| Droxford | ||
| In 826 the first grant of the land of the Manor of
Droxford was from King Egbert to the Prior and monks of St Swithun,
Winchester and in the Domesday Survey it was among lands that were held
by the bishop to support the monks of Winchester but in 1284,after
quarrels the monks decided to give up all claims they had to the manor.
The manor then stayed with the bishops of Winchester until Bishop Poynet
surrendered it to the crown in 1551 it was then passed to the Earl of
Wiltshire. Manor was then restored to the bishop by Queen Mary in 1558, and they kept it until the Civil War, when the Long Parliament sold it to Francis Allen , but when the Restoration came the bishops once again demanded the return of their possessions. The village remained a part of the lands of the Winchester See up until the Bishops Resignation Act when it was passed on to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The church of St May and All saints is a typical village church found in Hampshire, containing work from many periods of history, the earliest being 12th century. The name of the villages derives from Drocenesforda and a former rector of Droxford, Dr Hawkins held office from 1664 to 1691 and was married to the daughter of Izaak Walton. A lot of the dwellings here are Georgian but there are also earlier buildings all built of local brick and local tiles and there are also some thatched cottages which are usually found in the chalk lands. The !7th century Manor and the 18th century Sarum House, White Horse Inn and the County Police station built in 1858 are the major pieces of architecture to be found. But at the north end of the main road can be found The Malt House, Old Bakery and Old Post House which have survived the eons of time.
Built to replace the Parish Workhouse the Droxford until was constructed in 1837 and served about a dozen villages in the area and as a way of avoiding starvation the inmates were given work food and shelter. Approximately 200 inmaes were supervised by four staff with the men spending about 10 hours a day working at picking oakum which is a loose fibre gained by unravelling old rope and used to fill cracks in the hulls and decks of wooden ships.The women did domestic work by working either in the kitchen or the laundry.
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