A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



Opie, member of a family of considerable note in the 

 parish, and in 1698 Nicholas Opie son of Barbara 

 was in possession of the manor." He was succeeded 

 by Barbara Opie, his sister, who held a court as lady 

 of the manor in 1730. The estate then passed to 

 the family of Skinner, and in 1752 Thomas Skinner 

 held the manor jointly with Barbara his wife. 

 The latter survived her husband many years, and 

 held various courts until 1784, when Adolphus 

 Meetkerke, who had married Miss Skinner, appears 

 in the Court Rolls as lord of the manor. From 

 him it passed in 1800 to John Hanbury Beaufoy, 

 who held it till 1825, and whose daughters sold it 

 to Admiral Sir William Fanshawe Martin, bart. From 

 his son Sir Richard Martin, bart., it passed in 1902 to 

 Mr. Charles Holme, the present lord of the manor. 18 



In the reign of Cnut, Alwin, bishop of Winchester, 

 gave the manor of HODDINGTON to the cathedral 

 church of St. Swithun in Winchester," and in Domes- 

 day it is mentioned among the lands held by the 

 bishop for the support of the monks." There is no 

 evidence to show that it was ever farmed out or 

 leased by the abbey, and in the reign of Edward I 

 the prior received a grant of free warren in his 

 demesne lands there." The monastery of St. Swithun 

 was surrendered in 1539, and in accordance with 

 Cranmer's intention to make use of cathedral estab- 

 lishments as theological colleges it was decreed that 

 twelve scholars should be maintained at the two 

 universities by the dean and chapter of Winchester. 

 For the support of these students the king re-granted 

 five manors to the cathedral, one of which was Hod- 

 dington, but in the following year these manors were 

 again surrendered to the crown." 



Hoddington manor appears to have been granted 

 shortly afterwards to Thomas White and Agnes his 

 wife, 83 in whose family it remained until 1637, when 

 William White sold the manor to Brian Matthew." 

 In 1695 Jane Matthew, widow presumably of Brian, 

 conveyed it to John Limbrey,* 5 whom she had mar- 

 ried as her second husband, from whom it passed in 

 direct succession to John Limbrey, who died at the 

 end of the eighteenth century, leaving the property 

 to his daughter Magdalen, who had married Richard 

 Sclater. Their son Thomas succeeded, but died 

 without issue in 1 809, after which his sister Elizabeth 

 held the manor till her death in 1814. 



Richard Sclater had married secondly Penelope 

 Lutley of Loughton Hall, Salop, and from them the 

 property passed through four successive generations to 

 Lord Basing, the present lord of the manor.* 6 



There are no manorial rights now existing. The 

 Court Rolls for the seventeenth century are in the 

 possession of the lord of the manor. 



The church of OUR LADY is an 

 CHURCH abnormally shaped building, having a 

 chancel 29 ft. by 1 3 ft., a tower between 

 nave and chancel 1 3 ft. square, an irregular nave 

 about 28 ft. by 19 ft. with a south porch, and a large 

 north aisle 30 ft. 7 in. by 19 ft. 2 in. The chancel 

 and tower, which are continuous with each other, are 

 set at an oblique angle with the nave, with a deflection 



towards the south, and the east wall of the nave follows 

 their line and is clearly of the same date. The nave 

 is very short in proportion to its width, and formerly 

 had a south aisle, the arcade opening to which is 

 built up in its south wall. It is of two bays with a 

 pier 3 ft. wide between the arches, and its west 

 respond is overlapped by the west wall of the nave, a 

 fact which, taken in conjunction with the unusual 

 proportion of the latter, suggests that it was originally 

 longer from east to west. The chancel arch is tall 

 and narrow, with plain square jambs and a semi- 

 circular head, its voussoirs ornamented with a double 

 line of billet moulding ; the stones are evidently re- 

 used, and it seems that they are the materials of an 

 early twelfth-century arch, which was rebuilt as it 

 now appears in the early part of the thirteenth 

 century, to which date the chancel and tower belong. 

 The blocked south arcade seems to belong to the end 

 of the twelfth century, and the history of the building 

 appears to be that an early twelfth-century nave, 

 longer than the present nave, received the addition of 

 a south aisle in the end of the twelfth century ; that 

 about the year 1220 a new chancel was set out 

 beyond the then existing chancel, being begun from 

 the east after the usual fashion and carried westward 

 to join on to the older work, the old chancel being 

 destroyed as the work progressed and its site occupied 

 by a tower ; and that at some later date, apparently 

 in the fifteenth century, the nave was shortened and a 

 new west wall built. The large north aisle and the 

 north arcade are eighteenth-century work, perhaps re- 

 placing an earlier aisle and arcade, and it is not clear 

 at what time the south aisle was destroyed, whether 

 when the west wall of the nave was rebuilt or later. 

 The top story of the tower is an eighteenth-century 

 rebuilding in red brick, the walls of the church are 

 covered with plaster externally, and the roofs red- 

 tiled. 



At the south-west angle of the nave, at the spring- 

 ing of the west bay of the south arcade, is a stone 

 which may take the history of the church back beyond 

 the twelfth century; it has mouldings of pre-Conquest 

 character, and looks like the impost of a tenth or 

 eleventh century arch. There is, however, no reason 

 to assume that it is in its original position. 



The chancel has an east window of two lancet 

 lights with a quatrefoiled circle over, and two single 

 lancets evenly spaced in the north wall, the head of 

 that to the west being modern. In the south wall 

 also are two lancets, but set closer to each other, 

 to give room for a south doorway to the west of the 

 second lancet. The external stonework of this lancet 

 is new, and the other is a ' restoration,' the jambs of 

 a wider blocked window showing on either side of it. 

 Close to it on the east are two thirteenth-century 

 arched recesses, the western somewhat larger than the 

 other, and having a drain ; on either side of the pair 

 are three pinholes arranged triangle wise, the lower 

 holes on a level with the sills of the recesses. A beam, 

 the ends of which remain in the walls about 8 ft. from 

 the floor, crossed the chancel at a point between the 

 windows. 



J ~ Recov. R. Hil. 10 & n Will. Ill, 

 rot. 69. 



18 Information received from present 

 lord of the manor. 



19 Dugdale, Mon. Angl. i, 195. 

 *> V.C.H. Hants, i, 4684. 



21 Chart. R. 29 Edw. I, No. 94. 

 M V.C.H. Hants, ii, 61. 

 28 Feet of F. Hants, Trin. 3 Eliz. 

 Recov. R. Hants, Mich. 13 Chas. I, 

 rot. 146. 



384 



85 Feet of F. Hants, Mich. (Div. Cos.) 

 7 Will. III. 



26 Recov. R. Hants, East, n Geo. I, 

 rot. 265, and information obtained from 

 the present lord of the manor. 



