A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



In the churchyard are several seventeenth-century 

 monuments to members of the Goldfinch and Harris 

 families. 



There are three bells : the treble, of the sixteenth 

 century, bears ACHOIA in black letter ; the second is 

 by Oliver Cor of Aldbourne, 1727 ; and the tenor 

 has the cross, shield, and initials of William Hasylwood 

 of Reading, c. \ 500. 



The plate consists of a silver chalice with a plain 

 stem and flat foot, dated 1674, a silver chalice, cover 

 paten of the same date, a plain paten with a moulded 

 wire edge, and a tankard-shaped flagon dated 1717. 



The earliest parish register gives mixed entries from 

 1673 to 1813. In these the Goldfinch and the 

 Harris families figure largely, the one as tenants of 

 Compton manor house, the other of Silkstead Priors. 

 In 1745 is an entry of the burial of James Lowe, a 

 ship carpenter, ' accidentally killed by overthrow of a 

 cart. He was a stranger passing in his way from 

 Guernsey to London as appeared by letters found 

 about him.' At the end of the book is an account 

 of various briefs for the redemption of English cap- 

 tives in Algiers and other places on the coast of 

 Africa, for the relief of French Protestants, and for 

 the Protestants of Lesser Poland. 



The earliest churchwardens' accounts start in 1724. 



The advowson of Compton church 



JDyOWSON has belonged from its earliest existence 



to the bishops of Winchester. 51 The 



living is at the present time a rectory, net yearly value 



234 with two acres of glebe and residence. 



During the episcopacy of Adam Orlton (bishop of 

 Winchester, 1333-45) sentence was pronounced 

 against certain of the parishioners of Compton for 

 withholding tithes of lambs. 3 * 



An annual sum of } is paid from 

 CHARITIES the funds of St. John's Hospital and 

 Allied Charities in respect of the 

 charity of George Pemerton founded by deed, 1637 

 (see city of Winchester), and an annuity of 3 is paid by 

 the governing body of Winchester College in respect of 

 the charity of Rev. Chas. Scott, founded by will, 1 760. 



By order of Charity Commissioners of 22 June, 

 1900, representative trustees were appointed and the 

 charities made applicable in the supply of clothes or 

 other articles in kind, or in loans to the poor. 



In 1897 a house and site was conveyed by Mrs. 

 Jane Mary Smith-Dampier to trustees, and settled 

 upon trust as a residence for a nurse for the parishes of 

 Compton and Twyford. 



CRAWLEY 



Crawanlea (x cent.), Craule (xiii cent.). 



The open chalk downs which run north-eastwards 

 from Winchester and continue onwards to Chilbolton 

 comprise the 3,608 acres which are included in the 

 parish of Crawley. 



The road from Winchester to Crawley running north- 

 west branches at Weeke Mark to Littleton and through 

 Littleton to Crawley along a steep ascent which rises 

 to a height of about 360 ft. From the top of this hill 

 comes a first glimpse of Crawley village as a group of 

 houses lying away to the north-east against a background 

 of wooded country. From here the road descends 

 steeply and loses sight of the village, then it suddenly 

 rises again, to swerve again sharply downhill and 

 curve round the village pond into the village itself. 

 North and south of the village street as it rises 

 westwards to the church and rectory are picturesque 

 thatched and timbered houses. The Fox and Hounds 

 Inn stands on the left hand at the bottom of the hill, 

 and close by is one of thf oldest cottages in the 

 village now tumbling to ruin and uninhabited. 

 Higher up the street, on the right and left, sloping 

 garden paths lead up to quaint deep-roofed cottages. 

 On the left again is a clump of fir trees, and beyond 

 these the village school built about 1835. Almost 

 opposite the school, behind a low brick wall, is the 

 other village inn, ' The Jolly Sportsman.' Further 

 up the hill the road curves to the left, and on the right 

 is the church of St. Mary almost encircled by trees, 

 and opposite is the rectory. Behind the church is 

 Crawley Court, a modern residence built in the 

 grounds but not on the site of the old Crawley Court. 

 North and east of the village are Crawley Warren 

 and Crawley Down, the latter stretching away to the 

 thickset hedge with its belt of hedgerow growth 



mingled with beech, oak, ash, yew trees and crab- 

 apple trees, which runs along to the left of the Roman 

 road from Winchester to Cirencester and forms the 

 eastern boundary line of Crawley parish. South 

 and west of the village towards the Sombornes is 

 the arable land with only here and there a group 

 of trees or strip of hedgerow. Close on the border- 

 line in the south-west corner of the parish, seeming 

 locally to be in Little Somborne, is Rookley House, 

 known to fame as the favourite residence of 

 George IV. 1 In the south-east corner is Northwood 

 Park, sandwiched between the parishes of Littleton 

 and Lainston. Northwood House is now used as a 

 naval college. 



Hunton parochial chapelry is an outlying dis- 

 trict about five or six miles to the north-east of 

 Crawley parish, yet it has been connected with Craw- 

 ley parish since 909, when King Edward the Elder 

 granted twenty mansae at Crawley and eight at 

 Hunton to Frithstan, bishop of Winchester. 1 Hun- 

 ton itself seems to have quite an individual existence, 

 as is natural considering the distance from the mother 

 parish. The village is in the south on the lowest 

 lying ground of the 1,075 acres which comprise the 

 parish, close to the Test, which forms the boundary line 

 between Hunton and Wonston and Hunton and Stoke 

 Charity. Hunton Lane running east from Wonston, 

 between Hunton Moor and the Test, forks just be- 

 yond the church which lies on the right between the road 

 and the river, the south-eastern branch leading to Stoke 

 Charity, the north-eastern up through the length of 

 Hunton parish and on to Basingstoke. It is at the fork 

 in the road that the cottages of the village are grouped. 

 At the corner facing the lane is a thatched and tim- 

 bered cottage, with an overhanging upper story, with 



81 Pat. 8 Edw. I, m. 20 ; Chart. 

 R. 12 Edw. I, m. 5 ; Wyktbam's Reg. 

 (Hants Rec. Soc.), i, 45 ; Winton Efis. 



Reg. (Hants Rec. Soc.), 265; Inst. Bks. 

 (P.R.O.). 



82 Egerton MS. 2032, fol. 97. 



408 



1 It was during his residence at Rookley 

 that the existing tennis court was built at 

 Crawley Court. 2 Birch,Carf. Sax. ",304. 



