SYDMONTON IN 1859

SIDMONTON or SYDMONTON, a parish of scattered house on the north of the North Downs, 3 miles west of Kingsclere, contains 145 souls and 2085 acres of land. Wm. Kingsmill Esq., the lord of the manor and owner of the soil, resides at Sydmonton Court, a large mansion which is pleasantly situated in park-like grounds, and has been the seat of his family since the dissolution of the monasteries, when this seat was granted by Henry VIII, to John Kingsmill and his wife Constantia; several of whose descendants were knighted and one of them, Admiral Sir Robert Kingsmill was created a baronet in 1800, but the second baronet dying without issue the title became extinct. The present Sir John Kingsmill, Knight, of Ireland, was knighted in 1830, and marred in 1824, the only daughter and heiress of the last baronet About 764 acres of Sydmonton parish belonged to Romsey Abbey, and is called Sidemanestone in Domesday Book. The mansion has been modernised and much improved by the present owner. The Church (St. Mary) was rebuilt in 1853, at the cost of £3,300, of which £1,000 was given by the late Archbishop of Canterbury, and the remainder by Wm. Kingsmill, Esq., the impropriator of the rectory. It is a neat structure in the Norman and Gothic styles, with a tower and two bells. The windows arc enriched with stained glass, and the interior is neatly fitted with oak sittings, &c. The vicarage is consolidated with that of Ecchinswell or Itchingswell.
The poor parishioners have £2.10s. a-year, left by Lady Rebecca Kingsmill, in the 17th century.
North Sydmonton farm is three miles north of the church, and has one of the oldest oaks in the county.

Post via Newbury.

William Kingsmill Esq., Sydmonton Court.
William Adams, farm bailiff.
Joshua Booth, farmer, Sydmonton farm.
Henry Frampton, farmer, Watership Farm.
George Freemantle, farmer, Warren farm.
Thomas Paxton, auctioneer and land agent.
Joseph Rumbold, farmer, Whitehouse farm.

ECCHINSWELL IN 1859

ECCHINSWELL, or ITCHINGSWELL parish has its church about two miles west by north of Kingsclere, but its parish extends three miles northward to Knights Bridge, on the river Enborne, and contains 494 souls, 2242 acres, and 106 scattered houses. The Earl of Carnarvon is lord of the manor, which was called Eccleswelle at Domesday survey, and was then held by the monks of Winchester.
William Henry Digweed has an estate and a neat residence here, and other parts of the parish belong to Wm. Kingsmill, Thomas North, and John W. Hooper, Esqrs.
The church (St. Lawrence) is a small ancient fabric, in a low situation, near the springs, which give rise to a rivulet, which runs through the parish to the river Enborne. Near it is a small burial ground, which was purchased and consecrated in 1844. Ecchinswell-with-Sydmonton were formerly curacies annexed to the vicarage of Kingsclere, but they were consolidated as a separate vicarage in the patronage of the Vicar of Kingsclere, and incumbency of the Rev. Lewis Rugg, M.A., who erected a neat Vicarage House in 1853. He has about £110 yearly from the tithes of the two parishes. The great tithes belong to Wm. Kingsmill, Esq., except about £225 a year belonging to St. Cross hospital, in Winchester.
Here is a small Independent Chapel erected in 1812.
A National School was erected in the parish, by Wm. Kingsmill Esq., in 1859.

Post from Newbury.

John Aldridge, blacksmith.
William Henry Digweed, Esq.
Giles Fidler, cattle dealer.
Charles Hill, victualler, Royal Oak
Isaac Miles, victualler, Rising Sun.
Mr. Henry Pullinger.
Rev. Lewis Rugg, M.A., Vicarage.
James Stevens, wheelwright and parish clerk.
Farmers
Thomas Bradfield, farmer and miller, Chapel farm.
Francis Collins, Knightsbridge.
John Goodyear, Ashley Warren farm.
John Jones, Hyde farm.
Isaac Miles, Platt's farm.
Thomas Nightingale, Kisbys.
William Plant, Newhouse.
John Rumbald, Swite farm.
James Vince, Bishop's green.
Stephen Wickham, Nuthanger.
Shoemakers: Thomas Mundy; Thomas Seward Thomas Tanner.
Shopkeepers: Isaac Bassett; Thomas Bradfield; George Maslen; Thomas Tanner.