A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



cottages which always seem to appear round each 

 corner of the lane known as Berry Wood Lane as it 

 winds down hill in a more or less northerly direction 

 towards Bradley. North-west of Lower Wield, 

 Windmill Hill rises to a height of about 490 ft. above 

 the ordnance datum. 



The soil of the whole parish is clay with a subsoil of 

 chalk, and crops of wheat, oats, and turnips are grown 

 on the 1,191 acres of arable land which make up the 

 best part of the parish. Only 304 acres are given 

 up to permanent grass, while Wield Wood and 

 Barton Copse in the south-west of the parish cover 

 nearly the whole of the 215 acres of woodland. 



The southern portion of the parish 

 M4NOR formed part of Alresford Liberty, and 

 is most probably included in the entry 

 under Alresford in Domesday Book. 1 That this is so 

 is supported by a perambulation of the manor taken in 

 the reign of Edward VI,' by the fact that the tithing 

 of Wield sent a tithing-man to the Old Alresford 

 court leet, 3 and also by the circumstance that an 

 agent sent down from London to report on the whole 

 bailiwick of Bishop's Sutton * included in his survey 

 part of the parish of Wield, reporting as follows : 

 ' Your Wild is but a baron ground whereupon be to 

 littell copices and one small comen thynn sett with 

 greet trees.' * 



The overlordship of the remaining portion, the so- 

 called manor of WIELD, belonged from a very early 

 date to the bishops of Winchester, under whom it 

 was held by various tenants. Durand held it of the 

 bishop at the time of the Domesday Survey, and two 

 freemen had been the tenants in the reign of Edward 

 the Confessor. 8 



From 1270 to 1316 the Wintershulls held Wield 

 from the see of Winchester, for at the earlier date 

 Gerard la Grue conveyed a messuage and two caru- 

 cates of land at West Wield to William de Winter- 

 shull, 7 who died seised of the manor 8 in 1286, his heir 

 being his son John,* who was still holding in 1296.' 

 In 1 306 William de Wintershull, John's son, conveyed 

 the reversion of the manor, two-thirds of which was 

 held by his mother Mary for life, and the remaining 

 third by his grandmother Beatrice in dower, to John 

 de Drokensford and his heirs." John de Drokensford 

 must have died almost immediately, for in the same 

 year (1306) Peter de Courtenay and his wife 



Margaret claimed the manor as next heirs of John de 

 Drokensford on the ground that John de Drokensford, 

 Mary and Beatrice de Wintershull were dead, and 

 that a certain Nicholas de Valence had entered into 

 possession of the manor of Wield, which ought by 

 right to have descended to Margaret as daughter 

 and heiress of John de Drokensford." 



The record of the result of this suit has not been 

 found, but Nicholas de Valence probably proved his 

 claim to some of the property, 13 and was succeeded by 

 his son John and by his grandson another John, for 

 in 1 340 the latter entered a plea for the restoration 

 of the lands in Wield of which his father 14 had been 

 deprived for ' feloniously breaking the mill of the 

 prior of Southwick, and for having stolen a grindstone 

 worth 4<D/. and I \ quarters of wheat found there of 

 the price of 6s,' for which offence he had died in 

 prison. 



The lands had been taken into the king's hands, 

 but after it had been proved by inquisition that the 

 Valences' lands in Wield were held of the bishop 15 

 and not of the king in chief, they were restored. 16 

 Six years later John de Valence was holding half a 

 fee in Wield which had formerly belonged to Beatrice 

 de Wintershull." 



The Holts evidently succeeded to part of the 

 Wintershulls' estate, for in 1428 Richard Holt and 

 his co-parceners were holding half a fee in Wield 

 formerly held by John de Valence. 18 After this date 

 there seems to be no mention of Wield until 1569, 

 when the manor was settled on Thomas Sackville, 

 Lord Buckhurst, and his wife Cecilia, daughter of Sir 

 John Baker of Sissinghurst in Kent. 19 * 



Seven years later it was conveyed by them to Ralph 

 Henslowe, 11 who died seised of the manor of Wield 

 in 1578." His son and heir Thomas conveyed the 

 estate to Thomas Burye in 1591," who sold the 

 manor in 1598 to Arthur Wilmott," in whose family 

 it remained for thirty-six years and was then sold by 

 Edward Wilmott to Constance Lucy, widow, and her 

 son Sir Richard for i,2OO. K 



The manor remained in the possession of the Lucy 

 family for about 140 years, 26 and then passed to the 

 Rodneys, 27 though whether they held by the right of 

 inheritance or by purchase it is difficult to discover. 

 Mr. Earle was the owner of the manor from about 

 1874 to 1886, when he sold it to Mr. Wood, brother 



1 y.C.H. Hants, i, 459. 



3 Eccl. Com. Ct. R. bdle. 136, No. i. 



Ibid. bdle. 85, No. 2. 

 ' Including the hundred of Bishop's 

 Sutton and Alresford Liberty. 



6 Duchy of Lane. Rentals and Surv. 

 bdle. 8, No. 22a. 



6 y.C.H. Hants, i, 463. Two freemen 

 also held one hide worth 201. in 1086. 

 In 1167 the bishop returned account for 

 half a mark. (Pi ft R. [Pipe R. Soc.] 

 13 Hen. II, rot. 12, m. I.) 



7 Feet of F. Hants, Mich. 54 Hen. III. 

 ' So called for the first time. 



' Inq. p.m. 1 5 Edw. Ill, No. 1 5. The 

 property then consisted of a capital 

 messuage with garden worth per annum 

 301. ; 252 acres of arable land worth 

 6J. per acre, total 6 6s. ; separate 

 pasture for six horses, twenty oxen, and 

 eight cows, price per head for all horses 

 izJ., for oxen and cows 6J., sum 201. ; 

 separate pasture for 168 sheep price per 

 head id., sum 141. ; one windmill worth 

 loi. per annum ; rent of freemen ys. 6d. ; 

 four cottars paying per annum 6s. and a 



cock at Christmas worth 8</. ; customs of 

 said cottars worth per annum lod. Sum 

 of whole extent of the manor 11 71. 



10 Feet of F. Hants, East. 22 Edw. I. 



11 Ibid. Mich. 34 Edw. I. 



18 De Banco R. Mich. 34 Edw. I, 

 No. 575, m. 235. Mary de Wintershull 

 was certainly not dead as the claimants 

 asserted, she was still living in 1316, 

 and in that year made a settlement of 

 land in Wield. (Feet of F. Hants, Mich. 

 9 Edw. II.) This fine seems to point to 

 some relationship between the Valences 

 and the Wintershulls. 



18 Most probably John de Drokensford 

 conveyed the manor to Nicholas before 

 his death, though no trace of such a con- 

 veyance can be found. 



14 This John after his conviction had 

 been delivered to Adam, bishop of Win- 

 chester, and had died in prison at 

 Wolvesey. 



15 At this date the bishop was receiving 

 201. 4< from the manor twice yearly. 

 Mins. Accts. bdle. 1142, No. 19. 



16 Close, 13 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 31. 



346 



1 7 Feud. Aids, ii, 334. 



18 Ibid, ii, 357. William Wynbrode 

 and Christine his wife owned a small 

 estate in Wield about 1368. (Feet of F. 

 Hants, East. 42 Edw. III.) 



19 Feet of F. Hants, Hil. II Eliz. 



m It seems probable that the manor 

 remained in the hands of the bishop of 

 Winchester until the middle of the six- 

 teenth century, when it passed into the 

 possession of Sir Richard Sackville as 

 patentee of the bishop of Winchester's 

 lands. It was by him settled on his son 

 Thomas, Lord Buckhurst ; but it seems 

 impossible to verify the truth of this con- 

 jecture, a document which might throw 

 some light on the subject (Com. Pleas 

 Enr. 34 tliz.) being unfit for production. 



81 Feet of F. Hants, Hil. 18 Eliz. 



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

 2, No. 59. 



83 Feet of F. Hants, Mich. 33 & 34 

 Eliz. * Ibid. 39 & 40 Eliz. 



a Ibid. Trin. 9 Chas. I. 



26 Ibid. 33 & 34 Geo. II. 



s ? Recov. R. Trin. 18 Geo. III. 



