WEYHILL with PENTON GRAFTON
Penintone (x cent.); Leweo (xiii cent.); La Woe
(xiv cent.); Wee (xv cent.); Way (xvi cent.); Wey,
Wayhill (xvii cent.).
The parish of Weyhill or Penton Grafton—in the
latter name preserving the memory of its ancient
subservience to the Abbots of Grestein (Normandy)—is bounded on the north by Wiltshire. The total area
of the parish is 1,892 acres, comprising 1,214 acres
of arable land, 434 acres of permanent grass and
124½ acres of woods and plantations. (fn. 1) The soil is
light gravel, the subsoil chalk. (fn. 2) The chief crops are
wheat, barley, oats, swedes, sainfoin and grass. The
land slopes gently from north to south, the highest
point marked on the ordnance map being 388 ft. on
the northern border.
Ramridge House, the seat of Lieut.-Col. Charles
D'Oyly Harmar, J.P., is a fine mansion standing in a
park of 116 acres. This park contains some fine old
trees and is adjoined on the north by a large copse.
It was evidently a well-wooded spot in the 14th
century, for in an extent of the manor made in 1361
the pasture and underwood of 50 acres of wood were
found to be worth nothing on account of the shadow
of the trees. (fn. 3) A mile north-east lies the hamlet of
Clanville. Clanville Lodge, situated in its park of
some 60 acres, was formerly known as Blissmore Hall.
It is at present occupied by Captain Thomas Faith.
In Clanville there is an old house, probably mediaeval,
built of wattle and daub, the appearance of which has,
however, been somewhat spoilt by a modern addition. (fn. 4)
The hamlets of Ragged Appleshaw and Nutbane are
situated respectively in the north-west and north-east
of the parish. Penton Grafton is in the extreme
east and forms one village with Penton Mewsey.
The village of Weyhill lies towards the south of
the parish on the high road from Andover to Devizes,
about half a mile east from Weyhill station on the
Midland and South Western Junction Railway. The
church stands in the centre with the rectory hard by,
and Weyhill House is at the east end. The fair
ground is on Wey Hill, a little way west of the
village.
A Roman villa on the north side of the lane
between the hamlets of Clanville and Ragged Appleshaw was excavated in 1897. (fn. 5) Other Roman remains
have been found about half a mile south between
Ramridge House and Penton Grafton, and on the
Devizes and Andover high road a mile north of
Weyhill village on the east side of the road. (fn. 6)
Place-names in Weyhill are Heathe ditch, Ellemeade, Moremeade (fn. 7) (xvi cent.).
Weyhill Down, comprising 680 acres, part of which
lies in Appleshaw, was inclosed in 1812. (fn. 8)
Manors
The manor of RAMRIDGE (Rammerugge, Ramryge, xiv cent.; Ramradge,
Ramsradge, xviii cent.), known earlier as
PENTON or PENTON GRAFTON (Penitone, xi
cent.; Penyton Croftyn alias Gresdeyn alias Greston,
xiv cent.), was held by Edith queen of Edward the
Confessor, and was granted by the Conqueror to the
abbey of Grestein in Normandy, (fn. 9) as appears from an
inspeximus of Edward II of a confirmation by Richard I
of the English lands of the abbey. (fn. 10) It pertained to
Wilmington Priory, a cell of Grestein, and in 1348,
when the lands of alien priories were in the hands of
the king, the abbot and convent of the Norman
house had licence to grant Ramridge and other
manors, with their knights' fees, advowsons and other
appurtenances, to Tidemann de Lymbergh, the king's
merchant, and his heirs and assigns for 1,000 years,
saving always to the king during the war with France
as much farm as the prior would render yearly, and
other profits that belonged to him, and to the chief
lords of the fee the due services. (fn. 11) Two years later,
however, the king granted licence to Tidemann to
demise these manors to whatsoever Englishman he
would—so long as it were not in mortmain—to hold
by the service of one knight's fee; he also pardoned
him and his successors the farm above mentioned,
which amounted in all to £86 11s. 9½d. yearly. (fn. 12) In
accordance with this licence Tidemann assigned the
property to Sir Thomas de la Pole, to whom in 1354
the Abbot of Grestein released Ramridge and the
other manors (fn. 13) ; but it was not until 1372 that they
were relieved from ecclesiastical taxation. (fn. 14) Sir
Thomas de la Pole died in 1361 seised accordingly. (fn. 15)
He left an infant daughter Katherine, whose death
occurred in the following year, (fn. 16) and Ramridge passed
to his brother Michael, afterwards famous as chancellor
to Richard II and first Earl of Suffolk. (fn. 17) In 1380
Michael de la Pole granted
Ramridge with Conock (co.
Wilts) to Thomas, one of his
younger sons, for life. (fn. 18) This
was converted a few years
afterwards to an estate in tailmale. (fn. 19) On the death of Sir
Thomas de la Pole in 1420 (fn. 20)
the manor passed to his son
Thomas, and eventually, on
the death of the latter without issue, ten years later, to
his second cousin, William
fourth Earl and afterwards
Duke of Suffolk. (fn. 21) The earl
had married Alice Chaucer, daughter and heir of Sir
Thomas Chaucer of Ewelme (co. Oxon.), by
Matilda daughter and co-heir of Sir John Burghersh. In 1437 (fn. 22) he founded the Ewelme Hospital or
God's House (co. Oxon.), endowing it in 1442 with
the manors of Conock (co. Wilts.), Ramridge (co.
Hants), and Marsh (co. Bucks.). (fn. 23) The sixth statute
of the almshouse is as follows:—
'Also we woll that this present wrytyng and ordynaunce
verrely shewe and signifie all times to com that it is owre
full and hole will that the same Maystre, techer of grammer
and pore men and theyre successours for ever more have and
holde of our yiffte and graunte to them and their successours for
ever in pure and perpetuall almesse, to her sustenaunce and to
here othir certeyn charges aftyrwardes in this oure present
ordynaunce to be rehersed, iii maners with theyre hole appurtenaunce, excepte the advowsons of the churches perteynyng to
the seide maners to us and to our heyres reserved; of the which
iii maners one is cleped Ramruge in Hamptshyre, the secunde
Connok in Wiltshire, the iiide is cleped Mersh in the shire of
Bokyngham, lyke as it appereth in the dedes, munimentis, and
grauntes openly made of the saide iii maners with their appurtenaunces to the said maystir and techer of grammer and pore
men, and to their successours in perpetuite, withoute any impetycion, lettyng, or any occasion of us, of our heyres, or of oure
assignes whatsooever they be.' (fn. 24)
De la Pole. Azure a fesse between three leopards heads or.
The letter of this statute has been adhered to, and
Ramridge is still the right of the chaplain and poor
men of Ewelme. There is a considerable collection
of court rolls and other MSS. belonging to the almshouse, from which information may be gleaned as to
the conduct of the manor. Towards the end of the
16th century we find the lord claiming a brown cow
as heriot, (fn. 25) and a little later there is an order that the
tenants shall, in proportion to their holdings, dig a
ditch, called the 'Heathe diche,' 3 ft. deep and 3 ft.
wide, under a penalty; and that all the tenants shall
keep the two meadows, 'Ellemeade and Moremeade,'
without beasts. (fn. 26) In 1653 there was a mock presentment of Edward Walker for locking the buttery door
contrary to the custom of the manor, signed Nicholas
Nemo. (fn. 27) In 1658 and again three years later the
farmer was presented for not allowing sufficient
churchway, contrary to the statute. (fn. 28)
A windmill is mentioned as appertaining to Ramridge Manor in a 14th-century inquisition, (fn. 29) but there
is none in the parish to-day.
The Abbot and convent of Grestein also possessed
land in CLANVILLE. (fn. 30) Precisely when it became
their property has not been ascertained, but a confirmation by Edward II of gifts to the abbey recites
the grant that William de Mersey made of all that
land in Penton Grafton and Clanville which had
belonged to Randolph de la Hulle and Alice his
wife. (fn. 31) This gives an approximate date, for Randolph
de la Hulle conveyed land in Clanville to William
de Mersey in 1252. (fn. 32) In 1293 Nicholas Durdant
died seised of land in Clanville belonging to the fee
of the Abbot of Grestein, (fn. 33) and three years afterwards,
when William de Mersey granted a messuage and
land in Penton Grafton and Clanville to John de
Kudelinton, the transaction was confirmed by the
abbot as overlord. (fn. 34) In the Nomina Villarum of 1316
the vill of Clanville is assigned to the abbot, (fn. 35) and it
is to be presumed that the subsequent descent of this
holding is identical with that of Ramridge Manor.
In an Inclosure Award of 1812 it is stated that the
whole of the hamlets or townships of Penton Grafton,
Clanville and Nutbane are comprised in the manor. (fn. 36)
The 1½ hides in CLANVILLE (Clavesfelle, xi
cent.; Clevefelde, xiii cent.; Clanefeld, xiv cent.),
which Azor held of King Edward as an alod
and Herbert held of Hugh de Port in 1086, (fn. 37) represents the estate later known as BLISSMORE HALL
(Busemerhale, xiii cent.; Besemerale, xiv cent.).
The overlordship continued with the descendants of
Hugh de Port, Clanville occurring in lists of the
St. John knights' fees as late as 1349. (fn. 38) In the 17th
century it was held of the king as of the manor of
Greenwich. (fn. 39) The intermediate lordship belonged to
Herbert Fitz Peter and his descendants. At the
beginning of the 13th century half a knight's fee in
Blissmore was held by the heirs of Robert le Markaunt
of Herbert Fitz Peter. (fn. 40) Henry le Markaunt, a
descendant of Robert le Markaunt, was the holder at
the beginning of the reign of Edward III. (fn. 41) He
apparently soon parted with the estate, for in 1346
Richard Crul (sic) and the Prior of Ogbourne were
stated to be holding the fourth part of a knight's fee
in Blissmore and Clanville, which had belonged to
Henry le Markaunt. (fn. 42) The same holding was in the
possession of John Crabbe and the Prior of Ogbourne
in 1428. (fn. 43) Blissmore Hall Acre is frequently mentioned in the disputes over Weyhill Fair in the 16th
and 17th centuries as the site in which part of the
fair was held. In the late 17th and early 18th
centuries the Kent family (fn. 44) (co. Wilts.) held Blissmore Hall, but by the early part of the 19th century,
when it was held by Henry Bosanquet, sheriff of
Southampton, (fn. 45) its name was changed to Clanville
Lodge (q.v. supra).
Weyhill Fair is one of the largest and most celebrated in England. Originally held on 28, 29 and
30 September, it was subsequently postponed until
8 October, its duration being lengthened to six days. (fn. 46)
For many years, however, it has been held on 10
October and the five days following. There is a
singular dearth of early records concerning it, and the
date of its foundation has not been discovered, though
there is a late and doubtful reference to a lost charter
of John (fn. 47) ; but Langland mentions it in Piers Plowman, coupling it with the great fair at Winchester.
More recently it has been celebrated in literature by
Mr. Thomas Hardy in The Mayor of Casterbridge. It
drew folk from all parts of the country, insomuch
that in 1665 it was deemed expedient to forbid its
being held for fear of spreading the plague. (fn. 48) Cobbett
visited the fair and described it in his Rural Rides
(published in 1822). He found a depressing state of
affairs. A few years earlier £300,000 would have
changed hands; at that time probably under £70,000,
though the rents of the sheep-sellers were, perhaps, as
high as ever. 'The countenances of the farmers were
descriptive of their ruinous state.' On another part
of the down, he visited the horse show, and 'saw
horses keeping pace in depression with the sheep.' In
the great days of the fair 140,000 sheep were sometimes sold in a day, (fn. 49) but conditions have altered
since then. In 1895 the total sales were reckoned
to have been between 17,000 and 20,000. (fn. 50)
In 1784 a 'sudden and terrible fire' broke out in
a booth called the 'White Hart,' and spreading to
neighbouring booths did damage to the extent of
£888 13s. 9d. (fn. 51)
It seems probable that the fair (though never
specifically named in the inquisitions post mortem)
was originally an appurtenance of the manor of
Ramridge and passed with it to Ewelme Hospital
(vide supra). This explains why Princess Elizabeth
was interested in the fair since Edward VI had
granted her for the term of her life the manor and
park of Ewelme, (fn. 52) which carried with it, according to the statutes drawn up by William de la Pole,
the patronage of the hospital. (fn. 53) Accordingly in
1554 Princess Elizabeth wrote to Cecil, her future
treasurer, to complain of the misdeeds of Thomas
Key, paymaster of 'myne almeshouse in Ewelme,'
who, among other iniquities, was endeavouring to
bring about the removal of Weyhill Fair to Andover,
to the great damage of the tenants of Weyhill. Key
and his accomplices were trying to effect this purpose
by Act of Parliament, and Elizabeth besought Cecil
to frustrate them. (fn. 54) In this the secretary was
evidently successful. Nothing is heard of the
removal to Andover for many years to come.
Nevertheless the question of the ownership of
the fair gave rise to disputes, owing to the
fact that it was held partly on the Ramridge
demesne land, partly on Blissmore Hall Acre (vide
supra) and partly on the glebe. Thus, when Elizabeth was on the throne, Alexander Bolton, the master
of the hospital, fighting his own battles this time,
went to law with Robert Noyes, tenant of Blissmore
Hall. This was the sequel to an earlier dispute between
John Spence, a former master, and Sir John Rogers,
a former tenant, which Sir William Paulet, the
treasurer of England, had decided in favour of the
almshouse. (fn. 55) Again, in 1672, W. Tayleur (fn. 56) lodged
a petition with the Lord Chancellor, stating that as
the rectors had ceased to reside by reason of the
ruinous condition of the rectory house, the tenants of
Ramridge were little by little drawing the trade of
the fair on to their own grounds by setting up stands
for tradesmen, pens for sheep and such like. (fn. 57)
In this year is heard the first note of a dispute
which was to result in a tedious and complicated
series of law-suits. Randall Saunderson, the rector
of Weyhill, writing in August to Williamson, the
clerk of the council, gives some interesting details.
As already stated, there were three persons who
benefited 'by breaking the ground at Weyhill Fair.'
First, there was the parson himself, who paid for the
privilege both in first-fruits and also yearly in tenths,
as Saunderson had learned at the Exchequer at the
time of his institution in 1649; secondly, the landlord of Blissmore Hall—at this time one Mr. Kent,
'an idiot or changeling'—and, thirdly, Mr. Drake,
who farmed Ramridge under Ewelme Hospital, as he
and his father had done for forty-five or forty-six years.
The writer goes on to state that Mr. Baker (presumably
a slip for Drake) claimed the profits of tollage, &c.,
under a charter of King John, which was alleged to
have been lost, and that these let for £30 a year.
This was an injustice both to the parsonage and to
Blissmore Hall, but another danger threatened which
made it necessary for Saunderson to join, for the
present, with Mr. Drake and 'afterwards play my
own game with the oppressor and extortioner of
Ramridge.' (fn. 58)
The trouble was that of late years the men of
Andover had been putting forward a claim based on
their charter of 1599 and endeavouring to move the
fair from its old ground. (fn. 59) In September 1672
a caveat was issued that no grant should pass for
holding a fair near Andover to the prejudice of
Weyhill nor for removing that at Weyhill nearer
Andover. (fn. 60) This, however, had little effect. At
the fair in the following year the men of the borough
made a disturbance, endeavouring to move it from the
hospital lands. The king was petitioned to intervene; and an order in council was issued in favour of
the ancient site. But even that failed to quiet the
men of Andover; and the master and poor men of
Ewelme with their tenant, William Drake, and
Constance his wife, accordingly brought an action at
law, which was decided in their favour 26 July
1674. (fn. 61) But this was not the end of the matter.
Lawsuits multiplied and became so costly that the
borough was constrained to borrow money with which
to carry them on. In November 1682 an order was
made that these loans should be repaid out of the
profits of the fair, if the same should be recovered. (fn. 62)
The hopeful tone of this order was induced by the
fact that the borough had recently surrendered its
charter and obtained a new one which empowered
the burgesses to hold a fair wherever they pleased on
Weyhill. (fn. 63) They at once removed it to Cholderton. (fn. 64)
The master of the hospital and his tenants, however, were prepared to fight the matter to the end,
and in 1684 obtained verdicts both at the assizes and
at the Exchequer from juries of Hampshire men. (fn. 65)
They also obtained an injunction in Chancery to
quiet their possession. (fn. 66) But in 1685, the Exchequer
verdict having been set aside on the ground that the
jury was prejudiced, a Middlesex jury found for the
borough. (fn. 67) The plaintiffs appealed, and the Lord
Chancellor ordered Sir Robert Sawyer, the attorneygeneral, to mediate. (fn. 68) Representatives of the contending parties met at Highclere, the attorneygeneral's Hampshire seat. What passed is told in
the following note:—
'Note yt on tewsday 10 Aug. 86, Mr. Attorney-Generall in
ye presence of severall members of Andever Corporacon, and of
Dr. Dixon, Rector of Wayhill, proposed an accomodacon an yt
Andever should be kynde to ye church, and should give him
for ye use of his glebe £20 per ann. duringe faire at Wayhill,
and remitt ye 3 last years profitts and hit part of ye costs, ye
Dr. craved tyme to consider of it till tewsday then next following,
at wch tyme he declared yt he would not assent thereto unlesse
Andever would give him £10 per ann. more.' (fn. 69)
In 1694, as the result of an action brought by the
town of Andover against Dr. Dixon, it was decreed
that the town should have that parcel of glebe-land
on which part of the fair was held to its absolute
use during fair time, paying the rector £35 yearly for
the same. (fn. 70) Dr. Dixon does not seem to have made
a good bargain, for, at the fair of 1683, 30,000
sheep standing on his glebe had brought him in
£65. (fn. 71) Meanwhile the profits of the fair accruing
to Mr. Drake, as tenant of Ramridge, had been assessed
at £177, which on 20 April 1687 the plaintiffs were
ordered to pay over to the defendants. (fn. 72) In the
following June, the money having been paid, the
Master of the Rolls ordered that the bill should be
absolutely dismissed. (fn. 73) This was not the end of the
matter. On a bill of review the lords commissioners,
on 22 November 1690, ordered a new trial between
the same parties at the King's Bench, before a Hampshire jury, who found for the plaintiffs, their verdict
being affirmed by the lords commissioners on 22
May following. On 22 September, however, the
defendants obtained an order from the commissioners,
enjoining the hospital from setting up pens, &c., on
their own land, otherwise than as the town should
appoint. Then, getting secret leases of the glebe and
of Blissmore Hall Acre, they set up the most profitable
part of the fair there. The hospital took the
matter to the House of Lords, who on 4 February
1692 reversed the decree of 22 September. (fn. 74) Henceforth the borough seems to have contented itself with
taking leases of the glebe and Blissmore Hall Acre. (fn. 75)
A court of pie-powder was held at the fair until
recent times. (fn. 76) The ceremony of 'horning the
colt' was practised there and was continued into the
19th century. (fn. 77)
Besides the great fair there is also one for sheep,
cows and pigs on the second Thursday in April and
a lamb fair on the last Friday in July.
Church
The church of ST. MICHAEL consists of a chancel 24 ft. 10 in. by
13 ft. 6 in., with a small modern vestry
to the north, nave 50 ft. 4 in. by 15 ft. 3 in., north
transept 18 ft. 8 in. by 14 ft. 7 in., south aisle
41 ft. 2 in. by 12 ft., and south porch, all inside
dimensions.
A great part of the building is modern. The
transept was built early in the 19th century, the
south aisle and porch in 1864–5, the nave has been
rebuilt except part of its north wall, with a new
wooden bell-turret, and the chancel was restored in
1880. The chancel arch probably dates from the
end of the 12th century, and the chancel itself is
of the 13th century, preserving its original north
windows and the inner jambs of one of those on the
south, together with the south doorway. The
chancel is not on the same axis as the nave, but set
to the north of it; its south wall is probably on the
line of that of the earlier chancel, but its north wall
is on the same line as that of the nave. The southeast quoins of the aisleless nave are partly visible
under the ivy, and look early, but too little of them
can be seen to settle the point. The east window of
the chancel is a modern one of three lancet lights,
but the inner jambs are old, and evidently belonged
to a single-light window. The two north windows
have internal rebates and chamfered rear arches, the
eastern window also has an old edge roll to its sill
inside. Of the pair on the south wall the western
is entirely modern, the other is modern outside.
The chancel arch has square jambs with small edge
chamfers stopped out above the floor; the abaci are
quirked and hollow chamfered, and the arch is semicircular with small chamfers stopped square over the
abaci.
A modern arch opens from the nave into the north
transept, and east of it is a small modern woodframed window to light the pulpit. Two modern
lancets light the nave on the north; the west
window of two lights is also modern.
An arcade of three bays with round pillars and
pointed arches divides the nave from the aisle. This
has single lancet windows in its east and west walls,
and on the south two lancets and a two-light window.
The south doorway is set between the second and
third windows, and, like the rest, is modern.
The transept has wood-framed single lights in its
side walls and a modern north window of two lights.
The vestry is entered from the north of the chancel
and has an outer east doorway; it is lighted by a
three-light window to the north.
The low-pitched roof is old, probably 16th-century work, the ties, purlins and principal rafters
being moulded. The bell-turret is a modern one of
oak with foliated and louvred openings to the bell
chamber; over it is a low four-sided spire covered
with oak shingles.
The altar table is modern; to the south of it
stands a small 18th-century table used as a credence.
The pulpit is a modern one of stone and stands in
the north-east corner of the nave. The font is
octagonal, quite plain, and whitewashed, with a very
shallow bowl: it has the marks of staples in its upper
edge, but otherwise shows no signs of antiquity.
The oldest monuments are two in the chancel of
18th-century date; a number of others are set in the
transept.
The turret contains a clock and four bells, only the
tenor of which is hung for ringing; it is by Mears
& Stainbank, 1907, as also is the third; the second
is ancient, inscribed in Lombardic capitals '+ SCS MICHAEL.' The treble is an old one recast in 1907,
its inscription is '+ SANCT MICHAE.'
In the east wall of the vestry is set an ancient stone,
apparently a coffin-lid, the lower half of which has a
cross of early form, with expanded ends to the arms,
set in a sunk panel; the cross stands on a pedestal
with a spreading foot. The upper part of the stone
has been defaced, and a generation or two ago, when
the stone stood in the south wall of the nave, the old
villagers used to point this out to their children and
bid them curse the memory of Cromwell, the presumed author of the disfigurement. It seems possible
that it contained a hand issuing from clouds as at
Romsey and Headbourne Worthy; the slab is probably not later than the beginning of the 11th
century. To the south of the church is the base
(now retooled) of a cross found in the churchyard by
the present rector in 1904; it has sloping sides, a
round mould at the bottom, and it is pierced right
through each way by pointed openings. In it has
been set a cross of orange red 'stone of unction,'
brought from Jerusalem in 1905.
The plate consists of a silver Elizabethan chalice, a
chalice and paten of 1722, given by Eliza widow of
John Kent of Devizes, a silver flagon of 1871, and an
alms plate of 1692 (?), given by Henry Bosanquet of
Clanville Lodge in 1815.
The first book of the registers contains mixed
entries from 1564 to 1780, the second has marriages
1754 to 1799, the third continues them to 1813,
and the fourth has baptisms and burials 1781 to 1813.
Advowson
The church of Weyhill, which is
mentioned in Domesday Book, (fn. 78) was
granted with the manor to the
Abbot of Grestein by William the Conqueror. (fn. 79)
Following the descent of the manor (fn. 80) it came, in the
middle of the 14th century, to Sir Thomas de la Pole.
When, however, William Earl of Suffolk endowed
Ewelme Hospital in 1442 he reserved the advowson, (fn. 81)
which, it is to be presumed, came into the hands of
the king on the attainder of Edmund Earl of Suffolk
in 1504. (fn. 82) In 1626 Charles I, at the suit of the
queen, granted this and other Hampshire advowsons
to Queen's College, Oxford, (fn. 83) the provost and fellows
of which foundation still present.
In the 13th century the fruits of this living were
equally divided between the rector and the Abbot of
Grestein, each portion being valued in 1291 at
£3 13s. 4d. (fn. 84) This accounts for the expression, 'Institution to a moiety of the church,' found in the
registers of Bishops Woodlock, Sendale and Asser. (fn. 85)
Part of Weyhill Fair is held on the glebe land, (fn. 86)
a circumstance which involved the rector, Thomas
Dixon, in the lawsuits with the town of Andover
recorded above. Dr. Dixon had been presented to
the living in 1682. The circumstances of his appointment were somewhat peculiar. 'To the amazement of everybody Mr. Crosthwaite has resigned
Weyhill. The Provost, upon his giving it up, desired
me to carry him to the tavern and to give him
as much wine as he could drink, that he might
say he was not himself when he did it. Several
other remarks have been made upon it both by him
and others, so that I am forced to take it to avoid
such imputations. The glebe, tithes and from £50
to £60 from the two days' fair held there, have
generally been let for about £215 a year.' (fn. 87)
There is a Primitive Methodist chapel at Weyhill.
The school at Weyhill was built in 1863 and enlarged in 1897 for eighty children. There is also a
school at Clanville for fifty children.
Charities
The poor of this parish receive £1
a year from John Read's Charity (see
under Penton Mewsey).
In 1759 Richard Taunton, by will, left £200, the
interest to be applied in the distribution of bread.
The legacy is represented by £212 5s. 9d. consols
with the official trustees, producing yearly £5 6s.,
which is duly distributed in bread.
The official trustees also hold £345 Midland Railway 2½ per cent. preference stock and £173 Great
Western Railway 5 per cent. rent charge stock in
trust for the charity of Henry Fowle-Smith Donalson,
producing a yearly income of £17 5s. 6d.