BISHOPSTOKE
Stoke, Stoches (xi cent.).
The parish of Bishopstoke, as originally constituted,
covered about 3,430 acres of land rising from west to
east from the arable lands round Great and Little
Eastley farms, a height of 40 ft. to 50 ft. above the
ordnance level, to the woodland round Fair Oak Park,
a height of 190 ft. to 220 ft. However, in 1894,
Fair Oak, the eastern part of the parish, was formed
into a civil parish of 1,680 acres independent of
Bishopstoke. In 1899 Stoke Park was also separated
and made a civil parish of 1,250 acres, of which two
are water, leaving the original parish with an area of
only 500 acres, of which thirteen are covered by water.
The main road from Winchester to Southampton,
passing through Fair Oak, leaves to the west the lowlying ground composing the modern parish of Bishopstoke. A road branching off westward leads from the
main road through fields and meadows to the village.
About a quarter of a mile east of the village this road
turns sharply northward for a few yards to the National
School built in 1895, then east again past Manor
Farm and across the bridge, to enter the village near
Bishopstoke (corn) Mill, which is said to be on the
site of the mill of Domesday. North of the mill,
almost on an island formed by two branches of the
Itchen, is the Manor House with its enormous fish
pond. The greater number of the older houses of
the village with the two inns, 'The Anchor' and 'The
Angler,' are grouped here and higher up the road
beyond the old church of St. Mary (rebuilt in 1825,
now disused) and the Rectory. Many modern redbrick cottages are now in process of building at both
ends of the village to supply the needs of the men
who are employed in the Eastleigh Railway Works,
which are rapidly increasing in size. The new church
of St. Mary, opened in 1891, is north of the village,
close to the new church schools. Further north, its
well-wooded grounds of about 100 acres stretching
away west to the River Itchen, is The Mount, the
residence of Mr. Thomas Atkinson Cotton. The
house, which is surrounded by a fine park in which a
herd of deer is kept, is modern and has a tower at
one end. The grounds contain a fine collection of
conifers, many rare plants, and a rock garden, while
in the house is a large collection of British birds numbering over a thousand specimens. There is also a clock
tower in the grounds containing a clock with carillon
chimes which play fourteen tunes. Longmead,
another fine house, the residence of Mr. Gubbins,
stands east of the village in a park and grounds of
about 46 acres. Longmead Farm is on the edge of the
estate. Stoke Lodge, the residence of Mr. George
Young, is north-east of The Mount near Stoke Common.
The soil of the parish is mixed clay, loam, and sand;
subsoil, clay and sand. The proportion of land in
the parish is as follows: 13¼ acres of arable land, 175
acres of permanent grass, and 8 acres of woods and
plantations. (fn. 1) The chief crops are wheat, barley, oats,
peas, and beans. The following place-names occur:
'the High Bridge and Davis,' (fn. 2) 'Mortimers and
Crowdhill' (name still preserved); (fn. 3) Mayles Thomas
and Strowdelonde; (fn. 4) The Reeve's Gore, Lower
Beddemeade, Breathfield, (fn. 5) Woodrowes Purrockes, (fn. 6)
and 'Maveland.' (fn. 7)
Stoke Common itself is the hamlet which is the
nucleus of the small parish of Stoke Park. It is
reached from Bishopstoke by the road running northeast from the village, and consists of a few scattered
houses, a Bible Christian Chapel, a smithy, and an inn,
'The Foresters' Arms.' Stoke Park Farm lies away
to the east, surrounded by a belt of arable land which
stretches away to woodland, Upperbarn Copse, Crowdhill Copse in the east, and Stoke Park Wood in the
south. The meadow land west of Stoke Common is
often flooded, as the Itchen, which here divides into
many branches, overflows its banks during the rainy
season. On the lower part of the river is Withymead
Lock, where the several branches of the river meet in
one, and Stoke Lock still lower, where the Itchen
Navigation joins the River Itchen.
The village of Fair Oak consists of widely scattered
houses and farms reaching from Crowdhill on the
north to Horton Heath on the south. From Crowdhill, part of which is in Fair Oak, a fine view can be
gained of the surrounding country, the Itchen valley
stretching away to the south-west towards the Solent,
and the chalk downs which lie round Winchester
sweeping away to the north. A Wesleyan chapel and
two or three houses belonging to Crowdhill are in the
north in Fair Oak parish. In the north of Fair Oak
village itself is Stocks Farm, south of which are the
houses of the village grouped round the church of
St. Thomas erected in 1863. Close by are the church
schools, the smithy, and the inn. A few cottages
are scattered along the road to the south towards
Knowle Hill, which rises to a height of about 160 ft.
above the ordnance datum. Horton Heath, a detached
portion of Fair Oak village, lies round the four
cross roads formed by the road known as Burnett
Lane as it crosses the main road from Winchester.
Here is a Union Chapel, Hammersley Farm, the
Rising Sun Inn, and the post office. Fair Oak Park,
the residence of Mr. George Pember, stands east of the
village; the house commanding a fine view of the
well-wooded park and grounds, which cover about
120 acres. On the northern edge of this estate is
Hall Lands House. Stroudwood is to the north-east.
Fair Oak Lodge, the property of Sir Arthur Grant, bart.,
of Monymusk, N.B., lies south-west of the village.
The estate covers about 120 acres, and in the park is a
lake of about seven acres in extent called Quableigh
Pond, the home of several varieties of water fowl.
MANORS
The earliest reference to BISHOPSTOKE seems to be in the year 948
when King Edred granted 11 mansae at
Stoke to the thegn Ælfric. (fn. 8) Sixteen years later King
Edgar (fn. 9) endowed Winchester Cathedral with lands at
Bishopstoke, together with numerous other manors in
Hampshire, and at the time of the Domesday Survey the bishop was holding Bishopstoke in demesne
as he had formerly done; it was assessed at 5 hides
and was worth £8. (fn. 10) In 1284 the king gave up to
John bishop of Winchester and his successors all his
right in the manor of Bishopstoke. (fn. 11) The manor
remained in the hands of the bishop from this date (fn. 12)
until the sale of the bishops' lands in 1650, (fn. 13) when it
was sold to Dr. Thomas Cox and Malachy Dewdney
for £1,601 4s. 6d., (fn. 14) and five years later the site of the
manor also was sold to Dr. Cox for £479 3s. 4d. (fn. 15)
Bishopstoke was restored to the see of Winchester at
the Restoration and remained in the bishop's possession (fn. 16) until the year 1869, when the lands belonging
to the bishopric were vested in the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who are lords of the manor at the present
day. The bishop of Winchester had a park here at
an early date. In 1305, and again in 1334, certain
persons were indicted for hunting in the bishop of
Winchester's park at Bishopstoke. (fn. 17) At the sale of the
bishops' lands Stoke Park was sold to Dr. Cox and
Malachy Dewdney for £221 18s. 4d. (fn. 18)
At the time of the Domesday Survey there was a
mill in Bishopstoke worth 10s. (fn. 19) In 1523 Nicholas
Poule was miller and chief toll collector in Bishopstoke, (fn. 20) and in 1594–6 Thomas Carpenter, miller of
Bishopstoke, claimed to have a right of way by the
bridge called Cutbridge, 'in order to repair the weirs
by the water-course.' (fn. 21) In the following year Francis
Serle and his heirs were enfeoffed of one toft, one corn
mill, and one fulling mill in the tithing of Bishopstoke. (fn. 22) 'The waste soil near the mill' is spoken of
in 1648 (fn. 23) ; at the present day there is a (water) cornmill in the parish. In 1709 Robert Smith was
holding a fishery in Bishopstoke. (fn. 24)
CHURCHES
The church of ST. MARY,
BISHOPSTOKE, now disused, was
rebuilt in 1825 in the lifeless Gothic
of the time, with a west tower. No part of the older
church remains.
The modern church, also dedicated in honour of
St. Mary, was built in 1891 of shaped flints with
quoins and dressings of Bath stone, and consists of a
chancel with vestries and an organ chamber on the
north, and a nave and south aisle with baptistery at
the west end.
There are three bells, the treble of 1600 by John
Wallis of Salisbury, inscribed 'Seeke the Lord'; the
second of 1598 by R.B., an unknown founder, bearing 'Geve thanks to God'; and the tenor, also by
Wallis, 1589, with 'In God is my hope.'
The plate includes a communion cup and paten of
1749, a flagon and almsdish of the same date, and a
paten of 1706.
The first book of registers runs from 1650 to 1700,
and the second from 1700 to 1781, the marriages
ceasing in 1753. The third book contains baptisms
and burials 1781–1812, and the fourth marriages
1754–1812.
The church of ST. THOMAS, FAIR OAK, built
in 1863, is of brick with stone dressings, in Early
English style, consisting of apsidal chancel and nave,
and turret containing one bell. The register dates
from 1871.
ADVOWSONS
At the time of the Domesday
Survey there was a church at
Bishopstoke. (fn. 25) In the fourteenth
century the church rendered a pension of 40s. annually
to Hamble Priory; this pension was afterwards
received by Winchester College, to which the priory
was given by William of Wykeham in 1391. (fn. 26)
The advowson of Bishopstoke has always been in
the hands of the bishops of Winchester (fn. 27) ; except for a
time in the fourteenth century, when John bishop of
Winchester alienated it in mortmain to the four
chaplains celebrating divine service daily in the chapel
of St. Stephen and St. Lawrence at Marwell, in lieu
of the sum of money which they used to receive in
alms from the bishop's exchequer at Wolvesey. (fn. 28) In
1291 the church of Bishopstoke was assessed at £8, (fn. 29)
but by 1535 the value had risen to £14 4s. 8d. (fn. 30)
In 1558–9 the rectorial tithes of the church of
St. Mary at Bishopstoke were granted to the notorious
'fishing grantees' William Tipper and Robert Dawe. (fn. 31)
The living is now a rectory in the gift of the bishop
of Winchester.
The living of St. Thomas, Fair Oak, is a vicarage,
with residence, also in the gift of the bishop of
Winchester.
CHARITIES
In 1632 Richard Dummer charged
a close called 'Five Acres' with the
payment of 40s. annually for the use
of the poor at Michaelmas and Lady Day. In 1653
Thomas Dummer charged certain copyhold land with
40s. a year for the poor at Easter and Christmas. The
annuities are duly paid out of a close known as the
Poor Close.
In 1630 Mrs. Joan Bassett by her will left £20,
interest to be distributed amongst the poor sort of the
inhabitants at Easter for ever, now represented by
£20 9s. 8d. consols with the official trustees.
In 1834 Henry Twynam by deed charged four
acres of copyhold land at Stoke Common with the
annual payment of 40s. to be applied on 21 December
in every year in the distribution of fuel and clothes
among the poor on the west side of the parish. The
donor, by the same deed, granted to trustees a messuage, garden, and orchard situated at Fair Oak, the net
rents to be applied in the same manner for the benefit
of the poor on the east side of the parish. The
annuity is duly paid, and the messuage and premises
now consist of five cottages, known as Everett's, which
are let to weekly tenants, producing £26 a year.
In 1846 George Twynam, by a codicil to his will,
bequeathed £200, income to be applied in the distribution of bread or fuel amongst poor residents of the
parish. The legacy was invested in £208 13s. consols, held by the official trustees. By an order made
in 1896 under the Local Government Act, 1894, the
parish councils of Fair Oak and Bishopstoke have
elected representatives on the governing body, by whom
the income of the several charities is applied in the
distribution of coal and other articles in kind.