Chronicles of Finchampstead in the county of Berkshire

Preface

HE SE Chronicles had their origin about five years ago in a desire to write a short account of Finchampstead for its parish magazine. I soon discovered the difficulty of the task, owing to there being no local materials available for such a purpose. I was therefore compelled to seek the information I required from external sources, and my original intention has thus become expanded beyond the limits of a parish magazine. It is seldom that the laborious study of a small country parish can repay the long microscopic research which it in volves, or that its chronicles can be of much interest to any but the local few who have a taste for such a subject ; and I fear that these Chronicles will prove no exception to this opinion. The history of a parish cannot be rightly understood unless read in the light of contemporaneous history.

In my Chronicles of Finchampstead VIII endeavour to throw a little of this light upon what other wise would have been only a heap of uninteresting dry bones, I hope I shall not have wearied my readers by leading them occasionally into what may seem unnecessary digressions. It is difficult to abstain from giving to others what has been a source of interest or pleasure to ourselves. The lives of the Bishops of Winchester and Salisbury, in whose dioceses Finchampstead was formerly included, present a special temp tation of this kind : they are full ofthe most interesting matters connected with our national and parochial history. Our archbishops and bishops, in early times, were not only ecclesiastics but statesmen, and sometimes even warriors. I have studied the lives of all the bishops who have presided over Berkshire from the seventh to the eighteenth century, in the hope of presenting a short rtsumd oi them, but I have, at last, refrained from carrying out that intention so fully as I had wished from fear of overloading my principal subject.

If I have occasionally narrated what may be well known to some of my readers, it must be kindly remembered that these Chronicles were intended for others less well informed. It is much to be regretted that, since the dissolution of the monasteries, the clergy have not emulated the example of the abbots and monks of old in their laudable efforts to collect and preserve the records of their own times, and of those which preceded them. How little should we have known of our early history had it not been for the chronicles which they collected, and which have been transmitted to us from those nurseries of learning and religion in the early days of Chris tianity ! There is at present no good county history of Berkshire. Preface IX If the incumbent of every parish could be induced to regard himself as the chronicler of his own parish, and would keep a record of every incident connected with it likely to be of interest to posterity, and would leave his records as an heir loom to be kept up by his successors, what valuable materials would exist for the future county historian !

It is with the hope of contributing something towards this object that I have ventured to publish the results of my researches. East Court: May 1895. Erratum. Page 209, line 2$, for 2,400 read 24,000. CONTENTS

Chapter I Pace

Roman road through Finchampstead to Silchester and Bath — Roman milestone — Suggested position of Vindomis — Silchester — Discovery of site of a ' Romano-Christian Church '

Chapter II

Introduction of Christianity into Berkshire — Apsidal form of churches — Mission of Birinus to the West Saxons and Berkshire — King Oswald's connection therewith — ' Dozell ' or ' Dodswell ' well in Finchampstead — Division of the West Saxon kingdom into two ecclesiastical sees, Winchester and Sherborne — Berkshire retained under Bishop of Winchester — Creation of Bishopric of Malmesbury, A.D. 909 — Berkshire transferred to it — See of Ramsbury united with Sherborne in 1058 —See of Sherborne transferred to Old Sarum, 1075 — and to Salisbury, 1260 — Berkshire united with See of Oxford, 1836 l 2

Chapter III

Finchampstead Church — Mr. John Oldrid Scott's remarks upon it — Its great antiquity — Its history — Monuments — Church plate — Furniture — Parish Registers — Vestry Minutes — Churchyard epitaphs — The Rectory — Ancient Terriers — Tithes — Rectors from 1299 to present time. . 23

Chapter IV

Origin of Finchampstead Manor — Its description in Domesday Book — ■ Held by King Harold — Grant to the Lords ofthe Manor of Aldermaston Chronicles of Fine hams stead PAGE between I loo and ni8 — Held under them by Sir Alard Baslastre and his descendants from n 20 to about 1290 — Division of the Manor into East and West Court Moieties — Ancient residence of the Lords of the Manor — Family of De la Hoese — Ancestors of the Hussey family . . , .81

Chapter V

The East Court Moiety of the Manor — John de la Hoese and Constance his wife, daughter of the last Sir William Banastre, first owner of this division of the Manor in 1275 — Pedigrees of their several successors until 1894, viz., De Foxle (Foxley) of Bramshill, Warbleton of Sherfield on Loddon, De la Hay, Hussey, Pakenham, Sir Edmund Marvyn, Hynde, Harrison, Palmer, Fish-Palmer, through all of whom the East Court Manor passed down to the late John Walter of Bearwood — The origin of East Court House . . . 93

Chapter VI

The West Court Manor — Peter de la Hoese and Agatha his wife, daughter of the last Sir William Banastre — Description of the Manor — Pedigrees of successive owners of this division of the Manor from 1306 to 1892, viz., De la Hoese, Colneye (Collee), Parkyns, Tattershall, the Hon. Charles Howard, Goodyer, and St. John — History of the St. John family . . 146

Chapter VII

History of ' Banister' House and the ancient family of that name, who have resided in Finchampstead and its neighbourhood from n 20 to the present time — The betrayal of Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, by Ralph Banastre in 1483, and the connection of Ralph Banastre with the Banastres of Finchampstead considered . . . . . . .178

Chapter IX

General Remarks On the enclosure of Windsor Forest in 18 18— Bigshot Rayles — Hanykin's Lodge — Court Rolls of Finchampstead Manors — The Oliver family — Old properties within the Manor — Roads — The Blackwater River — Finchampstead Ridges — The new road to Wellington College— The late Mr. John Walter of Bearwood 207 Appendix, containing copies of the authorities referred to in the text . . 223 General Index , . .

Chapter I

The Roman Road N tracing the history of our ancestors in chap. Finchampstead, our thoughts are at once l_ carried back to the Roman occupation of a.d. our country during the first four hundred 84-412 and twelve years of the Christian era, for it was during this period that the Roman road, the line of which passes through our parish, was constructed. This road formed part of the great military road from London to Bath and elsewhere, and is one of the most remarkable illustrations of the Roman power in u.-Coi. Britain. The portion of the road in which we are more cooper especially interested is that which led from Staines (or 1887,' Pontes, the old Roman name), where it crossed the Thames, ' H;story r... , of Berks. to bilchester. B chap. A survey of the road was made in 1835 by students of 1 the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and I am indebted to a.d. General Clive, the governor of that institution, for being 84 4I2 permitted to examine the survey, plan, and report, from which the following description is taken.

The course of the road leads from Staines to the well-known 'Wheatsheaf Inn at Virginia Water, and crossing the southern bend of the lake, ascends the hill close by the tower called the Belvedere. That part of Virginia Water which was crossed by the Roman roacl was only excavated in the latter part of the last century, and the lake itself was norden's not formed until about the year 1752. In Norden's time of wlndsor (1608) it was a mere stream, running from west to east, but Forest,' the Romans, who were always careful to provide water for travellers along their great roads, no doubt made use of this stream for that purpose. In Windsor Park the line is, for some distance, lost, but becomes well defined near the Sunninghill road, where vast quantities of Roman pottery have from time to time been discovered ; it then passes near Charter's Pond, King's Beeches, and the back of Windlesham Hall, and continuing towards Bagshot reaches a place called ' Duke's Hill,' whence its south-westerly direction diverges considerably to the westward, making an angle of about 25°.

Here, in 1783, many fragments of Roman pottery were discovered. Lt.-Coi. The road from this point proceeded along the north side of £°^?SR Rapley Lake, in the grounds attached to Bagshot Park, and note to passed between the two westernmost of four ponds, which lie Rupert south of Rapley Farm. At this point the water, either by Jones's neglect or design, has been allowed to cut through the old paper roadway, thus forming one instead of two ponds. The late Mr. Hughes in his interesting ' History of Windsor Forest' (1890) states that he believed he had discovered a branch road from this spot to Winchester, passing near Barley Pound Farm, between Froyle and Crondal. This discovery, if confirmed, would satisfactorily explain the angle which the road makes at Duke's Hill, and would also tend to set at rest a more important question which has been a subject of much controversy amongst antiquaries for a very considerable time, viz. the locality of Vindomis, a town of the Sægontiaci, mentioned in the Antonine Itineraries as having been fifteen miles from Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester) and twenty-one from Venta Belgarum (Winchester).

The difficulty in determining the position of Vindomis has always arisen from the uncertainty of the position of Calleva Atre batum. Camden in the sixteenth century assigned Wallingford as the site of Calleva, and Silchester as that of Vindomis, while in later times Reading and other places have in turn been suggested. But recent discoveries having conclusively established the fact that Silchester is the site of the ancient Calleva, the position of Vindomis can now be more easily decided upon. Horsley was of the same opinion as Mr. Hughes in regard to Vindomis being near Barley Pound Farm. Attention was drawn to this spot in the year 1836, by Mr. Long, a learned antiquary, as the site of an important Roman settlement ; and he described the discoveries which had been made there about twenty years previously.

He distinctly stated, how ever, that he could not agree in thinking that Farnham and its vicinity was the ancient Vindomis ; but it may be remarked that at that time Silchester had not been accepted as the site of Calleva. Now Barley Pound fulfils two important conditions in favour of Vindomis ; for if measured on the ordnance map in a straight line it is thirteen miles from Silchester and nineteen from Winchester, which would be nearly equivalent to the fifteen and twenty-one respectively of Roman miles above mentioned, allowing for slight devia tions. Stukeley also considered that a Roman road existed from Silchester to Farnham. So far, therefore, as discoveries have as yet gone, the locality of Barley Pound would appear to be the most probable one for Vindomis. The position of Farnham and its vicinity was undoubtedly one of great consequence in the very earliest times.

It stood at the intersection of two ancient and important highways, that already described as leading from Winchester to London, and another cutting it at right angles coming by way of Basingstoke from the western regions, and proceeding east ward to Guildford and onwards by way of the chalk ridge chap. i A.D. 84-412 H.L.L., H.L., February, 1836. Privately printed tpy Nichol son & Son, Farnham b CHAP, I A.D. 84-412 known as the ' Hog's Back.' On approaching Farnham from Basingstoke this road traversed the gravelly height of the Lady (or Law-day ') Common, a lofty hill which rises to the north-west of Farnham. On the northern encampment of this bleak and barren height, a remarkably fine old camp, and a triple vallance at its entrance, existed in good preservation in 1836, although diggers and squatters have since threatened it with demolition.

On the southern side, an eminence over hanging Farnham, adjoining the road from Basingstoke as it descends into the town, was selected in 11 10 by Henry de Blois, brother of King Stephen, for the construction of a castle (one of the twelve hundred said to have been built in the dreadful reign of that monarch), which has survived the vicissitudes of many wars, and still remains the palatial appen dage of the See of Winchester. After this digression I will resume the tracing of the Roman road at Rapley Lake, on its way to Finchampstead. Leaving Rapley Lake, the road ascended the plain of Easthampstead, a sandy and barren heath of great extent even within living memory. The ascent of the road to this com manding plateau is distinctly marked by a deep fosse on one side, but the rectilinear direction hitherto preserved appears here to have been changed, in order to avoid a deep and muddy ravine, and the line bends northwards so as to pass by the head of the ravine, afterwards regaining its former direction.

This part of the road ran through Wickham Bushes. In the immediate vicinity is the strong entrenchment well known as Cæsar's Camp, a fortress probably of British origin, adopted by the Roman generals on account of its excellent site. This camp crowns the summit of the height projecting from the plateau, and is strengthened on the side of the latter by a double parapet and ditch. This loop road, or deviation from the straight course, may possibly have been formed also for the easy movement of troops from Cæsar's Camp to the road in either direction. At Wickham Bushes have been found the remains of a Roman town or village, where Roman pottery and coins have been frequently dug up. It appears to have been supplied Cf. Mr, Long's paper. with water, as a large pond still exists on the north-east side of it.

Looking at the area which the camp covered, it has been estimated to have accommodated as many as 9,000 men. Thence the road proceeded direct towards Crowthorne, where there is another pond the edge of which is straightened by the line of the old road, and continued straight onwards, crossing Ravenswood Avenue, where it entered Finchamp stead parish, until it reached Finchampstead Heath Pond, the road again here having evidently been utilised as an embank ment for forming the pond. In the tithe map of 1844, the road is shown as making a curve to avoid the pond. But Mr. Walter, on acquiring possession of the property in 1850, restored the road to what was doubtless its original course, as is shown in a much older map of this district. The road gradually leaves the present 'driftway,' or grass drive, on ascending the hill leading to the modern lodge known as ' Roman Lodge,' and may be traced by a cutting on the right-hand side of the green drive ; it then crosses the road leading to Wick Hill Farm, and straightway proceeds to a point near Ridge Farm, until it reaches the lane leading from the ' White Horse ' Inn to the ' Nine Mile Ride,' where it can be distinctly traced on the left-hand side for a short distance, until the lane makes a sudden bend to the right, down a steep hill.

At this point the course of the road enters the fields belonging to Webb's Farm, and at about 720 yards' distance, in a field known as ' Six Acres,' at a spot marked on the ordnance map, a Roman milestone was discovered in 1841 by the point of a plough coming in contact with it, a representa tion of which from a photograph is given on p. 6. The milestone was removed to ' Banisters,' where it now lies in the garden. The line of the road through the ' Six Acres ' field of Webb's Farm can still be clearly traced in summer by the appearance of the crops. The road entered the field on the eastern side of it, about three chains (or sixty yards) from the south-east corner of it. The present occupier of this land (Mr. Pigg) has had the soil removed from the surface of the road in one place, showing the road to have been formed upon a sandy soil by means of a binding gravel to the depth of CHAr. i A.D. 84-412 Rev. W. Goodchild, M.A., ' Frag ments of 1 ocal History,' 1878 88 yards from the E. side, 50 from theN. side, 250 from the W. side chap, about six or eight inches.

Camden tells us that the Romans 1 were in the habit of burying famous men beside the milestones, ad7 to remind travellers of their own mortality, and that the mile- 84-412 stones were a mile apart. From here the road led direct to Camden's the p0nd at Webb's Farm— doubtless another instance of tannia,' Roman forethought for travellers — and on to West Court, p- 6? the house having been built on the very road itself. From thence it passed along what is now the carriage-road to the house, across the Arborfield road, and on to Joulding's Lane, the north side of the Blackwater River, until it reached ' Little Ford,' where it crossed the river, and thence followed what is now (and perhaps became) the boundary between the two counties of Berks and Hants, passing along the north side of Risely Common and of Strathfieldsaye Park, and thence to Silchester.

The road from Finch ampstead Church to Sil chester was surveyed in 1 822 by the late G. E. Beau champ, Esq., of The Priory, Beech Hill, for the Rev. Thomas Leman, a well known archæologist ; and I THE ROMAN MILESTONE am indebted to Mrs. Martin Atkins, of Farley Castle, for an in spection of a copy of the plan, on which it is stated that the road was clearly marked at that date. The great progress of cultiva tion since 1822 has tended considerably to destroy the traces of the road ; it is satisfactory, however, to observe that the Royal Military College survey of this portion ofthe road in 1835 corre sponds exactly with that made previously by Mr. Beauchamp. Before taking leave of this part of our subject, I am anxious to draw attention to the elevated ground surrounding CHAP i A.D, 84-412 The Roman Road our church, which possesses very great interest.

It has every appearance of having been a fortified camp, possibly in early British times, and most probably jn Roman times. It forms a most commanding position, with extensive views in every direction. At the foot of the slope, on the north side, lay the Roman road. There would seem to have been a curved loop road cut deeply through the camp hill, which would have enabled troops to descend from the camp above, under cover of the ground, to the road below in either direction. We know that it was usual to protect the military roads by such camps at proper distances from each other ; as, for instance, at Cæsar's Camp, Easthampstead, also at Duke's Hill, and at other places further on towards Staines. This loop road now ends in the open fields, but close to the line of the Roman road. For the last six hundred years its only use could have been as an approach to the church from West Court and from the old rectory ; and in earlier times it may have been used as an approach to the ancient residence of the lord of the whole manor, which, as will be shown in a subsequent chapter, stood on this hill ; but I think that the road may have had even a still earlier origin.

It is to be hoped that this ground may some day be explored under the guidance of a skilful archæologist, with a view to more light being thrown upon it. SILCHESTER Let us now shortly consider what was the object of the Roman road, which has, through ignorance on the part of the Berkshire rustic, been irreverently termed ' The Devil's Highway.' It was the great highway between London and Bath, known by the Romans as Aquæ Solis or Sulis, the beautiful City of Springs, over which the British deity Sui, and the Roman Minerva, were regarded as jointly presiding. In its course to Bath the road passed through Silchester, which recent discoveries have shown to have been an ancient Roman city, and a stronghold of considerable importance, chap, built on the site of a still more ancient British one.

The 1 walls are nearly two miles in circumference, and enclose an a.d. area of about a hundred acres. Portions of the walls are still 84-412 standing; they are 13 feet high, and in some places 8 feet thick. It may well be called the Pompeii of England, for, of all the remains of our ancient Roman cities, there is not one that can compete with Silchester in the grandeur and preservation of its walls, and in the multiplicity of coins and other antiquities which are continually being discovered within its precincts. From this place radiated five or six military roads in dif ferent directions — to Bath and Caerleon, in Monmouthshire ; to Winchester ; the Portway to Old Sarum, Salisbury, and iœn eld Exeter ; the Old Street to Wantage; the Iknield Street to theSjrcerii0f Dorchester, in Oxfordshire ; the Imperial Way to London and Colchester, and probably one to Vindomis.

These several great high-roads must have been frequently traversed by the Roman armies during their occupation of this country, not to mention all the commercial and other traffic which must have passed along them. It should be remembered that at the period under review there was a vast forest called Anderida, known by the Saxons as Andredsweald, or ' wooded land,' (H. which extended for nearly 1 20 miles in length by 30 miles in Long.) breadth, and comprised the tract between the North and South h'.l'., ' Downs, the valley of the Weald (wooded land), and a great l8?6. part of Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire, and the borders of sor^rivate Wiltshire. This forced the Romans to make a great detour, ci.cuiaby way of Silchester and Winchester, in going from London n.chol ■ and the banks of the Thames to Portsmouth, Chichester, and son & j-^g South Coast.

Thus we may imagine how great must Farnham have been the traffic which passed through Finchampstead along this Roman road. Silchester is now admitted by the best archæologists to have originally borne the prehistoric name of Caer Segent or Segont, and to have been a stronghold of the Sægontiaci, a native British race who were driven westward before a wave of invasion, when a tribe of Belgic Gauls called Atrebates overflowed from out of their own territories, near Autun in Gaul, into Britain, and securely established themselves in this chap, i A.D 84-4 I 2 180 410 part of the country, still retaining their ancient settlements in Gaul. During the Atrebatian period Silchester bore the name of Calleva (Calleva Atrebatum), a name retained by the Romans, and continued to be used up to the date when the Antonine Itineraries were compiled.

We do not possess the means of determining the precise period of the com position of these Itineraries, but as they are attributed to the Emperor Hadrian and his immediate successors, the Antonines, we may conclude that the roads and places men tioned therein must have been in existence about the year 180 A.D. In support of the opinion that the Sægontiaci were former occupants of Silchester, it may be mentioned that in 1732 a stone was discovered there bearing the following inscription in honour of their god, the Sægontiac Hercules : DEO HERCULI SÆGONTIACORUM TITUS TAMMONIUS SIENII TAMMONII FILIUS VITALIS OB HONOREM This great city passed through many vicissitudes ; the excavations which have been recently carried on disclose the wondrous fact that some of the buildings erected by the Romans were built upon the remains not of one only, but of three successive buildings, all erected one above another, age after age.

The Roman coins which have been found there, belonging to each of the three Roman periods of the buildings, range from a.d. T>7 to A-D- Alo> which latter date was only two years before the hasty departure of the Romans from Britain. The most important discoveries at Silchester have been the Forum with its Basilica, a dwelling-house of great size, supposed to have been the official residence of a Roman of some rank ; a bronze Eagle, found among the ruins of the Forum, and presumed to have been the Imperial Standard of a Roman Legion. It has been conjectured that the Eagle was lost in a deadly struggle between the Romans themselves, about the year a.d. 300. We know that for ten years there had been a defection from the Imperial rule under the usurper Allectus and his predecessor Carausius, and that Constantius Chlorus had repaired to Britain to put down the revolt, which resulted in the death of Allectus.

There is a tradition that Constantine the Great was the restorer of Silchester, and this seems quite possible, as the place may have been destroyed during the struggle which immediately preceded his reign, and have been built by him on its own ruins. Constantius Chlorus died at York in 306, and it was there that his son Constantine the Great, who was present at his father's death, was pro claimed Emperor in Britain, Gaul, and Spain by the Roman soldiers. chap. i A.D. 84-412 306 Previously to 1892, no traces of Christianity had been discovered among any Roman remains in England, but in June of that year the foundations of a small basilica were found at Silchester, which there is reason to believe were those of a Roman Christian church. See letter to the ' Times ' from Mr. W. H. St. John Hope, June 9, As Christianity was not tolerated, and certainly not promoted, by the Roman government until the reign of Constantine, this basilica of Roman origin could not have existed earlier than the fourth century ; and it is extremely interesting, as being the earliest indication which has been met with of Christianity having been allowed in England during the Roman occupation of the country.

In 321, Constantine is said to have ordered the observance of Sunday throughout his dominions, and in 323, on becoming sole Emperor, he promoted the spread of Christianity through out the Roman Empire. The Romans abandoned Britain in a.d. 412, and soon afterwards Silchester fell a prey to the assaults of the Saxon hordes, who burnt it to the ground ; the city, it is stated, being finally destroyed in a.d. 493 by the Saxon chief Ella, in his march from Sussex to Bath. 1892 412 Silchester owes its name to the Saxon ' Selceaster,' the great castrum or camp, which word ultimately became Silchester. What a quarry must the ruins of this place have afforded in a locality naturally devoid of any building stone ! Much of the material is said to have been taken to build the Abbey of Reading in the twelfth century, and, three centuries later, some of these very stones are said to have been taken down the river Thames to Windsor, to build the houses of the ' Poor Knights ; ' and Queen Elizabeth, we are told, gave two hundred loads of fine stone from the Abbey to the corpora tion of Reading.

Such is a brief epitome of what is known about Silchester. For fuller particulars I would refer to a very interesting account of the place by the Rev. J. G. Joyce, late rector of Strathfieldsaye, in the 'Archæologia,' vol. xlvi. 1881, published by the Society of Antiquaries ; and the ' Archæological journal,' No. 117, 1873. The memorials of the conquerors of the world must ever be interesting to posterity, and the more so as they become more rare. Although little now remains, that little ought to be saved from entire oblivion. CHAP, I A.D. 84-412

Chapter II

Introduction of Christianity into Berkshire HE next great object of interest to us in point of antiquity is our parish church ; but, before entering upon its consideration, let us take a short survey of the progress of Christianity in this part of England, and particularly in Berkshire, from the earliest time of its introduction. CHAP. II A.D. 635 We must not forget that Christianity was introduced into England in the first century ; and that, although it suffered persecution for a time under the Roman government, it existed here until the fifth century, when it was broken up by the Saxon Conquest. I have already referred in the previous chapter to the remains of what appears to have been a Roman Christian church at Silchester. A full description of this discovery has been given by Mr. W. H. St. John Hope in the following copy of a letter to the ' Times,' dated June 9, 1892.

DISCOVERY OF A ROMAN-BRITISH CHURCH AT SILCHESTER To the Editor of the ' Times ' Sir, — / trust you will allow me to trespass on your space to announce a discovery of the greatest possible interest that has CHAP, II A.D. 635 just been made at Silchester, where systematic excavations, under the auspices of the Society of Antiquaries, have now been re sumed for the third successive season. Close to the south-east corner of the Forum, in the centre of the city, and in the angle formed by the intersection of two of the main streets, the excavations have disclosed the foundations of a small Basilica, which, from its plan and arrangements, there seems every reason to believe was a Romano-British Christian church. It stood east and west, and consisted of a nave 10 feet wide and 29 feet long, ending in an apse at the west end, with two aisles 5 feet wide, and rudimentary transepts each about 7 fee t square.