OWSLEBURY
Oselbury (xiv. cent.); Owlesbury (xiv cent.).
The parish of Owslebury consists of 22 acres of
land covered with water and 5,412 acres of land
which rises gradually from south to north, reaching
the greatest height, with the exception of the rise on
Green Hill in the west of the parish, near the village,
which stands on the crest of a hill towards the north.
The main road from Winchester to Bishop's Waltham,
passing south-east through Morestead, sends off a
branch road directly south towards Owslebury. Rising
on to high ground this road then descends steeply into
Owslebury parish. At the bottom of the hill two or
three thatched cottages and the Shearer's Inn standing
on the right-hand side make up the outlying portion
of Owslebury, known as Owslebury Bottom. A few
yards on as the land begins to rise the road curves
slightly east round by the Cricketers' Inn and winds
up the hill, curving sharply south-west into the village.
Entering the village, the blacksmith's shop, a low
tiled picturesque building, stands on the north
side of the road facing wide sloping fields which
stretch away to the south. As the road continues
uphill, past two or three thatched cottages and outbuildings, the old windmill, near which is a new
mill which supplies the pumping power for the
Owslebury waterworks, stands in a high field to the
north, marking the crest of the hill. Beyond this the
greater number of the cottages and houses composing
the village are grouped. On the south side of the
road are the village schools, immediately west of
which is the square-towered church of St. Andrew,
standing on high ground overlooking the valley as the
ground falls away to the east and south-east. Immediately to the east over the valley lies Baybridge,
beyond which the high land which sweeps away to
Millbarrow Down rises in the distance; to the southeast, over the stretches of woodland which lie in the
south-east of Owslebury parish, lies the parish of
Upham, beyond which rises the high ground round
Winter's Hill House. South-west of the church is the
vicarage, to which a pathway from the church leads
across the square inclosed recreation ground of about
four acres. The village stocks stood at the churchyard
gate until recent times, but have now disappeared. As
the long village street continues to run south-west down
the slope of the hill beyond the church and vicarage,
several picturesque thatched cottages lie on the left,
while others lie on either side as at the further end of
the village the road forks north to Twyford and south
to Marwell Hall, round a small triangular green.
On the north side as the road forks stand two tiled
lichen-covered cottages, known as Yew-tree Cottages,
in front of which grow two large yew trees, shaped
like the trees of a toy Noah's Ark. Beyond these
cottages is the Ship Inn, a low, thatched, timberframed house, which has some good panelling within,
and the date 1681 on the tap-room fireplace. Marwell Manor Farm, the manor farm of Owslebury parish,
stands on the site of the ancient palace of Marwell,
which was probably destroyed (fn. 1) in the sixteenth
century, after the grant to Sir Henry Seymour,
who already had a house in the adjoining manor of
Marwell Woodlock. The site is marked by a large
moated inclosure within which the present dwellinghouse stands, but such old masonry as is now to be
seen is said to belong rather to the college of priests
founded here than to the episcopal house. Beyond
the moat to the south is a small early sixteenthcentury building now used as a cottage.
Marwell Hall, the manor-house of Marwell Woodlock, now the property and residence of Captain
William Standish, J.P., belongs for the most part to
the nineteenth century, having been almost rebuilt
about 1816 by Mr. William Long, on the site and
in the style of the former building. It retains, however, in its central portion, once the hall of an
H-shaped house, a certain amount of old work. A
very fine wooden chimney-piece with the Seymour
crest, and a stone panel of their arms now above the
fireplace in the entrance hall, are from the old building.
The house has a fine position in about seven acres of
well-wooded grounds, the western edge of which
extends along the crown of the sloping fields that rise
east of Hensting hamlet in the south-west of the
parish. Tradition asserts that the old house, built
probably in the early part of the sixteenth century,
was the scene of the marriage between Henry VIII
and Lady Jane Seymour, the sister of the lord of Marwell. Edward VI is also said to have visited Marwell
Hall, and the initials E. R. were carved in stone over
the porch of the old house. Tradition of another
kind makes Marwell Hall the scene of the well-known
'Mistletoe Bough' tragedy. (fn. 2)
The hamlet of Baybridge, consisting of a small
group of cottages, a Primitive Methodist chapel, and
the farm-houses and out-buildings of Baybridge and
Lower Whiteflood Farms, lies about a mile, as the
crow flies, south-east of Owslebury village. It is
approached from Owslebury by a branch road leading
south from the road which runs north-east from the
village to Longwood House, and the cottages and
farms stand about three-quarters of a mile along the
branch road at the corner where it sends off a branch
south-west to Marwell.
The hamlet of Hensting lies in the south-east
of the parish, and is approached from Owslebury
village by a downhill lane which branches southwest from the narrow road which turns off north
towards Twyford by the Ship Inn at the west end
of the village. This lane, passing between fine
stretches of meadow and plough-land, comes to
the outbuildings and the long thatched barn of
Hensting Farm, behind which stands the farmhouse on high ground. Passing on it curves more
directly south between the cottages and farmyards of
Hensting and runs on to the high pine woods which
slope from the north towards Fisher's Pond, the long
narrow stretch of water which runs along the south
side of the road, and gives its name to the small
hamlet which lies immediately south-west. Woods
also rise from the south side of the pond, which is
thus one of the most beautiful spots in the neighbourhood. Water fowl of all sorts haunt the banks of
the pond, and the deep water affords good fishing
which is carefully preserved. West of the pond goes
the main road from Winchester to Botley, and on the
east side of this stands the Queen's Head Inn and
the two or three cottages composing Fisher's Pond
hamlet. Continuing from Fisher's Pond the main
road rises to Crowd Hill, on the top of which on
either side of the road are grouped the cottages and
farms composing the hamlet of Crowd Hill, the
southern portion of which belongs to Fair Oak (see
under Bishopstoke). From the top of Crowd Hill
remarkably fine views open out on almost every
side. To the north-west is the fine woodland surrounding Cranbury House, followed by the high
down land that composes the north-west of Compton
parish; to the north over Twyford village are the
fine curves of Twyford Downs, stretching away towards the east to the high country round Chilcomb.
Colden Common, formed into a separate ecclesiastical
parish in 1843, is for civil purposes included partly in
Owslebury and partly in Twyford.
Formerly there was an iron foundry in Owslebury
parish; but all traces of this have disappeared except
a few specimens of the work, dated in the latter
part of the seventeenth century. The soil of the
whole parish is clay with a subsoil of chalk on which
crops of wheat, barley, oats, turnips, and sainfoin are
grown.
The tithe map is at the vicarage.
The common lands were inclosed in 1851. (fn. 3) Of
the 5,399 acres of land in the parish, 2,520 are
arable land, 1,570¼ are permanent grass, and 827
are woodland. (fn. 4) Owslebury Down and part of
Colden Common were inclosed in 1861. (fn. 5)
The following place - names occur in 1400:
Varlonde, Waddene, Tichehurst, Okheltislade, le
Hurst, and Grenewey. (fn. 6)
MANORS
As early as 964 King Eadgar granted
lands in Owslebury to the bishop of
Winchester, (fn. 7) and at the time of the Domesday Survey the bishop held the manor of Owslebury
under the name of Twyford. It was held under the
bishops in the time of Edward the Confessor by Wulfric, the under-tenant in 1086 being Elded wife of
Oswald. (fn. 8)
In 1284 the king gave up to John bishop of Winchester and his successors all his right in the manor of
Twyford with Marwell, (fn. 9) the name by which this
manor in Owslebury was known. There are occasional
notices of the ownership of Owslebury by the see of
Winchester. In 1313 Bartholomew of Widehaye who
held under the bishop conveyed two messuages and two
carucates of land in Owslebury held of the bishop to
William de Overton and Joan his wife; (fn. 10) and after
this date, though the name of the parish remained
Owslebury, the name of the manor in the parish became
MARWELL or MARWELL WOODLOCK. A
pardon was granted to William Woodlock (fn. 11) in 1316
for acquiring in fee without licence land in the manor
of Marwell from Henry late bishop of Winchester.
The land and tenements were to be subject to a rent
of 55s. 4d. payable to the bishop; and service was
due at the bishop's court of Marwell. (fn. 12)
Bishop Fox, who founded Corpus Christi College,
Oxford, in 1515–16, endowed it with the demesne
lands round Owslebury, which the college retains at
the present day. (fn. 13)
In 1520 Lionel Norreys held half the manor from
the bishop; (fn. 14) and in 1523 William Holgyle held the
remainder and conveyed it by fine to Richard Wotton. (fn. 15)
When John Poynet was granted the see of Winchester in 1551 one of the conditions attached to his
appointment was that he should surrender all the episcopal manors in exchange for
a fixed income of 2,000 marks,
and thus Marwell passed into
the hands of the crown. (fn. 16) In
the same year the manor and
the advowson of the vicarage
were granted to Sir Henry Seymour, the king's uncle. (fn. 17) The
manor of Marwell, among
other lands, was restored by
Queen Mary to the bishopric of Winchester; but Sir
Henry Seymour evidently compounded with John bishop of Winchester for Marwell, as in 1577 he died seised of it, leaving a son
and heir John, (fn. 18) who died in 1618 and was followed
by his son Edward. (fn. 19)
Seymour. Gules a pair of wings or.
In 1625 Sir Edward Seymour and Henry Seymour
conveyed the manor with all appurtenances to Susanna
Holliday widow, (fn. 20) daughter
of Sir Henry Rowe; who
married as her second husband
Robert earl of Warwick. (fn. 21) In
1626 she and her husband
conveyed the manor of Marwell to Sir Henry Mildmay
and his wife Anne, the latter
being Susanna's daughter by
her first husband. (fn. 22) The manor
then descended in the male
line. On the death of Carew
Mildmay of Shawford House,
Hants, at the end of the eighteenth century, it
passed to his daughter Jane, who had married Sir Henry
Paulet St. John, bart. In 1786 the latter obtained
licence to use the name and bear the arms of Mildmay
as well as his own. (fn. 23) Sir Henry left his Hampshire
estates to be divided between his widow and his thirteen children. Marwell remained in the possession
of the Mildmays until 1858, when it was sold to
Mr. J. E. Robinson of Pontefract, who transferred
the manorial rights to Mr. Bradley, the present
owner. (fn. 24)
Mildmay. Argent three lions azure.
There are occasional references to the bishop of
Winchester's PARK of MARWELL. In 1280 an
order was issued to William de Hamilton, guardian
of the bishopric of Winchester, for the immediate
deliverance of five oaks from the park of Marwell
granted by Nicholas late bishop of Winchester to
the sacristan of St. Swithun's Priory, for the works of
the priory. (fn. 25) In the Ministers' Accounts for the manor
of Twyford for the year 1322 the following occurs:
'39s. 6d. for animals pastured in the park of Marwell
till Trinity.' (fn. 26) In the sixteenth century a complaint
was entered by William bishop of Winchester that
Aumary St. Amand with others hunted in his park at
Marwell where he had free warren. (fn. 27) A park existed
down to the middle of the seventeenth century, for
in the court rolls for 1651 reference is made to the
'park of the President and Scholars of Corpus Christi
College, Oxford, called the Coney Park.' (fn. 28)
At the time of the Domesday Survey there were
two mills in Owslebury, (fn. 29) and among the appurtenances belonging to the manors of Twyford and
Marwell in 1625 and 1626 were two mills, a free
fishery, view of frankpledge, and rights of free warren. (fn. 30)
At the present day there is only one mill.
BRAMBRIDGE
BRAMBRIDGE, a hamlet in the civil parishes of
Twyford and Owslebury, became part of the newlyformed ecclesiastical parish of Colden Common in
1843.
Upon the foundation of Corpus Christi College,
Oxford, in 1515–16, Brambridge, as part of Owslebury
parish, probably passed into the possession of the
college under the endowment by Bishop Fox, for in
1535 Corpus Christi College was receiving an annual
rent of 24s. from land here. (fn. 31) In 1609–10 Brambridge was granted to John Peirson together with the
lands belonging to the recusants Ursula Uvedale,
Richard Bruning, and Thomas Welles. (fn. 32) Charles I
granted Brambridge to Gilbert Welles in 1636, (fn. 33) and
his widow married Sir William Courtenay, who was a
recusant and compounded for his Brambridge estates
in 1648. (fn. 34) Brambridge remained in the Welles family
until towards the end of the eighteenth century, when
in accordance with the will of Henry Welles (2 August,
1762) it passed to his cousin Walter Smythe, second
son of Sir John Smythe, bart., of Acton Burnell,
Shropshire (fn. 35) (see under Boyattin Otterbourne). Walter
Smythe's eldest daughter was the famous Mrs. Fitzherbert, wife of George IV, who spent the early years
of her life, before and after her education in France,
at Brambridge until her marriage to Edward Weld
of Lulworth Castle, Dorset. She is also said to have
lived at Colden Common, in a cottage which still
exists, during her first widowhood. (fn. 36) During the
nineteenth century Brambridge House (see under
Twyford) was the residence of the Fairbairns family.
It is now occupied by Major Cecil du P. Powney.
The earliest mention of BAYBRIDGE (Baberigge,
Babbrigge, Barbridge, xiv cent.), a hamlet in Owslebury parish, seems to be in a grant made in 1324 by
Henry bishop of Winchester of a messuage and half a
virgate of land in Baybridge, near Owslebury, to
William son of William de Overton, in confirmation
of a grant made to him by John late bishop of Winchester of the land formerly held by Henry le
Carter. (fn. 37) In 1377 the abbot and convent of Titchfield were holding land in Baybridge. (fn. 38)
In 1441 Thomas Sands died seised of lands in
Baybridge held under lease from the bishop of Winchester, leaving an infant heir,
William, aged three. (fn. 39) The
Sands continued to hold the
reputed manor (fn. 40) of Baybridge
until 1610, (fn. 41) when Sir William Sands sold it to Thomas
Ridley, LL.D. (fn. 42) Nine years
later, in 1619, the Ridleys
were still holding Baybridge, (fn. 43)
but after this date no mention
has been found of it until the
year 1802, when Sir Henry
Paulet St. John Mildmay, John
Clerk of Worthy, and George William Ricketts of
Lainston were holding it in right of their wives Jane,
Ann, and Letitia, (fn. 44) the daughters and co-heirs of
Carew Mildmay of Shawford House. (fn. 45) It must therefore have been acquired by the Mildmay family in
addition to their manor of Marwell (q.v.). After
1802 it evidently became amalgamated with the
Marwell estate and followed its descent (q.v.).
Sands. Argent a ragged cross sable.
The capital messuage of LONGWOOD FARM,
originally part of the possessions of the bishopric of
Winchester, was granted to Edward Vaughan and
Thomas Ellys in 1589. (fn. 46) Eight years later Longwood
was in the possession of Richard Garth, who died
seised of it in 1597. (fn. 47) In 1648 Longwood Warren
and Lodge were sold by the Trustees for the Sale of
Bishops' Lands to Thomas Hussey and his heirs. (fn. 48)
Longwood House is now the property of the earl
of Northesk and the residence of Lord Aberdare. It
stands in the north-east of the parish in wide grounds
which extend north-east into the neighbouring parish
of Tichborne. When Duthy wrote in the early
part of the nineteenth century this house was known
as Rosehill. About the beginning of the eighteenth
century General (afterwards Lord) Carpenter, the
ancestor of the earls of Tyrconnel, lived at Rosehill,
then called Longwood, which is thus its original name.
CHURCH
The church of ST. ANDREW has a
chancel 28 ft. by 16 ft. 3 in., nave with
aisles 33 ft. 8 in. long by 38 ft. wide,
and west tower 10 ft. by 11 ft., all measurements
being internal.
The chancel appears to be the earliest part of the
church, dating from the first quarter of the fourteenth
century, and the building has at one time been cruciform, but in the latter part of the seventeenth
century the nave and tower were remodelled, and in
spite of later repairs a good deal of work of this date
yet exists.
The chancel has an east window of three lights
with modern tracery of geometrical style, the rear
arch being old. On north and south are single
uncusped lights with modern heads, and below that on
the north a tomb recess, apparently of early fourteenthcentury date, as are the old parts of the windows.
The chancel arch is pointed, of two chamfered
orders, with seventeenth-century capitals of classic
design.
The nave is covered by a central roof running east
and west, and pairs of gabled roofs on each side,
running north and south, a single cast-iron column on
each side supporting the wall plates. It is lighted by
two north and two south windows, of which all but
the south-east window are of three uncusped lights
with tracery, of seventeenth-century date, the remaining window having trefoiled lights under a transom
and trefoiled tracery over. In the west wall on either
side of the tower is a doorway, that to the north
having a pointed head of two moulded orders and
a label, and that to the south a modern shouldered arch.
The tower is of three stages, embattled, with a
west window in the ground stage of two trefoiled
lights, curious work which is dated by a panel over it
bearing the initials of the churchwardens for 1675.
The tower arch appears to be of the same date. In
the second stage and belfry stage are windows of fourteenth-century style but modern stonework.
The roofs of the nave are of the trussed rafter
form, and the panels from destroyed seventeenthcentury pews, with carved top rails, are fixed as
wainscoting round the nave walls. The altar rails
are eighteenth-century balusters, and in the chancel
is an ancient iron-barred chest with three locks, made
from a solid log.
Below the east window are four quatrefoiled stone
panels inclosing blank shields, of fifteenth-century
date; on one shield is a dent to which the tradition
attaches that it was made by a bullet which killed the
priest who celebrated the last mass here in the sixteenth century.
The font, at the west end of the nave, is octagonal
with a moulded base to the bowl, and perhaps of
fifteenth-century date, but much re-tooled.
In the chancel are some large marble mural
monuments to the first and second Lords Carpenter,
1731 and 1749; and to the last earl of Tyrconnel,
1853.
There are six bells, the first three by Mears and
Stainbank, 1905; the fourth, formerly of 1674,
recast by Taylor in 1900; and the fifth and tenor,
of 1622 and 1619, by the founder i h (possibly
for John Higden), with the usual inscription, 'In God
is my hope'; on the fifth is the founder's mark of
Roger Landon, re-used.
The church possesses a very fine and early communion cup of 1552, inscribed 'The Communion
Cup of Owsylbury,' and an almsdish with the
inscription 'This with my soule I dedicate to God—
Alice Mildemay, June the 8th, 1680.'
The first book of the registers is of burials in
woollen, 1678–1812; and the second contains the
baptisms 1696–1812 and the marriages 1696–1704,
1722, and 1744–54.
Bishop Henry of Blois founded a small college of
secular priests, called later a chantry, in the church
or chapel of Marwell Park, Owslebury, between
1129 and 1171, (fn. 49) to which were attached four
chapelries.
The site of the episcopal house at Marwell Park is
marked by a square moat inclosing a large area, at the
north-east corner of which stand the remains of the
college buildings, now of little importance, and serving
as out-buildings to the present dwelling-house, which
though in itself of no architectural interest, is built
with fragments of the old work. No details appear
to be older than the fifteenth century. It was suppressed under the Act of Edward VI for the dissolution
of such foundations.
ADVOWSON
The earliest mention of the present
church of St. Andrew seems to be
in the year 1551, when the advowson
of the vicarage of Marwell, the site of the ancient
chapel in Marwell Park, and the manor, were granted
to Sir Henry Seymour. (fn. 50) The advowson was annexed
to the manor of Marwell until 1836, since which
date it has been in the hands of the vicar of
Twyford. (fn. 51)
CHARITIES
In 1840 Mrs. Alice Long, by will
proved this date, directed (inter alia)
that sufficient stock should be purchased to produce £30 a year to be applied by the
incumbent in payment of her usual subscriptions to
the parochial school, and subject thereto in the purchase of fuel, blankets, clothing, or provisions for the
benefit of the deserving poor.
£1,000 consols was set aside in satisfaction of this
legacy, and forms part of a larger sum held by the
Corporation of Winchester in trust for this and other
charities founded by this donor. By an order made
under the Board of Education Act, 1899, a sum of
£400 consols has been determined to be the proportion of the charity applicable for educational
purposes.