BERMONDSPIT HUNDRED 



ELLISFIELD 



South-east of the rectory is the site of a chapel, be- 

 longing to the fraternity of the Holy Ghost at Basing- 

 stoke ; it is still known as the Litton, and foundations 

 of walls and graves have been found there. Near to 

 it stood till recent years a small Jacobean house with 

 cut brickwork details, now entirely destroyed. 



The advowson of Ellisfield can 

 JDPOWSON boast of a longer descent than the 

 manor. A church existed at the time 

 of the Domesday Survey, but by the reign of Henry III 

 there were two churches, one dedicated to the honour 

 of St. Martin, the other to All Saints. 



In 1284 a suit was brought against the prior of 

 Southwick by John de Foxle and his wife Constance 

 for the recovery of land andof a third of the advowson 

 of the church of ' Ellisfield.' " The prior it seems 

 was able to produce a charter in witness that the pro- 

 perty had been granted to him by Bartholomew 

 Pecche. It is not certain to which of the two churches 

 in Ellisfield this grant referred, nor is there any sub- 

 sequent record of the ownership of the advowson by 

 the prior of Southwick. 



The churches of St. Martin and of All Saints were 

 at the end of the thirteenth century in the patronage 

 of the De Roches family," members of the same 

 family also having filled the living, Geoffrey de 

 Roches being rector of Ellisfield in 1284 and Hugh 

 de Roches in 1305." Between 1282 and 1304 Hugh 

 de Roches presented, and in the fourteenth century the 

 name of John de Roches occurs as patron of both 

 churches. 60 John de Roches, whose only son William 

 was an idiot, settled in 1338 the advowson of All Saints 

 upon his daughters, Alice and Mary, after the decease of 

 himself and his wife Joan, the latter daughter being 

 then wife of Sir John Boarhunt. 61 On the death of 

 Joan, Mary, widow of Sir John Boarhunt, inherited 

 the advowson, 6 * her sister Alice having predeceased her 

 mother. 



Her second husband was Sir Bernard Brocas, who 

 towards the end of the fourteenth century was patron. 63 

 In the year 1383 the two churches of All Saints and 

 St. Martin's were united M on the petition of Sir Ber- 

 nard Brocas and William Fyfhide, lord of the manor, 

 who appears to have shared the advowson, as 

 had his father before him, 64 and had presented 

 to St. Martin's towards the end of the fourteenth 



century. 66 The plea was made on the ground 

 of the poverty of the churches, All Saints being then 

 a ruin. 6 ' 



The Brocas family continued to share the advowson 

 with the lords of the manor, the names of Sandys and 

 Brocas occurring alternately, 68 until the manor was 

 sold to Robert Stocker, to whom the advowson must 

 have passed also, as he presented in i668. 69 On the 

 subsequent partition of the manor the advowson was 

 also split up and was held by owners of portions of the 

 manor successively. In 1 66 1 Thomas Taylor ap- 

 peared as patron ; his name had before occurred in 

 1634 and 1648 in conjunction with that of Brocas." 

 In 1783 Thomas Brocas, in 1 7 34 Thomas Terry, and 

 in 1785, and 1830 Richard Willis presented. 7 * In 

 the reign of George III the advowson descended to the 

 natural son of Bernard Brocas of Beaurepaire, Bernard 

 Austin, who had assumed the name of Brocas.'* 



Bernard Brocas of Beaurepaire was the last of the 

 Brocases to hold the advowson. He married first 

 Anne Dolly, daughter of Paynton Pigott, and 

 secondly, Miss Raymond Barker, who sold the ad- 

 vowson about 1870 to Mr. Henry and Mr. Alfred 

 Welch-Thornton. Upon the death of the Rev. 

 Richard Paynton Pigott, brother-in-law to Bernard 

 Brocas, the Messrs. Welch-Thornton presented the 

 present rector, the Rev. Botry Pigott, in 1885. The 

 trustees of the latter have since bought the advowson. 

 In 1736 Thomas Ellisfield by his 

 CHARITIES will gave to the poor 20 to be put 

 out for their use, and directed that 

 20J. a year should be paid for ever for the use thereof. 

 The principal sum of 20 has been lost. 



In 1737 Stephen Terry by deed charged his farm 

 and lands called Tilbroughs in this parish with a clear 

 yearly rent of ^3, of which 40^. was to be paid to a 

 schoolmaster or school dame for teaching six poor 

 children, boys or girls, to read and say their prayers 

 and the catechism, and 2O/. in buying two Bibles and 

 other religious books to be given to the best scholars. 

 The annuity is paid by the earl of Portsmouth. 



In 1896 a scheme was established by the Charity 

 Commissioners, whereby the 3 a year is to be applied 

 in granting prizes or rewards, not exceeding I o/. each, 

 to children bona 1 fide resident in the parish attending 

 elementary schools, including the gift of a Bible. 



"7 De Banco R. No. 60, 12 d. Mich. 

 13 Edw. I. 



48 Egerton MS. 2031. 



59 Burrows, Hist, of Brocas Family, 322. 



80 Egerton MS. 203 1 , 2032 once ; Thos. 

 Tayllard presented to St. Martin's. 



81 Feet of F. Hants, Mich. 12 Edw. III. 

 83 Burrows, Hist, of Brocas Family, 329, 



33- 



83 Egerton MS. 2033. He presented to 

 St. Martin's in right of his wife Lady 

 Mary. 



<* Wyktbam's Reg. (Hants Rec. Soc.), 

 i, 144. 



8S Chan. Inq. p.m. 10 Ric. II, No. 17; 

 Pat. 6 Ric. II, pt. I, m. 4, 5. 



68 Egerton MS. 2033. The De Roches 

 family were evidently joint patrons with 

 the Fyfhides of both churches. John de 



Roches, according to his fine of 1338, held 

 the advowson of All Saints' and a third 

 of the church of St. Martin. The in- 

 quisition of William Fyfhide stated that 

 he (William de Fyfhide) held two pre- 

 sentations to All Saints' (the heir of John 

 De Roches holding the third) and the ad- 

 vowson of St. Martin's. At the end of 

 the fourteenth century Lady Joan de 

 Roches presented and in 1403 or 1404 

 Joan, heiress of the Fyfhides, and Sir 

 Thomas Skelton, her second husband, were 

 patrons. 



" Wykcham'i Reg. (Hants Rec. Soc.), 

 i, 144 ; the instrument of the union de- 

 clared, * quod nulli omnino liceat locum 

 dictae ecclesiae Omnium Sanctorum, in 

 quo modo stat ipsa ecclesia, cum processu 

 temporis diruta fuerit aut prostrata, nee 



solum adjacentis cimiterii dedicati in qui- 

 busjacent corpora defunctorum humata, 

 vendere nee quocunque alio titulo in per- 

 sonam aliquam laicalem transferre valeat 

 quoquomodo.' 



68 Egerton MS. 2034. Ladjr Rose 

 Wallop once presented by grant of Lord 

 Sandys. 



69 Inst. Bks. P.R.O. 



1Q The fourth of the advowson of Ellis- 

 field was sold to Michael Terry in 1756, 

 by William Saltmarshe (Com. Pleas Re- 

 cov. R. Trin. 30-1 Geo. II, in. 18). The 

 Moleyns family had before this also held 

 a fourth of the advowson (Close, 5 Anne, 

 pt. 12 ; Feet of F. Hants, Mich. 3 Anne). 



" Inst. Bks. P.R.O. ' Ibid. 



7 Recov. R. East. 3 Geo. IV, rot. 

 258 ; Close, 3 Geo. IV, pt. 21. 



