Historical names: Abedestune
Location: Itchen Stoke, Hampshire
Places / associated places: Itchen Stoke, Hampshire
Listed in Domesday Book: Yes
Location & Extent
GPS Location & Recorded Land Areas
Representative GPS point: 51.1074679, -1.1972006
Identity: confirmed — The supplied TNA/MDR record F237413, authority GB/NNAF/M167367, location Itchen Stoke, Hampshire, and the associated historical description consistently identify the Abbotstone manor in the Candover valley, distinct from the separate Abbotstone/Titchborne estate in Whiteparish, Wiltshire.
Representative point: 51.1074679, -1.1972006
Basis: documented_manor_house — Hampshire Garden Trust identifies the Abbotstone house site, associated with the Paulet and Bolton manor estate, at this GPS position. The later house was built around 1680 on high ground overlooking the earlier sixteenth-century manor house site; the house was demolished after 1759, but associated garden and estate earthworks survive.
Point confidence: high
Boundary status: representative_point_only
Boundary period: Medieval and early modern manor, documented from Domesday 1086 through the Paulet and Bolton ownership period
Boundary confidence: none
Boundary basis: The sources establish Abbotstone as a substantial Domesday estate of nine hides and document its manor house, mill, village, church, fields and later estate lands, but no reliable source located in this research provides a mapped perimeter for the historical manorial land. The deserted-village scheduled-monument boundary and the later Itchen Stoke and Abbotstone parish boundary cannot safely be substituted for the manor boundary.
Sources:
- The National Archives, Manorial Documents Register: Abbotstone Manor, F237413: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F237413 — Registry record and authority reference for the exact manor; the catalogue page was access-restricted during research, so the supplied record metadata and description were used for identity control.
- Hampshire Garden Trust Research: Abbotstone: https://research.hgt.org.uk/item/abbotstone/ — Identifies the Abbotstone manor-house and estate site, describes the sixteenth-century and circa-1680 Paulet houses, later gardens and surviving earthworks, and supplies GPS 51.1074679, -1.1972006.
- Historic England: Deserted village of Abbotstone, List Entry 1001866: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1001866 — Locates the deserted medieval settlement at NGR SU5677434433 and documents its manor-associated settlement features, church site, crofts, hollow ways, mill relationship and Domesday evidence. The scheduled area is not treated as the manor boundary.
- Mapping the Medieval Countryside: Inquisition post mortem evidence for Abbotstone: https://inquisitionspostmortem.ac.uk/view/inquisition/23-294/301.html — Provides medieval documentary evidence for Abbotstone as a manor with a capital messuage, arable land, meadow and pasture, supporting the existence and territorial character of the manor without supplying a mappable perimeter.
- Hampshire County Council: Maps and plans: https://www.hants.gov.uk/librariesandarchives/archives/popular-records/maps-plans — Confirms the availability and archival significance of Hampshire tithe maps and awards, including the type of source needed for boundary reconstruction; no accessible mapped Abbotstone manor perimeter was found in this research.
Warnings / uncertainty:
- The representative point is safe for locating the manor-house or manorial centre, but it is not a claim that the surviving house-site coordinate marks the medieval manor's geometric centre.
- No historically defensible polygon was found. Do not use the modern civil parish, the scheduled-monument boundary, the settlement footprint, or the later estate boundary as a proxy for the medieval manorial extent.
- The manor's documentary extent is indicated by the Domesday nine-hide assessment and later references to arable, meadow, pasture, mill, village and estate lands, but the precise perimeter remains unresolved.
About the Manor
Abbotstone was an ancient manor and settlement in the Candover valley, in the historic parish of Abbotstone and later associated with Itchen Stoke, Hampshire. The settlement is now regarded as a deserted medieval village. Domesday Book records Abedestune as a substantial estate of nine hides held in 1086 by Hugh de Port from the Bishop of Winchester, with five ploughlands, villeins, bordars, a mill and meadow. A mill and other Abbotstone property are recorded in early thirteenth-century feet of fines, and the manor was held by the St John family by the early fourteenth century. A manor house or capital messuage existed by the later Middle Ages. Sir William Paulet built a substantial house at Abbotstone in the sixteenth century; a later house associated with the Paulet family and the Dukes of Bolton stood there in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and was demolished about 1760. The manor and estate remained associated with the Paulet and Bolton family estates until sale to Alexander Baring in 1818 or 1819. The manor should not be confused with the separate Abbotstone/Titchborne estate in Whiteparish, Wiltshire.
Ownership / Holder Account
The secure descent begins with Hugh de Port's Domesday holding in 1086. Adam de Port is directly associated with Abbotstone in 1173, when he pledged the stock of the estate, and again in a 1203 fine concerning the Abbotstone mill and messuages. The documentary sequence is incomplete between the de Port evidence and the St John evidence. John de St John held the villa of Abbotstone in 1316, and in 1323 his son William de St John and William's wife Eleanor were the objects of a settlement of the manor. Following William's death, Eleanor's remarriage gave Gerard de Lisle a dower or marital interest rather than an independently evidenced absolute title; by 1347 the manor was held by Edmund de St John, and his widow Elizabeth subsequently held it by his gift. The later fourteenth- and fifteenth-century descent is not fully reconstructed from the sources consulted. In 1442 Constance, widow of John Paulet, was seised of a one-third share of the manor and advowson, with Henry Grene holding that share by the courtesy of England after her death. By 1501 John Paulet is recorded as having inherited the St John manors, including Abbotstone, from his mother Eleanor. In 1539 the manor is reported as having been united with Itchen Stoke and granted by the Crown to Sir William Paulet. The Paulet family retained the estate, subject to Parliamentarian sequestration or temporary displacement during the Commonwealth period, until the Restoration returned the property to the family. The estate was associated with the Marquesses of Winchester and subsequently the Dukes of Bolton. It was sold to Alexander Baring in 1818 or 1819; the exact date and legal form of the conveyance require confirmation from estate or conveyance records.
Manorial Rights & Privileges
Historic manorial rights / privileges (1)
Advowson associated with the manor, including a recorded one-third share in 1442.
Provisional
The supplied ownership history records Constance as holding a one-third share of the manor and advowson in 1442.
Conveyance & Descent
First holder to present holder: blood proximity & distance travelled
First recorded holder: Hugh de Port
Present holder:
Recorded title journey: 17 holder entries in this manor's saved Conveyance & Descent history.
No recorded holder currently has a usable saved direct-blood or collateral-blood relationship path from which to calculate proximity percentages.
First recorded holder → present holder
A usable saved blood relationship path between the first recorded holder and the present holder has not yet been recorded, so that first-to-present genealogical distance cannot be calculated.
Hugh de Port, Norman tenant-in-chief and royal official, Domesday holder of numerous Hampshire estates
Transfer: Domesday holding
Holding arrangement: Other — The Domesday entry describes Hugh de Port as holding Abbotstone from the Bishop of Winchester; this is a feudal tenancy or under-tenure rather than ownership in fee simple.
Shared holding: de Port family
Co-holder: Adam de Port
Previous holder: Bishop of Winchester
Domesday Book records Abedestune as held by Hugh de Port from the Bishop of Winchester. The estate had nine hides, five ploughlands, a mill, meadow and a recorded rural population. The source establishes Hugh's direct seisin or tenure of Abbotstone in 1086 but does not by itself establish the exact form of his predecessor's title before the Conquest.
Source: Domesday Book, Hampshire entry for Abedestune; reproduced in The Domesday Book Online, Hampshire A-K, entry Abbotstone. — source link
Transfer: Documentary appearance as holder or person exercising lordship over Abbotstone; the stock of Abbotstone was pledged for seven years as security for a loan.
Holding arrangement: Other — The 1173 transaction concerns the stock and exploitation of the estate and is evidence of control or lordship, not a recorded conveyance of the freehold.
Shared holding: de Port family
Co-holder: Hugh de Port
Previous holder: Uncertain; the intervening descent from Hugh de Port is not securely documented in the sources consulted.
A 1173 document records Adam de Port borrowing 40 marks and pledging the stock of Abbodestune for seven years. The evidence links Adam de Port directly to Abbotstone but does not prove a transfer to him on that date or fill every step between Hugh de Port and Adam.
Source: Isabel Sanderson, 'Abbotstone: A Deserted Medieval Village', Hampshire Studies, vol. 28, citing the 1173 transaction. — source link
Adam de Port, Member of the de Port baronial family
Transfer: Retained or asserted rights in Abbotstone in a feet of fine concerning the mill, land and messuages.
Holding arrangement: Other — The fine concerns specific property and appurtenances in Abbotstone, not necessarily the whole manor.
Shared holding: de Port family
Co-holder: Hugh de Port
Previous holder: Henry Hose and Clemencia, whose claim was remised and quitclaimed
A fine dated in the octave of St Hilary, 4 John, records a dispute involving a mill, land and messuages in Abbotstone. Henry Hose and his wife Clemencia quitclaimed their rights, while Adam de Port granted other Abbotstone land in return. This is direct evidence of Adam de Port's control of substantial Abbotstone property but should not be expanded into a transfer of the entire manor.
Source: Feet of Fines, Hampshire, CP 25/1/203/2, fine of 4 John concerning Abateston. — source link
John de St John, Member of the St John family of Basing, lord of Abbotstone in 1316, Lord of Felbridge
Transfer: Descent or succession from the earlier de Port-associated lordship is not documented in the sources consulted; John de St John is recorded holding the villa of Abbotstone.
Shared holding: St John family
Co-holders: William de St John and Eleanor de Arundel, Edmund de St John
Previous holder: Uncertain; documentary gap between the de Port evidence and the St John evidence
In 1316 John de St John held the villa of Abbedestune in Bountisborough Hundred. The source provides a direct manor or vill connection but does not identify the conveyance by which the estate came into the St John family.
Source: Isabel Sanderson, 'Abbotstone: A Deserted Medieval Village', Hampshire Studies, vol. 28, reporting the 1316 Nomina Villarum evidence. — source link
William de St John and Eleanor de Arundel, Member of the St John family, son of Sir John de St John
Transfer: Settlement of the manor of Abbotstone on William de St John and his wife Eleanor.
Holding arrangement: Joint — Joint settlement on husband and wife; the precise life-estate and reversionary terms require consultation of the original settlement.
Shared holding: St John family
Co-holders: John de St John, Edmund de St John
Previous holder: John de St John, Member of the St John family of Basing, lord of Abbotstone in 1316, Lord of Felbridge
The Victoria County History reports that in 1323 Sir John de St John settled the manor of Abbotstone on his son William and William's wife Eleanor. William predeceased his father, and later evidence shows that Eleanor's marital or dower interest could be exercised by her subsequent husband Gerard de Lisle. The settlement itself is evidence of the manor connection; the subsequent legal consequences are not treated as a simple sale.
Source: William Page, ed., Victoria County History of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, vol. 4 (1911), account of Itchen Stoke with Abbotstone, p. 193; the settlement is also discussed with reference to the VCH account in the published genealogical source. — source link
Gerard de Lisle, in right of Eleanor de Arundel, 1st Baron Lisle, knight
Transfer: Dower or marital interest arising through Eleanor de Arundel, widow of William de St John; no independent conveyance of the manor to Gerard is evidenced.
Holding arrangement: Other — Dower or marital interest only; not established as sole ownership.
Shared holding: St John dower interest
Previous holder: William de St John and Eleanor de Arundel, Member of the St John family, son of Sir John de St John
Gerard de Lisle was associated with Abbotstone through his marriage to Eleanor de Arundel, widow of William de St John. The evidence indicates that his right derived from Eleanor's dower or marital rights, not from a separate conveyance of the manor to Gerard. Eleanor was dead by 30 March 1347, after which this particular interest ceased.
Source: Discussion of the Abbotstone settlement and dower position citing Victoria County History, Hampshire, vol. 4, p. 193, and related medieval records. — source link
Edmund de St John, Member of the St John family, holder of Abbotstone at death
Transfer: Returned to or retained by the St John family before Edmund's death; no separate conveyance into Edmund is identified.
Shared holding: St John family
Co-holders: John de St John, William de St John and Eleanor de Arundel
Previous holder: Gerard de Lisle's dower or marital interest and Eleanor de Arundel's prior interest
Inquisitions post mortem taken after Edmund de St John's death at Calais in 1347 record him as holding Abbotstone and its advowson. This is direct evidence that the manor was back in the St John family by 1347, but the exact date and instrument of the change are not known.
Source: Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, vol. 9 (1916), pp. 39-40, as cited in the published discussion of Abbotstone ownership. — source link
Elizabeth de St John, later wife of Gerard de Lisle, Widow of Edmund de St John
Transfer: Gift or settlement by Edmund de St John, her first husband; later held in her own right or under the terms of his gift.
Holding arrangement: Other — Widow's or settlement interest; the exact legal extent is not fully stated in the consulted source.
Shared holding: St John widow's holding
Previous holder: Edmund de St John, Member of the St John family, holder of Abbotstone at death
A later inquisition states that Elizabeth, then wife of Gerard de Lisle and formerly wife of Edmund de St John, held the manors of Abbotstone and Bromley by the gift of Edmund, her deceased husband. This establishes Elizabeth's direct holding or estate in Abbotstone, but not an outright alienation from the St John family.
Source: Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, vol. 10 (1921), pp. 228-229, as cited in the published discussion of Abbotstone ownership. — source link
Constance, wife and widow of John Paulet, Holder of one-third of Abbotstone manor and advowson
Transfer: Inherited or otherwise held a one-third share of the manor and a one-third share of the advowson; the preceding conveyance is not identified.
Holding arrangement: Share — One-third share of the manor and one-third share of the advowson
Shared holding: Paulet family
Co-holders: John Paulet, Sir William Paulet, William Paulet, 2nd Marquess of Winchester, John Paulet, 5th Marquis of Winchester
Previous holder: Uncertain
An inquisition post mortem records Constance, wife of John Paulet, as seised of one-third of the manor of Abbotstone and one-third of its advowson, valued at 53s. 4d. annually. After John Paulet's death she married Henry Grene, and after Constance's death Henry held the share by the courtesy of England.
Source: Inquisition post mortem for Constance, delivered 12 February, relating to her death on 27 November 1442; TNA reference C 139/108/22 mm. 3-4. — source link
Henry Grene, Esquire, holder by curtesy of Constance's Abbotstone share
Transfer: Held Constance's one-third share by the courtesy of England after her death.
Holding arrangement: Other — One-third share of the manor and advowson, held by curtesy
Shared holding: Grene marital holding
Previous holder: Constance
The inquisition for Constance states that Henry Grene survived her and held the recorded one-third of Abbotstone by curtesy. This was a life interest arising from marriage, not an absolute inheritance or independent conveyance of the manor.
Source: Inquisition post mortem for Constance, TNA C 139/108/22 mm. 3-4. — source link
John Paulet, Paulet heir to former St John manors, including Abbotstone
Transfer: Inheritance through his mother Eleanor of several former St John manors, including Abbotstone; the immediate predecessor and date of succession are not specified in the cited source.
Shared holding: Paulet family
Co-holders: Constance, wife and widow of John Paulet, Sir William Paulet, William Paulet, 2nd Marquess of Winchester, John Paulet, 5th Marquis of Winchester
Previous holder: Uncertain; St John and Poynings family interests
A study of the Hampshire county community records that John Paulet inherited from his mother Eleanor four manors, including the St John manors of Ludshott, Abbotstone and Bromley. This is a direct statement of manor inheritance, but it does not reconstruct each intervening fifteenth-century conveyance.
Source: The County Community of Hampshire c.1300-c.1530, discussion of John Paulet and the St John-Poynings-Paulet inheritance, citing Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, Henry VII, i, p. 355 and iii, pp. 110-111. — source link
Sir William Paulet, Lord St John of Basing, 1st Marquess of Winchester, statesman and court official, Baron St John of Basing, Earl of Wiltshire, Marquess of Winchester, Lord Treasurer of England, Knight of the Garter, Comptroller of the King's Household, Master of the King's Wards.
Transfer: Royal grant associated with the union of Abbotstone and Itchen Stoke during the Dissolution period.
Shared holding: Paulet family
Co-holders: Constance, wife and widow of John Paulet, John Paulet, William Paulet, 2nd Marquess of Winchester, John Paulet, 5th Marquis of Winchester
Previous holder: Crown or dissolved ecclesiastical interests; exact legal route for Abbotstone is not fully stated
Local and county historical accounts state that Abbotstone was united with the manor of Itchen Stoke in 1539 and granted by the King to Sir William Paulet. The grant is secure as a reported historical event, but the precise patent, extent and legal treatment of Abbotstone as distinct from Itchen Stoke should be checked against Crown and Augmentations records.
Source: Raymond Elliott, 'The Importance of Abbotstone'; Isabel Sanderson, 'Abbotstone: A Deserted Medieval Village'; and William Page, ed., Victoria County History of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, vol. 4 (1911). — source link
William Paulet, 2nd Marquess of Winchester, Lord St John of Basing
Transfer: Succession within the Paulet family; the exact instrument is not stated in the cited source.
Shared holding: Paulet family
Co-holders: Constance, wife and widow of John Paulet, John Paulet, Sir William Paulet, John Paulet, 5th Marquis of Winchester
Previous holder: Sir William Paulet, 1st Marquess of Winchester
A contemporary travel and court record identifies the Abbotstone manor-house in Itchen Stoke parish as owned by William Paulet, 1st Marquess of Winchester, in 1569 and by John Paulet, 2nd Marquess, in 1574. The 1569 entry is therefore evidence of the elder Paulet's ownership before succession to his son.
Source: The Elizabethan Court Day by Day, 1569, entry for Abbotstone manor-house. — source link
John Paulet, 5th Marquis of Winchester, Royalist defender of Basing House, Lord John Paulet, Baron St John of Basing from 1624, 5th Marquess of Winchester from 1629, 5th Marquess of Winchester, 5th Earl of Wiltshire, 5th Baron St John, Member of Parliament for St Ives, Royalist commander and governor of Basing House.
Transfer: Succession within the Paulet family; the family estate was later sequestrated or seized by Parliament during the Commonwealth period.
Shared holding: Paulet family
Co-holders: Constance, wife and widow of John Paulet, John Paulet, Sir William Paulet, William Paulet, 2nd Marquess of Winchester
Previous holder: Paulet family predecessor
The Paulet family, holders of Abbotstone and the wider Hampshire estates, supported the Crown during the Civil War. Accounts of the estate state that the Paulet lands were seized or placed under Parliamentarian control after the fall of Basing House in 1645. The exact legal status of Abbotstone during the Commonwealth and the identity of any temporary grantee require confirmation from sequestration and Commonwealth land records.
Source: Raymond Elliott, 'The Importance of Abbotstone'; Hampshire Garden Trust, Abbotstone research; and local historical accounts of the Paulet estates during the Civil War. — source link
Transfer: Succession and restoration of the Paulet family estate after the Commonwealth interruption; no separate Abbotstone conveyance identified.
Shared holding: Paulet family and Dukes of Bolton
Previous holder: Paulet family predecessor and, during the Commonwealth, Parliamentarian control
Charles Paulet, 6th Marquess of Winchester, was created 1st Duke of Bolton in 1689. Abbotstone was one of the family's Hampshire seats, and the house and gardens there are documented as belonging to or being occupied by the Duke's family. The evidence establishes the family holding and occupation but does not provide a separate deed for the manor at the date of creation of the dukedom.
Source: Hampshire Garden Trust, Abbotstone research; Historic England listing for Abbotstone Farmhouse; Raymond Elliott, 'The Importance of Abbotstone'. — source link
Paulet family, Dukes of Bolton and successors, Successive Marquesses of Winchester and Dukes of Bolton
Transfer: Continued family ownership through successive dukes and the later Bolton estate; the individual succession and legal instruments are not fully reconstructed here.
Shared holding: Dukes of Bolton
Previous holder: Charles Paulet, 1st Duke of Bolton and Paulet family predecessors
Historical accounts state that Abbotstone remained part of the Paulet and Dukes of Bolton estates until the early nineteenth century. The later house was abandoned and demolished about 1760, but this did not itself terminate the manor or estate interest. A complete list of the successive dukes and the exact legal descent of the manor has not been established from the sources consulted.
Source: Hampshire Garden Trust, Abbotstone research; Winchester City Council, Itchen Stoke Conservation Area Technical Assessment; Raymond Elliott, 'The Importance of Abbotstone'. — source link
Alexander Baring, Banker, financier and politician, created Baron Ashburton in 1835, 1st Baron Ashburton
Transfer: Purchase of the Abbotstone estate from the Bolton family; sources differ between 1818 and 1819 for the transaction or completion date.
Shared holding: Baring family
Previous holder: Paulet family and Dukes of Bolton
The Abbotstone estate was sold by the Bolton family to Alexander Baring in the late 1810s. One account dates the purchase to 1818 and another states that the entire estate was sold in 1819. The discrepancy may reflect contract, completion, or different definitions of the estate conveyed. A conveyance, sale catalogue, or estate abstract should be consulted before assigning a single exact date.
Source: Raymond Elliott, 'The Importance of Abbotstone'; Handed On, 'Bolton Hall, Yorkshire', reporting Alexander Baring's purchase of the Abbotstone estate for £64,200 in 1818; Winchester City Council, Itchen Stoke Conservation Area Technical Assessment. — source link
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