I know not, but soon he reached a tree up which he ran, and lo! behind it stood the Hampage Oak. It was a mere shell about twelve feet high, and kept together with an iron hoop, but duly honoured by having an iron fence round it. Among the green, luxuriant trees it looked like an emblem of death. I observed that it stood in the centre where two green alleys crossed. It may have been in this state of decay for centuries, for oak is very durable, and Augustine may actually have preached under it. I should think, from its standing on the cross roads, that Saxon “moots,” or meetings, may have been held here, and the chief man may have taken up his position under it.
Tichborne.
Returning to the main road, I proceeded through the village to Tichborne, about three miles farther on—the name has become so celebrated that I could not omit it.[110] About a mile beyond it lies Cheriton, where the engagement took place between the Royalists and Roundheads, which ended in the former being defeated and pursued all through a dreadful night.
The name of Tichborne is supposed to have sprung from the soil, or, I should say, from the stream which winds along the park. The church in the village is most interesting. It retains high oaken pews, many of them enriched with carving. One side is entirely occupied by the Tichborne chapel, in which generations have been laid to rest, but the earliest memorial is a brass dated 1569. There is a curious little old effigy of a baby in a red frock, and a very handsome monument of marble or alabaster to the Tichborne and his wife of the time of James I.
There is a piece of ground near the house which, by the unpleasant name of the “Crawls,” commemorates a most noble action. The lady of Tichborne in Henry I.’s reign was famed for her liberality, and, when aged and dying, wished to establish a dole of bread to be given to all comers on every Lady Day. Her husband, who perhaps misliked such indiscriminate charity, replied that she should have as much land for the purpose as she could herself walk round while a torch was burning. Nothing daunted, she rose from her bed, commenced her pilgrimage, and on her hands and knees actually encircled several acres before her flame expired. The dole of 1,900 loaves continued to the end of the last century, when old Sir Roger’s misgivings were justified, and as a substitute money was given to the parish poor. There can be no doubt about the substantial character of the gift, but a few regard the story of the “Crawls” as somewhat airy, and even connect the name with our old friends the crows.
A magnificent festival was held here lately when the present baronet came of age. It lasted three days, and at night the avenue of enormous elms and beeches shone with thousands of variegated lamps. Rich and poor were entertained, and many old Winchester people said, and deliberately too, that they did not think there ever was a more splendid spectacle.
FOOTNOTES:
| [102] | The Belgæ came to this country two hundred years before Cæsar. |
| [103] | Nearly opposite this church stands a large old building, now let in several tenements. It is called by the people in the neighbourhood “St. John’s Barracks,” or “Mundy’s Buildings.” The edifice is supposed to have been at different times a barrack and a workhouse. In one tenement there are remains of an oak staircase with an ornamental balustrade, and in another there is in an upper room a good chalk chimneypiece. |
| [104] | He was absolved in the chapter house. |
| [105] | One is the disused canal, another has a cascade. |
| [106] | Two miles from Twyford. |
| [107] | Since writing the above a Roman pottery kiln has been discovered about eight miles beyond Brambridge, on the property of Admiral Murray-Aynsley. It can be reached by train, being a mile and a half from the Botley station in the direction of Shidfield. |
| [108] | Mate. She married secondly one of the Hobbys who held this manor. |
| [109] | It is supposed a Gospel was read here during the perambulation of the bounds. |
| [110] | A turning north leads to Hampage from the Alresford (Magdalen) road, by which road Tichborne is about six miles from Winchester. |
THE END.