282 The Descent of the Manor of SiocJclon. 



Winchester, of the date A.D. 901, carrying back the history of 

 Stockton to the days of Alfred the Great. Not long before Mr. 

 Miles's death the Canon, in company with Mr. Miles, went over a 

 large portion of the boundary-line of the parish, and succeeded in 

 identifying many of the places mentioned in the charter. The 

 manor was held by the Bishop of Winchester, as Superior of the 

 Monks of St. Swithin, and so continued till the time of the dissolu- 

 tion of the monasteries. Some years after the Reformation it became 

 the property of the Topp family — but its intermediate history between 

 these two events, also how, and when, the Topps acquired the manor 

 have not hitherto been made clear. The object of the present paper 

 is to supply this missing link. 



It appears by a patent roll of the first of Edward VI. (1547), 

 that the Dean and Chapter of Winchester, in consideration of the 

 grant of the advowsons of various Churches in the counties of 

 Somerset, Cardigan, &c, ceded to the King the manors of Overton, 

 Alton, Stockton, and Patney, all in the county of Wilts. In the 

 same year the King granted the manor of Stockton, with the rest, 

 to Sir William Herbert, knight, in consideration of £160 paid in 

 money and the gift of the rectory of Flamested, Co. Hertford. 



The two following abstracts from the rolls will give the main 

 particulars of the transfer of the manor of Stockton, first to the 

 King and from him to Sir William Herbert :— 



Patent Roll 1 JSdw. FX, part 2, m. 9. 

 Abstract. 



" For the Dean and Chapter \ The King to all, Ac, Greeting. Know ye 

 of Winchester, &c. j that we — in consideration of a grant of the 



manors of Overton, Alton, Stockton, and Patney, and the rectories and churches 

 of Overton and Alton in the County of Wilts, with their rights, members, and 

 appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of the Cathedral Church of the Holy 

 and Undivided Trinity, of Winchester, being in the County of Southampton, and 

 all and singular the messuages, lands, tenements, tithes, &c, made to us by the 

 Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity of Winchester by 

 their charter bearing date 20 June, 1 Edw. VI. Of our special grace, &c, have 

 given and granted and by the presents do give to the aforesaid Dean and Chapter 

 the advowson and right of patronage, &c, of the Parish Church of Grcfforcl, 

 within the Bishopric of St. Asaph and various other places in the Counties of 

 Somerset, Cardigan, &c." 



