Ellingham, Hampshire
Encyclopedia
Ellingham is a small village near Ringwood
in Hampshire
, England
, west of the New Forest
National Park. Ellingham is most famous for the story of Alice Lisle
, who was executed by the infamous Judge Jeffreys in 1685, on the charge of harbouring fugitives after the defeat of the Monmouth Rebellion
.
in Hampshire
. It contains the hamlet of Rockford
, and Moyles Court, the large house which is now a school. The village and surrounding countryside are a large tourist attraction in the summer months. Much of the area around Ellingham was once farmland and woodland, but since the 1950s sand and gravel extraction has created a series of lakes known collectively as Blashford Lakes. These lakes now separate Ellingham church from the rest of the former parish around Rockford and Moyles Court. Alice Lisle has an inn named after her in Rockford.
Ellingham was a civil parish
until 1974, when the parish was amalgamated with the parishes of Harbridge
and Ibsley
.
of 1086, Cola the Huntsman held Ellingham from the King. In 1160 William de Solers was holding the manor and granted Ellingham church, and lands in Ellingham, to the Abbey of Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte
in Normandy
. William de Punchardon held the manor in the reign of Richard I
, and it descended, like Faccombe
, with the Punchardons until 1499. It then passed by descent into the Okeden family who held it until the middle of the 17th century.
William Beconshaw died seised
of the manor in 1634–5. His son, Sir White Beconshaw, died in 1638, and it passed to his two daughters, Elizabeth wife of Thomas Tipping
and Alice Lisle
wife of John Lisle
. In 1658 a final settlement by which Ellingham passed to the Lisles was ratified by William Okeden. John Lisle was assassinated while in exile in Switzerland
in 1664, for his part in the execution of Charles I
. Alice Lisle, who lived in the Elizabethan house of Moyles Court, was one of the victims of the infamous Judge Jeffreys. Charged with harbouring fugitives after the defeat of the Monmouth Rebellion
at the Battle of Sedgemoor
, she was executed in 1685.
Ellingham remained in the Lisle family until the death of Charles Lisle, who died unmarried in 1818. His nephew Edward Hayles Taylor, who took the name of Lisle in 1822, sold the manor soon afterwards to the Earl of Normanton
, whose family seat was (and still is) at nearby Somerley
.
Moyles Court is now used as a school – Moyles Court School. The 18th-Century building which has become "The Alice Lisle Inn" was formerly the village school for Rockford.
1869-90 by Thomas Graham Jackson
. It has a large blue sundial located over the porch of the church. The tomb of Alice Lisle can be found in the church.
in Normandy
. Ellingham church formed part of the grant of William de Solers to Ellingham Priory. The priory was dissolved in 1414 and sold to Eton College
in 1462. All that remains of the priory is the church.
Ringwood
Ringwood is a historic market town and civil parish in Hampshire, England, located on the River Avon, close to the New Forest and north of Bournemouth. It has a history dating back to Anglo-Saxon times, and has held a weekly market since the Middle Ages....
in Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, west of the New Forest
New Forest
The New Forest is an area of southern England which includes the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in the heavily-populated south east of England. It covers south-west Hampshire and extends into south-east Wiltshire....
National Park. Ellingham is most famous for the story of Alice Lisle
Alice Lisle
Lady Alice Lisle , commonly known as Dame Alicia Lisle or Dame Alice Lyle, was a landed lady of the English county of Hampshire, who was executed for harbouring fugitives after the defeat of the Monmouth Rebellion at the Battle of Sedgemoor.-Family:Dame Alice was a daughter of Sir White Beconshaw...
, who was executed by the infamous Judge Jeffreys in 1685, on the charge of harbouring fugitives after the defeat of the Monmouth Rebellion
Monmouth Rebellion
The Monmouth Rebellion,The Revolt of the West or The West Country rebellion of 1685, was an attempt to overthrow James II, who had become King of England, King of Scots and King of Ireland at the death of his elder brother Charles II on 6 February 1685. James II was a Roman Catholic, and some...
.
Overview
Ellingham is a small village near RingwoodRingwood
Ringwood is a historic market town and civil parish in Hampshire, England, located on the River Avon, close to the New Forest and north of Bournemouth. It has a history dating back to Anglo-Saxon times, and has held a weekly market since the Middle Ages....
in Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
. It contains the hamlet of Rockford
Rockford, Hampshire
Rockford is a hamlet on the western edge of the New Forest National Park of Hampshire, England. Its nearest town is Ringwood, which lies approximately 1.8 miles south from the hamlet.-Overview:Rockford is a hamlet close to the village of Ellingham...
, and Moyles Court, the large house which is now a school. The village and surrounding countryside are a large tourist attraction in the summer months. Much of the area around Ellingham was once farmland and woodland, but since the 1950s sand and gravel extraction has created a series of lakes known collectively as Blashford Lakes. These lakes now separate Ellingham church from the rest of the former parish around Rockford and Moyles Court. Alice Lisle has an inn named after her in Rockford.
Ellingham was a civil parish
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
until 1974, when the parish was amalgamated with the parishes of Harbridge
Harbridge
Harbridge is a small village located some four kilometres north of Ringwood and a similar distance south of Fordingbridge, in southwest Hampshire, England.-Overview:...
and Ibsley
Ibsley
Ibsley is a village in Hampshire, England. It is about 2.5 miles north of the town of Ringwood.-Overview:The village of Ibsley lies to the east of the River Avon on the main road between Ringwood and Fordingbridge, and has some picturesque thatched cottages...
.
History
The name Ellingham may mean "Æthelingas' estate". In the Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
of 1086, Cola the Huntsman held Ellingham from the King. In 1160 William de Solers was holding the manor and granted Ellingham church, and lands in Ellingham, to the Abbey of Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte
Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte
Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France.It is situated in the Cotentin Peninsula near Valognes in the Manche département.Population : 2,242 .-History:...
in Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
. William de Punchardon held the manor in the reign of Richard I
Richard I of England
Richard I was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Nantes, and Overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period...
, and it descended, like Faccombe
Faccombe
Faccombe is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England. The village lies on the Hampshire-Berkshire border and is situated on the North Downs...
, with the Punchardons until 1499. It then passed by descent into the Okeden family who held it until the middle of the 17th century.
William Beconshaw died seised
Seisin
Seisin is the term denoting the legal possession of a feudal fiefdom . It was used in the form of "the son and heir of X has obtained seisin of his inheritance", and thus is effectively a term concerned with conveyancing in the feudal era...
of the manor in 1634–5. His son, Sir White Beconshaw, died in 1638, and it passed to his two daughters, Elizabeth wife of Thomas Tipping
Thomas Tipping (knight)
Sir Thomas Tipping was a prominent Parliamentarian during the English Civil War.-Family:Sir Thomas was the eldest son of John Tipping of Wheatfield Park in Oxfordshire and his wife, Anne daughter of Sir Christopher Pigott of Doddershall in Buckinghamshire. He was baptised in Wheatfield Church on...
and Alice Lisle
Alice Lisle
Lady Alice Lisle , commonly known as Dame Alicia Lisle or Dame Alice Lyle, was a landed lady of the English county of Hampshire, who was executed for harbouring fugitives after the defeat of the Monmouth Rebellion at the Battle of Sedgemoor.-Family:Dame Alice was a daughter of Sir White Beconshaw...
wife of John Lisle
John Lisle
Sir John Lisle was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1640 and 1659. He supported the Parliamentarian cause in the English Civil War and was one of the Regicides of King Charles I of England...
. In 1658 a final settlement by which Ellingham passed to the Lisles was ratified by William Okeden. John Lisle was assassinated while in exile in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
in 1664, for his part in the execution of Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
. Alice Lisle, who lived in the Elizabethan house of Moyles Court, was one of the victims of the infamous Judge Jeffreys. Charged with harbouring fugitives after the defeat of the Monmouth Rebellion
Monmouth Rebellion
The Monmouth Rebellion,The Revolt of the West or The West Country rebellion of 1685, was an attempt to overthrow James II, who had become King of England, King of Scots and King of Ireland at the death of his elder brother Charles II on 6 February 1685. James II was a Roman Catholic, and some...
at the Battle of Sedgemoor
Battle of Sedgemoor
The Battle of Sedgemoor was fought on 6 July 1685 and took place at Westonzoyland near Bridgwater in Somerset, England.It was the final battle of the Monmouth Rebellion and followed a series of skirmishes around south west England between the forces of James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth and the...
, she was executed in 1685.
Ellingham remained in the Lisle family until the death of Charles Lisle, who died unmarried in 1818. His nephew Edward Hayles Taylor, who took the name of Lisle in 1822, sold the manor soon afterwards to the Earl of Normanton
Earl of Normanton
Earl of Normanton is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1806 for Charles Agar, 1st Viscount Somerton, Archbishop of Dublin. He had already been created Baron Somerton, of Somerton in the County of Kilkenny, in 1795 and Viscount Somerton, of Somerton in the County of Kilkenny, in...
, whose family seat was (and still is) at nearby Somerley
Somerley
Somerley is a large house and grounds in the civil parish of Ellingham, Harbridge and Ibsley in the New Forest district in Hampshire, England. It is 2 miles west of the New Forest National Park...
.
Moyles Court
Moyles Court was the house of the manor of Rockford. Rockford is listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 when it was held by Hugh of St Quentin, but by the 13th century it had passed to the Moels family and Rockford stayed in that family until the death of John de Moels in 1337. In the 17th century Rockford passed, like Ellingham, to the Lisle family. Moyles Court (named after the 13th-century family) in Rockford became their chief residence. Alice Lisle continued to live at Moyles Court after her husband's assassination until her own notorious trial and execution in 1685. In the 19th century Moyles Court was sold to the Earl of Normanton with Ellingham.Moyles Court is now used as a school – Moyles Court School. The 18th-Century building which has become "The Alice Lisle Inn" was formerly the village school for Rockford.
Ellingham church
Ellingham church was built in the 13th century. It is thought that there was an earlier, probably Saxon, church on the site. It is described in early charters as the church of St Mary or as the church of All Saints with the chapel of St Mary. It was added to in the 15th century, and the red-brick west wall was rebuilt in 1746. The church was restoredVictorian restoration
Victorian restoration is the term commonly used to refer to the widespread and extensive refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria...
1869-90 by Thomas Graham Jackson
Thomas Graham Jackson
Sir Thomas Graham Jackson, 1st Baronet RA was one of the most distinguished English architects of his generation...
. It has a large blue sundial located over the porch of the church. The tomb of Alice Lisle can be found in the church.
Ellingham Priory
Ellingham Priory was founded by William de Soleres in 1160. It was a cell to the Abbey of Saint-Sauveur-le-VicomteSaint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte
Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France.It is situated in the Cotentin Peninsula near Valognes in the Manche département.Population : 2,242 .-History:...
in Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
. Ellingham church formed part of the grant of William de Solers to Ellingham Priory. The priory was dissolved in 1414 and sold to Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
in 1462. All that remains of the priory is the church.