Manydown was the name of the manor of Wooton and it was in the hands of the prior and convent of St Swithun at the time of the Domesday Survey and remained in their hands until the Dissolution. There has been a long association of the manor with the Wither family which began as early as 1402 and in 1449 the Dean and Chapter of Winchester sold the manor to William Wither, whose family had lived at Manydown for many hears.

After the Restoration of the Monarchy the Dean and Chapter decided to reclaim their right tot he manor, and for this the Withers got no compensation despite seeking intercession of King Charles II himself. Finally the Revd Lovelace Bigg-Wither decided in 1863 to buy the reversion of the manor and then later sold it to the Bates family in 1873.

The large woods at Wootton were well known during the Middle Ages and often during the 14th century members of the Royal Family came down here for hunting. William of Wykeham, the Bishop of Winchester used some of the timber from here when reconstructing the cathedral knave in the 1390s. And in 1459 three large oaks were sent to form the roof of what is now the upper floor of the Deanery in the Cathedral Close.

St Lawrence church was built in 1864 and kept many of the original features from the mediaeval building that was here before. The north arcade dates from the 12th century and the tower and some windows are early 14th. Charles Butler, philologist and author of "The Feminine Monarchie", was the incumbent here for 48 years until he died in 1647

The church of St Lawrence
The interior of the church		A memorial inside the church
One of the memorials in the church		Can anyone identify what this is?
The Royal Arms
The font		And old font?
A pyramid shaped monument in the churchyard

THE BLACK DEATH
1347- 1351

Black Death or Bubonic and Pneumonic plagues to give its proper names, was thought to have originally started/n China and quickly found its way through Europe in the year 1347 and finally into England in the first part of 1348.

It is probably through the Port of Southampton that the Black Death arrived to these shores, and quickly spread throughout England

Between 1347-51 the clergy of Winchester lost 48.8% to the plague.
In 1349 Padworth the manor was devastated by the Plague. By April of that year there were 64 clergy appointments the Basing Deanery was hit particularly hard In 1350 Monk Sherborne Priory was shown in ‘desolation” through lack of income. The plague finally subdued in 1351, but would return in later centuries. It is estimated that 25million of the population of Europe between 1347 and -13351 succumbed to the plague and 1000 villages disappeared.