MICHELDEVER HUNDRED 



EAST STRATTON 



to fulfil it.* 8 It was not till 1 847 that this distant 

 ch.ipelry was separated from the mother church and 

 annexed to Woodmancott." 



In 1845 William Waldron Harding 



CHARITIES by will, proved in the P.C.C., left 



.500 consols to the minister and 



churchwardens upon trust to apply the annual 



dividends for the relief of the poor. The sum of stock 

 was reduced by the payment of legacy duty, and in 

 1867 the stock was raised to 500 consols by the 

 gift of Mr. Jesse Vidler. The stock is held by the 

 official trustees ; the dividends, amounting to 12 lot. 

 a year, were in 1905 applied in the distribution of 

 10 tons 17 cwt. of coals to nineteen labourers. 



EAST STRATTON 



Strattone (x cent.) ; Eastratton (xii cent.). 



The parish of East Stratton, containing nearly 

 1,997 acres of land, lies immediately east of Michel- 

 clever, on ground which rises generally from a height 

 of 296 ft. above the ordnance datum in the south 

 to nearly 400 ft. in the north. 



The main road from Winchester to London, fol- 

 lowing for the most part the course of the old Roman 

 road, enters the parish north of Micheldever Wood, 

 and about half a mile on, near one of the main 

 entrances to Stratton Park, the seat of Lord North- 

 brook, sends off a branch road east towards the 

 village. Thence it continues north and uphill 

 towards Popham, running for a distance of nearly two 

 miles along the western border of the well-wooded 

 grounds of Stratton Park, and forming the western 

 boundary of the parish. Stratton Park is indeed the 

 chief feature of the parish, with its long stretch of 

 woodland thickening towards the north, where 

 Embley and Biddies Wood lead on to Rownest and 

 College Woods, outside the northern boundary of 

 East Stratton. 



The narrow road that branches east to the village 

 runs for about half a mile over level ground between 

 the low wooden fence which bounds the southern 

 stretch of the Stratton Park estate, and over which 

 glimpses can be caught of the house and grounds, 

 and the low hedges which encircle the arable lands 

 lying away to the south. Then as it reaches the 

 modern church which stands north opposite East 

 Stratton farm it suddenly faces some picturesque 

 thatched cottages and branches north and south, the 

 branch to the south leading past groups of thatched 

 cottages and the Plough Inn, which lies to the right 

 towards Northington. That to the north sweeps 

 sharply down past groups of thatched cottages which 

 stand behind low brick walls and bright cottage 

 gardens, to a low iron fence and gate which leads 

 across the park to Stratton House. The descent is so 

 steep that a brick gutter to carry off the surplus rain- 

 water has been devised down the east side of the street, 

 and this being edged by short grass, and being crossed 

 before each house by a narrow stone plank, forms one 

 of the most distinctive characteristics. The parsonage 

 house is on the west side of the road, but since the 

 living is a chapelry annexed to Micheldever 

 vicarage, the vicar resides at Micheldever. The 

 village school, built in 1850, stands at the bottom of 

 the village just inside the park, east of the high stone 

 tross which marks the site of the original church. 



Stratton House is a comparatively modern building, 

 with a central block having a tall Doric portico and 

 wings at either end. The portico is of stone, but the 



rest of the house is mainly of plastered brickwork, 

 and dates from the time of Sir Francis Baring, who 

 bought the estate in 1801. Part of one wing is, 

 however, of greater age, and is said to date from the 

 latter part of the seventeenth century, and to have 

 been inhabited by the ill-fated William Lord Russell, 

 but no details of his time remain. 



The great interest of the house lies in its pictures, 

 although some of the best are in Lord Northbrook's 

 London house. Two large paintings by Vandyck of 

 Queen Henrietta Maria with the dwarf Sir Jeffrey 

 Hudson, and of the earl of Newbury are among the 

 best, but there are some good landscapes by Claude 

 and Crome, and a long set of portraits, including 

 Warren Hastings, Nelson, and Gibbon, as well as the 

 well-known painting of the brothers Baring. In the 

 dining-room, where are the two Vandyck pictures, is 

 a painting by Reynolds of a sleeping girl, and a vast 

 and ambitious view of the Fire of London by 

 Loutherbourg, dated 1797 ; and a large collection 

 of water-colours by Edward Lear, author of the 

 Book of Nonsense, is preserved in the house. The 

 stable court and offices lie at the back of the old 

 wing, and the flower garden comes up to the house 

 on two sides, the land rising fairly quickly behind. 

 The soil being shallow, trees do not reach perfection, 

 but there are many fine oaks, beeches, yews, &c., an 

 avenue of trees showing the line of the old high road, 

 which was diverted westward when Sir Francis Baring 

 was improving his newly-purchased property. 



The soil of the whole parish is clay and chalk, with 

 a subsoil of chalk with Woolwich and Reading beds 

 immediately south of the village. Thus the chief 

 crops on the 622 acres of arable land are wheat, 

 barley, oats, and turnips. With the exception of 

 Dodsley Wood in the south of the parish, the 352 

 acres of woodland are comprised in Stratton Park and 

 the woods adjoining. There are 344 acres of per- 

 manent grass in the parish. There is no inclosure 

 award. 



EAST STR4TTON was granted with 

 M4NOR West Stratton to the New Minster c. 

 900, the two being then assessed at 9 

 hides. 1 It formed part of the portion of the prior and 

 convent, and as such was not taken into the king's 

 hands on the voidances of the abbey.' The lands 

 were apparently held of the abbey in small parcels ; 

 for instance, in the thirteenth century one free tenant 

 held 3 virgates there, another J a virgate, and a third 

 I \ virgates.* The grange or manor-house was leased 

 with the demesne lands from time to time, the lessees 

 in 1539 being Robert Clerke and Walter and William 

 his sons, who rented it at 8 1 31. 4^. At the same 



83 Wyktbam's Reg. (Hants Rcc. Soc.), 

 ii, 467. 



89 Sumncr, Consftctus of Dioc. ofWinKn, 

 1854, p. 30. 



199 



1 Kcmblc, Codex Dipl. 336. 

 Cal. Pat. 1385-9, p. 496. 

 Testa de Nc-uill (Rcc. Com.), 239. 



