MAINSBRIDGE HUNDRED 



out, and are used by the members of the North 

 Stoneham Club for games and athletic sports of all 

 kinds. There are also two fine fishponds, now used 

 for boating. The church of St. Nicholas stands just 

 within the park, while opposite is the rectory. 



There is no village of North Stoneham, but about 

 half a mile north of the church is the little hamlet of 

 Middle, consisting of a farm and a few cottages, the 

 Cricketer's Arms Inn and the post office. 



North End is a hamlet in the extreme north of the 

 parish, near Chandlersford, and comprises a few 

 picturesque old cottages, and a farm called the Home 

 Farm. Chandlersford was formed into a separate 

 civil parish in 1897, from portions of North Stone- 

 ham, North Baddesley, and Ampfield. A few years 

 ago it contained only a few small cottages, but it is 

 now rapidly developing into a favourite residential 

 neighbourhood, owing to its healthy situation and 

 charming scenery. The iron church and schools 

 erected in 1889 lie to the north of the village. 

 Chandlersford Railway Station on the Eastleigh and 

 Salisbury branch of the London and South Western 

 Railway is in North Baddesley parish, according to 

 the boundaries of 1895. Bassett, a group of large 

 modern residences, lies on the southern border of the 

 parish and contains the fine new church of St. Michael 

 and All Angels, opened in 1 897. 



Saxholme, to the north of the village, is the 

 residence of Sir Alfred Wills, Ridgemount is the 

 property of W. Erasmus Darwin, J.P., and Red 

 Lodge, in the south-west of the village, is owned by 

 Sir Harold Hewitt. 



The old canal from Alresford, which still forms 

 part of the parish boundary, is now disused and 

 practically dry. 



The village stocks have disappeared, but they were 

 formerly on the road to Chandlersford near the pound, 

 close to the gates of North Stoneham Park. 



Lord Hawke, the victor of Quiberon Bay, formerly 

 lived in this parish, and is buried in the church. 



King Athelstan, in the year 932, at 



MANOR the Witenagemot at Amesbury, granted 



certain land in NORTH STONEHAM to 



the thegn Alfred, 1 who in 941 gave the same land to 



the abbey of Hyde, Winchester. 4 



In Domesday North Stoneham is given as one of 

 the possessions of St. Peter's Abbey of Hyde, ' to 

 which it has always belonged.' Then, as in the time 

 of King Edward, it was assessed at 8 hides, and there 

 were considerable lands belonging to the manor. 5 



In 1329 the abbey of Hyde was granted free 

 warren in its demesne lands in North Stoneham. 6 



The property of the abbot here had been increased 

 three years before by a grant of one messuage and 

 land from John de Chekenhull and Beatrice his wife, 

 for the maintenance of a chaplain who every day should 

 pray for the souls of the donors and their ancestors.' 



At the dissolution of the monasteries North Stone- 

 ham manor, with many of the other possessions of 

 Hyde Abbey, was granted to Thomas Wriothesley, 

 earl of Southampton. 8 He was succeeded on his 

 death in 1550 by his son Henry, then a minor. 9 



NORTH 



STONEHAM 



Henry died in 1582 and left as his heir a son Henry, 

 then only eight years of age. 10 Shortly after attaining 

 his majority he sold the North Stoneham estate to 

 Thomas Fleming," whose descendants are the present 

 owners. His son Thomas, who succeeded him in 

 1623," died in 1639, leaving a son Edward as his 

 heir. He also left a daughter Katherine, who after- 

 wards married Daniel Eliot." 



Edward's grandson died unmarried, and the male 

 line of the Fleming family became extinct. The 

 estate of North Stoneham then passed to Thomas 

 Willis, great-grandson of Katherine and Daniel Eliot, 

 who assumed the surname Fleming. " He died with- 

 out heirs, and was succeeded by his half-brother John, 

 who also took the name Fleming, but died without 

 issue in 1802. The property then devolved upon 

 his cousin John Barton Willis, great-grandson of 

 Browne Willis the antiquary by Katherine Eliot, 

 daughter of Daniel Eliot and Katherine Fleming, who 

 became John Barton Willis Fleming. 14 His grandson, 



FLIHING. Gulci a 

 chcireron between three 

 owls argent vuith an er- 

 mine tail on the che-veron. 



WILLIS. Argent a 

 feite between three lions 

 gvlet and a border gules 

 bevanty. 



Mr. John Edward Arthur Willis Fleming, holds the 

 manor at the present time. 



Two mills are mentioned in Domesday among the 

 possessions of Hyde Abbey in North Stoneham. 14 No 

 such buildings exist here at the present day, although 

 there are two in the neighbouring parish of South 

 Stoneham, one called the ' Wood Mills ' at Swayth- 

 ling, the other called 'West End Mills,' a little above 

 the old Mansbridge, on the River Itchen. 



In the extent of North Stoneham, as granted to 

 Hyde Abbey in 941, the boundary extended as far as 

 the River Itchen in two places, at ' Swathelyngford,' 

 and at ' a mylle place by Northe Mannysbrygge,' " 

 from which it seems conclusive that the mills now in 

 South Stoneham are those formerly in North Stone- 

 ham, having been transferred from one parish to the 

 other by a change of boundary, especially as there is 

 no river or stream in North Stoneham capable of 

 turning a mill. In the time of George I the sheaves 

 for the blocks of the men-of-war were turned in the 

 Wood Mill, some of the Hanoverian bodyguard being 

 given employment at the work. Now, however, it is 

 a flour mill worked by Messrs. A. & F. Ray, roller 

 millers, of Southampton. 'West End Mill' is now a 

 corn mill, the property of Mr. John Gater, whose 

 family have held it for over a century. It was for- 

 merly a paper mill, belonging in 1686 to the com- 



8 Birch, Cart. Sax. No. 692. 



4 Ibid. No. 649. 



* Y.C.H. Hants, 1,471*. 



Chart. R. 3 Edw. Ill, m. 16. 



7 Pat. 19 Edw. II, pt. 2, m. 21 ; Inq. 

 a.q.d. 19 Edw. II, No. 68. 



8 Pat. 37 Hen. VIII, pt. I, m. 9. 



W. and L. Inq. p.m. 4 Edw. VI (Ser. 

 2), bdle. 5, No. 103. 



10 Chan. Inq. p.m. 24. Eliz. pt. I (Ser. 

 2), No. 46. 



11 Feet of F. Hants, East. 42 Eliz. 



li W. and L. Inq. p.m. 22 Jas. Cap. I 

 (Scr. 2), bdle. 40, No. 97. 



479 



18 Chan. Inq. p.m. 1 5 Chas. I, pt. 2 

 (Ser. 2), No. 118. 



14 Burke, Landed Gentry. 

 15 



16 Liber Man. de Hyda (Rolls Ser.), 

 126. 



