A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



house. At the back of the house are traces of four- 

 teenth and fifteenth-century stonework, and what may 

 possibly be the survival of an ancient chantry chapel. 



A rough road from the southern part of the village 

 leads downhill by Hunts Farm to the hamlet of Braish- 

 field, which was made an ecclesiastical parish in 1855. 

 About two miles from Michelmersh the road curves 

 slightly to the north and leads round by quiet cottages 

 and farmsteads to the main road from Romscy, along 

 which the modern part of the village of Braishfield 

 has grown up within the last century. The northern 

 part of the main road branches to the right near the 

 village inn to the church, vicarage and schools, and to 

 the left along a shady lane to Braishfield House, the 

 residence of Mr. Edward M. Eaton, and on to Pitt 

 House, Pitt Farm, and Braishfield Lodge, the resi- 

 dence of Mr. George Deare Dietz. Nonconformity 

 is represented in the village by a Primitive Methodist 

 chapel and an Independent chapel a few yards apart 

 on the west of the main road and south of the village. 



The parish of Awbridge, formerly a hamlet of 

 Michelmersh, lies for the most part on the low-lying 

 country, stretching away from the right bank of the 

 Test. Awbridge House, the residence of Mrs. Thurston, 

 is in the north near the river in the midst of picturesque 

 country, which slopes up to the high wood of Long 

 Croft Copse in the north-west. An uphill road runs 

 south-west from Awbridge House between field and 

 hedgerow to fork east and west at the top of the hill, 

 where there is a group of houses and shops, one of 

 which serves as the post office. The western branch 

 curves south again, passes by Awbridge Farm, and 

 runs on to the village proper, which consists of several 

 cottages and farms, the modern church built in 1876, 

 and the Independent chapel built before 1874. The 

 Awbridge Danes estate fills up most of the south-west 

 corner of the parish. A main road to Romsey runs 

 along to the west of Awbridge Danes, the residence 

 of Mrs. Tragett. A branch from the road to Romsey, 

 which cuts through the western part of the parish, 

 curves south round the park and woodland, inclosing 

 Awbridge Danes and a few houses. 



Among place-names mentioned in records are 

 Ruchenaye (xiii cent.), 1 Newbridge Meads * or Bridge 

 Meads (xvi cent.),* and Tipley Hill (xvii cent.). 4 



King Ethelred in 985 granted eleven 

 M4NOR mansae at MICHELMERSH to a certain 

 Alfred for the term of his life. 4 The 

 boundaries as given in the charter are difficult to 

 identify with but two exceptions, namely, 'feora 

 burnan' and 'ceomman bricge,' the former being 

 represented by the present Farburn Farm on the 

 borders of Braishfield and the latter by Kimbridge on 

 the Test. Michelmersh remained the property of 

 the crown until 1043, when it was granted by Queen 

 Emma, together with eight other manors, to the 



church of Winchester. 6 Like several of the manors 

 belonging to the church, Michelmersh was not 

 mentioned in Domesday Book. In 1205 and again 

 in 1243 Michelmersh was confirmed to the prior and 

 convent of St. Swithun in general confirmations of their 

 lands made by the pope.' In 1285 John, bishop of 

 Winchester, quitclaimed to them all his right in the 

 manor, 8 and in 1301 the king granted them free 

 warren in their demesne lands in Michelmersh and 

 their other manors. 9 William Briwere, who founded 

 the priory of Mottisfont about 1200, granted to it all 

 the land which he held in the manor of Michelmersh 

 free from suit at his hundred-court of King's Som- 

 borne, and from all other services and secular exactions, 

 to keep the anniversary of his wife Beatrice, and his 

 gift was confirmed by his daughter Margery de la Ferte 

 in her widowhood. 10 The prior and canons of 

 Mottisfont remained in possession of this land for some 

 time, but in 1231, owing to the fact that they had 

 erected a house upon it to the damage of the prior of 

 St. Swithun, an agreement was made whereby Stephen, 

 prior of Mottisfont, surrendered to Walter, prior of 

 St. Swithun, all his possessions in the parish in ex- 

 change for a meadow called ' Ruchenaye,' and lands 

 and rents in the vill of Drayton. 11 During the four- 

 teenth century further grants of land in Michelmersh 

 were made to the prior and convent, 1 * while in 1332 

 the king gave them licence to impark their wood of 

 Michelmersh. 13 The manor remained in the possession 

 of the monastery until 1539," when it was taken into 

 the hands of the king. 14 Unlike the other manors 

 that had belonged to St. Swithun, Michelmersh was 

 not granted to the dean and 

 chapter in 1541, but was held 

 by the crown until 1543. In 

 that year it was granted with 

 a reserved rent of $ in. ^d. 

 to Sir William Sidney in re- 

 cognition of his services as tutor 

 and steward of the household 

 to Prince Edward. 16 Sir Wil- 

 liam died at Penshurst in 

 1554," leaving as heir his 

 eldest son Henry, who ten 

 years later obtained a release 



of the reserved annual rent from the manor and 

 park. 18 Worn out by his hard work as lord-deputy 

 of Ireland, unrewarded as it was by the capricious 

 Elizabeth, Sir Henry Sidney died at Penshurst in 

 May, 1586, at the age of fifty-seven. 19 His eldest 

 son, the poet, courtier, and soldier, Sir Philip Sidney, 

 died at Zutphen in September of the same year, 

 leaving his estates to his younger brother Robert, 

 the second son of Sir Henry, on condition that he 

 should sell so much of the lands as should pay his own 

 and his father's debts.* In 1588 Sir Robert Sidney" 



SIDNEY. Or a fheon 

 azure* 



I Feet of F. Hants, 15 Hen. III. 

 " L. and P. Hen. VIII, xviii, 368. 



Mins.Accts.Hant>, 32^33 Hen. VIII, 

 109, m. 45. < Close, 4 Jas. I, pt. 22. 



4 Kemble, Codex Difl. iii, 218-19. 

 8 Wharton, Angl. Sacra, i, 235. 



7 Cal. ofPaf. Letters, i, 21, 201. 



8 Chart. R. 13 Edw. I, m. 27. 



9 Ibid. 29 Edw. I, m. 12. 



10 Dugdale, Man. vi, 481, 482. 



II Feet of F. Hants, 1 5 Hen. III. 



u Rot. Orig. (Rec. Com.), i, 206* ; Inq. 

 a.q.d. 7 Edw. II, No. 115 ; Cal. of Pat. 

 '3i3->7 P- 37 i i327-3i P- 5'- 



18 Cal. of Pat. 1330-4, p. 263. 



14 Feud. Aids, ii, 309 ; Pope Nick. Tax. 

 (Rec. Com.), 214. 



15 Mins. Accts. Hants, 32 & 33 Hen. 

 VIII, No. 109, m.45. 



16 Pat. 35 Hen. VIII, pt. 2, m. 10 ; 

 L. and P. Hen. VIII, xviii, 368. The grant 

 included the Outward Manor-place of 

 Michelmersh Manor, then held at farm 

 by John Bacon, a messuage in Awbridge, 

 two meadows in the lordship of Michel- 

 mersh called Newbridge Meads, and the 

 site of the lodge and inclosure of the park 

 with herbage and pannage and warren of 



424 



small game which William, Lord Sandys, 

 was then holding on a thirty-one years' 

 lease by indenture of 1538. 



W Collins, Letters and Mem. of State, 

 i, 82 ; Chan. Inq, p.m. (Ser. 2), xcviii, 

 No. 30. 



18 Pat. 6 Eliz. pt. 6, m. 1 5-20. 



19 Collins, Lcttert and Mem. of State, i, 

 96. 



80 Ibid, no ; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), 

 ccxix, No. 53. 



41 He was knighted in 1586 (Collins, 

 Letters and Mem. of State, i, 114). 



