Pre-Norman Crondall's southern boundary is the
North Downs along which ran the prehistoric
Harrow Way, an ancient unpaved route in Britain which ran from the
Cornish tin mines to
Dover in Kent. Near this stretch of today's
Pilgrims' Way is evidence for
Neolithic settlements: an
Iron Age earthworks at
Caesar's Camp. Remains of
Roman settlements have been found close beside the Harrow Way near Barley Pound. Evidence for Roman occupation can be found in the fields as broken tiles and artefacts. In 1817 an intact Roman
mosaic pavement was found by a ploughman, 200 yards north of Barley Pound Farm and which is commemorated by a tapestry in the
parish church. Coins from the third century were found in 1869.
Crondall Hoard The Crondall Hoard of one hundred and one old French and Anglo-Saxon coins, two jewelled ornaments, and a chain was found in 1828. Some of these date to the fifth century and ninety seven of the coins are now in the possession of the
Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. The hoard was deposited after c. 630; of its 101 gold coins, 69 were Anglo-Saxon and 24 were Merovingian or
Frankish.
Crondall Hundred The map of Hampshire in the 1722 edition of
William Camden's
Britannia or Geographical Description of Britain and Ireland shows symbols for major habitation in
Farnborough,
Cove,
Ewshot,
Aldershot and
Crookham in the Crundhal (Crondall) hundred, a strategic collection of lands with a meeting place at which the wealthy and powerful would convene as needs require, and which came to hold
Hundred Courts, a level above the
Manorial courts. The Hundred of Crondall was divided into '
Manors', Itchell, Ewshot, Crokeham/Crookham Well, Feldmead, Dippenhall, Farnborough and Aldershot. These Manors are all mentioned in the records of
Winchester Cathedral. All the land within the Hundred was administered by a steward landowner at Crondall on behalf of "the monks of St Swithen" and later on behalf of the cathedral.
Evolution of the estate By the early 19th century the cathedral as manorial owner owned the pick of the surrounding five tithings, the last three of which came to be villages: Crondall, Swanthorpe, and portions of
Dippenhall,
Church Crookham and
Ewshot. This contrasted with lesser agricultural fertility land, much of which was
common land and which was no longer connected with the manor.
Itchell Manor The Giffard/Gifford of Itchel(l) family acquired a coat of arms in the
Middle Ages. Itchell Manor's gardens (house demolished 1954) were laid out by
Capability Brown. A greenhouse, built 1840, is still in use and a
Tudor Gateway remains. John Gifford died seised of the manor in 1563, leaving a son George, then aged 10 years. A third part of the manor passed to his widow who married William Hodges of
Weston Sub Edge. In 1579, shortly after George Giffard came of age,
Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Southampton, desiring to add it to his neighbouring estate of
Dogmersfield, purchased the estate. After 1628 the estate passed through several hands and in the 18th still had these closes/farmstead localities technically in its
freehold: The Hyde, Little Potter's Fore, Earlins, Two Downs, Tanley, Green Park, Park Corner, Dean's Piddle, Old Hop Garden.
Civil War All Saints' Church in Crondall was a minor parliamentary outpost for much of the
English Civil War, guarding the western approaches to Farnham.
Tithe map A
Tithe Map of The Hundred of Crondall, dated 1846, is housed at the Hampshire County Archive in Winchester. ==Industry==