A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



MICHELDEVER 



Mycendefer (ix cent.) ; Mycheldefer (x cent.) ; 

 Micheldeura (xii cent.) ; Mucheldever (xiii-xvcent.). 



The parish of Micheldever, lying beyond the Wor- 

 thies to the north-east of Winchester, contains nearly 

 7,819 acres, of which the greater part is arable land. 

 Generally speaking the land slopes down from north 

 and south towards the centre of the parish where the 

 village of Micheldever lies, and where the stream 

 called the North Brook, a tributary of the Test, rises 

 to flow westward across the parish towards Hunton. 



The Roman road from Winchester to London 

 passing through Martyr Worthy enters Micheldever 

 near Lunway's Inn, which lies on the right-hand side 

 where a branch road turns off north-east towards 

 Northington. Rising steadily the main road skirts 

 the western edge of Micheldever Wood, with its well 

 authenticated remains of a Roman villa * the wood 

 which Cobbett in his Rural Rides mentions as con- 

 taining 1,000 acres, and as being 'one of the finest 

 oak woods in England ' * and passes on in a north- 

 easterly direction to form the border line between 

 East Stratton and Micheldever. About half a mile 

 north of Lunway's Inn a lane branching west from 

 the main road leads between low hedges through 

 ploughed fields and pasture land to Micheldever vil- 

 lage. A short steep descent marks the entrance to 

 the village past the Half Moon and Spread Eagle Inn 

 and a few low thatched cottages lying on either side 

 of the road. Here a turn to the north-west leads 

 into the main village street, on either side of which 

 are quaint thatched half-timbered houses, with only 

 here and there a less attractive modern cottage. 

 To the west stands the manor farm, while about half 

 way down the main street a low gate leads to the 

 church of St. Mary up a gravel path between grass 

 banks covered in the early spring with masses of 

 celandine and shaded by well-grown lime trees. 

 Opposite the church is the village school, south-east of 

 which is the vicarage. Immediately north of the 

 school is the thatched cottage which serves as a post 

 office. North of the village the road curves slightly 

 north-west, crossing the brook to Northbrook tithing, 

 and thence running north past Northbrook House, 

 and for some distance east of and parallel with the 

 railway line, branches north-west to the station on 

 the London and South Western Railway, near the 

 northern boundary of the parish. The tithing of 

 Northbrook, lying about a quarter of a mile from 

 the east bank of the railway line, consists of a 

 Primitive Methodist chapel (1867) and a few cottages 

 and outbuildings on either side of the road coming 

 from Micheldever. Northbrook Farm and North- 



brook House, the residence of Mr. W. G. Wittingstall, 

 a large white house backing on the line, stand some 

 distance from the road behind a small park nearly 

 half a mile to the north of the cottages of North- 

 brook. 



A road leads west from Northbrook under the railway 

 line to the tithing of Weston Colley, which consists 

 of several scattered groups of picturesque thatched cot- 

 tages and one or two good-sized houses, including 

 Weston House, the residence of Miss Armstrong. 

 Near to the railway bank is the old mill house over 

 the Test tributary, probably standing on the site of 

 the mill mentioned in the Domesday Survey of 

 the manor. The mill at Weston with the suit of 

 customary tenants there was leased to John Prikehare 

 and his wife Orenge by the abbot of Hyde late in the 

 thirteenth century. 3 



Norsbury House near Norsbury Ring is in the 

 south-west of the parish, and is surrounded by a small 

 park. The soil of the whole parish is loam with a 

 subsoil of chalk, and ordinary green crops are grown 

 on the 4,493J acres of arable land. Only 1,936! 

 acres are given up to permanent grass, and 1,056 to 

 woodland. 4 The woodland is mostly comprised in 

 Micheldever Wood, formerly part of Pamber Forest. 

 Of the smaller woods Blackwood and Upper Black- 

 wood lying in the north-east on the borders of Pop- 

 ham were granted to Hyde Abbey in 1258 by 

 Audoenus Black (le Noir) in return for maintenance 

 of himself and his wife Alice as long as they should 

 live ; s while Bazeley Copse is probably identical with 

 ' Bablysley ' Copse leased to Sir Thomas Wriothesley 

 with the rectory in 1537.' A cottage called The 

 Forge was occupied by Thomas Wickham and Peter 

 LefFe at the time of the surrender of Hyde Abbey. 7 



There is now no market or fair held in the parish, 

 but both were appurtenant to the manor in 1685,' 

 and probably originated with the liberties granted to 

 Henry earl of Southampton in 1607. Some field 

 names of interest are Wlfladescroft, Alwoldeslynche in 

 Southbrook, and Smokakre." There is no inclosure 

 award. 



In Saxon times MICHELDEVER was 

 MANORS a royal vill. 10 It was included in the 

 loo cassati at Micheldever granted ac- 

 cording to the will of King Alfred to the New 

 Minster at Winchester c. 900 by his son Edward the 

 Elder. 11 In 904 Edward added ten more mansae, 

 with a fishery at Micheldever on the borders of 

 Worthy, which were intended for the support of the 

 refectory of the abbey. 1 ' Ethelred the Unready granted 

 a confirmatory charter to the abbey c. 984, mentioning 



1 V.C.H. Hants, i, 307. 



a Cobbett, Rural Rides (1853), p. 71. 



* Had. MS. 1761, fol. 105. 



* Information from Bd. of Agric. 

 (1905). 



6 Harl. MS. 1761, No. 65. 

 Mint. Accts. Hants, 30-1 Hen. VIII, 

 R. 135, m. 30. 

 1 Ibid. 

 8 Recov. R. Trin. I Jas. II, 221. 



* Harl. MS. 1761, Nos. 15, 52, and 

 120. 



" Kemble, Codex Difl. No. 286. This 

 charter, however, is of very doubtful au- 



thenticity. It is dated from the ' royal 

 vill of Mycendefer' A.D. 862, in the pre- 

 sence of King Ethelred (who ascended 

 the throne in 866), and Bishop Swithun 

 (who died in 862). 



11 Birch, Cart. Sax. ii, 596. The 

 boundaries are given in full in Liter de 

 Hyda (Rolls Ser.), 85. They can be so 

 far identified as to prove that the grant 

 included Micheldever, Cranborne, land at 

 Curdridge and Durley, Farley Chamber- 

 layne (Slackstede), the detached part of 

 Northington cast of Brown Candover and 

 Abbots Worthy. The charter was prob- 



390 



ably made in 1000-30 possibly as an 

 assurance of title for all the lands attached 

 to Micheldever at that date (Inform, 

 kindly supplied by the earl of North- 

 brook). The almost certainly spurious 

 ' Golden Charter ' of 903 (Kemble, Codex 

 Difl. 336) recites the endowment of New 

 Minster with the farm called Micheldever 

 with its hundred and appurtenances, 100 

 caisafi and a church and also both vills of 

 Stratton (i.e. East and West Stratton), 

 Burcote, and Northington with other 

 lands. 



11 Liter de HyJa (Rolls Ser.), 101. 



