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THE HAMPSHIRE ANTIQUARY & NATURALIST. 



The mythology of ancient nations had many 

 resemblances. Seneca says " Where a spring rises or a 

 river flows let us build our altars and offer sacrifices," and 

 these water sources which were sacied places to the 

 Romans, were reverenced also by the Celtic tribes of 

 Britain. East Meon is just such a place as a primitive 

 tribe would choose for the headquarters of their settle- 

 ment from such considerations, and I should not be at all 

 surprised if Roman or Romano-British remains were found 

 at Oxenbourn or Fairfield, the two water sources above 

 East Meon or near the spring; south of \Vestbury, as the 

 sites of Roman villas have been found in many similar 

 situations in Hampshire and elsewhere. Oxenbourn I take 

 to be a duplicated name, perhaps triplicated, partly Celtic 

 and partly Saxon, of which we have many other examples 

 in this county ox and an being Celtic syllables, both 

 denoting water as much as the Saxon word, bourn. It is 

 difficult to imagine how the ancient pagan races of this 

 part of the world could have been other than worshippers 

 of Nature, of the visible heavens, and of the sun as the 

 dispenser of life and fertility. If they had any religion at 

 all they could not fail to be impressed with these pheno- 

 mena, and our names Sunday and Monday testify how 

 deeply rooted this widespread ancient mythology of the 

 heavens really was. A distinguished writer on linguistic 

 antiquities, the late Rev. Samuel Lysons, a learned 

 Hebrew scholar, in his book on " Our British Ancestors,'' 

 specially mentions the name of this district Meon as a 

 name of extreme antiquity, which he traces from the far 

 east, and as a name applied to those who worshipped the 

 material heavens, and especially the sun as the dispenser 

 of fertility and of life. 



I have already, during this meeting, pointed out to the 

 club the line of the Celtic tumuli at the Jumps, which are 

 at the northern limit of East Meon Hundred. This line 

 is the line of the mid-summer sunrise, and of the mid- 

 winter sunset, as is the case with the chief lines at 

 Stonehenge. 



In support of his statement that Mone and Meon are 

 ancient words of Eastern origin come into Britain by 

 ancient migrations from the East, the late Rev. Samuel 

 Lysons refers his readers to two texts of Scripture, viz., 

 Ezekiel, xxv, 9, where the prophet denounces Bael-Meon, 

 worshipped by the Moabites, and Jeremiah, xlviii, 23, where 

 Beth-Meon, or the temple of Meon, is denounced. 



Mr. Lysons also mentions that the name Menu is still 

 used in India to denote the same worship, and he specially 

 names this Meon country as one of the parts of Britain 

 where this worship of the sun and heavens must have sur- 

 vived the longest. 



These are suggestions I point out for your consideration 

 without being responsible for them, but I agree with Mr. 

 Lysons that such a religion prevailed in Britain. 



EARLY CHARTERS RELATING TO MEON. 



The earliest historical documents connected with this 

 district of which I know are the Anglo Saxon records 

 relating to Meon. These are 



1. Grant by King Beortric, A.D. 790, to Prince Hamele of 

 land at Hissaburn in exchange for land on the river 

 Meona. (Cartularium Saxonicum, I, 359.) 



2. Grant by Egbert, King of the West Saxons, to the 

 Prefect Wlfheard of land on the river Meon. (Cart. 

 Saxon., I, 514.) 



3. In his will about A.D. poo King Alfred bequeaths his 

 land in Meon to his younger son. 



4. Grant by King Athelstan to the thane jEthelgeard of 

 land at Meon, A.D. 932. 



5. Charter of King Edgar, A.D. 963, granting land at 

 Ambersham, in Sussex, to the Church of St. Andrew, 

 Meon (i.e., St. Andrew's Church, West Meon). (Cart. 

 Saxon., 111,349.) 



This refers to the strip of land south of Hazelmere, in 

 Sussex, formerly included in East Meon Hundred, which 

 led to one of those geographical anomalies of a piece of 

 onecountv being situated within another, now altered by a 

 revision of boundaries, I believe. 



THE MANOR OF WESTBURY. 



Westbury is probably so named as being a bury or defen- 

 sive place, near the western boundary of the Hundred of 

 East Meon. The earliest record we have, as far as I know, 

 of the Manor of Westburv is that contained in Doomsday 

 Book, when it was held by a knight named Gozelin, by 

 feudal tenure, as part of the extensive domains of Hugh 

 de Port, who held the Manor of Warnford, lower 

 down the valley. The remains of the Norman house at 

 Warnford are no doubt the ruins of one of the mansions of 

 the de Port family. Another of this family, Adam de Port, 

 is said to have rebuilt Warnford Church, for Camden 

 records that towards the end of the i6th century there was 

 an inscribed stone on the wall there with this inscription : 

 Adda hie portu benedicat solis in ortu 

 Gens Deo dicata perquem sic sum renovata, 

 which has been put into English, 



Good folks in your devotions every day 

 For Adam Port who thus repaired me, pray. 



The record of Westbury in Doomsday Book is as 

 follows : Hugh de Port holds Westbury, and Gozelin holds 

 it under him, and Ulnod held it of King Edward. It was 

 then as now assessed at three hides. Here are four plough- 

 lands, two in demesne, and five villeins, and six borderers, 

 with two ploughlands, also two slaves, three acres of 

 meadow and wood for four hogs. Its value in the time of 

 King Edward and now is 4 and when it came into posses, 

 sion 403, This entry shows that the Manor was held as 

 part of the fief or barony of Hugh de Port, in which con- 

 nexion it remafned apparantly till the reign of Edward III, 

 perhaps until the general decay of the feudal system. 



The Doomsday account tells us that whatever its actual 

 extent was, the manor was assessed for the purposes of 

 taxation at three hides, the hide being the basis of early 

 taxation. 



There were four ploughlands, probably' about 100 acres 

 each, under arable cultivation, two ploughlands being held 

 in demesne cultivated by the lord, by the services his 

 manorial tenants, the villeins and borderers, were obliged 

 to render him, while they held in community also two 

 ploughlands, or about 200 acres of arable land, which they 

 cultivated for their own support. 



This Doomsday account of Westbury is interesting from 

 another point of view, for it tells us that in the days of 

 King Edward the Confessor it had been held by Ulnod, 

 directly of the king. Ulnod was no doubt a Thane who 

 held his land by thane service, for the feudal system came 

 in with the Conquest. Ulnod, as a thane, would only have 

 three obligations to discharge in return for his land, viz., 

 to take part in the repair of local defences, such as that no 

 doubt of the Westbury itself and that on old Winchester 

 hill, the repair of bridges of the hundred (that of Meon- 

 stoke), and the liability for military service. After the 

 Conquest, Westbury Manor certainly became a feudal 

 tenure, for it was held, not of the King directly, but of 

 Hugh de Port as part of his barony, which he held of the 

 King. 



GozeliH, the Norman knight, would have many other 

 obligations to bear, for the Manor of Westbury that Ulnod 



