no 



THE HAMPSHIRE ANTIQUARY & NATURALIST. 



ginning of the present century. Here again the busy 

 time has given place to the peaceful quiet oi rural 

 nature. The shores of the extensive lake are un- 

 trodden save by the foot of a fisherman or an occa- 

 sional wayfarer, and close by the stubborn floor 

 formed of the iron clinkers from the forge is the 

 only part that s not overgrown by vegetation. There 

 were, Mr. Moens said, three forges at one time kept 

 busily at work here. Whether they will ever be so 

 again will, perhaps, depend upon the solution of the 

 problem as to the existence of coal in the south and 

 south-east of England. It was time now to hurry 

 back to Hythe to catch the seven o'clock boat to 

 Southampton, and a pleasant drive along the country 

 roads brought the meeting to a conclusion. 



SHALFLEET, I.W. 



The following paper was read by the Rev. J. 

 Thomas, at the meeting of the Hampshire Field Club 

 on July 25, as already reported in the Hampshire 

 Independent : 



It is very interesting to learn that five out of the 

 seven manors still in existence in the parish, as well 

 as a mill and a church, are mentioned in Domesday 

 book. These five manors are Shalfleet, Hamstead, 

 Wellow, Hulverstone, and Watchingwell. Ning- 

 wood most probably was then included either with 

 Hamstead or Wellow, and Chessell perhaps with 

 Shalfleet. The entry relating to Shalfleet in Domes- 

 day is as follows : 



Gozelin, the son of Azor, holds Seldeflet, Edsic held it 

 in the time of King Edward, and then it was assessed at 6 

 hides ; now at 3 hides and half a yard land. There are 14 

 ploughlands, 2 in demesne and 14 villeins and 19 borderers, 

 with 2 ploughlands and a half. Here is a mill assessed at 

 nd. and 4 acres of meadow. Here is a church, and there 

 are woods for 20 hogs. Of this land Goisfrid holds zj yard- 

 lands, and has i ploughland, with 2 villeins and i bor- 

 derer ; and Turgi holds | a hide, and Liof holds a hide. 

 These have 2 ploughlands in demesne, and 2 villeins and 

 2 borderers, with half a ploughland. The value of the 

 whole in the time of King Edward and afterwards was 26 

 and now 20. 



Of Wellow it is said 



The King holds Welige, Coolf held it. William, the son 

 of Azor, holds Hampstead and Migell of him, Aluric held 

 it. The King holds Alvredsotune, Eddeva held it of Earl 

 Godwin. 



These entries give us instances of how the land at 

 the Conquest changed hands. Here in Shalfleet 

 Gozelin the Norman becomes the Lord of the Manor 

 in the place of Edric the Saxon, and so in most other 

 cases throughout the country. Notice also the names 

 of those holding certain portions of land under him, 

 viz., Goisfrid, Turgi and Liof, these with their 

 villeins and borderers, though they are all probably 

 Saxons, being allowed to remain and till the land 

 under its new lord. Watchingwell, or Watchingwelle, 

 being at the time held by The Abbey of Wilton, did 

 not change hands, with the exception of | a hide 



about 60 acres which the King took from it to form 

 the King's Park. This, as Worsley points out, was 

 formed 50 or 60 years before the park at Woodstock 

 was created by Henry II, and must therefore be 

 called the first royal park. This manor is noted also 

 for a well which still bears the names of S. Winifred's 

 Well. It would be interesting to find out how the 

 name came to be given to this well in the Isle of 

 Wight. 



In the time of Edward II (1307 1327) Henry 

 Trenchard held the Manor of Shalfleet as well as 

 that of Watchingwell. The same Henry Trenchard 

 (or his father perhaps) held it at one knight's fee in 

 the time ot Edward I circ. 1280, A.D. Chessell was 

 then joined to it. At this time also a John Trenchard 

 held land at Shalfleet of the said Henry, viz., the 

 fourth part of a knight's fee. Probably this is the 

 land known as " Warlands " (corrupted from 

 Walleran, one of the Trenchards), the farm which 

 you passed just now on your way here from Ning- 

 wood station. Of the Trenchard family Sir John 

 Oglander in his memoirs (1595 1648) edited by Mr. 

 W. H. Long, says : 



The Trenchards hath bene a verie awutient famelye 

 they have continued longe in owre island, and there have 

 bene 8 knyghts successive, one after ye other. Sir Henry 

 lived in Edward yeFyrst's reyngeand wase possessor of ye 

 Manner of Shalflete and Chessell and divors lands in Shal- 

 flete p'rische ; one peece named Walderon Trenchardes he 

 had also in S. Hellens p'rische near Troublefyld. They 

 sowlde in ye island by degrees, and have now sowlde all 

 and seated themselves in Dorsetshire. 



This was in the reign of Edward IV. And since 

 then the manor has passed through several hands 

 until it came to its present lord, Sir Harrington 

 Simeon, Bart., of Swainston. 



The mill mentioned in Domesday Book was not on 

 the site of the present one, but is generally supposed 

 to have been below this church, just above the old 

 vicarage garden, on a plot of land which still belongs 

 to the mill. The grant of the mill of Shalfleet, which 

 Gaufridus, the son of Jordan, gave to the Abbey of 

 Quarr, is confirmed by a charter of Richard de 

 Redvers, fifth Lord of the Island (1156 1161), and 

 attested to, amongst others, by Rob. Trenchard and 

 Robert from the Park. I think I may venture to call 

 them two of the old inhabitants of this parish. The 

 same grant is confirmed a little later by a charter of 

 Henry II, in which the name of Thomas, Archbishop 

 of Canterbury, occurs, who no doubt is Thomas a 

 Beckett, to whom the old church at Newport was 

 dedicated, not long after his murder in Canterbury 

 Cathedral in 1170. But strangely enough when we 

 come to examine a charter of Isabella de Fortibus, 

 Lady of the Island (1283 1293), a mill is granted 

 to the Abbey of Quarr, which is described as 

 " Molendinum de Schaldeflet juxta wodintons." This 

 seems to point out a mill at Schaldeflet, by or near 

 Wootton. I am at present unable to explain this 

 difficulty, unless the creek at Wootton was also 



