BLENDWORTH
Bleneworth and Blonewrth (xiii cent.); Blednewyth and Blenelworth (xiv cent.).
Blendworth is a parish of scattered houses adjoining
Bere Forest, and contains 2,333 acres of undulating
land, including 1,376 acres of arable, 544 acres of
permanent grass, and 629 acres of woods and plantations. (fn. 1) The parish is intersected by the main road
to Havant, which runs south from Horndean, and by
the road to Rowland's Castle, which, after skirting the
grounds of Blendworth Lodge and Idsworth Park, turns
due south, forming the eastern boundary of the parish.
The small group of houses which represents the
old village of Blendworth stands on fairly high ground
in the north of the parish close to the disused church
of St. Giles, and from this point there is an extensive
view over the thickly-wooded country to the south.
The church of the Holy Trinity, erected in 1850–1,
stands to the west of the old village, and nearer to
the busy main road which passes through Horndean.
To the north-west is Crookley, the residence of Mr.
G. A. Gale, J.P.; while to the south are Cadlington
House, the property of Lieut.-Colonel Sir Henry
Clarke-Jervoise, and at present occupied by Mrs.
Ashley Williams; and Blendworth Lodge, the residence
of Mrs. Long, widow of the late Mr. Samuel Long.
At Padnell, a hamlet in the south-western extremity
of the parish, bricks and tiles are manufactured.
Woodhouse Lane and Woodhouse Ashes (fn. 2) are in the
east of the parish. The elementary school for girls
and infants was built about 1850. The boys attend
Horndean School.
The soil is of a chalky nature, the subsoil chalk.
The chief crops are wheat and oats. Blendworth
Down was inclosed in 1816. The whole of the
parish is within the manor of Chalton (q.v.).
CHURCHES
Neither of the two churches has
much architectural interest. ST.GILES'
CHURCH is a little rectangular building with plastered walls and red-tiled roof, showing
no features which can be older than the eighteenth
century, though it may well be that the masonry of
the walls is mediaeval. As has been already said, it
is disused, and contains no old fittings. It is said
to have had a small chancel, which was pulled down
at the building of the new church, its material being
used up in the new work.
The new church of the HOLY TRINITY consists
of chancel with north vestry, nave with south aisle and
south porch, and west turret with spire. It was built
at a cost of nearly £3,000 in 1851, and stands in a
well-kept churchyard, the rectory being near it to the
north. The font is of alabaster, given to the church
in 1893, and the oak quire seats date from the preceding year.
In the turret is one bell without inscription.
The plate consists of a silver cup and cover paten,
a flagon given by Thomasina Francklyn in 1720, and
an alms-dish given by William Francklyn, who died
at Pembroke College, Oxford, 24 November, 1718,
aged twenty-six. There is also a modern winestrainer.
The first book of the registers contains baptisms
1586–1726, marriages 1587–1729, and burials 1586–
1732, and is of parchment. The second, of paper,
has a few burials in woollen 1678–95, but otherwise
contains only the parish accounts from 1702 to 1827.
The third book has baptisms 1726–91, marriages
1729–89, and burials 1733–90; and the fourth,
baptisms and burials from 1791 and marriages from
1793 to 1812. (fn. 3)
ADVOWSON
The prior, prioress, and convent
of Nuneaton presented to the rectory of the church of BLENDWORTH until the dissolution, (fn. 4) when it passed to the
crown like the rectories of the churches of Clanfield
and Chalton. Queen Elizabeth presented Henry
Hooper to the parsonage in 1579. (fn. 5) Some time later
Edward, earl of Worcester, although possessing no
legal right to the advowson, presented Richard
Perkinson. (fn. 6) On the death of the latter, Toby Shaw
was presented to the church by the Lord Chancellor,
Sir Francis Bacon, whereupon the earl brought a plea
of 'quare impedit' against the new rector, who relinquished his possession in the church to Launcelot
Andrewes, bishop of Winchester, and accepted a presentation of the same from the earl, (fn. 7) to whom James I, by
letters patent, granted the advowson in 1618. (fn. 8) The
right of the crown to the advowson was re-established
when Dr. Gillingham, by private agreement with
Godfrey Price, rector of Chalton, regained the advowson of Chalton for Charles I. (fn. 9) The advowson of
Blendworth then followed the advowson of Chalton
until the end of the eighteenth century, when it
passed out of the possession of Jervoise Clarke-Jervoise,
the bishop presenting in 1794. (fn. 10) Since that time it
has been in private hands, (fn. 11) Mr. M. Margesson being
the present patron of the living.
CHARITIES
The School (see article on
'Schools,' V.C.H. Hants, ii, 396,
note 7).—William Appleford, by
will proved at Winchester, 1696, left £200 to be
laid out in land, the income to be applied in putting
poor children to school. The legacy was in or
about 1703 laid out in the purchase of a house and
17 acres. The property was sold in 1880 and the
proceeds invested in Stock, which is now represented
by £1,186 Consolidated 4 per cent. Preference Stock
of the Great Eastern Railway Co. with the official
trustees, producing £47 8s. a year, which is carried to
the school account.
Church Lands Charity.—The parish was formerly
in possession of a small piece of land known as the
'Church Acre.' Upon the inclosure of the common
lands in 1816 an allotment was made in respect
thereof. The land was sold in or about 1880, and
the proceeds were invested in £54 8s. 5d. Consols with
the official trustees. The annual dividends of £2 2s. 4d.
are applied towards repairs of the church.