Swarraton Swarraton

1.0 PARISH Swarraton, now a part of Northington (Map 1) 2.0 HUNDRED Bountisborough 3.0 NGR 456850 127050 (approximately) 4.0 GEOLOGY Upper Chalk

5.0 SITE CONTEXT (Map 2) The former parish of Swarraton has been absorbed into Northington. The two settlements stand on opposite banks of the Candover Stream in such close proximity that it is virtually impossible to tell them apart. The few houses that comprise Swarraton stand at 91m AOD. These houses represent almost the entire surviving building stock of the old parish. Swarraton Farm, 1km to the east, is at 105m AOD.

6.0 PLAN TYPE & DESCRIPTION (Maps 3, 4 and 5) Deserted medieval settlement The present settlement known as Swarraton that stands on the east bank of the Candover stream is effectively a C20 extension of Northington (cf). Beresford and Hurst (1971: 188) have Swarraton listed as a DMS. The medieval settlement is likely to have been c. 400m further to the south of its Modern counterpart, but by the early C18 only the parish church and the rectory remained. These had both gone by 1849 (paragraph 8.0). HTS 1: locates the medieval settlement at 456800 136600. Given the paucity of the evidence, no helpful statements can be made about the precise location of the medieval settlement centre except to suggest that it was probably in the vicinity of the church (paragraph 10.0, nos 14 and 25).

6.1 Site visit conditions: sun with cloudy intervals (19.4.2002).

7.0 ARCHAEOLOGICAL POTENTIAL (Map 5) 7.1 AsAP 7.1.1 A sub-tringular plot of land of (c. 300m ²) that is bounded by tracks and the B3046. The plot includes the site of the parish church and churchyard, and Swarraton House. This is the conjectural site of the medieval settlement of Swarraton. 7.2 AsHAP 7.2.1 The site of the former church and churchyard of Swarraton (paragraph 8.2).

Swarraton Swarraton

8.0 CHURCH & CHURCHYARD 8.1 For present arrangements see Northington.

8.2 The original church was first mentioned in the late C13;  It was linked with Godsfield from the C13 until 1634;  Thought to have been of C12 date;  The church was demolished in 1849 but there is a copy of a pre-demolition painting after VCH 4: 196;  Cross erected on the site of the church.

9.0 BUILDINGS (Map 4) PRN Details Dates Grade 10246 Swarraton Lodge early C19 II 10247 Grange Park: cross on site of old church, behind Cottage 200 1858 II

10.0 SMR DATA SW 456650 136470, NE 457250 137410 (Map 4) SU53NE No. 14 456800 136650 Medieval parish church (see paragraph 8.0). 25 456850 136650 Medieval deserted settlement (DMS). Considered to be a hamlet in the Nomina Villarum of 1316 and 1327when 15 villagers are recorded as having paid tax.

10.1 Hampshire Romano-British Settlements survey Hants No. NGR Parish NAR / NMR Nos None known.

10.2 Scheduled Ancient Monuments (SAMs) SAM No. NGR Site None.

Swarraton Swarraton

11.0 ADDITIONAL SITES / FEATURES (Map 4) 1 458550 136695 VCH (4: 189) refers to a gift of land to Godsfield as lying between the new ditch as it extends from the bishop's grove as far as the boundaries of Swarraton. This can only be on the west side of Godsfield and the boundary referred to is probably the one marked by a prehistoric barrow at this point. 2 456800 136600 Swarraton rectory was demolished in 1820. According to VCH (4: 195) the site is in the water meadows to the north of the churchyard. 3 446770 136580 Site of building marked as present on the OS 1: 10,560 survey of 1872, but subsequently demolished.

12.0 CARTOGRAPHIC SOURCES  Tithe Map 21M65/F7/228/2 (* / 1842)  GSGB 300 Alresford  OS 1: 2500 SW 456650 136470, NE 457250 137410  OS 1: 25000 Explorer 132: Winchester, New Alresford & East Meon  OS 10, 560 456985 136966 (1874)

13.0 BIBLIOGRAPHY  Beresford M & Hurst JG 1971 Deserted Medieval Villages Guildford and London, Lutterworth  Coates R 1989 The Place-names of Hampshire Southampton, Ensign  Gelling M 1984 Place-names in the landscape Phoenix, London  VCH 4: 195-6

14.0 PRIMARY HISTORIC SOURCES 14.1 Domesday Book Not mentioned but VCH (3:195) claims that it has been identified as held by Hugh of Port as parcel of Micheldever, in which case as indicated in bold italic:

(6)16 Hugh of Port holds 22½ hides and 1 virgate of this manor’s land. 3 hides and 3 virgates are of the lordship land. Before 1066 4 free men held it from the Abbey as 4 manors Cranbourne, Drayton, Stratton, Popham; they could not withdraw from their land, as the men of this Hundred testify.

Swarraton Swarraton

14.2 Subsidy Rolls 1334 £1.10.7 1524 1st survey: £1.14.4 (9 taxpayers) 2nd survey: £1.3.8 (10 taxpayers)

NB The 1524 figures include Godsfield.

14.3 Manors Swarraton only.

14.4 Hearth Tax 1665 32 hearths chargeable (18 houses) 13 hearths not chargeable (13 houses). Total: 31 houses.

15.0 PLACE NAME 15.1 903 (C16) swerwetone; 1135 x 1154 Serueton; 1207 Sherueton; 1242 , 1250 S(w)arweton. Ekwall suggests that the first element is a reduced form of *swæwæd ‘heavy ford’ (i.e. over the right bank tributary of the Itchen entering below Alresford). Grundy, following Bradley, suggests the first element is a pre-OE stream name. The latter cannot be right; PrW *sw- / su- is non-existent (Jackson 1953, 525-6). Perhaps it is OE *swearðwatun ‘pelt farm’, i.e. farm supplying dressed or undressed animal skins, if OE sweard, swearð ‘pelt’ is for Gmc *swardu-, swardu- as Germanic and Baltic cognates seem to suggest. For a trace of the u / w in the second syllable to be preserved, the name would have to be of high antiquity. The ‘oldest’ spelling is preserved only in a C16 copy of a spurious document, but it looks a fair ancestor for the modern name.

16.0 PHOTOGRAPHS None taken.

17.0 OTHER PROJECT ELEMENTS 17.1 Pre-Conquest Charters  AD 903 King Edward founds New Minster, Winchester, and grants land at Micheldever, East Stratton, Burcot, Popham, Woodmancott, Candover, Cranbourne, Drayton in Barton Stacey, Swarraton, Northington, Norton near Selborne, Slackstead, Tachbury in Copythorne, Ann, Hampshire, at Collingbourne, Chiseldon, Wiltshire, and at Durley, Hampshire. Latin (162 / 370).

17.2 Other parish settlements include: Name MSP No. NGR / map ref. First recorded None listed.

Swarraton Swarraton 17.3 Enclosures Parliamentary: NEP No. Act Order Award Details None known.

Formal Agreements: NEP No. Agreement Award Details 14556 1662 None 300 acres of downs. See VCH 4: 195

Probably re-organized when the land fell into the single ownership of Lord Ashburton.

17.4 Commons & Greens (residual) None recorded in 1874.

18.0 ILLUSTRATIONS 1 Map 1: Parish location (not to scale) 2 Map 2: General (settlement) location at 1: 25000 3 Map 3: Ordnance Survey First Edition County Series (c. 1870s) not to scale 4 Map 4: Development & archaeological features at 1: 2500 reduced to 71% 5 Map 5: Areas of archaeological potential at 1: 2500 reduced to 71%.