Historical Notes on Froyle
Historical facts, figures, legends, rumours etc., after about 25 years of research by T.Knight. Several ideas as to the meaning of the name Froyle have been suggested, but the most likely seems to be that given by Christopher Hussey in Country Life.

Froehyll - an old English word meaning Frea’s Hill

Nothing has been discovered before the 11th Century. Froli was a Royal Manor and was held by Edward the Confessor “in his own person”. His Queen, Editha, held the manor of Alton (Aweltone). With the Conquest, Froli came into the hands of William the Conqueror and is mentioned in Domesday as Froli.
 1086 William gave the manor to the nuns of St.Mary’s, Winchester, known then as Nunnaminster.
1100-1200  Nothing has been discovered during this century except that St.Mary’s held the manor. 
1200-1300
1236 The Abbess of St.Mary’s, who owned Froyle Place, sold three tuns of cider at Froyle for 21/-.
1240  Out of four tuns made, two were retained by the Abbess for Bever (feast) on the manor. 
1262  Walter Heusse (Hussey) held the manor of Husseys which consisted of a messuage, mill and caracute of land. This Walter Heusse, Huse, Huseye, or Hussey, seems to have been an important man in the district as he is mentioned in the records of Alton (Aulton) in 1272. All through this century St.Mary’s continued to hold the chief manor, no doubt that known now as Upper Froyle, although Upper and Lower Froyle are not mentioned separately until the 18th Century.
1274  The vicar of Froyle attended an enquiry as to whether the rectory of Worldham was vacant or not. His name is not given. This seems to imply that there was an older church than the present chancel which is definitely 14th Century.
1300-1400  This was an important century for Froyle.
1340  Froille is mentioned as being in the Deanery of Alton. The church was built between 1300 and 1350. This is dealt with under Froyle Church. Five Vicars have been traced:- 
1307 Walter de Bertone.
1311 Philip.
1342 John Quenyngdon.
1381 William Bakere.
1394 William Polhamptone.
St.Mary’s continued to hold the chief manor, and the Husseys, or Huseyes, that of Husseys.
1336  Nicholas Hussey. 
1382  Nicholas Hussey and Christine his wife. 
1377  John Mott of Froyle died. His will, in Latin was discovered in 1926 in Lambeth Palace Library
1. Money for candles to burn before the image of the Virgin in the church.
2. Money for candles to burn in the Easter Sepulchre (this Sepulchre still exists)
3. £40 owing to him by Nicholas Hussey to be paid to his (John Mott’s) wife. 
1337  About this date, or soon after, John de Brocas, a refugee from Gascony, took service with Edward III. He fought at Crecy and the siege of Cala. He became Sir John Brocas and was rewarded with several estates of manors in Hampshire, including Froyle. This manor probably included the whole of what is now Lower Froyle except Husseys. Sir John was succeeded by his son, Sir Edward Brocas, who was a friend of the Black Prince, and supported him in warlike expeditions in France and Spain. He was afterwards the guide and friend of Richard II. Sir Bernard died in 1397 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. It is about this knight that the highly improbable story was told that he “cut off the King of Morrocco’s head”. The story probably arose from the strange crest which Sir Bernard adopted, but the head on the crest is that of a Negro, not a Moor. Sir Bernard’s son, the second Sir Bernard, was also faithful to his king, Richard II. With other knights he opposed Henry Bolingbroke (Henry IV) in 1381 but was taken prisoner, carried to London, and executed at Tyburn. The Brocas family continued to hold the Froyle property until 1539. Other property was held by the Brocas family at Beaurepaire near Basingstoke, Sherfield, Sherborne, Bramley and Tadley. The first Sir Bernard married Mary des Riches of Rocke (Roche?) Court, and a lot of the property came to the family through this marriage. Part of the ‘Anchor’ at Lower Froyle was built during this century, also the former Blunden’s Farm House, now occupied by V.J.Gadban, Esq. (at the time of writing) 
1400-1500   
1414  Nicholas Husseye conveyed the manor of Husseye to Richard Wye, who, in 1416, conveyed it to Thomas Colrith. It afterwards came into the possession of Sir Richard Holt, and afterwards to Sir Richard Berkeley. After 1414 the Husseys seem to have remained as tenants, as Nicholas Hussey is returned as tenant in 1415 of seven virgates of land and two mills, rent 61/-. 
1496  Sir Thomas Brocas owned property in the market place of Aulton. This was sold by his son, Edward Brocas, to William Baynton of Aulton Westbroke. Brocas continued to be held by the Brocas family. St.Mary’s continued to hold the chief manor.
No vicars can be traced during this century, and it is generally accepted that the church was served by the monks of Neatham, or Neteham, which was at one time a more important place than Alton. 
1500-1600   
1502  Sir Edward Berkeley, owner of Husseys, was a free suitor to the lady of the chief manor of Froyle. As the chief manor was still held by St.Mary’s, this can only mean that the lady was a tenant of Froyle place, the house which stood on the site of the present Froyle Place, which was built in 1588. 
1506  Edith Pexall (nee Brocas) died. She had married Ralph Pexall. Their son, Sir Richard Pexall, in 1556, exchanged Alton Eastbrook for Bradenstoke in Wiltshire. 
1536  At the Dissolution, the manor of Froyle came into the possession of William Jephson. The Jephsons also gradually acquired Brocas and Husseys, making the whole to a compact estate. 
1588  The present Froyle Place was built by the Jephsons on the site of the older house.
Two vicars are mentioned during this century.
1529 William Wyncard.
1542 Sir John Acrewe.
The living was worth £11. 12. 3½d. There is a tomb in the Chancel “John Lighe, Esq., of this parish died 1575”. A brass on the tomb shows him in his clerical attire. Curtis tells us that John Leigh purchased Coldrey House from the nuns of Waverley Abbey, and was buried at Froyle Church. This is probably the same man. One wonders, can he possibly have been vicar of Froyle, and was Coldrey at that time part of Froyle? In the 18th Century, Coldrey is described as “an extra parochial place near Froyle” as is also Bonhams. 
1600-1700  Early in this century the Burninghams settled at Cattleys, first as tenants. They later purchased it from the Jephsons. By this time the three manors had become one.
Three vicars have come to light during this time.
1655 Roger Moor.
1688 Richard Ffarrer.
1697 Richard Jope. 
1600  There was a Fulling Mill at Millcourt belonging to Henry Wheeler where the wool was cleansed before being sent to the Clothiers. It is generally supposed that Fuller’s Earth, having been discovered at Churt, was first used here and at Orp’s Mill, Alton.
Hampshire was famous for its wool in the Middle Ages, and there many of these Fulling Mills. Wool was exported from Southampton, where it was weighed on the Tron (weighing beam) to collect the King’s dues. Woollen goods were made in Hampshire towns, including Alton, and in village cottages. “Burrells”, “Quilts” and “Challons” were made. “Challons” were the nearest thing to our modern day blankets. Blankets, as we know them, were first made by Mr.Blanket of Trowbridge, Wilts, in 1836 
1652  The Jephsons sold the estate to John and Robert Fiennes. 
1656  Burningham purchased Husseys from the Fiennes. 
1666  Samuel Gauden purchased the rest of the estate from the Fiennes. 
1693  Jonathan Gauden succeeded Samuel Gauden. 
1700-1800  At the beginning of this century there were few proper roads. There were two tracks from Holybourne to Bentley, the upper track used in winter, through Froyle past the Church, and the lower track nearer the river used in summer. As stage coaches and road waggons were coming more into use, it was necessary to construct a proper road, and so Froyle was by-passed. An old directory, about 1730, gives the route Alton, Holybourne, Bentley, leaving out Froyle, so the road must have been completed before that date. Even the present main road is not, in several places, on the exact original. From near the Hen & Chicken to Quarry Bottom, traces of the original can be seen inside the park wall, and the place where the stream was forded, before there was a bridge, can easily be traced. Probably the wall was not there in 1730, as it is supposed that French prisoners built it in the time of Napoleon.
The Hen & Chicken was built about 1740 as a Chaise House where people met the Stage Coaches. The cottages occupied by Mr.Morris and Mr.Greene were originally the Hen & Chicken stables.
Froyle shared in the prosperity (not the working classes) from the sale of Hops and Corn, and took part in the building “boom” of the district, and quite a number of cottages and houses have dates showing them to be early, or mid-Georgian.
Silvesters Farm is earlier - 1674. The front of the Vicarage is early Georgian, and part of the back Elizabethan, or perhaps earlier.
Beechcroft in Lower Froyle, which was probably Tower’s, has a stone R.C.1719. In 1922 there was a stone in the high wall at Highway with the same initials and date. Since 1922 this stone has flaked. The stone is still there, but the initials and date have gone. 
1705  Gauden Draper succeeded Jonathan Gauden 
1710  William Draper (evidently a minor) succeeded Gauden Draper. 
1722  Church Tower built 
1724  Five bells hung in the tower. 
1757  Another bell and a clock.
Loggin, Walker and Follen were absent vicars who paid curates or ministers in charge to do the work, and it appears that the relief of the poor was not properly carried out: so “Overseers of the Poor” came into being about 1750. A Poor House, or Workhouse, was built, and relief both “in and out of the House” was given to poor families. This was paid to people with large families to augment the meagre wages of that time, so we have the beginning of our present day family allowances. The poor relief in 1774 was 4/- per month, and the clerk was paid 3/- for each Parish funeral.
There was an epidemic of smallpox from 1774 to 1777. Various sums, including one of £24.7.4½d., were paid to Samuel Hoare of Crondall for boarding out people at the Smallpox Hospital, and there were many burials at this time.
The account book for the Overseers of the Poor commences 1750, and goes on to 1782. From 1782 to 1806 the accounts are missing.
Overseers from 1750 to 1752 (not all at once, of course):-
Thomas Heath
Joseph Woolveridge
Thomas Messenger
James Silvester
Joseph Tarrant
Thomas Woolveridge
George Hawkins
Thomas Towers
Bernard Burningham
Adam Blunden		 Thomas Hall
Augustine Woolveridge
John Rawlins
Robert Yalden
Joseph Westbrock
Henry Burningham
William Smith
Henry Warner
John Baldwin Burningham
John Major

John Major was descended from Richard Cromwell.
Most of the names can be found either
on tombstones in the churchyard,
or on memorials in the church.

The accounts had to be sworn before a magistrate, generally William Newman of Brocas. Thomas Heath refused to take the oath, so the accounts were passed on his affirmation, as he was “one of those people called Quakers”.
The farms, etc., mentioned from 1750 - 1782 are:-
Delgreen Wells
Inwood   Hyncham 
Highway Warners 
Newmans Land Hussies 
Towers  Great Farm 
 St.Bury Hill Hillwolds 
Yarnhams  Brocas 
Baldwins  Bicknalls 
Place Farm  Froyle Mill 
Blundens  Bakers 
Isnage   

There are some interesting entries in these accounts:-  


£ s d
1767
1lb of hops for the Parish beer

8
1768
Upkeep of highways cost

4
1769
Relief to man with a pass 11 0 2½
Carting faggots from Upper Froyle for the poor 3 4 0
A bill for Stonepicken


Thomas Hall out of pocket by a mistake in casting his accounts 2 12 10
Beer at Sarah Hawkins funeral as was forgot to be charged
2 8
1771
5½ ells of hop bagging to make Jas.Newman a bed
4 1½
A round frock for Trimmings boy
1 6
1772
Paid the County tax 10 0 0
400 Ravens 1 4 0
Sugar, tea and a jugg
1 6
Spent at Parish Meeting at the Hen & Chicken
18 0
1773
Pd. for writing two letters

6
Spent at the Hen & Chicken
4 6
Catching sparrows
1 0
Bread, cheese & beer
4 4½
3½ lbs mutton
1 3½
Making a Shirt

6
For bleeding Thomas Smith
1 0
Making a frock and shirt
1 4
11 loads of stones and a man to fill and spread
4 8
1775
Spent on horse to Winchester
5 10
Thomas Newman by order at church for inoculation himself & family 2 2 0
(Vaccination was discovered by Dr.Jenner in 1797 but inoculation
had been introduced much earlier from Constantinople by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu)
1776
2½ days work putting stones on the routs
1 3
Getting the bucket out of the Almshouse well

6
1778
Cleaning the stables where the smallpox people was
1 0
1779
Spent at Parish Meeting 1 10 0
Paid for a gallon of beer

4
1780
Spent at Parish Meeting at Chequer
4 6
Paid for 1doz sparrows

2
1781
Paid for sining the book
4 6
Paid two years rent for Ann Newman 2 0 0

These are a few entries to show what the work of the overseers entailed.

Changes in the ownership of farms and residences took place during this century. At the beginning, the Drapers owned practically all the estate except Cattleys and Husseys. William Draper died in 1765 and left the property to his daughter Mrs.Nicholas (his son died in infancy - 1732). Mrs.Nicholas, from 1770 onwards, sold to Sir Thomas Miller, 5th Baronet, (this Sir Thomas Miller was M.P. for Lewes 1774-78, and M.P. for Portsmouth 1806-16), Henry Burningham, Joseph Westbrook and others. She kept the Dower House which stood in the Park opposite the school, and part of the Park for herself; and she and her descendants, the Moodys, lived there until 1859.
Younger sons of Millers and Burninghams went to America with Wickhams, and members of other Hampshire families. Their descendants still live in the United States. In 1934 a Miller and a Wickham from U.S.A. paid a visit to Froyle. They seemed to know all about the two families, and their ancestors.
By 1800 we had Sir Thomas Miller at Froyle Place, Henry Burningham at Husseys, Miss Ann Nicholas at Froyle Park, William Westbrook at Rock House, and tenants of these four at other places.

The church had been sadly neglected and we find it was necessary to rebuild the Nave.

Froyle Mill is mentioned in 1751 occupied by a family named Simmonds. There are several Simmonds in the churchyard. They were the ancestors of the present Aldershot Millers.
1800 onwards  Richard Follen was the vicar until 1811, when he was succeeded by the Rev.Thomas Combe Miller, who, in 1816 on the death of his father, became the Rev.Sir Thomas Combe Miller, Bt., and owner of Froyle Place.
In 1800 Tithes were paid on hops. £1 per acre on old hops, 10/- per acre on young hops. Nineteen people were paying tithes on a total of 141 acres of hops. By 1818 these tithes had been doubled.
By 1807 the amount paid out in Poor Relief had risen enormously.
Paid in Relief etc.:-
£
In the Poor House 213
Out of the Poor House 403
Payments to Widows 204
Relief to Families 116
  £936

In 1818 the amount paid out for relief was over £1,100

Five cottages at West End Farm are often called “The Barracks”. They were almshouse in the 18th Century. It is quite plain to see where the old doors and windows were for one room up and one down. During the French Wars, French prisoners were housed there, hence the name “Barracks”. After the departure of the prisoners, the buildings were converted to cottages. The French prisoners are supposed to have quarried the stone in Quarry Bottom to build most of the stone walls of Upper Froyle.
1812  The Nave of the Church was rebuilt. The Minute book says “it was deemed cheaper to pull down the old Nave and rebuild, rather than repair the old one”. This dealt with under Froyle Church. 
1813  Earl’s Farm stood where Park Edge is now. The Earls, or Earles, were an old Froyle family going back to the 17th Century. Sarah Earl, an unmarried woman, gave birth to an illegitimate child, who was baptised Jonathan, and his father’s name is given as Jonathan Burningham. This Jonathan Burningham was sent abroad, presumably as a remittance man, and settled in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he lived to a great age. Sarah seems to have followed him later and the boy was brought up by his uncle as Jonathan Earl. Later, this Jonathan Earl went to Utah. Now, in the 20th Century, three vicars of Froyle at least have had numerous requests from their descendants: Burninghams, Earls, Kiers and Elmers, for records from their registers of their ancestors. 
1860  The last of the Moodys died at Froyle Park, and Sir Thomas bought the property, thus getting possession of the whole of the Park.The house was pulled down in 1864, and for some years, until about 1876, Froyle Place was known as Froyle Park, when it became Froyle Place again. Additions were made by Sir Charles Miller in 1866. 
1887  William Young of Froyle Mill died, and left money to be distributed amongst widows and poor people of Froyle at Christmas, at the discretion of the Vicar, not more than 5/- to any one person. The amount was, at one time, in the region of £20, but has of late years decreased as the money was invested in foreign securities. It is now in the hands of the Charity Commissioners.
The Rev. Sir Thomas Combe Miller, Bt., having been vicar since 1811, became also Lord of the Manor in 1816. From that time he employed a curate to carry on the work of the Church, and occasionally took services himself. Between 1816 and 1818 he redecorated Froyle Place inside and out and made several additions. The reply of Thomas Burningham (the rival squire) to this, was Froyle House which he built in 1820 on the site of Cattleys. Sir Thomas Combe Miller and his son, Charles Hayes Miller, were very fond of hunting. They kept hunters, and had brood mare pens on what is now part of Froyle Place gardens. At that time Froyle Cottage belonged to the Burninghams, and to prevent the people there overlooking the pens from the windows, the very high garden wall was built.
Yarnhams House was built by Sir Thomas soon after 1850 to become a Dower House in case he died before Lady Miller. This happened, but she never went there to live.
*Until 1860, the way into the village from the main road was through Gate Lane, or Gid Lane as it is often called. The Hen & Chicken was reached by a footpath through a wood. In 1860, Sir Thomas had this wood cut down and the road made from the pond to the Hen & Chicken. He then had what is now known as the park gates erected, and a double lodge built there, intending to use Gate Lane as a private drive. The authorities at the time would not allow him to close the lane, so the iron gate was never hung. It lay in Blundens farmyard for many years. This gate weighed 7cwts., and was collected under the iron salvage drive of 1942.
*However, the Tithe Map of 1847, which was unavailable to Tom Knight, shows that the road from the Hen & Chicken was in place well before 1860, in fact the first Ordnance Survey Map of 1817 shows the road as well.
The Workhouse was converted to cottages in 1835 when Froyle, with 20 other parishes, came into the Alton Union. Until recently they were known as Workhouse Cottages, but the name has been changed to Brecklands.
There was a Dame School at Lower Froyle before 1856. In that year Henry Burningham built the room to be used as a school which stands at right angles to the main building of Froyle Cottage. This was built as a memorial to his son Francis Carleton Burningham who died aged 7 in 1856. When the present school was opened in 1868, seventy two children were admitted to this school. How they taught 72 children in that room is a mystery. Probably other rooms of the Cottage were used. The present school was founded by Sir Charles Hayes Miller in 1867, but was not opened until after his death in 1868. The school and school house were built with the last of the stone quarried from Quarry Bottom. The last of the “hard” stone had been used up, and that used to build the school house, two years after the school, is rather “soft”.
Head Teachers:-
1868 George Veal
1884 John Perry
1891 Arthur Mann
1892 William Downes
1922 Thomas Knight
1946 Mrs.J.A.Bygrave
1957 Mrs.A.J.Dean
1959 Mr.W.J.Lailey 

Sir Thomas Combe Miller died in 1864, and was succeeded by his son, Sir Charles Hayes Miller, who died in 1868. His son, Sir C.J.Hubert Miller, was a little boy of nine years old at that time. His mother, with her three children, left Froyle soon after, and from that time Froyle Place was let to various tenants. Sir Hubert later joined the Guards and, in 1892, at the age of 32, retired as a Captain. He came back to Froyle in 1892, but not to Froyle Place. In the meantime, the estate had been managed by his uncle and Sir Hubert lived at the Shrubbery. This was originally a River keeper’s cottage. The advertisement for the auction of Bonhams in 1836, says that it is “bounded by a fine trout stream called the Wey which runs through a considerable portion of the estate and the excellent game preserves of Sir T.C.Miller, Bt.” Lady Lindsay added to this cottage and formed it into a residence. It came into Sir Hubert’s possession, and he extended it several times downhill towards the river. Someone was heard to remark, after Sir Hubert’s death in 1941, “If Sir Hubert had lived a few years longer the Shrubbery would have reached the river”.
Henry Burningham died in 1895, and was the last Burningham to live at Froyle House. His son, Major H.Burningham, died at Highway in 1905, and the Major’ s son, another Henry went to Canada. Mrs.Edmonds, the major’s daughter, lives near Basingstoke and periodically visits Froyle.
Sir Hubert Miller very quickly commenced to “wake the church up” as he called it. He built St.Joseph’s at Lower Froyle as a temporary measure, and had plans for a permanent building where Nedfield Terrace now stands. The 1914-18 War delayed this, and after the war the land was requisitioned to build Council Houses, so the Church was never built. Sir Hubert was heard to say that he spent the money on Chichester Cathedral and Liverpool Cathedral. He had a villa at Venice and sometimes was away for six months at a time. He generally came back with pictures, etc., for the Church, and from 1900 onwards he gradually had the so-called “images”, each representing a saint, placed on the houses and cottages in Upper Froyle. Other information will be found under Froyle Church.
Thirty Froyle men lost their lives during the 1914-18 War. Their names are on the War Memorial.
1922 Mr.F.B.Summers had occupied Froyle Place since 1912. In 1922 he gave* the Recreation Ground at Lower Froyle to the village. About 4½ acres were acquired by compulsory purchase from the Burningham estate. He also spent a lot of money on Alton Cottage Hospital, on a new operating theatre, etc. He wished to be the first to be operated on there. It was an operation which was not absolutely necessary, but unfortunately he died, in January 1926 - a great loss to Froyle.

* In fact the Recreation Ground was compulorily purchased from Mrs Burningham in the 1920s. The full story can be found in the History of Froyle Parish Council.

In 1922 Froyle Place was a “Hive of Industry”. In the house itself there was a butler, footman and quite a number of maids. Seven in the gardens, three chauffeurs and four keepers. The old ex-coachman attended to the dogs and poultry. If anyone threw a matchstick down in the yard he walked along and picked it up. The Racquet Court was fitted with a stage, scenery and footlights. Concerts and weekly dances were held here, with the old coachman in close attendance to see that everything was in order.
Froyle House at this time had been left vacant for some years. It was afterwards sold to Sir Harry Wilson, and later to Sir Hugh Smiley,Bt., who sold it to the Trustees of the Lord Mayor Treloar College.
Tenants of Froyle Place, after Mr.Summers, were Col. Innes, the Countess of Bective, the Hon. Mrs.Milo Talbot. One wonders how many people have noticed that, in 1961, we still have a V.R. letter box in Upper Froyle