AVINGTON MANOR

Identity: confirmed — The registry location and associated place identify the Hampshire manor at Avington in the Itchen Valley, distinct from the same-named manor at Avington, Kintbury, Berkshire. Historic England places Avington House in Avington Park, Itchen Valley, Hampshire, at SU 53255 32323. Historical evidence identifies the site as the medieval and later manorial centre of Avington, held by the Bishop and Priory of St Swithun at Winchester and later by successive lay owners.
Representative point: 51.08780, -1.24101
Basis: documented_manor_house — Avington House is the documented historic country house and manorial centre within Avington Park. Historic England gives its National Grid Reference as SU 53255 32323, corresponding to approximately 51.08780, -1.24101 WGS84.
Point confidence: high
Boundary status: representative_point_only
Boundary period: Not established
Boundary confidence: none
Boundary basis: The research establishes the manor's location but does not provide a reliable perimeter for the historical manorial land. The Domesday description records Avington as five hides with land for five ploughs and sixteen acres of meadow, but does not define a mappable boundary. Historic England documents a later registered Avington Park of approximately 270 hectares, including farmland, woodland and landscaped parkland, but this is a later designed estate/park boundary and cannot safely be substituted for the medieval or early-modern manor boundary. No authoritative manor map, rental plan, enclosure plan, tithe plan, or scholarly reconstruction defining the full manorial perimeter was located.
Sources:
- The National Archives: Avington Manor, F238906: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F238906 — Registry record for the exact Hampshire manor identified as Avington Manor.
- Historic England: Avington House, Itchen Valley, List Entry 1095887: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1095887 — Identifies the Grade I Avington House in Hampshire and gives National Grid Reference SU 53255 32323; describes the late sixteenth-century house and its historic redevelopment.
- Historic England: Avington Park, Itchen Valley, Register Entry 1000529: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1000529 — Describes Avington Park as a medieval- and seventeenth-century-origin estate later landscaped by the third Duke of Chandos; records the registered site as approximately 270 hectares and explains its park boundaries and later subdivision. It does not establish the medieval manor boundary.
- Winchester City Council: Avington Conservation Area Technical Assessment: https://www.winchester.gov.uk/assets/attach/21684/Avington-Conservation-Area-Technical-Assessment-March-2002.pdf — Places Avington in the Itchen Valley and records the traditional history of the manor, including its grant to the Bishop of Winchester and later association with St Swithun's Priory.
- Avington Estate: History of Avington Estate: https://www.avington.com/the-history-of-avington/ — Provides contextual evidence linking the present Avington House site with the earlier medieval manor house and records the Domesday assessment, including five ploughlands and sixteen acres of meadow.
Warnings / uncertainty:
- Do not use the boundary of the modern Itchen Valley civil parish, the Avington Conservation Area, or the registered Avington Park as the historical manor boundary.
- The registered park covers approximately 270 hectares, but it is a later estate and landscape boundary rather than a demonstrated medieval or early-modern manorial perimeter.
- Avington Manor in Kintbury, West Berkshire, is a different manor and was excluded from the identification.