go 



THE HAMPSHIRE ANTIQUARY & NATURALIST. 



which formed the grant of A.D. 904, made by the King of 

 the Abbey of Hyde. This is the earliest mention of fishers 

 rights of which I have any knowledge, in Hampshire. This 

 supplementary grant was specially mentioned as being 

 made for the purpose of the monks' refectory. 



From 904 to the Norman Conquest these lands and all 

 other privileges remained in the possession of Hyde 

 Abbev. Then came a change, which it is not easy to trace, 

 from the circumstance that Stoke Charity is not mentioned 

 in the Doomsday Book under any name, so far as I know, 

 which has been properly identified. The Conqueror 

 certainly took the lands and houses away from the monks, 

 and he appears to have given them to one of his nobles as 

 a part of his Norman barony. For more than two centuries 

 btoke Charity appears to have been considered as part of 

 this Norman barony of one of the Conqueror's followers. 



The earliest distinctive name of this manor was Stokes, 

 or Eldestoke, or Eldestok, or Eledstoke, and under these 

 names its future historian must search for information 

 concerning it in the national and episcopal records. In 

 this name Eldestoke we learn how in middle English the 

 Anglo-Saxon adjective " eld " was sti.l in use instead of 

 our form " old." 



In the reign of Henry III Stokes Manor was held with 

 Weston by William de Feritate, as part of his Norman 

 barony. I think he must been known to his tenants here 

 as William de Ferite, and from this similarity of pronuncia 

 tion I can imagine the name became transformed into 

 Charity Stoke de Ferite, probably pronoun:ed Farity, 

 might easily become Stoke Charity in the language of 

 Hampshire people then living in this neighbourhood. 

 This is, I think, the origin of the name, and by the end of 

 the i3th century it appears to have been understood as an 

 alternative name for Eldestoke, for we find that, in 1277 

 5 Edward I, Martin de Roches is recorded as having held 

 lands at " Stoke Charte." 



In the church of this manor we see the remains of ancient 

 monuments of its former possessors. In Wonston and 

 Micheldever churches we can find no such ancient 

 memorials of their lords, for these lords were ecclesiastical 

 corporations who had perpetual succession. In the taxa- 

 tion allowed by Edward I for Pope Nicholas's projected 

 Crusade, Stoke Charity paid 1 6s. 8d. ; and in the taxa- 

 tion of 1334, on account of Edward Ill's wars, this manor 

 paid a tax of 2os. 



In the reign of Edward III some law suit appears to 

 have arisen concerning the possession of the Manor, for 

 the Patent Rolls of the i7th year of that king show that 

 such a dispute was pending between Thomas de Alneton 

 and John Everard concerning the manor and also the 

 advowson of the church. 



In the 35th Edward III it was again held by one of the 

 Roches family in right of his wife, for Joanna, who was the 

 wife of Richard de Roches, died in that year seized of this 

 manor, and also of the manor of Fareham ana other 

 property in the county. There is a place still called Roche 

 Court, near Fareham. At the end of this century 

 Bernard Brocas and others are recorded as holding 

 a messuage and seventy-two acres of land at 

 Eldestoke for the Prior and Convent of Southwick. 

 This holding land for a priory or other religious house was 

 one of the devices by which people in the i4th century 

 sought to evade tke Statute of Mortmain, but this was de- 

 clared to be an illegal practice a few years later, viz., in the 

 Statute isth year of Richard II. Perhaps on the passing 

 of that Act the manor was escheated. In any case, in the 

 next year, viz., 1392, it certainly washeld jointly by Thomas 

 le Warrener, or Thomas Warner, and John Hampton, and 

 apparently under the Abbot of Hyde, to which perhaps it 



passed by escheat as its ancient lord, by favour of the 

 king. This brings us to the tenure of the Hampton family, 

 to which family theearliest monument in the church refers, 

 and who probably built the Chantry Chapel on the north 

 side of the chancel in the isth century. The manor house 

 of Eldstoke appears to have stood somewhere near the 

 church perhaps near the fishpond on the north, but its site 

 is not certainly known, the place being overgrown. 



The earliest holders of this manor, the noble Norman 

 family of de Feritate, who probably built this church of 

 Norman date, have so long passed away from here, that 

 even their name, which they probablygave as an additional 

 name to the parish, cannot now be identified without the 

 evidence of the Public Records. 



To them some words of one of our poets may perhaps be 

 applicable : 



" Their name exists no longer, their renown 



Hath passed for ever, not a stone 



Remains of hall, or mansion, once their own. 



Where erst was ladye's bower and knightly selle, 



The rank grass waves, and wild creatures dwell. 



Their's was a fair domain, a genial clime, 



And rank, and pomp, and state, but what are these to 



Time?" 



The probable site of the old manor house was pointed 

 out in the meadow north of the church, where some 

 foundations had been unearthed. Close outside the 

 church a part of the field which had evidently been 

 artificially levelled was thought to be an old bowling 

 green. 



A little east of this church, at Weston Colley, is a 

 gravel pit, the only gravel pit in this part of the 

 county, which presents the unusual feature of a 

 stratum of brown gravel washed clear of calcareous 

 matter capped by another stratum white with the 

 presence of undissolved chalk. This the President, 

 Mr. W. Whitaker, F.R.S., suggested was due to an 

 underground current, which had dissolved away the 

 chalk from below, but was unable to reach the gravel 

 above by an impervious Ia3'er of earth. 



Just before passing through the arch under the rail- 

 way embankment to Micheldever, another old mill 

 was met with, where Mr. Shore read the following 

 paper. 



MICHELDEVER MILL. 



This is one of the most ancient mill sites in Hampshire. 

 The mill is but a little one, but there can be no doubt that 

 corn was ground here for many centuries until within 

 living memory. This mill must have done most of its work 

 during that season of the year in which water from the 

 springs was most abundant, and at certain seasons it 

 is very abundant, as the old man who has lived 

 here for many years will tell you. At the time of the 

 Doomsday survey the mill here was worth 3od. per annum 

 in rent, not a very high rack rent, even allowing for the 

 difference in the value of money. Probably a mill has 

 existed here as long as Micheldever has existed as an 

 organised community. The Norman Conquest brought 

 very considerable changes to Micheldever, as I shall show 

 presently, and this mill shared in the general fortunes of 

 the manor. Although so small, it felt the rigour of the 

 feudal system after the Conquest, as well as the larger 

 holdings in this parish. 



In the i3th year of Richard II, i.e., in 1390, it washeld " in 

 feoda " or in feudal tenure as part of Micheldever manor, 



