A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



carving and the dates 1565 and 1895, the latter 

 recording a late repair, and on the hearth is a cast- 

 iron fireback of 1687 with the royal arms. The 

 ceiling is of plain plaster panels with moulded ribs and 

 bosses at the intersections. At the south-west angle 

 is the octagonal stair, more carefully treated than its 

 fellow at the other side of the courtyard, and 

 having evidently served as the chief stair of the house. 

 To the east of the hall is a room with a fine plaster 

 ceiling with the royal arms and initials of Elizabeth 

 in a garter, and roses and fleurs-de-lis ; its original 

 panelling has been replaced by good eighteenth-cen- 

 tury work. Adjoining it and taking up the south 

 end of the east wing is a large room with panelling 

 and ceiling of eighteenth-century date, but the corre- 

 sponding room in the west wing retains a plastered 

 ceiling of geometrical design with the arms of 

 Pagett of Poulton in Wiltshire, who bore Argent a 

 cheveron erminees between three talbots passant 

 sable ; Farringdon, whose arms were Sable three 

 running unicorns argent ; Sherington of Lacock in 

 Wiltshire, whose shield was Gules two crosses formy 

 or voided sable between two flaunches cheeky argent 

 and azure ; Mill of Hampton, to whom arms Six 

 pieces sable and argent with a fox's head proper 

 between two bears argent with muzzles and chains or 

 in the chief and a like bear between two like foxes' 

 heads in the foot were granted in 1533. 



There is a fine arabesque frieze, and below it a plain 

 band with the arms of Sherington, Talbot, and others. 

 The walls have contemporary oak panelling below 

 the frieze. The fireplace on the east side has a flat- 

 pointed arch with carved spandrels and a plasterwork 

 chimney-piece with the arms of James I beneath a 

 projecting cornice enriched with a vine pattern and 

 carried by pairs of Ionic columns. Below the panel 

 with the royal arms are the arms of Talbot, flanked 

 by leopards and fleurs-de-lis. 



The first floor rooms over this part of the house are 

 bedrooms, and on the plastering in one of them are 

 some roughly sketched designs in red with the date 

 1576. The western room on this floor in the main 

 block has a fine plasterwork ceiling and frieze with 

 the following shields : Pagett ; Farringdon ; Sher- 

 ington ; Wilford, whose arms were Gules a cheveron 

 ermine between three leopards' heads or ; Cooke of 

 Giddea Hall in Essex, who bore arms Quarterly of 

 6 : I, Or a cheveron cheeky gules and azure between 

 three cinquefoils azure impaled with Malpas, Sable 

 a fesse between three pheons argent, (2) Or an eagle 

 azure with two heads, for Montgomery, (3) Azure 

 three eagles set bendwise between two bends argent, 

 for Belknap, (4) Gules a fesse cheeky argent and 

 sable between six crosses formy fitchy or, for Boteler, 

 (5) Or two bends gules, for Sudeley, (6) Bendy of 

 ten pieces or and azure, for Mountfort ; Bacon of 

 Redgrave, whose arms were Gules a chief argent with 

 two pierced molets sable therein, quartered with 

 Barry or and azure a bend gules, for Knaplod, with 

 the difference of a crescent. The adjoining room 

 takes up the rest of the first floor of the main block, 

 and has a fine early eighteenth-century moulded 

 ceiling ; a passage has been partitioned off from it on 

 the south side, cutting into the ceiling, and connects 

 with that down the west side of the east wing, from 

 which the panelling has been removed. The north 



room in this wing, adjoining the large room just 

 described, is quite plain, but that next to it on the 

 south has an Elizabethan plaster ceiling like that below 

 it on the ground floor, and eighteenth-century oak 

 panelling. To the south is a room without any orna- 

 ment, opening to that at the south end of the wing, 

 which has an Elizabethan ceiling with two-headed 

 eagles, leopards and fleurs-de-lis ; the crests of Bacon 

 a boar passant, and of Paulet a falcon rising 

 from a branch, are also introduced. The third story 

 is an attic, divided into small rooms, but originally 

 formed a long gallery over the main block and west 

 wing, with a coved plaster ceiling adorned with all 

 the arms which occur elsewhere in the house. It 

 remains in a fair state over the main block, but 

 very little is left in the west wing. The stair turrets 

 are carried above the roofs and finished with embattled 

 parapets, their upper stages being lighted by square- 

 headed two-light windows, and the chimney stacks 

 which project from the outer faces of the walls have 

 lost their original brick shafts, all the existing shafts 

 being modern. On the west side of the house is a 

 walled garden, with the stables to the south-west, 

 and a fine avenue of limes leads from the road to 

 the south front of the house. 



From early times a water-mill was appurtenant to 

 the manor of Nursling Beaufo, being mentioned as 

 early as 1255." It is probable also that there was 

 another mill in the parish appurtenant to the manor 

 of Nursling Prior, for one is included in the extent 

 of ' Notesselinge ' (representing Nursling Prior) in 

 Domesday Book. 91 In the Chancery decree of 1619 

 two water corn-mills and three ' fullingstocke ' there- 

 unto adjoining called Nursling Mills are mentioned as 

 having been leased to Andrew Mundy by Sir Richard 

 Mill. 93 One of them seems to have fallen into disuse 

 by the beginning of the eighteenth century, 94 and 

 there is now only one water-mill in the parish. 



A several fishery in the River Test was appurtenant 

 to the manor of Nursling Prior. The prior sometimes 

 had some difficulty in maintaining his rights. Thus 

 in 1387 he brought an action against John Goldsmith 

 of Southampton, William Fisher, Robert Goudyer, and 

 Richard Lobbe for fishing in his fishery at Nursling 

 and carrying off 200 lampreys, 300 salmon, 200 trout, 

 4,000 eels, and other fish to the value of 40. John 

 Goldsmith, who was at this time holding the manor of 

 Testwood on a nine years' lease from Sir Thomas 

 West, asserted that the fishery in the Test between 

 ' Asshedych ' on the north and ' Dodepole ' on the 

 south was common to the lords of the manors of 

 Nursling Prior and Testwood, and that therefore he 

 and his servants were justified in fishing therein. The 

 case was therefore adjourned for further evidence, but 

 with what result does not appear. 95 



The church of ST. BONIF4CE 

 CHURCH has a chancel 22ft. 3 in. by lift., 

 with a large south chapel 1 6 ft. 9 in. 

 wide by 146. 4 in. long, a nave 43 ft. loin, by 

 25ft. 4in., and a south porch carried up as a tower. 

 In the thirteenth century the nave had a south aisle, 

 which seems to have been destroyed in mediaeval times. 

 The building in its present form appears to date from 

 the first quarter ef the fourteenth century, but in- 

 cludes part of the thirteenth-century church. In 

 1 88 1 the church was repaired by Street, and a thir- 



91 Feet of F. Hant, Hil. 40 Hen. III. 

 V.C.H. Hants, i, 464*. 



98 Chan. Enr. Dec. R. 1286. 



91 Recov. R. HiL 7 Geo. I, rot. z6. 



438 



95 De Bane. R. Mich. II Ric. II, 

 m. 211. 



