North Charford
Encyclopedia
North Charford is a hamlet
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...

 in the New Forest district
New Forest (district)
New Forest is a local government district in Hampshire, England. It is named after the New Forest.It was created on 1 April 1974, and was a merger of the borough of Lymington, New Forest Rural District and part of Ringwood and Fordingbridge Rural District....

, 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...

, near the Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...

 border. Historically the name refers to a manor which is now in the 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...

 of Breamore
Breamore
Breamore is a village and civil parish near Fordingbridge in Hampshire, England. The toponym is pronounced "Bremmer", not "Bree-moor" as might be supposed. The parish includes a notable Elizabethan country house, Breamore House, built with an E-shaped ground plan...

 on the west bank of the River Avon
River Avon, Hampshire
The River Avon is a river in the south of England. The river rises in the county of Wiltshire and flows through the city of Salisbury and the county of Hampshire before reaching the English Channel through Christchurch Harbour in the county of Dorset....

.

History

North and South Charford
South Charford
South Charford is a hamlet in the New Forest district, in Hampshire, England. It is in the civil parish of Breamore on the west bank of the River Avon.-History:...

 are usually identified with the "Cerdic's ford" which appears twice in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the Chronicle was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great...

. It first is mentioned under the entry for the year 508 when we are told that following a battle to the east "the land as far as Cerdic's ford was named Natanleaga" For the year 519 we are told that "Cerdic and Cynric succeeded to the kingdom [of the West Saxons]; and in the same year they fought against the Britons at a place called Cerdic's ford". If a battle really did take place here then it is possible that the boundary of Hampshire was first established here.

In the time of the Domesday Book
Domesday 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, North Charford (Cerdeford) was a fairly large settlement of 29 households. The lands were split between the Earl of Salisbury
Earl of Salisbury
Earl of Salisbury is a title that has been created several times in British history. It has a complex history, being first created for Patrick de Salisbury in the middle twelfth century. It was eventually inherited by Alice, wife of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster...

 and "Alwy son of Turber". That which Alwy owned may subsequently have become the manor of Hale
Hale, Hampshire
Hale is a small village and civil parish in Hampshire, England. It lies on the border of the New Forest, overlooking the valley of the River Avon. The village is about north-east of the town of Fordingbridge, and about south of the city of Salisbury...

. Richard II
Richard II of England
Richard II was King of England, a member of the House of Plantagenet and the last of its main-line kings. He ruled from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. Richard was a son of Edward, the Black Prince, and was born during the reign of his grandfather, Edward III...

 was overlord of North Charford in 1397, but subsequently the Bulkeleys claimed the overlordship, asserting that the manor was held of them as of their manor of Nether Burgate
Burgate, Hampshire
Burgate is a small village situated on the edge of the New Forest National Park in Hampshire, England. The village is scattered along the A338 road and is divided into Upper Burgate and Lower Burgate. Its nearest town is Fordingbridge, which lies approximately 1.2 miles south from the village,...

 and their hundred of Fordingbridge
Fordingbridge
Fordingbridge is a town and civil parish with a population of 5,700 on the River Avon in the New Forest District of Hampshire, England, near to the Dorset and Wiltshire borders and on the edge of the New Forest. It is south west of London, and south of the city of Salisbury. Fordingbridge is a...

. This was denied by Edward Abarowe, lord of North Charford in 1563, but seventy years later Sir William Bulkeley was stated to be the overlord.

In the beginning of the 13th century Hamo de Bachamton and Geoffrey son of John held the manor conjointly. Around 1280 William Gerberd held the manor, which passed to his heir John Gerberd. Alice was holding it in 1316. Her son William Gerberd sold the manor before 1353 to Walter Abarowe, on whose death it passed to his widow Isabel. She subsequently married Hugh Tyrell, and died in 1370, leaving a son and heir John Abarowe. The manor remained in the Abarowe family down to the 17th century. It was purchased in the 18th century by Thomas Archer, or his nephew Henry Archer, who was holding it at the time of his death in 1768. It then followed the same descent as Hale until the 19th century, when it was sold to John Coventry of Burgate
Burgate, Hampshire
Burgate is a small village situated on the edge of the New Forest National Park in Hampshire, England. The village is scattered along the A338 road and is divided into Upper Burgate and Lower Burgate. Its nearest town is Fordingbridge, which lies approximately 1.2 miles south from the village,...

 manor.

A chapel was built by the beginning of the 14th century. It is said to have been founded for one priest "to sing in the same chapel for the ease of the inhabitants of the manor of North Chartforde." The chapel with its tithes is mentioned in 1628, but before 1727 it was in ruins, and there is no trace of it at the present day.

North Charford was an ancient parish, usually considered separate from that of South Charford
South Charford
South Charford is a hamlet in the New Forest district, in Hampshire, England. It is in the civil parish of Breamore on the west bank of the River Avon.-History:...

. The population of North Charford in 1870 was just 70 people living in 15 houses. By the beginning of the 20th century North Charford consisted of only a few scattered houses and the old manor-house, converted in 1880 by Professor Wrightson into an agricultural college. The 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...

 of North Charford was abolished in 1932.

Today, the old manor of North Charford is located in the civil parish of Breamore
Breamore
Breamore is a village and civil parish near Fordingbridge in Hampshire, England. The toponym is pronounced "Bremmer", not "Bree-moor" as might be supposed. The parish includes a notable Elizabethan country house, Breamore House, built with an E-shaped ground plan...

, on the west bank of the River Avon
River Avon, Hampshire
The River Avon is a river in the south of England. The river rises in the county of Wiltshire and flows through the city of Salisbury and the county of Hampshire before reaching the English Channel through Christchurch Harbour in the county of Dorset....

. The Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...

 though, also marks North Charford about one mile to the east in the village of Hale
Hale, Hampshire
Hale is a small village and civil parish in Hampshire, England. It lies on the border of the New Forest, overlooking the valley of the River Avon. The village is about north-east of the town of Fordingbridge, and about south of the city of Salisbury...

.

External links

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