ROWNER
Ruenore (xi cent.); Rowenor, Revenore, Rugenhore (xiii cent.); Rouwenore (xiv cent.); Roughner
(xvii cent.).
The parish of Rowner, containing 1,245 acres,
of which two are covered by water, is situated in
the exteme south of the county, the most southern
point of the parish being about half a mile from
the Solent. In this connexion it is interesting to
note that Henry I was detained in 'the town that is
called Rowner' in 1115 while waiting for a fair
wind to carry him across to France. (fn. 1) There is
no actual village, only a number of old cottages
scattered over a long narrow strip of land, the
southern and eastern portions of which have been
bought by the War Office for the land defences
of Portsmouth, and the forts of Rowner, Brockhurst, and Grange, now obsolete and turned into
barracks, lie to the east and south of the parish.
Most of the cottages are very old and still bear the
names of former occupants, although in many cases
the families have been extinct for generations. The
soil is loam on clay. In the south-east of the parish
there are several disused gravel pits and also the site
of an old windmill, probably the one belonging to
the Grange Farm of Chark, at which the monks of
Quarr were permitted to grind their corn in the
twelfth or thirteenth centuries. The Grange Farm
in the south of the parish is an old house of some
interest. There are 506 acres of arable land, 653 of
grass, and only three of wood. (fn. 2) The sole industry
is agriculture, the crops being chiefly grain. There is
a recreation ground in the centre of the Government
land, but no parish land or commons. An offshoot
of the main road from London to Gosport divides
the parish into two nearly equal parts. The River
Alver enters Rowner to the east of Chark Common
in the neighbouring parish of Crofton, and after
forming for a short time its south-western boundary
passes out of the parish in a south-easterly direction.
The land skirting the river is low and subject to
floods. The church is in the centre of the parish,
and near it on the south-west are the very scanty
ruins of a building supposed to have been the old
manor house of the Brune family. The nearest
station is Brockhurst, where the London and South
Western line joins the Lee-on-the-Solent Railway.
Some field-names are:—Hangmans Coppice, Great
Whores, and Conygar. (fn. 3)
MANOR
At the time of Domesday the manor
of ROWNER was held by William
Mauduit. (fn. 4) The family of Mauduit
seems to have been of considerable importance at this
time as the possessor of large estates in Hampshire, and
its members were among the chamberlains of Henry I
and II, William Mauduit, who died in 1171, being
made Chamberlain of the Exchequer by grant of the
king. (fn. 5) In what way the manor passed from the
Mauduit family does not appear, but in 1240–1 Elias
de la Falaise held 3½ virgates and 63 acres of land
in Rowner which he had exchanged with the prior
of St. Swithun's for 30 acres of land in the same
parish, and which may probably be identified as
part of the knight's fee which William de la
Falaise was holding as early as 1187. (fn. 6) Seven
years later Elias made a grant of 5½ virgates of
land from the manor of Rowner to the abbot of
Quarr, which grant was confirmed by Henry III in
1266. At his death in 1254 Elias was holding the
residue of the manor of the king in chief by
serjeanty, providing one armed man for forty days
every year in time of war, for the defence of
Winchester Castle. (fn. 7) In the same year William de
la Falaise, his brother, died seised of land in Rowner
which he held by the same service, though by a fine
made by his brother Elias he rendered 40s. yearly to
the exchequer for alienation of the serjeanty, his brother's
widow, Lady Ida, holding dower in the estate. (fn. 8) Before 1277 the property had escheated to the crown by
the felony of William de la Falaise, grandson of William, and was granted in that year to Sir William le
Brune, chamberlain to the king, to hold jointly with
his wife Isolde, a lady of the household of Queen
Eleanor, by the yearly payment of 40s. to the king's
exchequer in lieu of service, (fn. 9) and seven years later
William le Brune was granted free warren in his
demesne lands. (fn. 10) William died in 1301, (fn. 11) and the
estate was then held by Isolde until her death in
1307, when it passed to Maurice her son and
heir. (fn. 12) William son of Maurice succeeded to the
property in 1355, (fn. 13) and in 1358 obtained a licence
to convey the manor to his daughter Joan and her
husband, Thomas de Overton, in tail. (fn. 14) William
died between 1360 and 1370, and in 1371 Joan
released all her right in the manor to her mother and
her husband, Sir Robert de Marny, and to her brothers
Ingram and Richard. (fn. 15) Sir Robert de Marny and his
wife transferred the manor to Ingram Brune between
1390 and 1392, (fn. 16) and he died seised of the same in
1400, when the property passed, under a settlement
made in 1392, (fn. 17) to his wife Elizabeth, in tail male
with remainder to William de Marny, son and heir
of Robert de Marny. (fn. 18) Elizabeth held the manor
in dower during the minority of her son till her
death in 1403. Her son Maurice came of age in
1407, (fn. 19) and from him the estate passed to his son
Henry, who held it till his death in 1461, (fn. 20) when
it reverted to a Maurice Brune, probably his brother,
who, dying in 1468, was succeeded by his son
Thomas. (fn. 21) The manor passed on the death of Thomas
in 1497 to his son William Brune, (fn. 22) who was succeeded in 1512 by his nephew, Sir John Brune,
who died in 1559 leaving a son Henry. (fn. 23) The latter
bequeathed a 'manor or farm called the Grange' in
the parishes of Rowner and Stoke, to trustees, to
provide portions for five unmarried daughters, and on
his death in 1594 the manor and advowson of
Rowner passed to his son John, (fn. 24) who died in 1639,
his heir being his nephew John, son of his brother
Charles. (fn. 25) On the death of
John, who died without heirs
male in 1645, his brother
Charles succeeded to the estate.
He died in 1703, and by the
death of his grandson Charles
Brune in 1769 the family became extinct in the male line.
By his will his estates, including the manor and advowson of Rowner, eventually
devolved on his grand-nephew
the Rev. Charles PrideauxBrune of Padstow, Cornwall, who died in 1833, and
whose grandson Mr. Charles Glynn Prideaux-Brune is
the present owner. (fn. 26)
Brune. Azure a cross moline or.
CHURCH
The church of ST. MARY THE
VIRGIN, ROWNER, is a small building, consisting originally of a chancel
14 ft. 2 in. by 11 ft. 5 in., and nave 25 ft. by 15 ft.,
being apparently work of the first half of the twelfth
century, to which in the thirteenth century were
added a wide north aisle and north chapel, which
have become the nave and chancel, the older chancel
being used as organ chamber and vestry. The church
was extensively repaired in 1874, and shows little old
work outside, none of the windows having preserved
their old stonework.
At the south-east of the old chancel a modern
doorway in twelfth-century style has been inserted,
with a ring of reused twelfth-century sunk star ornament over the outer arch. The old chancel arch is
pointed, of two chamfered orders, with voussoirs alternately of Binstead stone and clunch, the same arrangement occurring in the responds, which have keeled
shafts to the inner order and round shafts in the
outer, with moulded capitals and bases. The angles
of the north arcade of two bays are like the chancel
arch, but of Bembridge stone. The south doorway
of the nave is modern.
In the north wall of the present chancel is a thirteenth-century piscina, and opposite to it on the
south a single recessed sedile, to the west of which is a
wide round-headed thirteenth-century arch, springing
from moulded corbels, and opening to the old chancel.
The font at the west end of the nave has an octagonal
bowl and shaft. The woodwork is all new, but a
panel of the royal arms, dated 1705, is hung on the
east face of the old chancel arch.
On the north of the chancel is a fine tomb dated
1559, with no inscription recording the name of
the person whom it commemorates, but the heraldry
shows that he was a member of the Brune family, and
the date makes it evident that he was Sir John Brune.
The tomb is in the form of a panelled base, on which
is a semicircular arch, over which are three pedestals
supporting putti, who hold shields with the Brune
arms. Beneath the arch are the arms of Brune with
helm and mantling, and on the base four shields with
the arms of Brune, Brune impaling Tichborne,
Brune impaling Knowles, and Brune impaling Bamfilde, the names being written above the shields.
Above the tomb are a helm and breastplate, placed
here within recent years. All the details are exceedingly good and well executed, in the delicate early
Renaissance style, which ten years later had lost much
of its purity.
Externally the church shows little signs of age; the
roofs are red-tiled, with a shingled bell-turret at the
west containing one bell of 1709. In the churchyard are some specimens of eighteenth-century tombstones, with beautiful lettering, some being carefully
repainted and set up against the church wall, and
church and churchyard are models of neatness.
Copies of several wall paintings found during the
repairs of 1874 are preserved at the rectory.
The plate consists of an alms dish of 1677, a standing paten of 1728, and a communion-cup probably
of the same date, a flagon of 1726, and a pewter plate.
The first book of the registers is on parchment,
and goes from 1590 to 1683, with one baptism of
1583, and at the end are paper leaves with entries for
1673–81. The second book has births and deaths
1669–1775, and marriages 1669–1754. The number
of marriages for so small a parish is abnormal, and is
explained by the fact that Rowner was a favourite
place for marriages among the naval men from Gosport
and Portsmouth. The third book contains marriages
1754–1810, and the fourth baptisms and burials
1775–1812.
ADVOWSON
The history of the advowson of
Rowner is identical with that of
the manor. (fn. 27) From the time of
the grant of Edward I the family of Brune with few
exceptions have exercised the right of presentation. (fn. 28)
Very few members of the family have actually held
the living. In 1292 Philip le Brune was presented
to the living by Sir William le Brune, and he was
succeeded in 1306 by Nicholas le Brune. The family
was not again represented until 1884, when the present rector, the Rev. Edward Stapland Prideaux-Brune,
was instituted. (fn. 29)
There are apparently no endowed charities in this
parish.