BUDDLESGATE HUNDRED 



OTTERBOURNE 



supposed to be ' at the house of Welles a confirmed 

 recusant.' 68 On the death of Gilbert in 1598 his 

 son and heir Thomas held Boyatt, until in 1605, in 

 accordance with the statute against recusants of 1605," 

 two parts of the manor were seized towards the non- 

 payment of the zo a month which had been in- 

 flicted on popish recusants in 1581 ;" 'whereas' the 

 letters patent ran, ' he hath of late tyme absented him- 

 self from the church and refused to come to divine 

 service and other spiritual exercises .... and doth 

 continue his recusancie contrarie to the form of 

 divers good laws and statutes,' two parts of his estates 

 were forfeited and granted to John Pierson for a 

 term of forty-one years. 65 In 1613 these two parts 

 of the manor of Boyatt were granted to John Gray 

 for the term of twenty-one years by reason of the 

 continued recusancy of Thomas Welles and his mother 

 Elizabeth. 66 During the same year the third part of 

 the manor was alienated, probably mortgaged, by 

 Thomas to George Dowse and Francis Perkins, 67 and 

 in 1627 came a similar mortgage to Henry Manfeld 

 and others. 68 In 1630 Thomas Welles died and all 

 his right in the manor passed to his son Gilbert, who 

 in 1634 received the whole manor for a term of 

 forty-one years. 69 Boyatt remained in the Welles 

 family until towards the end of the eighteenth 

 century, ro when, in accordance with the will of Henry 

 Welles dated 2 August, 1762, it passed to his cousin 

 Walter Smythe,' 03 second son of Sir John Smythe, bart., 

 to hold for life, with remainder to his son and heir 

 Walter Smythe." The further history of this manor 

 has not been ascertained. 



A LIB ROOK FARM, described as a 'very good 

 house' in 1726, with lands belonging to it called 

 Aldermoor, Boyton Mead, and Otterbourne Mead, was 

 owned by John Wybarne, who died intestate about 

 1717. In 1 7 1 5 he had conveyed it to Thomas Good- 

 win to dispose of it by sale and to pay his debts from 

 the proceeds. After the death of John Wybarne 

 Walter Curll offered 680 for it, and entered into 

 possession, alleging that his money was in London. 

 For six years he remained in possession without 

 payment, and was consequently ordered to pay an 

 additional 185 8s. by the Court of Chancery in 

 1726." 



The church of ST. MATTHEW 

 CHURCHES was built in 1840, and has an apsidal 

 chancel, north and south transepts, 

 a nave with north aisle, and a bell-turret containing two 

 bells on the west gable. It is in a poor Gothic style, 

 and has but little architectural interest, but the low 

 screen at the west of the chancel, formerly in a Pre- 

 monstratensian abbey in Flanders, is in its way a 

 remarkable piece of seventeenth-century woodwork, 

 being adorned with carvings, the subject of which is 

 the adoration of the Holy Sacrament, with kneeling 

 figures of men on the north side, and of women on 

 the south. The top rail is carved with flowers 

 and fruit, and there are cherubs holding bunches 

 of grapes and ears of corn, with figures of saints 

 on the uprights dividing the bays of the screen ; 

 on the south side St. Dominic and St. Norbert, 



and on the north St. Clara and St. Anthony of 

 Padua. 



At the north-east angle of the churchyard stands 

 the modern schoolhouse, the east doorway of which 

 is a fine piece of thirteenth-century work, with a 

 pointed arch of two orders enriched with dog-tooth 

 ornament. 



There are two bells of 1838. 



The church plate is silver-gilt, and consists of a 

 chalice of foreign make, with foliage round the base 

 of the bowl, a paten of 1641, and an almsdish with 

 indistinct date letter. There is also a spoon of Nor- 

 wegian manufacture. 



The first book of registers contains all entries from 

 1648 to 1653, the second runs from 1690 to 1746, 

 and the third from 1 747 to 1812. There are 

 marriage registers also from 175410 1786, 1786 to 

 1812, and 1747 to 1812, and burial registers from 

 1654 to '666, 1666 to 1695, and 1805 to 1812. 



The old church of Otterbourne stood at some 

 distance to the south, on lower ground ; its chancel is 

 all that is now left. This is of thirteenth-century 

 date, with two lancets on the south side, and a two- 

 light east window with a quatrefoil in the head. 

 The chancel arch is part of the thirteenth-century 

 work, and is small, with a single chamfer on the 

 pointed arch ; on either side of it are contemporary 

 arched recesses but little narrower than the arch 

 itself, having an inner order with jamb shafts and 

 moulded capitals and bases. These recesses have flat 

 sills, and both they and the chancel arch are filled in 

 with modern brickwork. They were not pierced, 

 but formed backings to the nave altars. 



The eighteenth-century altar rails remain in the 

 chancel, which is seated with chairs, but there are no 

 other fittings of interest. The walling is of flint 

 with good limestone ashlar dressings, and under the 

 east window parts of a Purbeck marble coffin slab are 

 built in. Part of another marble slab lies in the 

 churchyard. 



Otterbourne was a parochial 

 AD7OWSON chapelry dependent upon Hursley 

 until 1876, when by order in council 

 dated 23 August, 1876, it was constituted a separate 

 ecclesiastical parish and perpetual curacy.' 3 The 

 advowson at the present time belongs to Mr. Anthony 

 Gibbs. 



The Rev. John Keble, M.A., author of the 

 Christian Tear, who was vicar of Hursley from 1836 

 to 1866 built the present vicarage-house. There 

 is a stone to his memory in Otterbourne church- 

 yard. 



' The Touchet Charity ' was founded 

 CHARITIES by Miss Clara Olivia Elgie and Miss 

 Edith M. C. Elgie, who by deed dated 

 4 September, 1891, settled a sum of 181 \6s. \d. 

 consols upon trust that the dividends should be ap- 

 plied as to three-fifths for repair of the grave of their 

 brother-in-law John Hastings Touchet in the church- 

 yard, one-fifth for the benefit of a Working Men's 

 Club, and the remaining fifth in aid of the Charitable 

 Institutions in the parish. 



3 Cat. S.P. Dam. 1591-4, p. 511. 

 68 Slat, of Realm, 3 Jas. I, cap. 4. 

 Ibid. 23 Eliz. cap. i, 4. 

 65 Pat. 6 Jas. I, pt. 3, No. 19. 

 68 Pat. ii Ja. I, pt. 21, No. 8. 

 7 Feet of F. Hants, Trin. 1 1 Jas. I. 

 89 Ibid. Div. Cos, Mich. 3 Chas. I. 



*> Pat. 1 1 Chas. I, pt. 2. 



7 Feet of F. Hants, East. 13 Chas. I ; 

 Cah of Com, for Compounding, v, 3287 j 

 Recov. R. Trin. 8 Geo. II, rot. 43. 



~ 0a Mrs. Fitzherbert, the wife of 

 George IV, was the eldest daughter of 

 this Walter Smythe, and spent the earl/ 



443 



years of her life at Brambridge House 

 (q.v. Fawley Hundred), her father's Hamp- 

 shire residence. 



71 Recov. R. Hil. 21 Geo. Ill, rot. 73 j 

 Trin. 19 Geo. Ill, rot. 156. 



? a Chan. Enr. Dec. R. 1819, No. 4. 



WLond. Gaz. (1876), 4654. 



