BRAMDEAN
Brondene (xi cent.); Brundon, Brandun, and
Brendon (xii cent.); Branden and Bromdene (xiii
cent.).
Bramdean is a small parish, with an area of 1,237
acres, situated nine miles east from Winchester. The
village, in the south-west of the parish, lies along the
main road from Petersfield to Winchester, at an
average height of 270 ft. above sea-level, the fall of
the ground being westward, and close to the west
boundary of the parish is the source of the little
stream which runs through Cheriton and Tichborne
to join the Alre below Alresford, a short distance
above its junction with the Itchen. Bramdean
Common in the north-east of the parish rises to
450 ft., and the view from the wooded ridge which
forms its northern boundary is very striking. The
open common slopes down, backed by woods on the
south and east, and crossed by two roads, one running
south-east towards West Meon, the other south-west to
join the Winchester road in the middle of Bramdean
village. At the south-west of the common is a group
of thatched and timbered cottages, and beyond them
the view opens out over the lower ground on which
the village stands to the downs which form the
western boundary of the Meon valley, Beacon Hill,
five miles away, standing out against the skyline. The
well-timbered park and grounds of Woodcote House,
now occupied by Sir Francis Seymour Haden, are in
the south-west angle of the parish, north of the
Winchester road, and a short distance east of the
village. The thatched and ivy-covered Manor Farm
stands at the west of the village on the south side of
the road, and beyond it is the Fox Inn with its large
bay windows. On the higher ground to the south is
a picturesque group of houses, to which a road strikes
off at right angles. The rectory stands in the middle
of the village, on the south of the road, at the point
of junction with the road from Bramdean Common,
and is in part of considerable antiquity, with some
good early seventeenth-century panelling and beams.
Further to the west is the church, standing half
hidden by trees on the hillside to the south, and
approached by a steep lane, at foot of which is a brick
bridge over a dry water-course which runs all along
the south side of the village street. To the east of
the church is College Farm, an eighteenth-century
red brick house of good style, with several well-designed
chimney-pieces. The rectory meadow, planted with
several fine trees, rises towards the church from the main
road, and opposite to it on the north is Bramdean
House. This house formed part of the property entailed
by the Rev. Egerton Arden Bagot on his sister Honora,
the wife of the Rev. the Hon. Augustus George Legge,
about the middle of last century, and is at present the
property of the Misses Legge, the heirs of the Rev.
Augustus George Legge. The gravel valley in which
the village lies was apparently in former times the bed
of a river. At irregular intervals a spring bubbles up
from what is called 'a pocket' in the chalk in Woodcote Park by the roadside, flows through the village
and across the meadows to Hinton Ampner, and finally
joins the Itchen at Cheriton. For years perhaps the
brick arch of the church path and the channel by the
roadside might be considered a needless precaution,
but as recently as the winter of 1903–4, after a very
heavy rainfall during the summer and autumn, there
was a swiftly-flowing stream covering the village street
and flooding floors and cellars. Bramdean Lodge, the
residence of Mr. Charles A. Linzee, lies to the northwest of the road from Bramdean Common, close to
the schools. On the common is a small iron chapel of
ease erected in 1883. Much of the land in Bramdean
is a flinty loam on a subsoil of chalk well adapted for
the growth of barley. Along the valley in which the
village is situated the upper soil rests on a subsoil of
gravel. The chief crops are wheat, oats, barley, and
turnips. The parish contains 714¾ acres of arable land,
305½ acres of permanent grass, and 168 acres of woods
and plantations. (fn. 1) Among place-names in Bramdean
found in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries are the
following:—'Torte Acre, La Breche, Vineshawede,
Sendrie londe, Setacres, Setesgrovesforlonge, Grithethhorne, La Wogelonde, Hankeneweie, Eustrecumbe, and
Schepehusezorne.' (fn. 2) A wood called 'Imbele' and a
messuage and land called 'Jenettes lond' occur in
inquisitions taken in the fifteenth century.
MANORS
At the time of the Domesday Survey
Miles the porter held BRAMDEAN of
the king. Two freemen had held it, as
three manors, in the time of King Edward. (fn. 3) The
service by which Miles held must have been that of
keeping the gate of the king's gaol of Winchester.
This service and the personal character of the early
owners seem to have determined the history of the
manor.
In 1199 Henry de Bramdean, then owner of
Bramdean, lodged his claim to the service of being
porter of the gaol of Winchester, as his inheritance
from his father, except one hundred shillingsworth of
land which William de Hoe held of the grant of
King Richard. (fn. 4) Documentary evidence between 1086
and 1198 is wanting, but the subsequent history would
make it seem probable that the Bramdean family,
being engrossed in pursuits which soon landed it in
the grip of money-lenders, (fn. 5) neglected the service
which they owed to the king of keeping his gaol in
the city. As it was a matter of necessity that this
service should be put in the hands of a responsible
and local man, Richard I granted the one hundred
shillingsworth of land before referred to to the less
important personage who really performed the duty.
The subsequent history of this land is shown under
the heading of Woodcote (q.v.). For a time,
however, there seems to have been some doubt as to
the service, for in the Testa de Nevill it is said that
Henry de Bramdean held Bramdean 'per custodiam
gaole Winton quam dicit ad se pertinere.' (fn. 6)
From the year 1224 onwards Hugh de Bramdean
was alienating his manorial lands piece by piece, (fn. 7) and
finally in 1236 granted his capital messuage and
60 acres of land, together with 140 acres in Bramdean,
24s. quit-rent, Bramdean Wood, and the advowson
of the church of Bramdean, (fn. 8) to the priory of Selborne in frankalmoign for the annual rent of 4s.
and a covenant by the prior to give every year to
Hugh and Maud his wife six loads of wheat and
three of barley and 4 marks of silver, and to their son
and heir Bartholomew 6 quarters of wheat and 1 of
barley and 2 marks of silver. (fn. 9) The prior compounded with Alan Fitz-Warin, (fn. 10) John de Blakedown, (fn. 11) and Nicholas his brother, for their interests
in the manor for £100, (fn. 12) but some fifteen or
twenty years later Alan and John extorted 43 marks
and £100 respectively for a final surrender of
their claims. (fn. 13) Other premises in Bramdean which
had been alienated by Hugh de Bramdean were
bought up by the prior and convent as opportunity
arose. Soon after 1260 Amice de la Cnolle released
to the prior of Selborne all her right and claim in
the wardship and marriage of John son and heir of
Andrew de Caen, and in all his lands and tenements
in Bramdean. (fn. 14) In 1289 Richard son and heir of
Henry de la Putte granted lands in Bramdean to the
priory. (fn. 15) Margery the widow of Walter Launcel in
1293 released to the priory the land which her father
had given to her, (fn. 16) and some time afterwards her son
Walter Launcel (fn. 17) made a further grant of 32 acres
of land and 5 acres of wood. In 1302 the prior
and convent of Selborne were pardoned for acquiring
the lands in Bramdean from Richard de la Putte and
Walter Launcel contrary to the statute of Mortmain. (fn. 18)
By this time the priory was in possession of nearly, if
not all, the lands in Bramdean formerly held by Hugh
de Bramdean, (fn. 19) and the manor remained in its possession till the end of the fifteenth century. The
affairs of the priory having become much involved,
Bishop Waynflete, on 2 September, 1484, appointed
Richard, prior of Newplace, and two others, to hold
an inquiry as to annexing the priory to Magdalen
College, Oxford, which the bishop had lately founded. (fn. 20)
The decree of annexation was pronounced on 11 September, 1484, and in 1486 the manor of Bramdean
was transferred with the other possessions of the
priory to the college (fn. 21) and remains with them to the
present day. The manor house was probably on the
site of the modern 'Manor Place Farm,' which is at
present occupied by Mr. George Anthony Dowling,
to whom the college lets all its property in Bramdean
except its woodland as one holding. The college has still certain
manorial rights at Bramdean,
particularly in regard to the
common, but it no longer holds
a court there as it does at Selborne.
Magdalen College, Oxford. Lozengy ermine and sable a chief sable with three garden lilies therein.
The manor of WOODCOTE
(Wudecote, Wcdecota, Wodecot, Wutecot, Woodecote, and
Woodcot, xiii cent.; Wodekote,
xiv cent.; Woodcott, xvi cent.),
as has been shown, owed its
origin to the neglect of the
family of Bramdean to perform
the service of keeping Winchester Gaol. King
Richard I granted the manor to a certain William de
Hoe to hold by this service. (fn. 22) As soon as King John
came to the throne, Henry de Bramdean disputed
William de Hoe's claim to the custody of the gaol,
though not to the ownership of Woodcote. (fn. 23) John,
however, disregarded the claims of both Henry
and William, and in 1204 bestowed the custody
of the gate of the castle and gaol of Winchester,
together with the land of Woodcote, appertaining
to the custody, upon Matthew de Wallop to
hold to him and his heirs for ever. (fn. 24) In return,
Matthew and his heirs were to mew the royal hawks
within Winchester Castle, finding one servant at their
own cost to mew them and to keep them throughout
the whole mewing season. They were also to find
the cost of three harehounds in the same castle
throughout the same season. It is clear from the
patent rolls that Matthew was still holding the office
of warden of the gaol in 1207 (fn. 25) and 1215. (fn. 26) In the
latter year he evidently wished to resign, but the
king ordered that, if he did so, Henry de Bramdean
should receive the office with its appurtenances upon
the payment of 20 marks. (fn. 27) Soon after the accession
of Henry III, William de Hoe pressed his claim
anew, this time against Matthew de Wallop. (fn. 28) He
does not seem to have been successful, however, for
Matthew was seised of the custody of the gaol with
its appurtenances at the time of his death ten years
later. (fn. 29) After his death the king committed the
custody of the gaol to Warin Fitz-Geoffrey, (fn. 30) and
ordered the sheriff of Hampshire to deliver over to
Warin, without delay, the lands in Woodcote which
appertained to the custody. Warin evidently
neglected his duties as warden, and owing to the
escape of prisoners he was at one time deprived of
the custody of the prison and the lands appertaining
to the service, but they were eventually restored to
him, (fn. 31) though not for long. William de Hoe seems
to have taken advantage of his adversary's inefficiency
to press his claim, and eventually obtained restitution
of his rights. (fn. 32) He was succeeded by Robert de Hoe,
who granted the manor and service to Nigel FitzRobert and his heirs. This grant was confirmed by
King Henry III in 1246. (fn. 33) In 1249 the same Nigel,
described as 'son of Robert of Winchester,' re-granted
the manor to Robert de Hoe to hold of Nigel and
his heirs for the term of his life. (fn. 34) In 1270 Nigel,
described as 'Nigel Beket, of Southampton,' died
seised of the manor and service. (fn. 35)
His heir was his son Valentine, aged eighteen, who
died seised of the manor in 1307, leaving a son and
heir Richard, aged twenty-seven. (fn. 36) The latter died
in the same year without issue, and was succeeded by
his brother Valentine, aged twenty-four. (fn. 37) On Valentine's death in 1336 the manor passed to his son
and heir Valentine, aged twenty-three. (fn. 38) In 1344
the latter obtained licence to convey the manor to
trustees for purposes of settlement on himself and his
heirs, (fn. 39) and this was done by fine in the following
year. (fn. 40) The date of the inquisition taken after Valentine's death is 1354, but the manuscript is all but
illegible, and it is impossible to decipher the date of
his death and the name of his heir. (fn. 41) His widow
Alice died in 1359, (fn. 42) and in the inquisition taken after
her death it was stated that she was seised of the
manor for the term of her life of the inheritance of
William Beket, parson of the church of Colemore,
the brother and heir of her deceased husband.
In 1360, however, the escheator of Hampshire was
ordered to take Woodcote into the king's hands on
the grounds that certain prisoners had escaped from
Winchester Gaol. (fn. 43) In the same document there is
mention of the fees which the wardens of the gaol
were accustomed to receive, viz.: for every prisoner
in the gaol they received 4d. and for every prisoner
brought up before the king's justices 5d. for irons. (fn. 44)
The manor remained in the hands of the crown till
1363, when the escheator was ordered to give full
seisin to William Beket upon receipt of a reasonable
relief. (fn. 45) Two years later, however, the manor was in
possession of John, who is described as son of Valentine
Beket. It does not seem at all probable that he was
the son of Valentine and Alice Beket, for there is no
mention of him in the inquisition taken after Alice's
death. He may perhaps be identified with John
Beket, son and heir of a certain Valentine Beket who
died in 1372 seised of the office of door-keeper of
Winchester Castle by the service of finding two armed
men within the tower of the king's castle of Winchester to guard it in time of war. (fn. 46) John may have
been a kinsman of William Beket, and it is possible
that William, being an ecclesiastic, conveyed the office
of warden of the gaol with all its appurtenances to
him. In 1367 John son of Valentine Beket granted
the manor of Woodcote to John Marshall and Agatha
his wife, to hold to them and their issue by the same
service. (fn. 47) In the inquisition ad quod damnum which
was taken on this occasion, mention was made of the
fact that holders of the manor were to repair the
buildings of the gaol and get irons for the prisoners
from the proceeds of Woodcote. John, however,
neglected his duties and allowed the prison to fall into
such bad repair that many prisoners escaped. Hence
he was brought before the king's justices in 1372 and
was fined 100s. for the escape of each prisoner and
7s. 6d. for the bad state of the gaol, (fn. 48) but was still
allowed to keep the manor, of which he died seised in
1391, leaving a son and heir Edmund, aged thirtyfour. (fn. 49) Edmund died seised of the manor in 1427,
and on his death Woodcote passed to his daughter
Joan, the wife of John Frampton. (fn. 50) Five years later
John Frampton and Joan his wife settled the manor,
4s. 6d. rent and the rent of one pound of pepper and
two pounds of wax, upon John Thornes and his heirs. (fn. 51)
John Thornes conveyed the manor to trustees in 1453
for purpose of settlement on Elizabeth his daughter
and her husband John Quydhampton. (fn. 52) The latter
died seised of the manor in 1490, his heirs being his
four daughters, Margaret wife of Edward Cowdrey,
Anne wife of John Conewey, Elizabeth wife of Thomas
Morley, and Iseult Quydhampton. (fn. 53) The manor was
probably sold by the four co-heirs, as in 1505 it was
settled upon William Tisted and Maud his wife and
the heirs of William. (fn. 54) Six years later William died
seised of the manor, his heir being his brother Thomas,
aged forty and more. (fn. 55) On the death of Thomas
Tisted without issue a few years later the manor was
divided among his four sisters Amy, Christian,
Thomazin, and Iseult, or their descendants. (fn. 56) In 1535
Henry VIII by letters patent granted the office of
constable of Winchester Castle to Thomas Uvedale,
but no mention is made of the manor of Woodcote in
the grant. (fn. 57) It is possible that he had bought up the
four moieties of the manor previous to this date, but
there seems to be no record of the purchase. (fn. 58) He
was, however, seised of the manor in 1548, in which
year it was settled on himself and his wife and their
heirs on his marriage with Elizabeth Ringwood. (fn. 59)
Their son Anthony Uvedale died seised of the manor
in 1597, his heir being his daughter Eleanor, the
wife of Richard Bruning. (fn. 60) Two years later the bishop
of Winchester wrote to Secretary Cecil (fn. 61) that he had
committed a certain priest, Edward Kenyon, to Winchester gaol 'in as strict manner as he could devise.'
He had, however, 'been rather daily feasted as a guest
than safely kept as a traitor, and
had been suffered most wilfully
to escape upon the very day that
he had expected to be produced.' (fn. 62) An examination was
held by order of the bishop,
the results of which he sent to
Cecil in 1599, adding that 'the
manor of Woodcot in Hampshire was given to the ancestors
of one Anthony Uvedale, a recusant lately dead, for the safe
keeping of the gaol'; and that
he 'fearing the danger of the law and loath that the
prisoners for recusancy should come into any man's
keeping but at his own appointing, conveyed the
inheritance of the gaol with the aforesaid manor
to Anthony Brewning his daughter's son, a child
of seven years of age, his father and mother being
both recusants'; and, therefore, 'no man has the
keeping of the gaol but such as will favour recusants.' However, the child was a ward for the
tenure, and hence both he and the manor were at
Cecil's dispensation until he should come of age, 'if
this and such other wilful escapes and releasing of
prisoners do not endanger the inheritance and reduce
it back into the queen's hands.' In 1608 Richard
Bruning, father of Anthony, had forfeited the manor
and the custody of the gaol because of recusancy. (fn. 63)
On Richard's death the manor descended to Anthony,
and there is a reference to his tenure of the manor in
a fine of 1625. (fn. 64) The tenure of the manor was
changed from socage in chief to knight's service in
capite in 1628 in order to enable Anthony and his
wife Mary to dispose of the manor more easily, (fn. 65) and
in the same year Anthony held Winchester Gaol and
the manor of Woodcote by the service of the fortieth
part of a knight's fee. (fn. 66) In February, 1651, it was
stated that until Anthony cleared himself before the
committee for compounding his rents were to be
stayed. (fn. 67) However, he was twice dealing with the
manor in 1652, (fn. 68) and was succeeded by his son Charles
Bruning who was holding Woodcote in 1663. (fn. 69) Before
1677 the manor passed by purchase into the family of
Venables, (fn. 70) with whom it remained (fn. 71) until the death
of Catharine Venables in 1789, when it descended
to her kinsman, Edward Hooper of Hurn Court,
formerly M.P. for Christchurch, who only occasionally
visited it, and bequeathed it on his death to the earl
of Malmesbury. The latter in 1809 sold Woodcote
to a speculator called Lipscombe, who, while Mr.
Greenwood of Brookwood was deliberating on the
purchase, bought the place and felled the timber.
Mr. Greenwood, however, repented of his mistake, and
eventually bought the manor without the timber at
the price he had demurred to give for the estate.
Woodcote remained in the Greenwood family until
29 September, 1900, when Mr. Ulick Burke, the
present lord of the manor, purchased it. (fn. 72)
Uvedale. Argent a cross moline gules.
Woodcote House is a good example of a country
house of the late sixteenth or
early seventeenth century, to
which time the oldest parts of it
seem to belong. It is built of
red brick of two stories with an
attic, with four gables on its
principal front, which faces the
west, and two at the north end.
All the windows were originally
mullioned, but except in the
gables the mullions have given
place to sashes; those which
remain are of brick, plastered,
and the windows have lead
latticed lights. The house formerly had wings running westward at the north and south, and inclosing
a forecourt with a wall and gateway on the west; but
nothing of this remains. The main entrance is by a
porch on the west front, and the arrangement of the
house is simple, there being four rooms on each floor
in a line from north to south, opening into each other,
the staircase being on the north-east. There are fine
wooden chimney-pieces in three of the first-floor rooms
and in the north room on the ground floor, the latter
probably of somewhat later date than the others, which
appear to be original. That in the second room from
the north on the first floor has been freed from the
paint which unfortunately covers the rest, and shows
the remains of decoration in black and gold. In this
room also is some tapestry, and some of the original
panelling exists. On the ground floor, the south room,
and that next to it, to which the porch opens, are
fitted with good early eighteenth-century panelling.
The staircase has solid turned balusters, and the doorways opening on to it have
moulded oak frames with nailstudded doors hung by wroughtiron strap hinges. At the stairhead in the attics is a screen
formed of two ranges of balusters
like those of the staircase, and
within it a room known as the
'priest's chamber,' from which
a smaller room opens. Two of
the rain-water heads on the
west front are dated, one being
of 1630, when Anthony and
Mary Bruning were living at
Woodcote, and the other of
1677, when it had passed to
the Venables family.
Burke. Or a cross gules with a lion sable in the first and fourth quarters.
At the present time the house
contains a number of fine paintings and drawings, including many from the hand
of its occupant, Sir Francis Seymour Haden.
At the back of the house is a charming walled garden,
with picturesque red brick stables to the south, and at
the south-east of the main block is the old brew-house,
now used as a workroom.
CHURCH
The church of ST. SIMON AND ST. JUDE,
BRAMDEAN, has a chancel 16 ft. 6 in.
by 13 ft. 6 in., nave 36 ft. 8 in. by
16 ft. 8 in., with north porch, south vestry, and large south transept, and a wooden bell-turret
over the west end of the nave. The oldest details are
the north doorway of the nave and the chancel arch,
which date from circa 1170, and if the walls of the
nave are older than this there is nothing to show it,
all the masonry being covered with plaster inside
and out.
The chancel has undergone a good deal of restoration, and of the south wall of the nave only the west
end is old, the rest having been destroyed by the
addition of a large modern south transept 16 ft. 9 in.
wide with a vestry to the east of it. An old drawing of
the south side of the church, hanging in the vestry,
shows in the south wall of the nave two curious
windows, each of two round-headed lights, and a
square-headed low-set window near the east end of
the wall. The traces of one of these double windows
may still be seen in the outer face of the wall just
west of the transept, set rather high in the wall after
the fashion of early windows, but there is nothing
to fix their date, whether early or comparatively
modern. The church is roofed with red tiles, and
the west bell-turret is boarded and finished with
a short octagonal shingled spire. The chancel was
repaired and reroofed in 1863, and has a modern
east window of three lancets under an inclosing
arch. In both north and south walls are two plain
and short lancet windows with modern rear arches,
the external masonry being too much covered with
plaster to show its character, but the windows are
probably contemporary with the walls in which they
are set and may belong to the end of the twelfth
century.
The chancel arch is pointed, of two orders, with
the springing line considerably below the level of the
capitals and a small chamfer on the angles. The
capitals have plain scrolled leafwork, and there are
nook shafts on the west face and half-round shafts
on the jambs with spreading moulded bases.
Woodcote House, Bramdean.
The nave has a square-headed fifteenth-century
west window of three cinquefoiled lights, and above
it in the gable a plain lancet of uncertain date.
The north door has a round arch of one square order,
with hollow chamfered abaci and a small chamfer on
the jambs, but beyond this there are no old masonry
details. East of the doorway are a large two-light
window, with a quatrefoil in the head, and a single
lancet high in the wall to light the pulpit, and west
of the doorway a two-light window, all being modern.
In the south wall is the door to the modern vestry
and a wide arch to the south transept, which contains
nothing of note. The north porch is of red brick,
and modern.
The nave roof is old, with trussed rafters, and
has been ceiled, and the chancel roof is a modern
copy of it, dating from 1863. A west gallery in the
nave was removed in 1877. The south door of the
nave is old, made of two thicknesses of board, with
old strap hinges and a wooden lock case, but otherwise all the fittings of the church are modern,
except the altar table, which is of early seventeenthcentury date, and on the south side of the chancel
is a credence table made up from parts of the seventeenth-century altar rails, which were unfortunately
taken away during 'restoration.'
The font, near the north door of the nave, is
modern, of thirteenth-century style.
The bell-turret contains two small bells, and rests
partly on the west wall of the nave and partly on a
tiebeam, its angle posts not coming down to the floor
of the church.
The plate consists of a chalice of 1842 with paten
of 1852; a flagon given by Dame Frances Gould to
the parish in 1731, the lid bearing the London
date-letter for 1721 and the body that for 1706; and
a silver-gilt alms dish of 1845, given in 1852.
The first book of the registers begins in 1573, containing baptisms and burials to 1773, and marriages
to 1776. In the first pages is a list of benefactions
from 1618 to 1675, recording among other things
the gift of a silver chalice and paten in the latter
year by Stephen and Catherine Green, and at the
end are some paper leaves with a record of briefs
from 1659 to 1663. The second book goes from
1774 to 1813, and there is a set of churchwardens'
accounts from 1779 to 1852.
The small modern district church on Bramdean
Common possesses a silver chalice and paten of
1838.
ADVOWSON
The advowson of the church followed the descent
of the manor of Bramdean until 1234,
when Hugh de Bramdean leased it
for forty years to Alan Fitz-Warin. (fn. 73)
In 1236 Hugh de Bramdean granted it to the prior
and convent of Selborne, (fn. 74) and this grant was confirmed
by Hugh's son Bartholomew in 1240. (fn. 75) However, in
1250 John de Blakedown held the advowson, and
granted it, together with the land he held in Bramdean by the gift of his brother Sir Nicholas, to the
prior and canons of Selborne for £100. (fn. 76) The church
was worth £5 per annum in 1291. (fn. 77) In 1395 the
living was in the gift of the bishop of Winchester, (fn. 78)
who continued to be patron till 1858, (fn. 79) when it was
transferred to the crown, the bishop receiving in exchange the patronage of the rectory of All Saints,
Southampton. (fn. 80) The living is at present a rectory in
the gift of the Lord Chancellor.
CHARITIES
(1) In 1862 James Turner, by will proved this date,
bequeathed to the rector and churchwardens £100 upon trust to invest
the same and to pay the dividends on
St. Thomas's Day equally among three of the most
deserving poor families, members of the Church of
England residing in the parish. Invested in £102 19s.
Consols.
(2) In 1863 the Hon. Mrs. Honora Legge, by
will proved this date, directed that £200 Consols
should be transferred to the official trustees of charitable funds, the dividends to be remitted to the
officiating minister of Bramdean, to be expended by
him in purchasing candles and soap to be given to the
wives and widows of labourers living in the parish.
(3) In 1893 Mrs. Louisa Frances Katharine
Bishop, by will and codicil proved this date, directed
her executors to purchase £170 Consols and to pay
the dividends annually at Christmas among the mothers
of children most regular in attendance at the Sunday
school, with a provision for accumulations in case of
unpunctual attendance. The legacy (less duty) is represented by £152 14s. £2 10s. per cent. annuities.
The same testatrix bequeathed £2,000 to be
invested and income applied in providing divine service in the church on Bramdean Common, and other
purposes. The legacy (less duty) was invested in
£1,815 14s. 9d. £2 10s. per cent. annuities.
In 1898 Mrs. Honora Augusta Cowper-Coles,
by codicil to her will proved this date, bequeathed
£120 2½ per cent. annuities to the officiating minister
of Bramdean, dividends to be applied in providing
warm winter clothing for poor women. The several
sums of stock are held by the official trustees of
charitable funds, and the incomes of the charities
are duly applied.