A History of the Parish of All Saints'  Hordle

The present "All Saints" building in the hamlet of Hordle is the third of a line carrying us back, at least, to the early 12th century.   The lych gate of the present church opens on to the road that links the first church to the present one, for if the visitor were to turn left and travel for two miles he would come to a graveyard, now hidden in dense undergrowth, where a stone cross marks the site of the old chancel, all about which, amongst tall grasses and nettles are the tombstones of another era.  Here within sound of the sea, stood a Norman church, small, to serve a small community and built from the ironstones and conglomerates that form scanty strata in the adjoining cliffs.

The first definite record of the church is in the Christchurch Cartulary and can be dated to about 1104:  "the church at Hordulla with the chapel of Melneford" (from Dugdale's Monasticon).  David Garrow in his celebrated History of Lymington, etc. published in 1825 gives a useful contemporary description of the church, which he describes as "squat and artless" . . . . it is built of a sort of stone precisely similar to that found among the neighboring cliffs", a stone formation which he later described as "nobules of hard stone of a reddish appearance, composed chiefly of small shells."

Why then, should men have wished to tear down this sacred building and move it so far inland?  The reasons may rediscovered from documents, happily still preserved, in the present church.  Without doubt the regular, tedious journeys to worship, especially on Sundays, must have irritated the majority of the parishioners whose homes lay mainly north of the hamlet of Downtown in the present village of Hordle.  How long this state of affairs had continued is not known, but a petition was drawn up early in 1830 and bears the signatures of 67 villagers (35 of whom sign with crosses).  This petition required the church to be taken down and rebuilt on a site more convenient, somewhere near the poorhouse, and stated that in its present position it could not properly serve the needs of the community.  It must be remembered that at this time the church was an important administrative center with its vestry meetings, as well as a center for religious worship.  To emphasize their desire for removal of the church the petitioners point out that the dilapidated state of the building rendered regular repairs too expensive, and these comments are certainly born out by the Churchwarden's Account Book for the period prior to 1830.  It has been stated by some that the old church was more central when the six salt pans belonging to Hordle were in operation and the population lived nearer the coast.  This may have been so, but for a church to be at some little distance from the community it served is not unknown locally, and Brockenhurst and Boldre may be quoted as examples.

The Bishop of Winchester gave his approval for the dismantling of the church and the building of a new one and it fell to the Rev. Thomas Robinson, then Vicar, and his church wardens to provide the stimulus for the changeover.  Their greatest problem lay in financing the operation, though the petition had specified one method, namely, that the parishioners were to be rated at not above one poor rate and those who could not pay in money "may work it out by conveying the materials of the old church to the spot where the new one is to be erected.  So much money is to be allowed for every load."  Another method was to make use of these materials carted from the old church as "foundations and as high as the plinth" and forth is the builder's estimate allowed 185 pounds.  A successful application for relief from duty on building materials was made, and a letter dated January 23rd, 1832, stated that: "31 pounds 5s. 4d. is to be paid to the minister and churchwardens of the Parish of Hordle being the amount received from the Commissioners of His Majesty's Excise for the Drawback of Duty on the bricks and glass," the duty relief on the timber amounted to 51 pounds 13s. 6d.

The lord of the manor of Hordle, Mr. John Roger, was required "to give and subscribe the sum of fifty pounds towards the expense of such removal or rebuilding" of the church, provided that he and his heirs should be indemnified against any further costs arising from the operation.

The narrative goes on to discuss the architects of the new church and the problems they encountered.

The new church only stood for forty years because the structure was so poorly built.  The second church was dismantled  and a new one was built which stands today.

Stones of Hordle's ancient church are spread around the parish and beyond, many now form a rockery in the garden of Yeatton House, an a few may be seen in a small heap alongside Collet's memorial at the east end of the church.

During the first ordnance survey of Hampshire in 1791-94 the "old" Hordle church was used as a triangulation point.

Prior to the boundary changes made in 1905 and 1932 Hordle parish was bordered on the south by the Solent, by the north by the New Forest, had Milton parish as its western boundary (defined for some distance by the Danestream).

Milford, Pennington and Sway parishes jointly enclosed its eastern limits, the boundary being defined for some distance by the Avon Water.  In shape it approximated to an hour-glass being broad in the north and south and constricted across the center.  The communities or hamlets  of Mead End, Tiptoe, Arnewood, Downton, Taddisford and Hordle Cliff all fell within the bounds of the parish.  Hurst Castle Spit was a detached part of the civil parish until 1905.  By an Order in Council, dated October, 1951, the spit was taken from the ecclesiastical parish of Hordle and assigned to that of Milford.

BENEFICE

The earliest record of Hordle was thought to be a Saxon charter of A.D. 903, being a grant by King Edward to Tata, son of Aethehun, of three hides of land there.  In the Christchurch Priory Cartulary is a deed dated to about 1104 which states that before the time of William Rufus (1087-1100) the churches of Boldre, Brockenhurst and Hordle (Hordull) belonged to the Priory: and another deed of 1161 confirms to Christchurch the churches of "Hordull and Mulneford"  (i.e. Milford).

Throughout the middle ages the churches of Hordle and Milford, both being ancient parochial chapelries of Christchurch were held and served together, at first by a priest of the Priory, who in the 14th century became vicar.  From that date the succession of vicars is complete.  An order in Council of December, 1860, declared the vicarage of Hordle distinct from that of Milford from time immemorial, and ordered that in future they be separately held.

The Glebe House was built in 1862 at the cost of 1,250 pounds, the vicar previously resided at Milford.

Appendix

Notes on church registers and documents.

The registers are not of any antiquity, but those that survive contain much of interest additional to the plain entries.

Marriages:   Vol. 1. 1754-1813 (unbound).
                     Vol. 2. 1813-37 (short period because register layout was changed).
                     Vol. 3. 1837-1928

Baptisms:     Vol. 1. 1772-1813 (containing burials for same period)
                     Vol. 2. 1813-1859
                     Vol. 3. 1859-1942
                     Vol. 4. 1942 -the present

Burials:         Vol. 1. 1773-1813
                     Vol. 2. 1813-1905
                     Vol. 3. 1905-the present

Registers of banns also exist from the mid-18th century.
Churchwardens' Account Book 1800-1839 (containing Church Rate and details of expenditure).

Poor Rate Account Books 1786-1796; 1804-1809; 1820-1830; and for 1840-41.  There are many miscellaneous papers referring to the operation of the Poor Laws within the parish.

A large number of books and documents concerning the parish workhouse survive, falling mainly in the period 1814 to 1825.

A number of Removal and Bastardly (filiation) Orders survive for the first two decades of the 19th century and a few earlier.

A large number of unclassifiable, miscellaneous parish and church documents and books.

An act of Parliament for enclosing the lands of Sway Quarr, Sway Romsey and the Manor of Arnewood passed in 1820 survives with an accompanying map. (There is a copy at the Hampshire Record Office).

The pamphlet then lists the Vicars of Milford and Hordle , Curates, Churchwardens, a list of overseers of the poor for Hordle Parish and an appendix regarding published books and articles on Hordle.
 

SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS HISTORY
 

• At this time, we have two thoughts concerning the Stay family roots in this parish.  One is that the family migrated from the north either in Dorset or Sumerset, the other would lead us to believe the family originated in this immediate area in Hampshire.
• We have the family Bible held by Chris Upton that indicates the family originated in Somersetshire.
• The research of Trevor Burborough leads the family to the conclusion that the family (Richard Stay) stemmed from Dorset.
• In reviewing the very earliest records available from the Hordle Parish, there is an absence of Stay's.
• The account about the moving the church from by the sea to two miles inland took place when the Stay family resided in and about Hordle.  Accounts also indicate that the family was poor thus they likely walked the two miles conveying stone from the old church to the new church location.
• From this account, it is clear that Milford and Hordle were tightly bound together by the sharing of a vicar and that the two hamlets were often considered one and the same in regards to history.
• The early records for the period during which  Richard Stay, his father Richard Stay and his father Richard Stay 's birth and marriages have not survived which could account for Richard not being listed as being born in the village.

There is a clear connection between Hordle Parish and the rather large family of Stay's on the Isle of Wight.  In particular two men possibly brothers of Peter of Richard married women from the Isle and then took up residence there.

It would be great to attempt to tie all of these families into one if the records will permit..

Recently, the old church location has been cleaned up.  Article from the Echo April 19th 1989 follows:

"A far more modest scheme is a 5,000 pound spruce-up for Hordle Churchyard at Hordle Cliffs near Hordle House boys' private school.

Ted Johnson says the site, owned by the district council, has fallen into disrepair in recent years and is easily overlooked.

Yet is is a prized, though recently neglected, example of a Norman ruin.  The church was built from ironstones and other material from the cliffs.

Only a few humble stones remain of the 900-year old church and its burial ground.  But restoration work is almost finished.  It includes replenishment of a hedge, reinstatement of an ancient churchyard lych gate, and rebuilding a wall and fence.  - - - "

[BACK]