Anglo-Saxon Manors of the Upper Itchen Valley: Their Origin and Evolution

Home , Abbots Worthy, Chilcomb, Itchen Abbas, Itchen Valley, Martyr Worthy, Micheldever

Proc. Hampsh. Field Club Archaeol. Soc. 46, 1990, 31-39

ANGLO-SAXON MANORS OF THE UPPER ITCHEN VALLEY: THEIR ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION

by ERIC KLINGELHOFER

ABSTRACT recorded as seventeen holdings in the hands of six different lords; jurisdiction fell into six The origins and evolution of the Anglo-Saxon manors of the separate hundreds (Munby 1982). Determin- Upper lichen valley are discussed; the relevant charters are ing how landholding and territorial units evol- re-examined. It is suggested that the upper lichen represents ved to create the palimpsest of manors, an ancient territory, as defined by the manors in question. It is estates, and hundreds recorded in Domesday also argued that 'Worthy' was the centre of this territory. A Book calls for re-evaluating interpretations sequence of land division and nomenclature is proposed. made by G B Grundy in the 1920s, and revising some of them in the light of recent archaeological, toponymic, and historical INTRODUCTION findings (Grundy 1921-8).

The landholdings of great ecclesiastical found- ations have inhibited the interpretation of Anglo-Saxon manorial and territorial evolu- THE PRE-CONQUEST CHARTERS AND tion in Hampshire. By the time of the Con- THEIR INTERPRETATION quest, much of the land around Winchester had been amassed in four large, composite Let us examine those upper Itchen charters estates: Old Minster's Chilcomb, New Min- that may be reinterpretated. Seven pre- ster's Micheldever, the Bishop of Winchester's Conquest charters have survived, of varying Easton, and the king's Barton Stacey. These reliability. The south side of the Itchen has four estates dominated the late Saxon and two charters for Easton and one for Avington medieval landscapes of the Winchester region, (Fig 1), while on the north side, there are five and one might assume that each one broadly for the several Worthys (Fig 2). In addition, represents an older, perhaps pre-Christian, charters for Crawley, Wonston, and land unit. This assumption is challenged, how- Micheldever list points along the northwest ever, by a re-examination of the extant Anglo- watershed line. Saxon charters for the manors of the upper Itchen. S1275. Eight hides at Eastune (871-77) (Sawyer 1968). The upper Itchen valley extends from the Bounds: riverside manors of Abbots Barton and Win- The landes gemaers aet Eastune. nail north of Winchester to the confluence of Lith ofycenan in earna baece aef swa andlang baeces utt on the Aire and Candover near Alresford. Twelve thaet gael aeft be than andheafdan od thone midtestan manors of varying size and importance beorg. Aeft was on edeswyrthe eastewearde aeft ut on tha roda on comprise the land of the upper Itchen. Eleven heringslea easteweardne. have villages or hamlets by the river bank: the Aeft utt on thafurh on smalan dune eastewearde. four Worthys, Chilland, the two Itchens, Aeft utt on thafurh de Wulfred het. Easton, Avington, Yavington, and Ovington. And nifan aeft of dune on tha dene swa on thone mylensteall. Only Littleton lies some distance from the Aet swa of ther mylenstaelle andlang ycenan aeft on earna valley bottom. At Domesday, the manors were baece. 32 HAMPSHIRE FIELD CLUB AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Fig 1. Anglo-Saxon landmarks on the north bank of the Itchen. (Crown copyright reserved)

Grundy identified this tract as a detached Both 'small downs' are in charters defining portion of Easton parish on the far side of Easton's border and both are at approximately Avington (1921, 88). The eight hides is an the same distance from the river Itchen, as unlikely assessment for those lands, and the illustrated in the following comparison. It is landmarks do not correspond well to the logical to assume that they refer to a single topography. As he pointed out, the key to landscape feature and that the boundary identifying the charter boundary is the land- clause of SI275 describes Easton itself. mark smalan dun, which also appears in a tenth-century Avington charter, on its border Itchen South Bank Charter Bounds Equivalency: with Easton. In that charter, Grundy identified SI275 Easton S699 Avington S695 Easton (961) smalan dun as that ridge approaching the Itchen (871-77) (961) (Sawyer 1968) across from the hamlet of Chilland (1921, 97). Itchen stremes Eadmunds weir KLINGELHOFER: ANGLO-SAXON MANORS OF THE UPPER ITCHEN VALLEY 33

mylenstead ealdan byrig ealdan byrig S351. Eight mansae at Worthige (9'59) (Sawyer 1968). mean die dean Bounds: haetkenan byrigelsan ethenan Aerest of icenan byrigelsan mean mearce To iwigath herpath port slret To stan ceaslan smalan dun smalan dun smalan dun Forth to bican slaede furh (reversed) kwitan die die Swa forth to athelwodes beorge mean mearce Forth to aethelines hangran roda on heringlseahigan holies die Thanon to cyrringe edeswyrth blak lacu Forth to than coppedan thorne midkertan beorg Forth ubanathan ea andheqfdan Utan cyoling mor. anlang baeces eama baece The reconstruction of the <:ieht hide estate at the east end of Worthige should start, following the parochial division on the Itchen, at the unidentified iwigath. This is likely a scribal The ninth-century boundary descended error for herpath, but if not, it could be a from the small down via a dean (valley) to a muddled reference to the large pagan Saxon mill site on the river. By the tenth century, cemetery at Worthy Park, the original entry however, the boundary between Easton and concerning not iw (yew), but wiga (warrior) or Avington was more closely defined as wig (idol, altar) (see above). Grundy's identifi- descending from smalan dun to the herpath cation of stan ceaslan as the villa ruins near the (highway), then along the mean (boundary parochial division is still valid. Bican sled refers balk) to the heathen burials, then along the to the upper part of the valley that is called mearc to the old enclosure (bury), on the titan slaed between Martyr and Abbots Worthy, Itchen. The mearc was a bank raised up to passing through Bull Farm, Burntwood Farm, 'mark' an existing territorial division. Such and Chillingham Farm. The next point, Athel- features were generally restricted to the open wold's barrow, is more problematic. It is field or flat land, and were not necessary where unlikely to be that barrow appearing on the other landmarks could be followed easily, such first edition 1" O.S. map and the source of the as a narrow ridge {smalan dun). The ealdan byrig Tithe Award map "Burrough field" for the at the river may represent later changes to a field north of the one containing the villa site that had formerly been noted for its mill. remains. This would place it south of Bica's Many such changes must have occurred valley. It is possible, however, that athelwoldes during the period of Viking raids in the late beorg lay in the present Itchen Wood, where the ninth century. hundred boundary crossed to the northeast. South of the smalan dun, the boundary foll- But the most likely candidate is 'R4', the owed a series of ditches, banks or balks, fur- multiple Bronze Age barrow north of the rows and headlands, apparently through open Lunway that was excavated in 1974, and was fields and edging some woodland until turning presumably the burial mound noted as lying north and west to reach the stream that on the corner of the Martyr Worthy estate entered into the Itchen. The Eagle Brook (earna (S273) (Fasham 1979). baece) must be the same water course as the Identifying this manor depends on the Black Stream {blak lacu), and there is only one direction of the boundary from here onward. If possible site for such a feature, the now dry clockwise (to the east), it is Itchen Abbas; if valley bottom that remains the western bound- counterclockwise (to the west), it is Chilland. ary of Easton parish, where the Tithe Award The next point is aethelines hangran (hanging map recorded a Black Lake Field in the early wood). It may refer to its ownership by an nineteenth century. Aethelwine, or possibly its association with a 3 4 HAMPSHIRE FIELD CLUB AND ARCHAEOLOCICAL SOCIETY prince (aetheling). If the bounds ran clock-wise, Andlang thaere die the 'hanger' ('hanging wood') should be north Eft sona up to heofod stoccan or east of the last point. A similar landmark Andlang straet to lusan thorne does appear on the southeast portion of the To deopan delle Micheldever boundary clause (S360): on weard Up to hinges stane Up to holan stane hangran. Its location may have been a wood Up to fyrd geate shown on Isaac Taylor's 1759 map. This wood To wic herpathe no longer exists, but it stood then north of the And lang wic herpaethes aeft to kynges stane Itchen Stoke Down and west of the Grange Toysan pyttan estate. The elevation there (451' OD) is the To twelf aeceran highest for several miles around, a perfect Utfor(th) bufon scortan hlince aet thaes furlanges ende place for a watch post, the weard hangran of the And saw forth to thaere byrig Micheldever charter. A boundary that ran And saw into hydiburnan. westward would find Itchen Wood, Shroner Wood, and Rotherly Copse, none of which are S273, S340. Five cassati at Worthige (825) (868) especially elevated over the countryside (Sawyer 1968). Bounds: around. Aerest der sae die utt scaet aet tham bihtae baetweog igtunae The other points are less identifiable. The + aestune Thonan theowres ofer thanan bradan haerpath thae ligeth to field name 'churn' near Bridgets Farm in worthig forda + to alresforda Martyr Worthy is probably descended from Thaet on igsaetmearce + eastuninga Anglo-Saxon cyrring. This boundary clause (S340: Thonne forth to osmundaes garstunaes hyrnan) could then be following the division between Thonan forth oth Mean gerstunes hyrnan Martyr Worthy and Chilland, but cyrring may Thonan forthe healf girth be westan tham beorgan thaet have been a more common term in this vicin- adolfan waes ity, perhaps used for the many track intersec- Swa utt to straet tions or turnings, like the ones on Itchen Stoke Thaet up to wassan dunae Down. The bounds return to the Itchen and Thweores ofer tha dunae to deopan daene descend to the boundary of Chilland. The Thaet thweores ofer tha daene on bitan sled suthewearth + difficulty is that Chilland is too small for eight westewearth oth thaes ealdaermannaes mearce Andlang thaes aldermannaes mearcae oth thiccan thomaes to hides, but Itchen Abbas is too large, with than land gemaere oth bisceopes mearcae twelve hides at Domesday. All in all, given the Thaet forth andlang rode forth on icenan. fact that the order of boundary points is much more frequently clockwise than counter- S304. Three cassati in Wordi (854) (Sawyer 1968). clockwise, the 939 charter likely refers to some Bounds: of the lands of Itchen Abbas (Hooke 1981, 43). Aerrest on die The reference to Ceoling mor - the watermea- Thonne upp with hlith geates dows of Chilland — also suggests that this tract Thonnae on bradan hearpath is not Chilland, because charter boundary Thonnae on healfan dell clauses commonly identify landmarks not by Thonnae on eafan hling their relation to the granted lands, but by Thonne thueraes ofer suran daenae reference to neighbouring populations or and thueraes ofer foran dune estates. A land grant is therefore normally On thaes hlinces dende placed in the context of the territory surround- Thonnae on aenae thorn be westan hrither lea ing it. Thonnae upp to wuda Thueres ofer tha daene Thonnae ofer the straete S309. Three mansae at Worthige (854) (Sawyer 1968). On thiccan thornas Bounds: To thaes ealdermannaes mearce Of icenan andlang thaera die Thonnae andlang thaere maerce oth bisceopes mearce Up to thaere hylle Thonnae andlang bisceopes maerce utt onycenan. KLINGELHOFER: ANGLO-SAXON MANORS OK THE UPPER ITCHEN VALLEY 35

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ih s r^ 6- >*^ aK Fig 2. Anglo-Saxon landmarks on the south bank of the Itchen. (Crown copyright reserved)

S962. Five cassati in Worthy (1026) (Sawyer 1968). Utt on icenan Bounds: Adun on stream Aerest on beoccing maede Aeft on beoccing maede. On tha gewrincloda die To wassa die dun ende Comparison of the landmarks of the bound- Thonne to deopan daene ary clauses of charters S351, S304, S273, and Thanon to witan die S692 yields interesting patterns. The Lunway Thonne to aenta die appears on only one of these charters, which To thaere rode suggests that most of these estates did not To than smalan wege Thanan to thaere haran apeldran extend that far north, or that it was not always To stapol thornae a clearly recognizable feature. Secondly, the Thonnae to thaere baece same landmarks were not necessarily used for 36 HAMPSHIRE FIELD CLUB AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY describing the same boundary. But there arc indeed go back to the tenth century, it is not many instances of duplication. From these, a necessarily any older than that. The confusion series of equations can be proposed: west S698 of charter dates and provenances permits only = west S692; east S692 = west S351 = west the observation that there were two grants of S273 = west S304. The other bounds are less Martyr Worthy lands to Hunsige, by Ethelwulf certain, but it is possible that east S304 = east and Ethelred. It is possible that Ethelred's S273 = east S698 (? = west S351). second decimation was indeed the moment The boundary of the first western grouping when these Worthy lands began to be per- is the former parochial division between Kings manently separated from the Crown and from Worthy and Abbots Worthy. The second the large entity of Worthy (Finberg 1964). grouping is the present parish boundary Finally, S273 begins on the Itchen at the between Abbots Worthy and Martyr Worthy, bihtae (corner, bend) between Igtunae and Eastu- running southeast across a valley, over a down, nae, and the boundary runs north along Igsaet- across another valley, then across the Roman mearce and Eastuninga. These references are to road to a series of boundary baulks or field both territories and groups, the Igsaet and the lynches to where a small grove still stood on Eastuninga (the island dwellers and the folk of the early nineteenth-century first edition of the Easton). The 'island' in question is the hamlet 1" O.S. map, continuing south from there by a of Ceoligland, now Chilland, east of Martyr further series of angle steps to reach Worthy Worthy village. Easton lies south of the Itchen, Park and the Itchen. The zig-zag boundary is but the charter specifically indicates that the the gewrinclodan die of S693 and the ealdormannes lands west of Chilland were considered part of mearce - thiccan thornas - bisceopes mearc boundary Easton. Later, Edgar's grant S698 included of S273. S324 has this group out of sequence, both Abbots Worthy and Martyr Worthy as while S273 reversed the deopan deane and the part of the church lands. As such, they may wassan . . . dun. S351 can be seen to share the have been considered part of the Cathedral's landmarks here, with the bican slaed being the Easton estate. Chilland was still a separate same valley as the bican (or bilan) sled. On the estate during the late tenth century, when parish boundary by the site of the former grove Edgar purportedly confirmed to the Old Min- (thiccan thornas?) are the remains of a Romano- ster 64 mansae as a list of estates including British settlement that had stone-built founda- Easton and Chilland. One might conclude, as tions. This site is a satisfactory explanation of did Grundy, that the Old Minster simply the stan ceaslas that Grundy sought to place at a attached the lands of Martyr Worthy to their Roman villa 1 '/2 miles to east. Easton manor, and that this situation is that The names ealdormannes mearc and bisceopes reflected in the charter nomenclature. But - as mearc refer to two different portions of the in the case of the Chilland reference in S351 - Abbots Worthy-Martyr Worthy boundary it is not normal for landmarks of Anglo-Saxon between the slraet and the rode, which was manors to be given names relating to the probably the point where the boundary property being transferred. The explanation crossed the bradan herpath along the north bank should lie elsewhere, and it may be that the of the Itchen. The names suggest that these division between these groups represents an officials were responsible for the demarcation older division of the upper Itchen valley, of the bounds at this point. It was perhaps whereby Easton controlled land on both sides their agents who oversaw what had been of the Itchen east of Kings Worthy. clearly such a difficult division of fields here, that it was called by Canute's reign the gewrinclodan die, wrinkled or twisted dyke. This DISCUSSION has some significance, because it shows that while the parish boundary between the manors The above review and revision of charter of Abbots Worthy and Martyr Worthy does clause interpretations reveals the manor/ KLINGELHOFER: ANGLO-SAXON MANORS OF THE UPPER ITCHEN VALLEY 37 estate boundaries of the upper Itchen valley to reconstructs the extent of the older territorial be old - often of Middle Saxon date - and unit, obviously predating the charters that usually coterminous with later medieval parish describe its dissolution. I have elsewhere boundaries. Further, the internal evidence of called such mid-Saxon valley units 'archaic charter terminology and toponymies suggests hundreds', because combined estimates of that the upper Itchen valley represents a middle Saxon hidation (mansae and cassati) of devolution of an ancient territory, geogra- all the manors in a valley unit repeatedly yield phically definable as the watershed of the total figures close to one hundred hides or its east-west course of the Itchen north of the multiple (Klingelhofer, forthcoming). The ori- Winchester Syncline. At the same time, the ginal assessment for the lands of a catchment charters also record the slow amalgamation of area appears to have been one hundred hides, some tracts into new units, the four late Saxon the figure given by reconstructed assessments conglomerate estates owned by the four great for the upper Itchen valley (Klingelhofer 1985, institutions of Winchester. The external 543-54). boundaries of the eleven Anglo-Saxon manors Archaic hundreds, such as the upper Itchen

Fig 3. The Mid-Saxon archaic Hundred hen Worthig. (Crown copyright reserved) 38 HAMPSHIRE FIELD CLUB AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY valley, were not in themselves tribal or folk status, with a royal tun at Kings Worthy and an groups, but were local divisions of such terri- important pagan Saxon cemetery at Abbots tories. The Saxons of the upper Itchen valley Worthy (fig 3). Worthy means 'enclosure', and belonged to the Gewissae of Winchester, whose here must refer to an early Saxon military lands probably coincided with the catchment enclosure or royal compound. A number of zones of the Itchen and Test rivers in the Anglo-Saxon royal centres have the element Chalk upland of middle Hampshire. Their 'worth(y)', for example, Tamworth, Derby territory most likely stretched from the Wilsae- (North Worthy), and Ixworth, as well as tan of the Wiltshire Wylye to the Meonwara of important ecclesiastical sites that suggest pre- the southeast Hampshire Meon. vious royal centres: Polesworth, Brixworth, In the eighth century, settlement in the Worksworth, and Bury St. Edmunds (Beadrices- upper Itchen was generally dispersed, but wyrth) (Klingelhofer 1985, 490-1). Could their there would have been a 'central place' for locations near - but not within — Roman towns religious, political, and economic activities reflect an origin in a late or sub-Roman mili- that concerned the community above the level tary camp, the focus of the regional Anglo- of the household or extended family. In the Saxon army and the source of power for its Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, the royal tun or villa commander, chief, or king - and of his regalis, where military obligation was rendered, descendants? royal tribute collected, and justice dispensed, Based on the reconstruction and observa- has been the object of several studies, most tions presented above, a sequence of land- recently by Peter Sawyer (1983). Although one division and nomenclature can be proposed: cannot speak authoritatively, given the meagre 1) Circa 700, the entire upper Itchen valley documentary evidence, it seems likely that was a single territorial unit called Itchen. The Sawyer's late Saxon network of royal estates river gives its name to the two villages here, extending throughout England was the rem- and nowhere else along its length. nant of earlier royal systems of local admin- 2) At the same time or soon thereafter, a istration. The sense of family or lineage over habitative name, Worthy, was transferred from clan or community, and a different status for the central place to the valley unit as a whole. 'Crown lands' and the king's personal or fami- As late as Domesday Book, many hundreds ly's holdings, were but several factors in the had alternative names: one applying to the transformation of Anglo-Saxon England. hundred as a territory and one taken from the Competition among the kingdoms may have site of its moot (Klingelhofer 1985, 467-8). played an important role. With more centra- 3) By the ninth century, settlement had lized royal authority and larger administrative begun to coalesce at locations whose names units accompanying the territorial expansion reveal their dependency upon a central of the successful kingdoms, perhaps the local 'Worthy'. Across the river, east of Kings districts became obsolete. Worthy, grew the eastern settlement, Easton, Christian missionaries were often rewarded which at one time may have controlled both with the foundation of a church at a king's tun, sides of the valley immediately east of Kings and it is now accepted that the district served Worthy. Away from the river, at the western by the royal vill became the parockia of a extremity of the 'Hydebourne' valley, grew the collegiate 'mother church' (Hase, 1988). Min- self-descriptive hamlet of Littleton. ster parochiae no doubt existed throughout the 4) At the same time, or somewhat later, Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, and John Blair has the south bank of the Itchen east of Easton was convincingly argued for a systematic division divided into three manors, Avington, Yav- of Wessex into parochiae in the reign of Caed- ington, and Ovington. The three place-names walla and Ine, circa 700 (Blair 1988, 1-20). have personal name elements that suggest The central place of the upper Itchen valley these communities took their identities (or was at 'Worthy', a centre of considerable local were given them by the recording clerks) from KLINGELHOFER: ANGLO-SAXON MANORS OF THE UPPER ITCHEN VALLEY 39 some sort of lord, an aristocratic superior who 'booked', or privatized, by charter until by dominated the tract of land or who had been 1066, only Kings Worthy remained to bear the granted it as a landholding. traditional tribute, the 'feorm', for the upkeep 5) The last stage witnessed the two of the royal court. Boundary clauses in the remaining blocks of land north of the river, charters defined the economic units they con- 'Worthy' and 'Itchen', divided into particular veyed, the manors that here were based upon manors. In most instances, their secondary the agricultural innovation of cooperative, names reflect ownership: Kings, Abbots, open-field farming and its concentration of the Martyr, Abbas. This stage may not have been workforce into nucleated villages. The reass- fully completed by the time of the Domesday essment of the upper Itchen valley charters Survey, where binomens do not appear. reveals a consistent pattern of manorial development, the fission of a single territory or great multiple estate that splintered into unitary CONCLUSION manors, many of which were attached in the late Saxon period to the four conglomerate To conclude, the upper Itchen valley of the estates around Winchester. The charter mid-Saxon period was an archaic hundred, boundaries of the upper Itchen valley thus occupied by people perhaps best called the offer testimony of a landscape divided and Ttchen-folk'. Its central place, Worthy, had a redivided in a process that transformed major early Saxon pagan cemetery and was Wessex from a land of tribe and folk into one later an important royal manor. From the of lord and manor - and finally into one of fief eighth century onward, blocks of land were and honour.

REFERENCES

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Author. EC Klingelhofer, Asst. Professor, History Department, Mercer University, Macon, Georgia, 31207, USA © Hampshire Field Club & Archaeological Society