FAWLEY HUNDRED 



ALRESFORD 



Domesday Book shows quite well that it comprised 

 the modern parishes of New Alresford, Old Alresford, 

 and Medsted, and perhaps that of Wield, for no less than 

 three churches are included in the extent representing 

 the churches of New and Old Alresford and Medsted, 

 and leading to the inference that New Alresford and 

 Medsted were settled villages with separate churches. 



A statement in a book of customs of the hundred 

 of Bishop's Sutton of the time of Henry III to 

 the effect that Alresford great pond belonged not to 

 the hundred of Bishop's Sutton but to the hundred 

 of Alresford 10 furnishes an additional proof that Old 

 Alresford was in Alresford Liberty, for the pond 

 was parcel of the manor of Old Alresford." The 

 bishop held hundred courts twice a year at Martin- 

 mas and Hocktide for both New Alresford borough 

 and Old Alresford manor," including the tithings of 

 Old Alresford, Medsted, and Wield, 13 and the latter 

 likewise paid tithing-pence or cert-money at the 

 hundred court." Owing to some confusion, however, 

 Old Alresford sometimes sent a tithing-man to Fawley 

 hundred court, 15 and Old Alresford, Medsted, and 

 Wield were usually assessed with the parishes of 

 Fawley Hundred for the payment of taxes." Hence 

 it followed that when the bishop ceased to hold his 

 Alresford hundred courts, Old Alresford, Medsted, 

 and Wield were included in Fawley Hundred, as in 

 the population returns for 1831, while Alresford 

 Liberty and New Alresford borough came to be looked 

 upon as interchangeable terms. 



The liberty remained in the possession of the 

 bishops of Winchester until 155 1, when it was among 

 the possessions of the bishopric which were surren- 

 dered by John Poynet to the crown on his accession 

 to the see. 17 In the same year Edward VI granted it 

 to Sir John Gate, 18 but it was restored with the other 

 episcopal property in I557, 1 ' and remained in the 

 possession of the see of Winchester until, under the 

 Root and Branch Bill, it was sold in 1 648 to Thomas 

 Hussey for 2,683 gs. i\J. K Alresford came back 

 to the bishopric at the Restoration, and remained 

 part of its possessions until 1869, when the lands of 

 the see of Winchester were taken over by the Eccle- 

 siastical Commissioners, who are the owners at the 

 present day. 



The modern parish of NEW ALRESFORD com- 

 prises about 693 acres of arable and pasture land, 

 sloping gradually north and south to the valley 

 of the River Alre, which becomes the southern 

 boundary line between New and Old Alresford. 

 The town is in the extreme north-east of the parish 

 on high ground, the streets sloping gradually up to 

 the Market House, which stands almost in the centre 

 of the parish, where West Street, East Street, and 

 Broad Street meet. 



The road from Southampton to London cuts 

 through the parish, forming the main street of the 

 town, approaching it from the west through a long 



avenue of fine old trees. 11 At the end of the 

 avenue the road dips downhill, where it is called 

 Pound Hill, since the pound originally stood here on 

 the north side of the road, and again sharply uphill 

 into the town, taking the name of West Street as far 

 as the market-place. Here it starts downhill again, 

 and is known as East Street, becoming narrower and 

 bearing to the south as it leaves the town and goes 

 towards Bishop's Sutton. Branching north from 

 West Street by the market-place is Broad Street, a 

 wide short stretch of road which sweeps gently down 

 towards the river. At the lower end of Broad Street 

 two smaller roads branch off to the north, the more 

 easterly one leading to Old Alresford across a small 

 bridge, probably identical with the stone bridge men- 

 tioned by Leland in his Itinerary. It has now been 

 widened on the south side, but on the north its 

 original pointed arch, which dates from the latter 

 part of the fourteenth century, can be seen from the 

 garden of the house near by, and is in perfect con- 

 dition. The span is barely six feet, the stream which 

 it crosses being a small one, dammed up just below 

 the bridge to work a mill. 



West Street itself, with its numerous inns the 

 ' Running Horse,' the ' White Horse,' the ' Dolphin,' 

 the Swan Hotel, and the Bell Inn combines memo- 

 ries of old coaching days with the modern days of 

 the motor-car. It has all the quiet picturesqueness 

 of a market town of the old days, yet its peacefulness 

 is continually disturbed by the noise of motor-cars on 

 their way from London. 



Although the plan of the modern town is almost 

 identical with that of the original town as it was 

 rebuilt by Bishop Godfrey de Lucy in the thirteenth 

 century, the houses only date back for the most part 

 to the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, 

 since the town suffered from fire both in the seven- 

 teenth and eighteenth centuries. However, just to 

 the north of the place where the most disastrous fire 

 began in 1689, at the lower end of Broad Street, are 

 several older houses, one containing some early seven- 

 teenth-century panelling and chimney-pieces, of rather 

 rough and simple workmanship, but interesting speci- 

 mens of the ornament employed in small houses of 

 the time. 



The church of St. John the Baptist, standing 

 behind the market-house and approached by a narrow 

 passage from West Street, suffered severely in the 

 fire of 1689, and was described by Duthy in 1839 

 as ' a plain neat substantial structure . . . possessing 

 no monuments of any particular interest,' and ' better 

 calculated to afford accommodation to its congregation 

 than materials to the topographer.' ** The rectory is 

 some distance from the church, standing in wide 

 grounds south of the Alresford railway station, which 

 is on the Alton branch of the London and South- 

 western Railway as it runs through the parish south 

 of the town. 



W Duchy of Lane. Rentals, bdle. 8, 

 No. 26. 



11 This is clear from the court rolls and 

 ministers' accounts of Old Alresford manor. 



18 A series of these rolls is preserved at 

 the Public Record Office. 



19 Old Alresford and Medsted tithings 

 always sent tithing-men to the Old Aires- 

 ford court, Wield only occasionally (Eccl. 

 Com. Ct. R. bdle. 85, No. 2 ; bdle. 94, 

 No. 2 ; bdle. 99, No. 8). 



M Mins. Accts. bdle. 1141, No. 8. 



14 e.g. to the hundred court* of 1465 

 and 1486 (Eccl. Com. Ct. R. bdle. 80, 

 Nos. I and 2). 



" Exch. Lay Subs. R. Hants, bdle. 



173, Nos. 23, 2OO, 221. 



The contributions of New Alresford 

 borough on the other hand were some- 

 times returned with those of the parishes 

 of Bishop's Sutton Hundred, and some- 

 times with those of the other Hampshire 

 boroughs. 



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



349 



18 Ibid. pt. 5, m. 20. 



19 Ibid. 4 & 5 Phil, and Mary, pt. 7, 

 m. 24. 



*> Close, 24 Chas. I, pt. j, m. 1 6. 



21 On either side of this avenue are 

 strips of land called Avenue Common, 

 which are the property of the town trus- 

 tees, who received them as successors of 

 the bailiff and burgesses, the latter having 

 acquired them by gift from the bishop of 

 Winchester, lord of the manor. 



M Duthy, Sketches of Hants, 108. 



