FARLEY CHAMBERLAIN

Farley Mount can be seen from the road leading to Farley Chamberlain

Said to be one of the loviest parts of Hampshire Farley Chamberlayne is surrounded by farmland and its views across the South Downs include the Isle of Wight which can be seen on a clear day. The Manor and lands of Farley were granted to Herbert Fitz-Remi who was the chamberlain to William the Conqueror and from where the parish got its name of Chamberlayne.

This beautiful area though did have its dark side and that was in the Middle Ages when the Black Death crept across the land and decimated the inhabitants of the parish. Among those who died was John de la Berton who was the Lord of the Manor and the estate reverted to his mother who married Thomas Missenden Groom of the Chancellor of King Edward III. But the work on building the church carried on and the roof, west window and two of the bells (which are said to have pealed during the War of the Roses) date back to the 15th century, the church also has links with the House of Lancaster as Margaret Beauchamp the mother of Sir John St John was Lord of the Manor from 1487 to 1512 as he had married into the Missenden family and was also by her second husbands John Beaufort, the Duke of Somerset and the son of John of Gaunt, the grandmother to Henry VII

This can be seen inscribed on one of the memorial slabs which lie just outside of the altar rails John St john got his knighthood from his cousin the King in 1487. The family prospered well during the years and this was said to have been through the connections with Henry VII.

The present church is of Norman foundation, and was probably built between 1130 and 1160. However, there may well have been an earlier Saxon place of worship on the same site, as the entry in Domesday Book makes it clear that there was a settlement at Farley in Anglo-Saxon days.

William St John became a Member of Parliament and there is a fine memorial to him in the carved Altar Tomb at the end of the South Wall. It is said that he may have taken part in the lighting of the Armada Beacon that was situated on top of Farley Mount to warn of the impending Spanish Fleet of 1588.

Thomas Sternhold, Groom of the Chamber to Henry VIII and a composer who composed part of the original metrical psalms lived nearby at Slackstead.

The Rector, Thomas Ludlow who was the incumben during the time of Elizabeth I, was dismissed by his Tudor Landlords for refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy.

There is one strange fact, and that is the church register show the name of Oliver Cromwell's son Richard, who lived at nearby Hursley, the St John family were all confirmed Royalists during the English Civil war.

The estate was sold to Mr Thomas Woodham when Sir Henry St John passed away in 1808, and the Woodham memorials can be seen to the North of the Chancel and glass of the East window is in memory of Thomas and William Woodham who were both Rectors of the Parish. The Lordship was then bought by Sir George Cooper in 1907 who did a major restoration of the church in 1910 which is when the 'sheep pen' pews and the gallery were removed and the panelling used to repair the Pulpit. jThe rector at this time was a Mr Hartestonge-Held and he held a party for all his parishioners which was so popular that the following day, which was a Sunday, only a few parishioners were in any fit state to attend the morning service. Other restorations were carried out in 1958 and again in 1995.

The war memorial can be found in the porch and this shows that in the First World War a high number of dead compared to the size of the present village and two further villagers who died in the Second World war are commemorated by a Cherry Tree near the gate to the churchyard.

ST JOHN'S CHURCH