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Kingsclere in Southampton County England History and GeographyKINGSCLERE, a parish comprising the market town of Kingsclere and the chapelry of Sidmonton, in the hundred of KINGSCLERE, and the chapelry of Ecchinswell in the hundred of EVINGAR, Kingsclere division of the county of SOUTHAMPTON, and containing 2851 inhabitants, of which number, 2296 are in the town of Kingsclere, 9 miles (N.E. by N.) from Whitchurch, 21 (N.) from Winchester, and 55 (W. by S.) from London. This place, as the name implies, was anciently a seat of the West Saxon kings; and at Freemantle park, a short distance to the south of the town, was a mansion said to have been a royal residence in the reigns of John and Elizabeth. The town is situated on the edge of the downs, near the northern extremity of the county; the streets are neither lighted nor paved; the inhabitants are well supplied with water. The trade is principally in malt, for making which the fine barley produced in the vicinity is peculiarly adapted. A small spring near the town turns four flour-mills within a mile and a half from its source. The market is on Tuesday; and fairs are held on the first Tuesday after Easter, and the first Tuesday after October 10th, principally for sheep. Kingsclere is within the jurisdiction of the Cheyney Court held at Winchester every Thursday, for the recovery of debts to any amount; and petty sessions for the division of Kingsclere are held here and at Overton alternately. The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Winchester, rated in the king's books at £17. 19. 7., and in the patronage of Lord Bolton. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a large stuccoed building, with a low tower. There is a place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists, and at Ecchinswell one for Independents. A free grammar school, supposed to have been of ancient foundation, was endowed by Sir James Lancaster, in 1618, with £20 per annum: the school-room was rebuilt in 1820, when the institution was converted into a National school open to all applicants. A bequest from Robert Higham, in 1722, is appropriated towards the clothing, maintenance, education, and apprenticing, of four boys. A quantity of clothes is annually distributed among the poor, by means of various benefactions. Here is a slightly chalybeate spring; and on the adjacent hills are the remains of two Roman encampments, near which the fragments of two or three human skeletons, and several Roman copper coins, were recently discovered. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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