MINSTEAD
Mintestede (xi cent.); Menestede (xv cent.).
The parish of Minstead, including Canterton,
London Minstead and Alum Green (formerly extraparochial), contains 13 acres of land covered with
water and 10,321 acres of land, of which 399 acres
are arable, 1,263 are permanent grass and 2,832
woodland (fn. 1) exclusive of the New Forest.
In the small village in the north-east of the parish
are the rectory, the village smithy and the inn with its
sign, a copy of 'The Trusty Servant' of Winchester
College. West of the village are the parish church
and the village school. The rest of the village is
composed of scattered deep-roofed and thatched
cottages. Three streams known as the Fleet Water
and the Bartley Water flow through the parish in a
south-easterly direction. In Canterton Glen,
upwards of a mile from Minstead, is Rufus Stone,
marling the site of the oak tree from which the
arrow which proved fatal to William Rufus is said to
have glanced. Near this glen is Stony Cross, one of
the highest parts of the forest, from which Romsey
Abbey may be seen.
The soil is loam. The subsoil to the south of
Stony Cross is of Barton clay and to the north of
Bracklesham beds. The tops of the hills are gravel
and are from secondary deposits.
The manor-house is a fine old brick building in
a park of 400 acres, of which 200 acres are planted
with rhododendrons. Sir John Compton made this
his residence at the end of the 18th century and very
much enlarged the house. Castle Malwood, rebuilt
by Mr. Charles Hill in 1892, is now the property
and residence of Mr. Hanbury. At Castle Malwood
Lodge, now called 'Malwood,' the residence of Lady
Harcourt, is one of those fortified earthworks of which
so many exist in this part of Hampshire. Blackwater
House is the seat of Mr. Francis Compton, M.A.,
D.C.L., D.L., J.P., and Canterton Manor of Mr.
John Jeffreys, J.P. The ruined manor-house of
Canterton, reputed to have been mostly burnt down
some centuries ago, is in the occupation of the gamekeeper of Mr. John Jeffreys. (fn. 2)
Manors
Before the Conquest MINSTEAD,
assessed at 3½ hides, was held by a
certain Godric Malf, whose sons in 1086
were holding half a hide; the remaining 3 hides
had been taken into the New Forest. A house in
Winchester worth 12d. yearly was attached to the
manor. (fn. 3)
By deduction from facts, stated below, it is shown
probable that the name 'Ivez' or 'Ives' (fn. 4) was used
alternately for that of Minstead in the 12th and
early 13th centuries, and yet was also the name of a
fee held by a special serjeanty by the descendants of
the sons of Godric Malf, including lands in Minstead, Bisterne (in Ringwood) and Totton. These
three manors were rom the first closely associated.
They were held by Godric Malf before the Conquest, by his sons in 1086, and followed the same
descent in later years, so it is reasonable to suppose
they were also associated in the 12 th century. Yet
Minstead under that name does not appear from the
11th to the 13th century. However, in 1186–7
tallage was due to the king from 'Ivez, Budesthorn
(Bisterne) and Todinton (Totton)' which had belonged to Hugh de Ivez and Robert son of Ulf. (fn. 5) At
a later date (1189–90) the sheriff was accounting for
Robert's portion only, (fn. 6) and two years later the
tallage for that portion was rendered by the men of
Bisterne and Totton. (fn. 7) The portion of Hugh de
Ivez had undoubtedly by that time passed to his heir,
and that heir was probably the Andrew de Ivez who
at the time of the Testa de Nevill was holding I
virgate of land in Totton, (fn. 8) and was probably identical with the Andrew de Minstead who was about
this time, according to an undated charter, granting
out adjoining lands to Guy
de Testwood. (fn. 9) At the time
of the Testa de Nevill Reginald
de Bettesthorne, who also
evidently held the portion in
Totton that had belonged to
Robert son of Ulf, (fn. 10) and
Maud de Ivez were holding
jointly in Ivez a carucate of
land for the service of one
man armed with a halberd for
forty days in England and for
finding the king whenever he
should stay at Ivez straw for
the couch and fodder for his
horse. (fn. 11) Maud de Ivez, probably widow of Hugh (fn. 12) and mother of Andrew, was probably holding her moiety in dower, but she evidently
died before 1248–9, in which year Andrew de Ivez
or Minstead (as he is alternately called) was said to
hold jointly with John de Bettesthorne, then a minor,
son and heir of Reginald and Maud, half a hide in
Testwood, Eling and Bisterne by serjeanty. (fn. 13) This
land was described on the death of Andrew the same
year as land and a mill in 'Ives' held for half the
above serjeanty. (fn. 14) His son and heir William,
already thirty years old, succeeded to this property (fn. 15) ;
the other half remained with John de Bettesthorne
son of Reginald and Maud. Thus in 1255–6 John
de Bettesthorne and William de Ivez were said to be
holding their land conjointly by the above serjeanty, (fn. 16)
while in 1279–80 they were given as John de Bettesthorne and William de Minstead. (fn. 17) Moreover, at
these same dates William as William de Minstead
was granting out neighbouring lands in Totton and
Testwood (q.v.).
Bettesthorne. Argent a saltire gules with five stars or thereon.
After this time the name of 'Ivez' disappears,
but the Minsteads and the Bettesthornes were
holding side by side in Minstead and Totton
their respective halves of the fee. Thus in 1272
settlement was made on John de Bettesthorne (fn. 18) and
Margaret his wife of one messuage, 1,050 acres of
land, 1,000 acres of wood, 3s. 5d. rent in Minstead,
the advowson of Minstead Church and land and
rent in Totton, &c., representing the Bettesthorne
moiety. (fn. 19) In 1316 Walter de Bettesthorne, presumably son of John and Margaret, was holding
Minstead conjointly with Juliane widow of William
de Rivers, who represented the Minstead interest, (fn. 20)
and was probably widow of John de Minstead (fn. 21) (who
seems to have been a son of William) before her
marriage to William de Rivers. She was, it seems,
succeeded by a Thomas de Minstead, possibly her
son by her first husband. Thomas died in 1361,
leaving two infant daughters and heirs, Isabel aged
three and Christina aged one and a half years. (fn. 22) In
the meantime the Bettesthorne moiety of Minstead
had passed from Walter to Richard, presumably his
son, who also died in 1361, leaving as his heirs two
daughters, Joan and Margaret, and one grandson,
John Bradeway son of his daughter Agnes. (fn. 23) The
Bettesthorne moiety was thus divided into thirds.
In 1361–2 Joan and Margaret were said to be
holding their share of the messuage and lands in
Minstead for the serjeanty above described conjointly
with the heirs of Thomas de Minstead. (fn. 24) A year
later (1363) they settled their two-thirds on themselves for life with reversion to John de Bettesthorne (fn. 25)
son of Roger de Bettesthorne and lord of Bisterne
(q.v.). This John is said to have died in 1380, (fn. 26)
and to have been succeeded by a son John who died
in 1399 (fn. 27) holding the two-thirds of the Bettesthorne
moiety of Minstead jointly with the heirs of Thomas
de Minstead. The third which John Bradeway held
was at his death in 1396–7 also said to be held
jointly with the heirs of Thomas. (fn. 28) However,
Elizabeth wife of John Berkeley (fn. 29) acquired the twothirds by inheritance from her father John de Bettesthorne, (fn. 30) and her son and heir Maurice Berkeley
acquired not only the Bradeway third, (fn. 31) but also the
Minstead moiety, since he died in 1460 (fn. 32) seised of
the whole manor, leaving a son and heir also Maurice
known as Maurice Berkeley of Bisterne. The latter
at his death in 1474 (fn. 33) left a son William, who was
concerned in the rebellion of the Duke of Buckingham against Richard III and was attainted in the
first Parliament of that reign. (fn. 34) His estates were
apparently forfeited and Minstead was granted in the
following year to John Hoton 'for his good service
against the rebels,' to hold by a rent of £5 yearly. (fn. 35)
He could, however, have held the manor for a short
period only, as in 1489 Katherine formerly wife of
William Berkeley, now married to Sir Henry Grey
of Codnor, brought a suit against Katherine sister and
heir of William and John Brewerton her husband
for one-third of the manor of Minstead as her
dower. (fn. 36) The result appears to have been in
favour of the latter, as in 1494 she died seised
of the manor. (fn. 37) She left as
her heir a daughter Werburg,
aged six years, who married
first Sir Francis Cheyney and
afterwards Sir William Compton of Compton Wynyates (co.
Warw.), Groom of the Bedchamber and favourite courtier
of Henry VIII, who was
knighted after the battle of
the Spurs for his valiant conduct. (fn. 38) Werburg predeceased
her husband three years (fn. 39) and
he then held the manor till his
death in 1528. (fn. 40) He left as heir
a son Peter, aged six years, (fn. 41) whose wardship was granted
by the king first to Cardinal Wolsey (fn. 42) and after his disgrace to George Earl of Shrewsbury, who married him
in 1537 to his daughter Anne. (fn. 43) Peter died in 1544,
leaving a posthumous son Henry, (fn. 44) who was created
Lord Compton in 1572. He was among the peers
who tried Mary Queen of Scots and at her funeral
is described as one 'of the four principal assistants
to her corpse.' (fn. 45) He died in 1589 (fn. 46) and was
succeeded in his Hampshire estates by his youngest
son Henry. In 1649 Richard son of the latter conveyed the manor to trustees for the purpose of barring
the entail. (fn. 47) He suffered a recovery of the property
and in 1670 he appeared before the judgement seat
held at Lyndhurst before Vere Earl of Oxford, justice
in eyre—the last held for the New Forest—to assert
formally his claim to the manor. The record of this
court is interesting as showing the special privileges
attached to the manor of Minstead. After describing
the estate as 'adjoining to the waste soil of the forest
of Charles II without any separation or enclosure,'
he claimed for himself and the tenants of the manor
common of pasture and common of mast' without
paying anything therefor,' free ingress and egress in
the waste lands of the forest, to search for all his
animals there straying, the right to hold view of
frankpledge twice a year, the right to estrays found
in the manor and honey found in the woods; also
to have all his woods in the custody of his own woodward appointed at the court baron of the manor and
his manor free of forest officials. He also claimed
the right to the left shoulder of all deer found within
the woods of the manor. Finally on the day of the
holding of the view of frankpledge he claimed for
himself and his steward the right to kill and carry
away one deer. (fn. 48)
Compton of Compton Wynyates. Sable a leopard or between three helms argent.
Richard Compton died in 1684 and was succeeded
by his only surviving son Henry, who had married
Elizabeth daughter and co-heir of Sir Thomas
Hoby. (fn. 49) Henry died in 1702 and was followed by
a son Hoby, at whose death unmarried in 1714 (fn. 50) the
estate was inherited by his brother Henry, (fn. 51) who also
died without issue in 1724. By his will dated the
previous year his Hampshire property, including
Minstead, passed to his wife Eleanor daughter of John
Willis of Ringwood, who married as her second
husband Dr. Charles Bave. On her death without
issue in 1742 she left Minstead to her nephew Henry
Willis, second son of her brother James Willis, on
condition that he took the name of Compton. (fn. 52) He
was Sheriff of Hants in 1758 and was a noted racing
man, being an original member of the Jockey Club
founded in 1753. His racing career extended from
1751 to 1786, during which time his horses ran in
119 races, of which he won forty-one. (fn. 53) He died at
Bath in 1786, leaving a son Henry, who succeeded,
but only survived him one year, when the property
passed to his brother John, who was Sheriffof Hants in
1797 and kept the hounds from 1800 to 1803. (fn. 54)
He died in the latter year, his eldest son Henry
Combe then being a boy of fourteen. Henry became
Sheriff of Hants in 1819 and took a prominent part
in suppressing the 1830 agrarian riots at Fordingbridge. One of the pikes with which his men were
armed is now in the manor-house. (fn. 55) His son Henry
who succeeded him was sheriff in 1871, and on
his death in 1877 his son Mr. Henry Francis
Compton became lord of ' the manor of Minstead
and Brook,' as the manor, including all his property
at Brook, is known at the present day. (fn. 56)
In the time of the Confessor CANTERTON
(Cantortun, xi cent.) was held by Chenna and was
assessed at half a virgate. He was, however, only
allowed to retain one half of his holding, the remainder
being taken into the New Forest. It had formerly
been worth 20s.: in 1086 the shares of the king and
his tenant were 16s. and 4s. respectively. (fn. 57)
The records of the early history of Canterton are
very scanty, but at an early date it gave its name to a
family who were possessed of land in the neighbourhood and certainly held property in Canterton as
early as 1227, as in that year Roger de Sevenhamton
gave a messuage and all his lands in Canterton which
he had of the gift of Ralph de Canterton to the
church of the Holy Trinity at Mottisfont. (fn. 58) From
scanty documentary evidence it is clear that this
family continued to hold property in Canterton
during the next two centuries. In 1316 Nicholas Canterton was returned as lord of the vill of Canterton, (fn. 59)
and he was apparently succeeded by a son Andrew
who was collector of customs in the port of
Southampton in 1343. (fn. 60) In 1473 John Canterton
died seised of Canterton, (fn. 61) then for the first time
called a manor, which he held jointly with Alice his
wife of the Earl of Arundel at a rent of 6s. 1d.
Alice survived and continued to hold the property
till her son came of age. (fn. 62) From him it appears to
have passed to William Canterton, who in 1556
conveyed the manor by fine to Philip Darvalt, (fn. 63)
probably only for the purpose of a settlement, as the
same year John Ringwood and
Jane his wife transferred it to
Alexander Mill. (fn. 64) In 1580
Roger Mill (probably a son of
Alexander) and Alice his wife
conveyed the manor toNicholas
Fuller, (fn. 65) who the same year
jointly with Sarah his wife sold
it to Thomas Goddard, member of an old Wiltshire family
who had held land in Hampshire since the reign of Henry I,
and with whose descendants
it remained for a century and
a half.
Goddard. Gules a cheveron vair between three crescents argent.
In 1608 Thomas Goddard was summoned before
the Attorney-General to show by what right he held
the manor of Canterton. Thomas in his reply stated
that he held it under the king as of his manor of
Lyndhurst by suit of court and the payment of a
small annual sum (fn. 66) —an answer presumably satisfactory to the court, as Thomas was holding the manor
at his death in 1623. (fn. 67) He was succeeded by a son
Henry, who died four years later, having left the
manor by will to his nephew Henry, then an infant,
son of his brother William. (fn. 68) On the death of
William in 1640 Alice his
widow petitioned for the wardship of her son, (fn. 69) who subsequently succeeded and was
holding the manor in 1684. (fn. 70)
In 1703 David Goddard,
probably son or grandson of
Henry, sold the property to
Richard Paulet of Little Testwood, (fn. 71) whose kinsman John
Henry Beaumont fifteenth
Marquess of Winchester sold
it in 1887 to Mr. John
Jeffreys, the present owner. (fn. 72)
Jeffreys. Ermine a lion and a quarter sable.
Previous to the County of Southampton Act of
1895 (fn. 73) part of the manor of Canterton was in
Wiltshire.
In the defence of Thomas Goddard in 1608 he
mentions 'an ancient farm with a dwelling-house
belonging to the demesne of the manor called the
site or farm of the manor of Canterton with common
of pasture in the commons and wastes of Brook
Heath and Shave.' (fn. 74)
A mill was attached to the manor of Canterton as
early as 1348, (fn. 75) probably the water-mill of which
mention is made in several documents of the 17th
century. (fn. 76) The last notice of it is in 1703. (fn. 77)
Church
The church of ALL SAINTS consists of chancel with a large pew on the
north and a south vestry, nave with a
north pew and large south transept, west tower and
north porch. The internal arrangement produces a
very quaint effect, the transept being almost as long
as the nave, and two large galleries entirely fill up the
west end of the church. The chancel and nave are
of stone, partly plastered, and all the rest of the
building is in red brick. The chancel and nave seem
to date from the first half of the 13th century, but
the font belongs to the latter part of the 12th century
and some of the walling of the church may be as old
as it is. The brick additions are all of 18th-century
or later date, including the tower, which, however,
appears to have replaced an earlier one, for in the
west wall of the nave are the jambs of a segmental
headed arch, which may be of 13th-century date.
The east window of the chancel is a modern double
lancet. The pew on the north side has a fireplace,
carpet and cushioned seats, while that to the north
of the nave, though larger, has fewer domestic
comforts. The chancel arch dates from the first half
of the 13th century and has three engaged shafts in
the jambs, while the arch, of two chamfered orders, is
nearly straight-sided and has been rebuilt, the
original curve being clearly shown on the stones of
the arch. The north door is of the same date as
the chancel arch, and has two orders with continuous
edge-rolls broken by a shallow undercut abacus at the
springing; the label is double chamfered. The porch
is of brick and on the outer doorway are the initials
and date R E W S C W 1683, doubtless, in spite of
their spacing, those of the churchwardens for the year.
The south transept has three windows, each of
three wood-framed lights. On the south wall of the
nave below the gallery is a three-light trefoiled 16th-century window, the head in a very distorted condition, and over it is another light for the gallery.
The 'three-decker' pulpit, though disfigured by
graining, makes a very effective group, with its
hexagonal canopy, the shape of which is spoilt by an
added piece at the back; it is partly of 17th-century
woodwork and on the north side of the steps to the
chancel is the mutilated base of a 15th-century
screen. Most of the benches in the chancel and
nave have moulded back rails and are probably of
17th-century date, and the gallery fronts are very
good specimens of 18th-century panelling.
The font stands in front of the pulpit and has a
square Purbeck marble bowl with four restored angle
shafts, stem and base. On its west face is cur Lord's
Baptism, on the east an Agnus Dei, on the north a
lion with two bodies and a single head, and on the
south two eagles having what may be a conventional
tree between them. The surface is a good deal
damaged, as the font has been buried in a garden.
The bells are three in number, the first bearing
the inscription' Love God R B 1604'; the second
'Sancta Maria'; the third 'In God is My Hope.'
The plate consists of a silver parcel-gilt chalice of
probably 17th-century date, a silver paten with gilt
edges of 1836, a silver paten of 1876, a flagon parcel
gilt of 1739 and a plated almsdish.
The first book of registers contains mixed entries
1683 to 1762, the second baptisms and burials 1764
to 1812.
There is also a copy 1762 to 1768 with mixed
entries.
Advowson
The first mention of a church in
Minstead is in 1272, when, attached
to the Bettesthorne moiety of Minstead, it was settled on John de Bettesthorne and
Margaret his wife. (fn. 78) In 1291 it was assessed with
the chapel of Lyndhurst at £6 13s. 4d. (fn. 79) It followed
the descent of the manor, (fn. 80) Mr. Henry Francis Compton, the lord of the manor, being the present patron.
Among possessions forfeited for superstitious uses
in the reign of Edward VI was land worth annually
1s. which had been 'appointed for ever to have continuance, of whose graunt they know not, to mayntayn 2 lightes.' (fn. 81)
Charities
Charity cf Thomas Brown, founded
by will 1667. (See under Christchurch.)—The yearly sum of £6 is
received by the rector, who is entitled to retain 10s.
for a sermon on New Year's Day, the residue in the
distribution of clothes or bread.
In 1814 the Rev. Scrope Berdmore, D.D., by his
will directed his executor to place the sum of £200
stock in such a manner as that the annual interest
might be received by the rector to be distributed by
him among the poor people of the parish on or about
6 April. The trust fund consists of £200 consols
with the official trustees. The yearly income of £5
is distributed in bread.