THE HAMPSHIRE ANTIQUARY &> NATURALIST. 



concluded that the post was intended only for the 

 punishment of women. The whole thing naturally 

 called up reminiscences of the use of this obsolete 

 mode of punishment. The President and Mr. Shore 

 had both seen the stocks used. Mr. W. H. Purkis 

 said he was the last bailiff of Chapel Fair, at South- 

 ampton, having then the command of the stocks, but 

 he ordered no one into them. Mr. T. K. Dymond 

 had seen people in the stocks at Launceston in 

 Cornwall. 



ODIHAM CHURCH AND ITS FONT. 



The stocks and the church were not usually very 

 far apart ; and so in this case a few steps led to the 

 parish church of Odiham. This did not at first glance 

 appear so interesting a building as that atWinchfield, 

 but it has a unique feature in the font, of which there 

 is not a similar one in the county. This has on one 

 side a projection, hollowed out as if to receive some 

 liquid, with two holes slanting outwards through it. 

 This font has exercised the imaginations of numbers 

 of antiquaries as to the purpose of the excrescence. 

 Some have declared it to be a chrisom, or vessel for 

 holding the oil which was used in baptisms ; others 

 have supposed that it had to do with the fastening of 

 the cover of the font. Recently, the vicar, the Rev. 

 T. G. Clarke, said, a deputation of the Oxford Archae- 

 ological Societj-, with Prof. Westwood, visited the 

 church, and after learnedly discussing the matter at 

 the Ashmolean Museum, had come to the conclusion 

 that this protuberance was for the purpose of 

 receiving the droppings of the holy water in which 

 the children were baptised. Prof. Westwood thought 

 the absence of any mark of oil was sufficient to dis- 

 prove the chrisom theory. The members of the Field 

 Club now brought their wits to work to try to solve 

 the question. If it was for the dropping of the holy 

 water, asked one, why did the drain holes lead out- 

 wards instead ot into the basin ? One thought that 

 these holes did not go through the stone, unless 

 perhaps they were stopped up. Altogether the 

 balance of opinion of the Field Clubites seemed 

 to be against the chrisom theory of the learned 

 antiquaries of Oxford and in favour of the more 

 matter of fact suggestion as to the fastening 

 or hinge of the cover, the holes being for the 

 iron work. The closing of the fonts, the Rev. G. 

 W. Minns mentioned, was in order to prevent the 

 water being used for magical rites ; and there used to 

 be a fine oak cover to this font. The consecrated 

 water, he added, was kept for a whole year, and was 

 then renewed with great ceremony. Mr. Shore cited 

 edicts of the years 1250 and 1290 enjoining that all 

 fonts should be covered for protection against magic. 

 The inscription on the font is Meiini aiixilinm in deo 

 qni fecit co-lain ct terram ; the lettering, Mr. Minns 

 thought, was of later than Norman age. Other 

 features of interest are the brasses and a fine carved 

 Jacobean pulpit. The brasses include those of a 

 civilian, 1450 ; a lady, 1510 ; a lady, 1520 ; a civilian, 



1530; Mary Py, 1636 ; and John Haydock, 1504. The 

 Vicar said he found these brasses lying about in 1861, 

 and had had them put on slates and erected on the 

 walls. Mr. Shore expressed congratulations on 

 behalf of the Club that they had been so well pre- 

 served, and referred to the neglect with which they 

 were treated in manj- other places. He also men- 

 tioned as in the church small brasses to William 

 Goodmay, vicar, 1498, Thomas Chammsy, 1528, and 

 others about 1400. The church was confiscated by 

 Henry VIII, and given into the hands of lay rectors, in 

 which it has remained till the present day. An oppor- 

 tunity was afforded for inspecting the church registers, 

 which date from 1538, the date when the keeping of 

 these registers was enjoined by Cromwell. The 

 earliest volume appears, however, to be a transcript, 

 being on paper, not parchment, and in one hand- 

 writing; the pages are in somewhat bad preservation, 

 the cover of the book being too small, and if some 

 effort is not made to bring them into better condition, 

 portions will be irretrievably lost. A curious entry 

 was shown under the date Jan. 4, 1784, of the 

 marriage of "Charles Hambleton" and Mary Scamol, 

 the bridegroom afterwards being discovered to be a 

 woman. There is also in the vestry an old chest, 

 with three keys for the clergyman and church- 

 wardens, which for a long time resisted all attempts 

 to open it. Mr. Shore gave one or two items con- 

 nected with the history of the church. In 1290, at 

 the taxation of Pope Nicholas, the rector}- of Odiham 

 with its chapel, i.e. that of Greywell, was valued at 

 66 138. 4d., and the vicarage of Odiham at 8. At 

 the time of the Valor Ecclesiasticus (Henry VIII), 

 Roger Elys was rector or vicar, and the value of the 

 benefice was 23 us. 4d. The rectory belonged to 

 the cathedral church of Salisbury, which had the 

 great tithes. 



A BIG CHALK PIT. 



Proceeding from here to Greywell, a short stoppage 

 was made at a large chalk pit, one of the largest in 

 the county. This is situated close to the line of 

 junction between the upper chalk and the Tertiary beds 

 which runs across this part of the county, and being 

 in a projecting part of the chalk was no doubt sought 

 from its accessibility from different points. It was 

 afterwards remarked by Lord Basing, who met the 

 party at the " Priory," that at the time the French 

 people were interned at Odiham, they used this chalk 

 pit to fight their duels. 



GREYWELL CHURCH AND ITS ROOD LOFT. 



The church at Gre3'well or Grewell, as the name is 

 variouslj- spelled and we believe variously pronounced, 

 is a small structure which possesses a very interesting 

 feature, a rood loft, the only one now remaining in 

 Hampshire. Steps to such rood lofts have been seen 

 in different churches at previous meetings of the Club, 

 as at Tichborne, but at Greywell the loft and screen 

 are complete, and have been raised on a stone 

 foundation so as not to interfere with the chancel 



