STOCKBRIDGE
Le Street (xii cent.); Stocbrug (xiii cent.); Stocbrigg (xiv cent.); Stokbrigge (xv cent.).
The parish of Stockbridge is north-east of King's
Somborne on the main road from Winchester to
Salisbury. It covers an area of 1,323 acres (fn. 1) of lowlying country which rises to a height of 500 ft. above
the sea-level on Stockbridge Down in the east of the
parish. As in the 12th century, the town consists of
one long wide street, and it is to this characteristic
that it owed its early name of The Street. This
street crosses the River Test at the junction of the
parishes of Stockbridge and Longstock by a bridge of
three arches rebuilt and widened in 1799, concerning
which a wit remarked that it is built so low that the
ducks have to bend their heads in passing under it.
Sir Thomas Gatehouse in his Survey of Hampshire
(1778) (fn. 2) quotes the following inscription which was
then on the bridge, but was probably removed in the
repairs of 1799: 'Say of your cheryte a pater noster
and an ave for the sowllys of John Gylinges otherwise
said Lokke and Richard Gatin and Margaret the
wyf of the aforesaid John and Richard, founders and
makers of the bridge, on whose sowllys God have
mercy.' The town is of little architectural interest,
but one house on the south side of the main street
is noteworthy for its door of six panels of linen pattern,
nine folds to each panel. Being in the main road to
the south-west Stockbridge has come into prominence
on more than one occasion. It was the scene of the
capture of Robert of Gloucester by William of Ypres
in 1141. (fn. 3) Edward I stayed here in August 1294, (fn. 4)
and James II on his way to Salisbury to meet the
forces of the Prince of Orange dined at the Swan Inn
in November 1688. (fn. 5) Warner in 1795 describes
Stockbridge as a 'noted thoroughfare with some good
inns . . . . but a declining place.' (fn. 6) It is now noted
only for the excellence of the fishing in the Test.
There is a local fishing club known as the Houghton
Fishing Club, the meetings of which are held at the
Grosvenor Hotel. The Stockbridge Races, discontinued since 1898, were held every June on Danebury
Hill, about three miles north-west of the town.
Stockbridge from the North-west
South of the town between the railway and the
Marshcourt River, a tributary of the Test, is Common
Marsh, probably marking the site of the manor or
farm of Marsh Court in Stockbridge which in the
reign of Elizabeth was in the possession of the
Skilling family. (fn. 7)
Stockbridge has a station on the Andover and
Redbridge branch of the London and South Western
Railway. There are 662 acres of arable land, 441¾
acres of permanent grass and 5¼ acres of woods and
plantations in the parish. (fn. 8)
The following place-names occur: Grovemede
(xv cent.) (fn. 9) ; Horemede, Misleden, Kingsmede,
Kings Acre, Le Plash (xvi cent.) (fn. 10) ; three cottages
called the Lady Houses (xvi cent.) (fn. 11) ; and an inn
called The Angell (xvii cent.). (fn. 12)
Borough
Stockbridge is a mesne borough, its
descent being identical with that of
the manor of Stockbridge (q.v. infra).
It owed its early importance to a grant by Richard I
to William Briwere of a weekly market in 'The
Street' parcel of King's Somborne Manor. (fn. 13) King
John confirmed this grant in 1200, (fn. 14) and twenty-one
years later King Henry III granted William Briwere
the younger the privilege of holding a fair on the feast
of the apostles Peter and Paul and the days before
and after in his manor of Stockbridge. (fn. 15) The
inhabitants apparently never obtained a charter of
incorporation. They elected the bailiff and other
municipal officers at the court leet of the manor (fn. 16) and
by prescriptive right received the profits of courts,
tolls,&c., accounting only for the rents of assize to the
lord of the manor. (fn. 17) The town seems to have
increased in importance until the middle of the 15th
century, but suddenly, for some unknown reason—probably from visitations of the plague—the place
became almost deserted and the poverty of the
remaining inhabitants was so great that the market
which had been confirmed to the town by Henry V
and Henry VI was discontinued. (fn. 18) However, in the
reign of Henry VII the bailiff, tenants and inhabitants of Stockbridge complained that a certain William
Middleton, probably as lessee of the borough under
the Crown, had several times vexed them by taking
by force goods to the value of 10 marks from one
Henry Glover, a felon, also '2 hoole brode clothes'
which were stolen and brought to Stockbridge, also a
horse and two oxen in the same way, and the goods of
John Nupert, clerk, curate of Stockbridge and a
felon. (fn. 19) The result of the suit is not given, but it is
probable that the inhabitants were successful and that
the condition of the borough was improving, since the
inhabitants were strong enough to make so decided a
stand for their rights. In the reign of Edward VI
there were fifty-eight burgages in Stockbridge, (fn. 20) and
the later prosperity of the town can be judged from the
fact that Queen Elizabeth granted the burgesses the
right of sending two members to Parliament in
1562–3, (fn. 21) while thirty years later she regranted to
them their weekly market. (fn. 22) Elections at Stockbridge
were notoriously corrupt, and a private Bill for the
disfranchisement of the borough was introduced in
1693, but was negatived at the third reading. (fn. 23) In
1713 a certain Richard Steele was elected one of the
representatives, but a year later, being charged with
bribery and the writing of seditious pamphlets, he was
expelled from the House. (fn. 24) Finally the borough was
disfranchised by the Reform Act of 1832, (fn. 25) and the
court leet, which existed solely for the purpose of
electing a bailiff to act as returning officer of the
parliamentary borough, was discontinued. (fn. 26)
The market, confirmed to Stockbridge by Charles I
in 1641, fell into disuse during the latter half of the
19th century. (fn. 27) Three fairs existed into the middle
of the 19th century—on 10 July, Holy Thursday
and the last Thursday in October. Only one
survives, that for sheep and lambs held on 10 July.
Manor
STOCKBRIDGE was probably included in the royal manor of King's
Somborne at the time of the Domesday
Survey, (fn. 28) for it was afterwards called a member of
the same. (fn. 29) Thus it was included in the grant of
King's Somborne to William Briwere in the reign of
Richard I, (fn. 30) and followed the descent of that manor
(q.v.) (fn. 31) until 1399, when Henry of Lancaster became
King of England, and the two manors merged in the
Crown possessions.
In 1402 the king granted Stockbridge to John
Perient for life. (fn. 32) The rents of assize were leased in
1689, 1705 and 1735 successively to Thomas Neale,
Robert Price and Uvedale Price. (fn. 33) The king was
still lord of the manor in 1778, when the rents of
assize, amounting to £5 10s. 11d., were payable to the
lessee of the manor. (fn. 34) It passed subsequently to Joseph
Foster Barham, for many years member for Stockbridge, (fn. 35) who held it in 1830 (fn. 36) and died in 1832. (fn. 37)
He was followed by his son John Foster Barham, (fn. 38)
whose widow was holding the manor in conjunction
with her second husband, George Earl of Clarendon, (fn. 39)
in 1839. (fn. 40) Before 1867 the manor had passed by
purchase to George Gammie Maitland, (fn. 41) who soon
afterwards sold it to Charles Warner of Northlands,
Winchester. (fn. 42) From the latter it was purchased by
Francis Hardinge, the owner in 1880. (fn. 43) The present
lord of the manor is Mr. R. P. Attenborough, who
bought the estate in 1902 from Mr. Hicks Withers
Lancashire. (fn. 44)
William Briwere the younger granted the mill of
Stockbridge with its appurtenances and 40 acres of land
in the same vill to the Prior and convent of Mottisfont, (fn. 45) who about the same time acquired a messuage
in Stockbridge and 11 acres of meadow in the marsh
of Stockbridge which Ralph de Bray had of the gift
of William, and a burgage in Stockbridge formerly
belonging to Adam le Taillur. (fn. 46) They obtained other
small grants of land there at various times, (fn. 47) and in
1291 their property in Stockbridge and Longstock was
assessed at £5 6s. 8d. (fn. 48) This land was at the Dissolution granted in 1536 under the name of Stockbridge
Manor to William Lord Sandys, (fn. 49) and from this date
followed the descent of Longstock Harrington (q.v.), (fn. 50)
until as late at least as 1786. The further descent of
this estate is unknown, but the land represented by
it is probably in the possession of the Attwood family,
who own a considerable area in the parish.
Briwere's descendant, Patrick de Chaworth, erected
another mill at Stockbridge to the damage of one
William Fowell, a burgess of Stockbridge, who, however, in 1259 released his claim for damage to the
heirs of Patrick. (fn. 51) In 1548 William Thorpe, lord of
Leckford Abbotts, died seised of a water-mill in Stockbridge. (fn. 52)
Churches
The church of ST. PETER consists
of a chancel with north vestry and
organ chamber formed by a prolongation of the north aisle, a nave of three bays
with north and south aisles and north and south
transepts, and a south-west tower, surmounted by a
shingled spire, the lower part of which forms an
entrance porch. The church is entirely modern,
but a number of windows from the old church have
been restored and incorporated in the new structure.
These include two of late 12th-century date. One
of these, serving as the west window of the north
aisle, is of two lancet lights with a circular light over
and an external label with grotesque animal drips.
The second, the east window of the south transept, is
somewhat similar but of more advanced design. In
the splay, on either side, are two trefoiled image
niches. The east window of the vestry is also an old
one, and is of three trefoiled lights with net tracery of
mid-14-th-century date. In the north aisle are also
three late 14th-century windows, one of three, the
others of two trefoiled lights, with cusped spandrel
lights and square heads, and there is one similar
window in the south aisle.
The roofs, seating and fittings are all modern
except the font, which is of Purbeck marble and a
good deal defaced. It has a square bowl with
remains of an arcade, in low relief, of round arches.
The stem is round and rather short and the base
square, both being quite plain.
Preserved in the church is a small stone gable
cross on which is carved a rood of 15th-century date,
the figure being rather crudely worked in low relief.
Inserted in the vestry walls are also a number of
small corbel heads of 15th-century date.
The tower contains six bells. The treble, second
and fourth are modern or recast. The third, fifth
and sixth were cast by Samuel Knight of Reading in
1691.
The plate consists of a silver-gilt chalice and two
patens of 1697, given by George Pitt of Stratfieldsaye
and Thomas Jervoise of Herriard, a pair of silver
chalices of 1805 and 1813 and a silver flagon of
1879.
The registers are in four books, the first containing
baptisms and burials from 1663 to 1768 and marriages from 1663 to 1754; the second, a transcript
of the first, containing baptisms and burials from
1698 to 1812 and marriages from 1698 to 1754;
the third containing marriages from 1754 to 1794,
and the fourth those from 1794 to 1811.
Only the chancel of the old church remains,
now occasionally used as a mortuary chapel. It is
24 ft. 8 in. long and 15 ft. 6 in. wide, and is of
early 13th or possibly late 12th-century date. A
south chapel appears to have been added early in the
13 th century, and a new chancel arch inserted in the
latter part of the same century. The only window
remaining is to the east, a late one of two trefoiled
lights under a square head set in the blocking of an
earlier pointed one. In the north wall are two
blocked pointed windows possibly of 14th-century
date. On the north is a small pointed niche, and
just below it a very small piscina with a broken
basin. West of this is a blocked-up opening of uncertain date with a rounded head on one side and a
wooden lintel externally; it is rather low, does not
reach to the ground, and was apparently a squint
from the south chapel. In the western half of the
south wall is a blocked arch of early 13th-century
date of two-centred form and two chamfered orders
with plain hollow-chamfered abaci finished with a
bead. The chancel arch is also two-centred and of
two chamfered orders. The capitals are simply
moulded and undercut, the returns being stopped by
a beautifully carved grotesque beast which holds in
its mouth the end of the astragal. A portion of a
moulded base also remains. Inserted in the blocking
of the arch is an early 15th-century door moulded
with two double ogees separated by a hollow.
The roof is ceiled to the collars in plaster and is
of late date, and no seating remains. The old communion rails are in position. They are of 17th-century date and of flat baluster form and are returned
to form a square inclosure. A 17th-century table
also remains. On the front and back is inscribed,
'Iohn Hammen 1696 ' and on the ends 'R. R. 1696.'
A painted achievement of the royal arms also remains bearing the initials G. R., and the date, 1726.
In the churchyard is a tombstone to a local
worthy, John Bucket, sometime landlord of the
King's Head Tavern, who died in 1804, with the
following ingenious verse:—
And is alas poor Bucket gone?
Fare-well, convivial honest John.
Oft at the well by fatal stroke
Buckets, like pitchers, must be broke.
In this fame motley Shifting scene
How various have thy fortunes been,
Now lifted high, now sinking low,
To-day thy brim would overflow;
Thy bounty then would all supply,
To fill& drink& leave the dry;
To-morrow sunk, as in a well,
Content, unseen with truth to dwell;
But high or low or wet or dry
No rotten stave could malice spy,
Then rise, imortal Bucket, rise
And claim thy station in the skies.
Twixt Amphora and Pisces shine
Still guarding Stockbridge with thy sign.
Advowson
Stockbridge was a chapelry dependent on the parish church of
King's Somborne until about 1848,
when it was constituted a separate benefice as a perpetual curacy. (fn. 53) The living is now a rectory in the
gift of Mrs. Vaudrey Barker-Mill.
One Richard Fromond had licence between 1323
and 1333 to hear divine service in his oratory at
Stockbridge. (fn. 54)
There is a Congregational chapel at Stockbridge,
built in 1817, and there are also Primitive Methodist
and Baptist chapels.
Charities
Church Lands.—The land formerly constituting endowment has
been sold and the proceeds invested
in £586 17s. 6d. consols. The dividends, amounting
to £14 13s. 4d. a year, were distributed in bread
among 40 poor persons.
Oliver Oliver by will, proved in 1873, bequeathed
£100 consols, the dividends to be applied by the
rector and churchwardens in the distribution of bread
on St. Thomas's Day.
The Independent Chapel.—Miss Rebecca Welman,
by will proved in 1842, bequeathed £1,058 2s. 9d.
India 3½ Per Cent. Stock, the dividends amounting to
£37 1s. to be paid to the minister of the chapel
scheme (as to trustees) 19 January 1883. The
several sums of stock are held by the official
trustees.