BUDDLESGATE HUNDRED 



WONSTON 



probability on the site of the original manor-house of 

 Cranborne, though it is now only an ordinary farm- 

 house. Norton Farm, the original manor-house of 

 Norton manor, lies north-west of Cranborne and 

 is reached by a narrow road leading north-west 

 from Wonston, and another leading east from the 

 main road from Sutton Scotney to Whitchurch. It is 

 a picturesque red-brick and flint building, mainly of 

 early eighteenth-century date, with brick pilasters at 

 the angles, having moulded capitals and the unusual 

 feature of a band of yellow and blue Dutch tiles set 

 in the necking of the capitals. The roof is red tiled 

 and hipped, and has wide projecting eaves which add 

 much to the dignity of the building. The entrance 

 is from the north, the gardens lying on the west and 

 south, and the stables and offices on the east. There 

 is a central hall with a good eighteenth-century stair- 

 case at the south end, the hall itself being panelled 

 with early seventeenth-century panelling formerly in 

 one of the upper rooms. This goes to show that 

 part of the interior is of older date than the exterior 

 would suggest. The present owner of the house, 

 Mr. George Hampton, has fitted it up in excellent 

 taste, and the gardens, with a large pond on the 

 west, are very prettily laid out. 



The soil of the whole parish is loam with a subsoil 

 of chalk, and the chief crops grown on the 3,964! acres 

 of arable land are wheat, barley, oats, and turnips. 

 Although the parish is generally speaking well wooded, 

 there is very little woodland, only 148^ acres, and 

 that mostly in the north-east corner, while 1,003^ acres 

 are given up to pasture land. 1 



Like the other manors in Buddlesgate 

 MANORS Hundred that belonged from the first to 

 the church at Winchester, and passed 

 at the Dissolution to the dean and chapter, the manor 

 of WONSTON has little history. The actual grant 

 of the manor to the church does not appear, but 

 according to Domesday it always belonged to the 

 minster (in monaiterio), was held by the bishop at 

 the time of the Survey, and was assessed at 7 hides. 3 



SCOTNIY. Argent a 

 cheveron between three 

 scallops azure. 



NORTON MANOR HOUSE, WONSTON 



In 1205, and again in 1243, it was confirmed to the 

 prior and convent by the pope, 4 and right of free 

 warren in their demesne lands was granted them by 

 Edward III. 5 In 1334-5, and again in 1337, the 

 profits of the farm of the manor were entered on the 

 Receiver's Roll at 10 and 6 respectively. 6 By 

 1539, the year of the suppression of the monastery, 

 the farm had reached the value of .13.' In 1541 

 the manor was granted to the 

 dean and chapter of Win- 

 chester, who at the present 

 day hold the manor, and have 

 one farm in the parish. 



At the time of the Domes- 

 day Survey there were two 

 manors of SUTTON, one as- 

 sessed at 2^ hides, held by 

 Odo of Winchester, the other 

 assessed at the same, held by 

 Robert son of Gerold. Earl 

 Godwin had held both, prob- 

 ably as one five-hide manor, in 

 the time of Edward the Confessor, and of him Alward 

 and Tovi had held. The extents of the manors as given 

 in the Survey are identical. 8 The half that was held by 

 Robert son of Gerold passed to the Scotney family in 

 the thirteenth century. The first mention of them in 

 connexion with the manor is in 1235-6, when 

 Robert son of Alan surrendered five virgates of land 

 in Sutton to Walter de Scotney, 9 a member of the 

 Sussex and Lincolnshire family of Scotney. 10 Walter 

 was the son of Peter and Mabel de Scotney," and grand- 

 son of another Walter," and both his father and grand- 

 father had been important men in Sussex, and bene- 

 factors to the priory of Hastings. 13 During the reign 

 of Henry III Walter himself held 14$ knights' fees of 

 the manor of Hastings," and the lands which he held 

 in Sutton were held as belonging to the manor of Crow- 

 hurst as of the manor of Hastings. 15 However, Walter 

 de Scotney is best known to fame not as the holder of 

 large fees, but as the perpetrator of an attempt to poison 



Richard earl of Glou- 

 cester and William de 

 Clare, by the instiga- 

 tion, it is said, of 

 William de Valence. 

 Richard earl of Glou- 

 cester escaped with a 

 severe illness and the 

 loss of his hair and nails, 

 to be finally poisoned 

 three years later by an- 

 other tool of William 

 de Valence. However, 

 William de Clare died, 

 and Walter de Scotney 

 was consequently sen- 

 tenced to death and 

 hanged at Winchester 

 on 23 May, I259- 1 ' 

 An inquisition taken 

 on his death shows that 



a Statistics from Bd. of Agric. (1905). 



3 f.C.H. Hants, i, 4670. 



4 CM. of Paf. Letters, ii, 21, 2OI. 



5 Chart. R. 



6 Obedientiary R. of St. Sivithun (HantI 

 Rec. Soc.), 226, 244. 



' Doc. relating to the D. and C. tf Win- 

 chester (Hants Rec. Soc.), i, 90. 



8 V.C.H. Hants, i, 488, 504. 



Feet of F. Hants, East. 29 Hen. 

 HI. 



10 See N. and Q. (Ser. 4), iii, 332. 



455 



11 Inq. p.m. 28 Hen. Ill, No. 8. 

 11 Coll. Top. et Gen. vi, loc. 

 " Ibid. 



14 Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 224. 



15 Inq. p.m. 44 Hen. Ill, No. 6. 

 18 Dugdale, Bar. i, 676. 



