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THE HAMPSHIRE ANTIQUARY &> NATURALIST. 



Hants. I have only seen Froxfield once ; it is a 

 secluded place, off the road. I think there is an old 

 church there surrounded by a burial ground, and a 

 new church hard by. 



Two hundred and forty-six years ago this very day 

 on which I write March 29, 1644 this is the date 

 on which I propose to speak in the following notes. 

 England was in the agony of civil war, and in no part 

 was this more fierce than in Hampshire. Basing 

 House was being besieged by the Parliamentary 

 army. Lord Hopton was at Winchester in command 

 of the King's men, thirteen or fourteen thousand 

 strong. Sir William Waller, the Parliamentarian 

 general, was in Sussex, where he had been besieging 

 Arundel Castle, but he was now moving forward to 

 try conclusions with Lord Hopton. On the i8th of 

 March he reached Chichester with a train of artillery, 

 and next day a solemn fast was observed by his 

 army. All the farmers' teams were impressed by 

 him for the transport of his baggage and guns. 

 Other forces were to join him, some from London, 

 some from Portsmouth, and the appointed place of 

 meeting was to be Tichbourne Down. On he came 

 through Havant, Catherington, and Petersfield. 

 Lord Hopton, in order to prevent the junction, 

 marched out from Winchester against him, and sent 

 his advanced guard to occupy Westmeon. This was 

 on Saturday evening, March 23rd. 



The London Parliamentary Brigade were on their 

 way from Alton when the news reached them that 

 Hopton's army was at Westmeon. After some skir- 

 mishing, in which the Royalists got the worst of it, a 

 rumour reached the Roundheads that reinforcements 

 were coming against them. They drew oflf awhile, 

 but finding it a false alarm they returned, especially 

 as they heard that Sir William Waller had reached 

 Eastmeon. There was a good deal of fighting among 

 outposts there, and it was probably then that the 

 victims of the fight were buried under the " Amens 

 Plenty " stone. On the evening of the 26th Waller's 

 advanced posts occupied Westmeon. There was a 

 regiment amorg them kno\vn as the " Lobsters," 

 because they wore hard armour like iron shells. An 

 account of the proceedings is preserved by one who 

 signs himself "Eye Witness," but whose name is 

 not known. He is perhaps the first instance of a 

 41 war correspondent," for he had been sent 

 down by the Lord Mayor of London to re- 

 port the doings, and he tells how the two armies 

 were in constant movement, not only watching each 

 other, but sometimes marching side by side, each 

 afraid to attack. Two things, however, I have to 

 chronicle. The first is that Waller's Lieutenant, 

 Major-General Browne, stabled his horses in the 

 church, the old church of which I have had so much 

 to say. The other is that his soldiers destroyed the 

 village cross. This cross had been set up in the 

 centre of the village by Cardinal Beaufort, the muni- 

 ficent founder of the Hundred Men's Hall at St. Cross, 



Winchester. The site at Westmeon is to this day 

 called " the Cross," though every vestige of the 

 ancient cross has disappeared. It is a charming spot, 

 in the very heart of the village, surrounded by trees, 

 among them a very ancient yew. I think it probable 

 that if the place were excavated, pieces of the old 

 cross might be found. I would give much labour, 

 and what little money I can afford, to restore the 

 beautiful symbol of redemption in the dear village. 



Next day, March 27th, General Browne's army 

 received orders to move out of the village, on the 

 intelligence that the enemy was assembling in force, 

 and he took the road for West Tisted, a village some 

 four miles to the north, on the way to Alton. " We 

 drew our men into a body near Westmeon," says the 

 Eye Witness, " and marched as tootmen in hourly 

 expectation of an attack, and about a mile from the 

 village the enemy [i.e., the Cavaliers] attacked us." 

 This, then, was Westmeon fight, and I could show 

 the reader the very spot. More than fifty years ago 

 a new broad turnpike-road was made for the benefit 

 of the Gosport coaches, for the old road was 

 dangerous. They cut through some wide fields, and 

 in doing so came upon three skeletons, with some 

 pieces of armour and a halberd beside them. Of 

 course, very few persons living remember the circum- 

 stances, and I do not believe there is a single person 

 besides myself who could point out the exact place. 

 I was a very small boy, and used to be sent by my 

 father to show it to chance visitors. And I could do 

 it still. No doubt, if the field were explored others 

 would be found. It delighted me hugely when I read 

 Eye Witness's account, to find it exactly tallying with 

 this discovery. At West Tisted there was another 

 brush, but the parish register has the record of a man 

 " killed in the fight." 



On the aQth the two main armies came to a decisive 

 battle at Cheriton. Mr. Shore, who has been all 

 over the ground, tells me that the main brunt of it 

 found place in the field which lies beside the road 

 leading from the Winchester and Bramdean road to 

 Cheriton. I know the place well, but have never ex- 

 plored the neighbourhood to identify other sites which 

 are named in the records. Close by is Tichborne 

 House, noted in our own time for the attempts of an 

 imposter to get possession of it, but known also for 

 centuries of Hampshire history for the romantic 

 adventures of some of the owners. The possessor at 

 the time of the fight was Sir Benjamin Tichborne. 

 He was a King's man of course, and was M.P. for 

 Petersfield. After an obstinate fight the Royalists 

 were beaten with fearful slaughter. They killed 200 

 horses to prevent the enemy getting them, and also 

 to block up the road. And they buried nine cannon 

 which some day will be dug up when any excavator 

 happens to come upon them. Sir Benjamin hid him- 

 self in a hollow tree, still standing, and now called 

 " Sir Benjamin's Oak." Not many years ago the 

 villagers used small cannon balls, which had been 



