Welcome to petersfield museum

Current display

The Petersfield story

hantsweb

Company limited by guarantee registered in England no. 5370758

Charity registered no. 1108817

Norman Times
In 1066 William the Conqueror (1066-1087) successfully invaded Britain. In 1086 he commissioned a survey of the country to examine the distribution of land and wealth both before and after his conquest. The Domesday Book was predominantly compiled for tax purposes. Among the many entries featured, are mentioned our local villages of East Meon, Liss, Selborne, Hambledon, Elsted, Harting, Empshott, West Tisted, West Meon, Westbury, Warnford, Newton Valence, and the parishes of Oakhanger and Mapledurham.
Mapledurham was the large Saxon parish which stretched from the chalklands of the Queen Elizabeth Park centre to the north of Tilmore, and included Nursted, Sheet and Weston. This parish, for at least the last 500 years, has been known as Buriton, the centre where the early Saxon church of St. Mary was built. By about 1100 a small chapel dedicated to St. Peter was built in the northern part of the parish, to serve the small number of people in this area, near the crossing of the two routeways.
Mapledurham/Buriton, continued to be a Royal estate under the Normans. The King had passed the manor to Robert Fitzhamon. His daughter and heiress married Robert - a natural son of Henry 1 (1100-1135), who created him Earl of Gloucester in 1121. Fifty years after the upheavals of the Norman invasion life was settling down and estate owners were considering ways of improving the yield from their holdings. Earl Robert decided in the early 1120's to make a new town or borough on part of the northern area, being low productive heath and scrubland. The long established east/west Roman trackway and the southwest/northeast route from Weston, by the driest route across the gault clay to the heathland and two mills on the River Rother crossed near the sandy rid-we on which the Chapel of St. Peter's had been built. Here a market square could be laid out to the north of the chapel and a main street with plots of land which could be tenanted by a burgher who could build a dwelling and workshop, and have garden ground for an annual ground rent. Trained craftsmen came to settle, and carry on their trade to service the needs of the area. In addition to the burgage rents there were the Market tolls and rents from the two annual fairs to generate income for Earl Robert of Gloucester.
St. Peter's Church This new borough on the 'feld' or open heathland with the Chapel of St. Peter soon became known as St. Peters-on-the-Heath, now Petersfield. With the arrival of the burghers and their families a bigger church was needed, so Earl Robert decided to build a cruciform church. He retained the chapel as the chancel and some of the original stonework of the transepts can still be seen. The fine chancel arch has a similar appearance to one on a property of Earl Robert's in Normandy - perhaps it is the work of the same mason. William. became Earl of Gloucester and it was in the 1160's before Earl William. could finish the church - no doubt, after the Civil War, both money and craftsmen were not readily available. The plan was simplified and a west tower built. There is much debate on the existence or not of a central tower. The north aisle was added first and the south aisle by 1300. William of Gloucester, who died in 1183, had granted a Charter to the Borough of Petersfield guaranteeing the burgesses certain rights. Unfortunately this Charter has been lost, but his widow, Hawisa, daughter of the Earl of Leicester, issued a Charter, confirming her husband's Charter. This Charter belongs to Petersfield Town Council, but is kept at the Hampshire Record Office. William and Hawisa had three daughters. The eldest, Isabella, had married John, Earl of Moretain (or Moreton, according to which source is used) and he issued a Charter confirming Hawisa's. This Charter is also owned by the Town Council and kept at Hampshire Record Office. John and Isabella's marriage was annulled and he became King John.
Tile Making In the late 14th and through the 15th Century Petersfield had a clay tile making industry in Borough Road, just south of the stream. In 1396 tiles were supplied to the Bishop of Winchester's Court House at East Meon, which was being rebuilt then. The Norman Manorial system in the Petersfield area was somewhat complicated, as there were six sub-manors and land held by Durford Abbey and St. Swithuns, Winchester. Documents at Magdalen College, Oxford indicate that by 1250 enclosed pastures or closes were being bequeathed or sold. The principal Manor Houses did, however, have their dovecotes for additional winter meat. Two of these are still visible - one at Langrish Manor Farm and one at Sheet by the Half Moon Inn.