, of which nothing now remains. It is a very 

 fine specimen of Pearson's work, its tall spire being a 

 landmark for miles around. 



The plate is modern (1878), and consists of chalice 

 and paten and credence paten with a silver-mounted 

 glass flagon. 



The first book of registers contains the baptisms 

 1538-1632, marriages 1545-1626, and burials 

 1552-1632. The second contains all entries from 

 1653 to 1714, and a note of briefs 1705-12. The 

 third runs from 1 7 1 2 to 1 776, the marriages ceasing in 

 1752, and the fourth has baptisms and burials 

 17761812. All entries between 1632 and 1653, 

 and the marriage registers 1753-1812, appear to 

 be missing. 



The earliest mention of a chapel 

 ADVOWSON in Privett is in the year 1 391, when 

 an indulgence was granted to peni- 

 tents who gave alms to ' the fabric ' of the chapel of 

 Holy Trinity at Privett, in the parish of West Meon. 6 



The chapelry of Privett continued to be attached 

 to the church of West Meon 6 (q.v.) until 1874, when 

 it was formed into a separate ' ecclesiastical benefice ; 

 the church was rebuilt in 1834.* 



The living is now a vicarage in the gift of Mr. 

 William Nicholson of Basing Park, who bore the 

 expense of the last rebuilding. 



TICHBORNE 



The parish of Tichborne, containing 3,049 acres 

 of land, rises from north to south from the valley 

 through which the River Itchen wanders to the high 

 downland rising in the far south, and stretches down 

 to the borders of Morestead and Owslebury. 



As the two main roads from Winchester to New 

 Alresford, the one coming through the Worthies and 

 Itchen Abbas, and the other over Magdalen Hill and 

 through Avington and Ovington, meet about a mile 

 from New Alresford, a branch road turns off south 

 towards Tichborne, and following the course of the 

 River Itchen, which runs through the meadows on the 

 east, leads circuitously to the picturesque village. 



Along the east side of the road, which now begins 

 to leave the river, are the grounds of Tichborne House 

 sloping up from the river to the east, while on the 

 west side are thatched cottages and farm buildings, 

 behind which the ground rises up to the square- 

 towered church of St. Andrew, which can be seen from 

 the entrance to the village standing on high ground 

 to the west. Beyond the first group of cottages, 

 having passed Tichborne House, which stands close 

 down by the river on the east, the road makes a still 

 greater divergence from the river, turning uphill to the 

 south-west. Here on the left up the hill is the low 

 thatched ' Tichborne Arms," opposite which is a group 



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

 3 Cat. Pap. Letters, iv, 356. 

 Winch. Cath. Dae. (Hants Rec. Soc.), 

 i, 91. 



4 Rccov. R. Mich. 16 Chas. II, m. 102; 

 ibid. East. 13 Geo. Ill, m. 347. 

 * Cal. Pap. Letters, iy, 356. 



336 



6 Conspectus Dioc. Wintan. 1854, p. 16. 



7 Clergy List, 1874. 



* Conspectus Dioc. ffinton. 1854, p. 16. 



