134 



THE HAMPSHIRE ANTIQUARY &> NATURALIST. 



List ot the Birds of Hampshire and the Isle of 

 Wight," which enumerates 281 species. Ot these 79 

 are classed as residents, 78 as migratory birds visit- 

 ing the neighbourhood during one or other of the 

 seasons, and 124 as occasional or accidental visitors. 

 The Rev. A. C. Hervey continues his list of the 

 Lepidoptera ot Hampshire, and the Rev. W. L. W. 

 Eyre that of Hampshire Fungi. Dr. E. Buckell gives 

 a " List of some of the rarer plants in the lower parts 

 of the Test valley," and the Rev. E. D. Heathcote 

 contributes some notes on Hampshire mosses. There 

 is an interesting paper by the Rev. F. Hewlett, M.A., 

 on the insectivorous plant, Drosera rotitndtfolia, to 

 be found in some of our marshy places ; and there is 

 a good contribution to local folk-lore in Miss M. W. 

 E. Fowler's " Local animal and plant names in N.E. 

 Hants." Geology is represented by Mr. G. W. Cole- 

 nutt's account of " The fossil Chelonians (turtles) of 

 the Oligocene strata of the Isle of Wight " (with an 

 illustration) and the "Notes on fossils at Fareham 

 and Southampton " by Mr. J. W. Elwes. Mr. J. W. 

 Brierley contributes some notes of analyses of New 

 Forest water. 



The Hampshire Field Club is doing very useful 

 work in putting into print these valuable papers, thus 

 rendering available to students much local information 

 not otherwise available, and helping to disseminate a 

 knowledge ot our county. There is already a number 

 of students at work in different fields of research, and 

 the record of what has been done by some of these 

 will, it may be hoped, induce others to engage in 

 similar work. There need be no fear that the ground 

 may soon become exhausted ; it really appears as if 

 the more there is done the more there remains to do. 

 It would be easy to point out many branches of 

 research which have not as yet been touched in these 

 publications, and as hints we would venture to name 

 one or two. In connection with the churches of the 

 county many subjects open out ; a tabulated list of 

 churches in architectural periods would be very valu- 

 able ; then the dedications, fonts, bells and brasses 

 are all worthy of separate study. (The brasses have, 

 we believe, been taken in hand by a committee of the 

 club.) Another wide and almost untouched field is 

 afforded by the folk-lore of the county ; much interest- 

 ing information may be gleaned from the place- 

 names ; and much may be done in the systematic 

 description of prehistoric and other remains. Mr. 

 H. M. Gilbert and the Rev. G. N. Godwin are 

 engaged upon a bibliography of Hampshire ; perhaps 

 some one else will undertake to compile a chrono- 

 logical list of maps. Local newspapers contain a mine 

 of intormation which will well reward investigation, 

 and it may be said that the opportunities ot study 

 with fruitful result are endless ; and only those who 

 have taken up one or other branch know what 

 fascination any of them will soon exert. Towards 

 this end we on our part shall be pleased to render 

 assistance through our " Local Notes and Queries " 



column. It would be useful to make known the 

 names of those who are engaged in any branch of 

 study, to whom others might refer for information or 

 send contributions towards their collections. 



The book was printed at the office of the Hampshire 

 Independent, the plates being lithographed by Messrs. 

 G. F. Wilson and Co. 



A HAMPSHIRE PARISH HISTORY.* 



The Rev. W. L. W. Eyre has made a welcome 

 addition to our local histories by his ;< History 01 

 Swarraton and Northington," two parishes some eight 

 or nine miles north-east of Winchester, of which he 

 has ecclesiastical charge. To judge by the names both 

 the villages are of hoary antiquity, carrying us back 

 to the primitive times of our Saxon forefathers, long 

 before the Norman William landed on our shores. 

 Yet we must confess that the " history " is disappoint- 

 ing. Either the materials are lacking, or Mr. Eyre 

 has not dug deep enough. Certainly the history in 

 stones told by so many of our old churches is here 

 entirely lacking, for one parish contains no church at 

 all, and the other has a brand-new building, which 

 has only been used for public service for seme four 

 or five Sundays. Yet surely there cannot have been 

 such an utter clearance or destruction of the old 

 edifices that nothing of antiquity yet remains. Was 

 nothing saved of the Norman church or chapel of 

 Northington (dating from about the year 1150), with 

 its " handsome Norman doorway '' ? nothing bevond 

 the broken capital of a pillar of which an illustration 

 is given ? Are there no monuments of antiquity in 

 the churchyard? "Deponent sayeth not." The 

 severance between the past and the present is wofully 

 complete, and the need is the more urgent 

 for putting on record what can be gleaned about the 

 parishes. The derivation of both names is uncertain. 

 Swarraton occurs in its earliest form, in a charter of 

 Edward the Elder, A. D. 903, as " Swerweton," for 

 which several meanings have been suggested. 

 Northington, in the same year, was known as "North- 

 am-e-tune," to distinguish it, some have thought, from 

 South-ham-ton. The parishes have been connected 

 with three great religious orders ; Northington seems 

 from the first to have belonged to the Benedictine 

 Abbey of Hyde, and Swarraton was granted to the 

 Cistercian Abbey at Waverley, being among the first 

 endowments of this parent abbey of the order in 

 England. Later the manor was granted to the 

 Knights Hospitallers, who had a chapelry at Gods- 

 f.eld, three miles distant. Then came the Dissolu- 



* "A Brief History of the Parishes of Swarraton and 

 Nmhinston, with notices of the owners of the Grange, in 

 the County of Southampton." By William L. W. Eyre, 

 Rector. London : Simpkin and Co., Limited ; Winchester: 

 Warren and Son. Koyal 410., n.d. (1800.) With 16 illus- 

 trations. 



