| Godsfield | ||||||
| Just 3½ miles from New Alresford can be found a small
hamlet called Godsfield which over the centuries has lost more than a
lot of places in the county, mainly due to the Black Death which reaped
havoc all over the country but it still has some beauty left. A grey looking building that denotes a farmhouse with a handsome chimney was originally a small dwelling that had two rooms and there is also a chapel, and the original roof beams can be seen with a few of the old rafters, the windows which once had the alter beside it is now bricked up.
The Knights Hospitallers were granted land here by Bishop Henry of Blois and it was not until around 1460 that the building was used for management of the estate. The knights eventually left Godsfield and moved to North Baddesley and the building was never again used as a house of prayer. The upper room has a small peephole which may have been the priests room or the hospital, and the peephole was to give views of the altar below. While cutting a hedge here a labourer found a bronze box with an elaborately dome lid this was later found to be a holy pyx the casket in which the Host was kept after consecration. How long this relic had lain here nobody knows for sure but it is said to be one of the finest examples of the 14th century. MORE ON THE KNIGHTS HOSPITALLERS by Sandra J. Smith, MBE
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