A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



side of the street. Passing thence by two or three 

 low cottages, the road sends off a branch north to 

 Nursling, near the modern Railway Guard Inn, and 

 itself crossing the railway line (Andover branch), and 

 the famous Red Bridge over the River Test, leaves the 

 parish. 



The north-eastern branch of the Millbrook road 

 passing by the Royal Oak Inn, goes on to Yew Tree 

 House, lying on the west, and thence to the group of 

 cottages, the school, and the Methodist chapel com- 

 posing the hamlet of Wimpson. Wimpson Farm lies 

 to the north-west, while Upper Wimpson Farm with 

 its thickly-grouped farm buildings is still further 

 north-west near the border-line of Millbrook parish. 



Although the extensive growth of both Shirley and 

 Freemantle makes them impossible of description, 

 there are still a few landmarks remaining in Shirley 

 distinguishing Old and New Shirley, Shirley Warren, 

 and Coxford, while Hill Farm in the south-east, now 

 the head quarters of a dairy company, suggests the 

 whereabouts of the manor farm of Hill. Banister's 

 Park estate, with Banister's Court School and Cricket 

 Ground mark the site of the so-called manor of that 

 name. 



The small rivulet called the Holybrook, running in 

 a south-westerly direction through the parish, passes 

 west of the fine grounds of Holybrook House, and 

 broadens out into fine ponds at Old Shirley, on the 

 north side of which are two or three picturesquely- 

 situated houses. Near Shirley Ponds also are two or 

 three of the old houses of Old Shirley, and the thatched 

 inn ' Ye Old Thatched House,' and the modern 

 ' Blacksmith's Arms.' Another rivulet known as Tan- 

 ner's Brook also enters the ponds at the north-west 

 corner, and as it thus joins with the Holybrook rivulet 

 the two flow south to Shirley Mill, now a dilapidated 

 building quite disused, and then south between Mill- 

 brook and Shirley to the Test. 



Old Shirley Hill south of the pond is locally recog- 

 nized as some sort of boundary-mark between Old and 

 New Shirley. The Shirley Park estate, south of Old 

 Shirley, is now almost wholly built over, Shirley Park 

 Road being almost the only suggestion of the existence 

 of Shirley Park. 



The wide Shirley Road running south-east from 

 Old Shirley into Southampton is the main feature of 

 New Shirley. From it on either side go off branch 

 streets and again branch streets, both wide and narrow, 

 lined with modern cottages, shops and houses. A 

 rather fine wide street known as Church Street goes 

 off to the north-east to St. James's Road and to the 

 well-built modern church of St. James, north-east of 

 which are the church schools. There are several 

 chapels in Shirley ; Wesleyan, Baptist, Primitive 

 Methodist, Bible Christian, and Evangelist. 



Freemantle lies almost wholly south-west of the 

 Shirley Road. The small stretch of water known as 

 Freemantle Pond and the name Park Road alone sur- 

 vive to mark the site of Freemantle Park. Christ 

 Church, Freemantle, a well-built modern church, stands 

 in a good position south of the widest street, which is 



known as Payne's Road, from Mr. Sampson Payne, 

 who, as has already been stated, converted Freemantle 

 into a building estate. The schools are north-east 

 of the church. 



Two or three old houses and an old inn among the 

 modern buildings mark the site of Four Posts hamlet 

 in the south-east of Freemantle. 



Among place-names found in the parish are a spring 

 in Shirley called Colewell (xiv cent.), 1 and a plot of 

 ground called the Conquest in Millbrook (xvi cent.). 1 

 King Eadwig in 956 granted 7 hides 

 MANORS in MILLBROOK to Prince Wulfic for 

 life, 3 and in 1045 King Edward granted 

 the same 7 hides to Alwin, bishop of Winchester. 4 

 The boundaries of the land given in the two grants 

 are almost identical, except that those of 1045 are 

 much more fully given. They are traced from Red- 

 bridge to the River Test, and along the Test to 

 Nursling (on hnut scyllinga mearce), then along the 

 boundary to the hollow way (holan teege),* from the 

 hollow way to Farningbrook (on fearninga r0r),and so 

 along to Millbrookford, and so east along the boundary 

 to Thursley (thunres lea) northward, then along the 

 way to the King's Dike (cynges die), and so along the 

 boundary to the other hollow way, thence to the weir 

 on the river (on fta ea se werstede) near Redbridge, out 

 through to the stream to the King's Wharf (stattij, 

 and so along the stream back to Redbridge and the 

 hedge (?) to Hampton, which belongeth thereto. At 

 the time of the Domesday Survey the bishop himself 

 held Millbrook, ' it had always belonged to the mon- 

 astery,' but it was then and had been in the time of 

 Edward the Confessor assessed at 5 hides. 6 In 1 167 

 the prior of St. Swithun rendered account for the 

 manor, 7 and in 1205 he received confirmation of 

 Millbrook among his other possessions from the pope." 

 From this time till the dissolution of the monastery 

 the manor remained in the hands of the prior and 

 convent. Evidently from a very early period Mill- 

 brook was one of the St. Swithun's manors which were 

 ' farmed ' by villeins resident on the manor. Thus 

 the Domesday entry states that ' villeins held it and 

 hold it ; there is no hall there.' 9 By the fourteenth 

 century, if not earlier, the receipts from the ' farm ' of 

 Millbrook, together with that of the adjacent manor 

 of Nursling, were appropriated to the office of warden 

 of the works (custos oferum). 1 " Thus in 1409 John 

 Hurst, warden of the works, received 21 l$j. "jd. 

 from the serjeant (lervieiu) " of Millbrook," and in 

 1532 Walter Frost, warden of the works, received 

 27 J/. from the reeve. 13 On the suppression of the 

 monastery in 1539 " the manor passed into the king's 

 hands, to be granted within the next year to the dean 

 and chapter of Winchester, with a stipulation that its 

 proceeds, together with those of four other manors, 

 including Nursling, should be relegated to the support 

 of twelve poor university students, six at Oxford and 

 six at Cambridge." However, in 1545 the dean and 

 chapter, probably under compulsion, surrendered these 

 five manors to the king. Millbrook and Nursling 

 were then granted to John Mill, 16 who already owned 



1 Pat. i Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 33. 



s Ct. of Requests, bdle. 17, No. 85. 



8 Birch, Cart, Sax. iii, 99. 



4 Kemble, Codex Dipt, iv, 104. 



5 This may be the modern Brownhill 

 Lane. 



V.C.H. Hants, i, 467. 

 ^ Pipe R. (Pipe R. Soc.) 



8 Cal. of Pap. Letters, i, 21. 

 y.C.H. Hants, i, 442, 467. 



10 Obed. R. of St. Swithun (Hants Rec. 

 Soc.), 55. 



11 Ser-viens seems to have the sense of 

 under bailiff. Du Cange defines ' Servi- 

 ens de Manerio ' as 'villicus cui Manerii 

 cura incumbuit.' 



428 



" Obed. R. of St. Swithun (Hants Rec. 

 Soc.), 114, 210. 



"Ibid. 215. 



14 L. and P. Hen. VIII, xvi, 26. 



16 Pat. 33 Hen. VIII, pt. 9, m. j-n. 

 Winton. Cath. Doc. (Hants Rec. Soc.), i, 

 171. 



16 Pat. 37 Hen. VIII, pt. i. 



