BRAMSHAW
Bremmessage (xi cent.); Brymbelshawe, Bremsaghe, Bremelshawe (xiii cent.).
Before 1895 part of the parish of Bramshaw was
situated in Wiltshire, but in that year this portion
was transferred to Hampshire and made a new civil
parish called Bramshaw East. (fn. 1) Bramshaw contains
3,497 acres of land, of which 5 are covered with
water, and Bramshaw East 1,578 acres. (fn. 2)
Bramshaw is thickly wooded, there being 336 acres
of woods and plantations in the parish, (fn. 3) including
Bramshaw Wood in the north, which is said to
have provided the timber for the roof of Salisbury
Cathedral. (fn. 4)
The land rises from east to west, the height
varying from 421 ft. above the ordnance datum in
Bramblehill Walk in the north-west of the parish to
114 ft. near Brook in the south-east. From Bramblehill Lodge, in the north of the parish, one of the
finest views in the forest can be obtained. A vast
area of woodland stretches to the English Channel,
broken only by Malwood Ridge over Minstead
Valley, while the hills of the Isle of Wight can be
seen in the distance.
The church stands on high ground in the north of
the parish and until the Act of 1895 it had the
curious distinction of having its nave in Wiltshire
and its chancel in Hampshire. Most of the inhabitants of Bramshaw are engaged in agriculture.
There are 84 acres of arable land and 446 acres of
pasture land. (fn. 5) The soil is of a mixed character;
the surface is clay and sand and the subsoil clay.
Fritham is a hamlet partly in Ashley Walk and
partly in Bramshaw. It has a school and chapel
opened in 1861, the latter being served by the vicar
of Bramshaw. In East Fritham Plain there are three
barrows locally called butts, the central one being
known as Reachmore. In West Fritham are the
Schultze Gunpowder Works, covering several acres
of ground. Brook is a hamlet in the south of the
parish, Furzley is a hamlet in Bramshaw East.
Manors
Two entries occur in Wiltshire
Domesday relating to Bramshaw. One
records that Ulnod held land in Bramshaw worth 10s. assessed at half a hide, which his
father had held before him (fn. 6) ; the second that a
certain Edmund held half a virgate worth 30d. (fn. 7)
Odo of Bayeux was overlord of these lands in
Bramshaw at the time of the Survey. In the late
14th century they were said to be held of the fee of
the Earl of Warwick, (fn. 8) and in the next century of the
West family, (fn. 9) but no connected descent can be traced.
The larger of the two holdings in Bramshaw mentioned in Domesday Book (fn. 10) may probably be identified
with the manor of Bramshaw, which, together with
that of Britford (co. Wilts.), with which it was for some
centuries associated, appears to have been granted by
one of the Norman kings to the family of De Lacy
sometime during the 12th century. The evidence
in support of such a grant lies in the fact that Parnel
the widow of Ralph de Toni, to whom her father
Walter de Lacy had granted Britford as a marriage
portion in the reign of Henry III, (fn. 11) was seised of
lands in Bramshaw which she granted to William
Pincerna, her servant. (fn. 12) Margaret daughter of
Parnel married Thomas de St. Omer, and the latter
was holding the manor of Bramshaw certainly as
early as 1284, (fn. 13) and was still in possession in 1316. (fn. 14)
He left by his second wife Alice a son William, who
succeeded his father before 1341. (fn. 15) He was followed
by a son Sir Thomas, who died in 1365. The latter
by his second wife Margaret left a daughter Elizabeth,
who married as her second and third husbands
respectively Richard Horn and John Siward, each
of whom held the manor in succession in right of his
wife. (fn. 16) John Siward predeceased Elizabeth, (fn. 17) who
lived until 1405. (fn. 18) By her second husband, Richard
Horn, she had a daughter Joan, who had married (1)
John Siward, son of her mother's third husband, and
(2) Robert atte More. On the death of her mother
the manor passed to Joan and Robert (fn. 19) in accordance
with a previous settlement. (fn. 20) Since there was no
issue of this marriage, Joan, who survived her
husband, conveyed the property at Bramshaw in 1436
to trustees, by whom it
was subsequently sold to
Robert Lord Hungerford
and Margaret his wife. (fn. 21)
The former died in 1459.
His son and successor Robert
was attainted in 1461 as a
partisan of the Lancastrian
cause and was beheaded (fn. 22)
after the battle of Hexham.
Margaret his mother was
allowed a life interest in the
estate, but at her death in
1477–8 the manor passed by
virtue of a royal grant made
in 1474 (fn. 23) to Richard Duke of Gloucester, afterwards
Richard III, who on his accession in 1483 granted
it to John Howard Duke of Norfolk. (fn. 24) When the
latter was slain at Bosworth Field two years later the
manor came into the hands of the Crown. In 1485
Henry VII, having reversed the attainder of Robert
Lord Hungerford, granted the manor to Mary
granddaughter of the latter and wife of Sir Edward
Hastings in consideration of the sufferings both
families had undergone during the Civil War. (fn. 25) It
apparently passed from her to her son George Lord
Hastings, created Earl of Huntingdon in 1529, whose
grandson, Henry third Earl of Huntingdon, sold the
manor of Bramshaw (which from this time seems to
have been also known by the alternative name of
MOORE CLOSES) in 1561 to Thomas Dowse, (fn. 26)
who held it till his death in 1601, (fn. 27) leaving as heir a
son Francis who had married Elizabeth daughter of
Sir Hampden Paulet. In 1646 Thomas second son
of Francis sold the manor to George Cony, (fn. 28) and
he in turn appears to have sold it to Jonathan Rivil,
who was holding in 1670. (fn. 29) Rivil is said to hold the
manor together with eight ancient messuages, four
ancient cottages and 180 acres of land parcel of the
said manor without the metes and bounds of the forest.
It next passed, probably by purchase, to Hugh
Blynman, who gave the manor the alternative name
of Blynman's Inclosures (fn. 30) and in 1688 transferred it
by fine to William. Nichols. (fn. 31) In 1700 it was acquired
by Henry Goddard of Birchenwood, (fn. 32) who left the
whole of his property by will to Daniel Goddard
subject to the payment of legacies amounting to
£9,000. In 1713 the latter arranged to transfer the
whole of the estates subject to this condition to
Richard Paulet of Gray's Inn, who in return was
to secure to him the possession of Birchenwood.
The net gain of this transaction to Richard appears
to have been the manors of Bramshaw and Canterton. (fn. 33)
Bramshaw remained in the Paulet family until 1887,
when it was purchased by Mr. George Edward
Briscoe Eyre, J.P., the present owner. (fn. 34)
Hungerford. Sable two bars argent with three roundels argent in the chief.
The estate of WARRENS in this parish probably
takes its name from the family of Warren who held
property here as early as the beginning of the 17th
century. (fn. 35) Simon Warren of Bramshaw in 1639 left
all his estates in Bramshaw to his grandson Edmund
Warren, who in 1670 asserted his claim before the
justice seat held at Lyndhurst to one messuage and
24 acres of land in Bramshaw, parcel of the manor of
Moore Closes. (fn. 36) Edmund Warren, probably son of
the latter, who inherited the estate, left it subject to a
life interest on his wife to his cousin William Warren,
whose son succeeded and in
1746 sold it to Samuel Young
of Morecroft, near Romsey.
The property passed in 1756
to his son William Young,
who sold it in 1789 to
Samuel Orr. From him it
was purchased in 1798 by
Mr. George Eyre, (fn. 37) who
added to the property and
built the large mansion which
is the present seat of his
grandson Mr. George Edward
Briscoe Eyre.
Eyre of Warrens. Argent a chrveron sable with three quatrefoils or thereon and a star or in the chief.
A capital messuage called
BIRCHENWOOD or
BURCHENWOOD HOUSE in Bramshaw was sold
for 1,000 marks in 1588 by Thomas Dowse, lord of
the manor of Bramshaw, to Thomas Goddard of
Southampton. (fn. 38) It continued in this family for
several generations and was left at the beginning of
the 18th century by Daniel Goddard to Elizabeth his
daughter and heir, who had married Aaron Knight
of Bramshaw. It passed from them to their son and
heir Mylan, who in 1767 sold the estate to James
Hibberd of Bishopstone (co. Wilts.). (fn. 39) By his will
he left the estate to his great-nephew James Hibberd
in tail-male, with contingent remainder in tail-male
to John and William brothers of James, but owing to
the failure of their issue the estate eventually devolved
in 1787 upon his sister Rachel Brewer and his
nephew James Turner, as co-heirs. Birchenwood fell
by arrangement to the share of James, (fn. 40) after whose
death it was sold to Mr. George Eyre of Warrens,
whose grandson Mr. G. E. Briscoe Eyre is the
present owner.
Birchenwood was termed a manor in the late 18th
century, and Mr. George Eyre, the grandfather of the
present owner, used to be called 'the laird of Birchenwood.' It had about seven tenants and was reputed
to be one of the smallest and most interesting
' manors' in the locality on that account. (fn. 41)
There are five entries in the Domesday Survey
relating to FRITHAM (Trucham, xi cent.). One
records that Hugh de St. Quintin was holding 1
hide under Hugh de Port, which had been held by
Wislac before the Conquest and was then worth
30s. (fn. 42) ; a second holding was that of 2½ hides which
Walkelin, Bishop of Winchester, had held as part of
the endowment of the cathedral church. (fn. 43) Alvric the
Little had held 1 hide and 2 virgates in parage worth
£4 (fn. 44) ; a certain Hunter I hide worth 30s. (fn. 45) ; while
Earl Roger of Shrewsbury had held two manors at
Fritham assessed at 2½ hides and worth 60s. (fn. 46) The
whole of this land had been taken into the forest
before 1086 with the exception of 1 acre held by
Hugh de St. Quintin.
The first mention of Fritham after the Survey is
early in the reign of Henry III, when Geoffrey de
Baddesley was stated to be holding half a carucate of
land and his bailiwick in Baddesley and Fritham by a
rent of 60s. (fn. 47) From this date Fritham followed the
descent of South Baddesley in the parish of Boldre
(q.v.) until 1429, (fn. 48) after which its descent has not
been ascertained.
Church
The church of ST. PETER consists
of a chancel 21 ft. 3 in. by 14 ft. with
a small north vestry, a nave 39 ft. 3 in.
by 16 ft., a north transept 12 ft. 6 in. square, a south
transept 21ft. 2 in. by 16 ft. 8 in., and a tower at
the south end of the south transept 10 ft. by 8 ft.
The earliest part of the church is the west end of
the nave, which is of mid-13th-century date, but
from the west of the transepts eastwards the whole
has been rebuilt, the transepts and tower belonging
to the early part of the 19th century and the chancel
and vestry being modern. There are large galleries
with curved fronts at the west end of the nave in the
south transept, the former dated 1828.
The east window of the chancel is a triple lancet,
and there are single lancets to north and south.
At the north-west is a small door to the vestry
continuously roll-moulded. The head is modern but
the jambs are of late 13th-century date. The
chancel arch is modern, pf 14th-century design.
On the north of the nave to the east is the opening to the north transept with a plain chamfered
arch. Above and a little to the east of this is a
small modern lancet as a pulpit light. The opening
to the south transept is without an arch, and west of
it is the blocked south door of the nave of mid13 th-century date with heavy roll mouldings in the
arch carried down as shafts with small circular capitals.
West again of this is a 16th-century window of two
uncusped lights. There is also a modern external
door to the gallery staircase. This wall has also been
much repaired, refaced brickwork being used in
bands in the flint rubble. The west window is of
mid-13th-century date, and consists of three grouped
lancets with heavy hollow-chamfered mullions, a
moulded rear arch and internal undercut label with
human heads at the springing. Above it is a modern
trefoiled opening.
The north transept is built of brick, and has a
modern stone window of three grouped lancet lights.
The south transept is also of brick, and is lit by three
three-light wooden-framed windows. The tower,
of the same date and material, serves as an entrance
porch, and also contains a staircase to the north
transept gallery. It is surmounted by a square
weather-boarded timber bell-chamber with louvred
sound holes.
The roofs of the chancel and transepts are modern,
but that of the nave is of early 15th-century date
much restored. The moulded wall plate remains and
also moulded and cambered tie-beams. The circular
bowl of the font is old but so scraped as to be undatable.
The tower contains two bells. The treble is of
13th-century date, very long and tapered, and has a
square lip. The second bears no marks, but is probably of late 18th-century date.
The plate consists of a plain silver chalice dated
1669 and a copy of the chalice together with a paten
and flagon given in 1840 by Mr. G. E. Eyre of Warren.
The registers are as follows: (1) has all entries
1597 to 1703 somewhat mutilated; (2) the same
1703 to 1784 incomplete; (3) baptisms and burials
1754 to 1804; (4) marriages 1774 to 1812 and
(5) baptisms and burials 1804 to 1812.
Advowson
The church of Bramshaw belonged
at an early date to the Premonstratensian priory of Britford. (fn. 49) In
1158, however, Henry II granted the church, from
which the monks had been expelled by Bishop
Jocelin, to the cathedral of Salisbury, when it was
appropriated to the resident canons. (fn. 50) From that
date the patronage has been in the hands of the Dean
and chapter of Salisbury, who claimed forest privileges
for themselves and their tenants as holders of the
rectory of Bramshaw. (fn. 51) In a survey of the parsonage
or chapel made in 1649 it appeared that the lessees
of the parsonage were bound to provide 'a sufficient
curate and minister of honest and good reputation to
serve the cure,' who was to be paid £8 yearly and
be provided with a house and grounds. He was
entitled to tithe eggs, to all fees and to the Easter
offerings. (fn. 52) The rectorial tithes were sold at the end
of the 18 th century under Pitt's Act for the redemption
of land tax (fn. 53) to Mr. Samuel Orr, on whose death they
were purchased by Mr. George Eyre, whose grandson,
Mr. G. E. Briscoe Eyre, is the present lay rector. (fn. 54)
Bramshaw was a peculiar of the archdeaconry of
Salisbury until that archdeaconry was abolished in
1847. (fn. 55)
There are no endowed charities in Bramshaw.