South Stoneham

A charter dating from 990 relates to the manor of South Stoneham, and archaeological evidence of a Saxon settlement was found during building works in the area immediately around the current South Stoneham House. The manor of South Stoneham was originally called Bishop's Stoneham, and was held by the Bishop of Winchester at the time of the Domesday Book. Other than St. Mary's Church (which is close to South Stoneham House but predates it considerably) and a few adjacent houses, there was no village of "South Stoneham"; instead these adjoined, as it does today, Swaythling ("now practically a suburb of Southampton, and [a] favourite residential quarter"), which became the generally used name for all the rest of the parish. The tenants of the manor apparently took their name from it; a Gregory de South Stoneham (or Gegory de Stoneham) is recorded there in 1236 and 1249, and in 1315 the manor was held by Nicholas de South Stoneham (son of Guy de South Stoneham). In 1348 Thomas de Stoneham and his wife Alice were lord and lady of the manor, and five heiresses of theirs – possibly daughters – held the manor in 1367. However, that year they quitclaimed it to Adam le Chaundle. Capelyn sold the manor to William Conway in 1600, who sold it to Edmund Clerke in 1612; Clerke's son inherited the manor in 1634 but only survived for a further two years, at which point the manor passed to Edmund Clerke's 8½-year-old grandson, another Edmund. This Edmund Clerke was the Sheriff of Hampshire and clerk to the Signet in 1671. South Stoneham House was constructed in 1708 as the Dummers' family home, and has been attributed to Nicholas Hawksmoor. Dummer was from nearby North Stoneham and had been baptised in St. Nicolas' Church there. As of 1915 the grounds of the house comprised 110 acres, with 5 acres of water, and were laid out after 1722 by Capability Brown (though very little of the original landscaping remains). Edmund Dummer was declared bankrupt in 1711 and he died in debtors' prison two years later. His cousin Thomas, a lawyer who had acquired the manor on Edmund's behalf, fought a lawsuit attempting to gain control of the property; however in 1716, Edward Nicholas of Newton Valence took ownership of South Stoneham. William Sloane, whose brother founded the British Museum, purchased the manor from Nicholas in 1740, "Gascon's Meadow with house thereon in South Stoneham" was reconveyanced the next year. In 1888 South Stoneham House was purchased from Davison by Samuel Montagu, 1st Baron Swaythling. ==Parish==

The original parish of South Stoneham covered over and extended along the eastern side of the River Itchen from the site of the present day Eastleigh in the north to just above Northam Bridge in the south, and from Swaythling to the outskirts of the original town of Southampton on the western side of the river, and, prior to boundary changes in 1891–94, comprised the eight tithings of Allington, Barton, Bitterne, Boyatt, Eastleigh, Pollack, Portswood, and Shamblehurst. Other than the parish church of St Mary and a few adjacent houses, there was no village of "South Stoneham". In the Domesday Book, the church at South Stoneham was the property of Richer the clerk, "who held this, with two dependent churches near Southampton, of the bishop of Winchester". Richer ("Richerius") was also the priest and holder of the benefice of St. Mary's Church at Southampton. The parish was listed as "Stanham – Manebrige Hundred – Hantscire". By the 16th century, South Stoneham was described as "an appropriation of St. Mary's Church, Southampton" and both churches were in the gift and under the special jurisdiction of the Bishop of Winchester. As a result of the expansion of Southampton, the Local Government Act 1894 caused much of the parish of South Stoneham to be incorporated into newly formed neighbouring civil parishes, with the remaining parish covering . ==Poor law union (1835–1930) ==

South Stoneham Poor Law Union was formed on 25 March 1835 with nine constituent parishes and overseen by a board of 16 governors. The original nine parishes were Botley, Burlesdon, Chilworth, Hamble, Hound, Milbrook, North Stoneham, St Mary's Extra, and South Stoneham. ==Sanitary district (1875–1894)==

Sanitary districts were established in England and Wales in 1875. In rural districts (as South Stoneham was at the time), they were coterminous with the existing poor law unions. As well as the Rural Sanitary Authority, a South Stoneham Highways Board was established. ==Rural district (1894–1932)==

South Stoneham Rural District was established by the Local Government Act 1894, replacing the sanitary authority. The Highways Board continued to meet separately from the new district council. South Stoneham Rural District was divided and merged into other authorities in 1932, one part of it becoming part of Winchester Rural District and the other joining the Southampton Corporation. ==Notable people==

• Daniel Grose (1903–1971), first-class cricketer and British Army officer • Kenneth Robinson (1897–1963), first-class cricketer and Royal Navy officer ==References==