BUDDLESGATE HUNDRED 



WONSTON 



of the fifteenth century, however, the churches were 

 in such a ruinous state, and the parish so destitute 

 of parishioners, that the chapel of Weeke was made a 

 rectory, continuing in the gift of the bishop of Win- 

 chester, and the other two churches pulled down." 

 In the reign of Henry VIII the church was of the 

 annual value of iz igs. o^J. w The living is at the 

 present day a rectory, net income .230, with 2 acres 

 of glebe, and is still in the patronage of the bishop 

 of Winchester. 



The Parliamentary Returns of 

 CHARITIES Charities for the poor dated 1786 

 mention that Godwin gave 40 for 

 the poor. In 1729 William Blake by his will left 

 1 oo, the income to be disposed of among the poor 

 on 22 July yearly, in memory of his wife's death, the 



clerk to have 5*. for his pains. The principal sums 

 were lent on the security of a promissory note, and 

 eventually lost. In the year 1892 the endowments 

 were made good by Miss King, by the transfer to 

 the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds of 41 3/. -id. 

 India $ per cent, stock, and 102 igi. zd. like 

 stock, in trust for the respective charities. 



In 1895 General Henry Nott by will proved this 

 date directed that a sum of ^250 ^\ per cent. an-, 

 nuities should be purchased in the name of the 

 Official Trustees of Charitable Funds, the dividends 

 to be remitted to the vicar and churchwardens of 

 Weeke or Wyke St. Mary, and applied by them 

 in keeping in repair the vestry of the parish church 

 and the monument erected therein to certain members 

 of his family. 



WONSTON 



The parish of Wonston covers an area of 5,493 

 acres, of which 8 are covered by water. The greater 

 part of the land is included in the northern slope of 

 the high ridge of downland which rises north-west of 

 Winchester and slopes down towards the north to the 

 tributary of the Test as it runs a generally north- 

 western course through the centre of Wonston parish. 

 The parish boundaries from east to west narrow near 

 the river, and here is the village of Wonston, west of 

 which is the closely dependent, but now larger and 

 more important, village of Sutton Scotney. North of 

 Sutton Scotney are Cranborne and Norton Farms, the 

 centres of the original manors of Cranborne and Nor- 

 ton, the lands of which, making up the rest of the 

 parish, stretch away in a long narrow piece of land of 

 about two miles of open field and downland to a dark 

 clump of woodland which covers the north-east corner 

 of the parish and joins the south-eastern edge of the 

 Freefolk Woods as they run west and form the 

 northern boundary of Wonston. Two roads from 

 Winchester lead to Wonston ; one the road which 

 runs north-west from the city through the Worthies 

 and Stoke Charity and approaches Wonston village 

 from the east ; the other, the main Roman road to 

 Andover, which runs north-west from the city and, 

 skirting Flower Town east of Littleton, sends off a 

 branch road north over the north-eastern part of 

 Wortley Down, through Sutton Scotney village, and 

 thence east towards Wonston. The latter road after 

 climbing Wortley Down rises on Cow Down and 

 thence descends sharply between a clump of fine trees 

 standing on the west side of the road and two or 

 three detached houses lately built on the opposite side, 

 running along through open country over which the 

 buildings and plough-lands of South Wonston Farm lie 

 to the east. Continuing over hilly country for about 

 a mile and a half north, the road rises to a house which 

 standing to the west at the top of the hill is the first 

 sign of Sutton Scotney village, and from here the road 

 curves east sharply downhill past outlying thatched 

 cottages and farm buildings into the village. Here it 

 branches west to Stockbridge, north to Whitchurch, 

 and east past the railway station 1 over the railway bridge 

 to Wonston village. The branch running north to 

 Whitchurch becomes the chief village street, standing 



east of which at the corner of the road leading to 

 Wonston is the Victoria Diamond Jubilee Institute 

 with its clock tower. Beyond this on the same side 

 of the road is the small wooden chapel of ease for 

 Wonston church. But the chief features of the village, 

 apart from its numerous picturesque thatched cottages, 

 its small provision shops and post office, are the two 

 old inns which stand on the west side of the road in 

 the centre of the village, the ' White Swan ' with its 

 stuffed bird representing its sign in a dusty glass case 

 over the north entrance, and the yellow-painted 

 ' Coach and Horses,' which stands close by on the north 

 side of the small courtyard-like space which separates 

 the two. 



The manor-house of Sutton Scotney, lately disman- 

 tled and rebuilt, stands to the west of the village. 



Leaving Sutton Scotney at the south end of the 

 village and turning east to Wonston, the road leads 

 between thick hedges and field and plough-land, slightly 

 uphill to the outbuildings of Wonston Farm on the 

 north of the road. From here, past a steep rough lane 

 leading south, the road rises between several thatched 

 cottages and farm buildings to the ' Wonston Arms ' 

 standing north of the road, west of which a lane runs 

 north downhill across the river towards Norton Farm, 

 sending off a branch to the east a few yards north of 

 the village and river, known as Hunton Lane. Past 

 the 'Wonston Arms 'the road continues again for 

 several yards between thatched cottages and farm- 

 buildings, with one or two larger houses, towards the 

 east end of the village, where, as the road curves to the 

 south, high thick hedges and tall spreading trees, 

 following the curve of the road, run for several yards 

 along its north side and shut in the beautiful old 

 rectory and the church, which stands immediately east 

 of the house. 



The old rectory to the west of the church, now 

 known as ' The Old House," occupied by Lady Laura 

 Ridding, is a very interesting mediaeval building of 

 two stories, the oldest parts of which are of late 

 fourteenth-century date. It stands north and south, 

 with a central hall, formerly open to the roof, but 

 now in two stories, with screens at the south end and 

 a porch over the east doorway ; on the south is a 

 block projecting east and west, and containing the old 



la F. J. Baigent, Hist, of Parish Church of 

 Wake. 1S Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), ii, 6. 



1 The Sutton Scotney station is on 

 the Great Western Railway line, which 



cuts across the parish in a north-westerly 

 direction from Winchester. 



