BUDDLESGATE HUNDRED 



HOUGHTON 



with a canonry and prebend of Chichester, although 

 he was rector of Crawley. 66 



The church, or as it was originally, the chapel of 

 Hunton, has always been attached to the church of 

 Crawley, and has been under the same patronage. 67 

 The church of Crawley cum capella of 1291 means 

 Crawley with the chapel of Hunton. 8 ' 



Poor's Money. In the year 1768 

 CHARITIES a sum of 26 izs. i.d. was due to 

 the churchwardens and overseers from 

 one Robert Fitter. This sum was increased by sub- 

 scription in the parish to 32, which was in or about 

 i 869 placed in a savings bank and interest distributed 

 in bread. 



HOUGHTON 



The parish of Houghton, lying south-west of Stock- 

 bridge and north-west of King's Somborne, is detached 

 from the other parishes of Buddlesgate Hundred. It 

 comprises 33 acres of land covered by water and 2,639 

 acres of land, which rises generally from south-east 

 to north-west from the low-lying country near the 

 River Test, which flows along the east of the 

 parish to the downland, which stretches away north 

 to Houghton Down, behind which rises Danebury 

 Hill in Nether Wallop parish. The main road from 

 Romsey to Stockbridge branches north-east and north- 

 west, south-east of Houghton parish, and immediately 

 south-east of Horsebridge village (in King's Somborne 

 parish). The north-eastern branch leads through King's 

 Somborne village to the east end of Stockbridge, while 

 the other leads to the west end of Stockbridge through 

 Houghton village. The north-western branch, after 

 passing through Horsebridge, over the railway line (the 

 Andover branch of the London and South-Western 

 Railway, which skirts Houghton parish, has a station at 

 Horsebridge), continues through low-lying water mea- 

 dows, and crossing the Test passes by the old Houghton 

 mill, which stands on the left, and is now used for gene- 

 rating electric light. Winding round more directly to 

 the north the road comes to the picturesque buildings of 

 the village, lying for the most part on the west side 

 of the road, and becomes the main village street. On 

 either side of the long village street are grouped low 

 thatched cottages, one of which on the east side serves 

 as the post-office, while towards the north is the Boot 

 Inn, standing on the west, and several more modern 

 cottages and houses. Here a road branching uphill 

 to the west leads to the church and rectory and to 

 the Manor Farm. A high hedge on the north shuts 

 in the rectory, a fine old eighteenth-century house, 

 which is approached by a drive on the east running 

 round to the north entrance. A narrow door close 

 to the house in the west garden wall leads into the 

 churchyard and to the church, which stands imme- 

 diately south-west of the rectory near the road 

 behind a low brick wall. In the fields opposite 

 the church stands one of the old barns of Manor 

 Farm, which was used for services while the church 

 was being altered in 1882, on which is an old weather 

 vane from the church. Manor Farm stands west of 

 the church, a square, plain-fronted house facing east, 

 with long rambling passages and low old-fashioned 

 Beyond Manor Farm the road becomes a 



rooms. 



66 Cal. of Pap. Letters, ii, 373. 

 6 ? Chart. R. 12 Edw. I, m. 5 ; Wykc- 

 ham's Reg. (Hants Rec. Soc.), i, 364. 

 68 tape Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 210. 



1 Information from Bd. of Agric. 

 (1905). 



2 Birch, Cart. Sax. in, 412. 



8 r.C.H. Hants, \, 462*. < Ibid. 



5 Cal. of Pap. Letters, i, 21, 201. 



6 Chart. R. 29 Edw. I, m. 12. 



rough lane leading north-west over fields to the 

 downland. 



The main village street, curving west for a few 

 yards at the north end of the village, turns sharply 

 north and runs uphill past Houghton Lodge, the resi- 

 dence of Colonel E. St. John Daubney, which lies 

 back from the road on the east, on to North Houghton. 



The soil of the parish is loam, chalk, and peat with 

 a subsoil of chalk producing the ordinary crops of 

 wheat, barley, and roots. Of the total 2,639 acres of 

 land, i,6iof are arable, 8 1 3^ permanent grass, and 

 41 woodland. 1 



The manor of HOUGHTON DRAT- 

 MANORS TON belonged to the church of Win- 

 chester by the grant of King Edgar 

 of lands at ' Horton ' in the tenth century.' At 

 the time of the Domesday Survey the bishop held 

 Houghton for the monks of Winchester, and it was 

 then assessed at 1 6 hides. 3 William Peverel held 

 I hide of the manor, but refused to pay geld, and a 

 certain Walter in like manner held i hide. 4 In 1205 

 and again in 1243 the pope confirmed the manor to 

 the prior and convent, 5 and in 1301 Edward I 

 granted them free warren in their demesne lands in 

 Houghton. 6 From this date to the time of the Dis- 

 solution the prior and convent held the manor, 7 

 the annual receipts from which increased from 

 19 6s. i\d. to 41 I is. I id. during the fourteenth 

 century. 8 In 1543 the king granted the manor of 

 Houghton in Houghton with appurtenances in 

 Houghton, Drayton, Dockham and Evely, with a 

 reserved rent of z iqs. gd., to Robert White of 

 Aldershot, 9 who five years later conveyed it by fine 

 to his father John White, gentleman and grocer of 

 London. 10 In 1558 the manor was settled on John 

 and his heirs on the occasion of his marriage with 

 Katherine Greneway, widow," and four years later 

 Queen Elizabeth granted him the reserved rent of 

 2 igs. yd. On his death the manor passed to his 

 son and heir Robert, who dealt with it by a recovery 

 in 1589 13 and died seised of it in 1599." His heirs 

 were his two daughters, Ellen wife of Richard Tich- 

 borne, and Mary wife of Walter, brother of Richard 

 Tichborne. 14 The manor of Houghton Drayton was 

 settled on Ellen the elder, 16 and on her death in 1612 

 passed to her only daughter Amphyllis, who married 

 Lawrence Hyde, son and heir of Sir Lawrence Hyde, 

 bart., in 1619." Amphyllis died before her husband 



I Feud. Aids, ii, 309 ; Mins. Accts. 

 Hants, 32 & 33 Hen. VIII, 109, m. 51. 



8 Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 213; 

 ObeJ. R. of St. S-withun (Hants Rec. Soc.), 

 225. 



9 Pat. 34 Hen. VIII, pt. 8, m. 15-18. 



10 Feet of F. Hants, East. 2 Edw. VI. 



II Pat. 5 & 6 Phil, and Mary, pt. 4, 

 m. i ;, 14. 



12 Ibid. 4 Eliz. pt. 4, m. 50-3. 



413 



13 Recov. R. Hil. 21 Eliz. rot. 71. 



14 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cclvii, 

 Nos. 31, 90. "Ibid. 



16 In 1600 Walter Tichborne and Mary 

 conveyed a moiety of the manor to Rich- 

 ard Weston and others, most probably for 

 settlement on Richard Tichborne and 

 Ellen (Feet of F. Div. Cos. Hil. 42 Eliz.). 



^ Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), 14 Chas. I, 

 pt. I, No. 199. 



