Long Sutton & Well - Then & Now

Set on the North Downs overlooking the valley of the River Wey, Long Sutton is the highest of the District's Villages at 600 feet.  Long Sutton is a small Village and Parish lying south-east of Crondall, 6 miles south from Winchfield Station on the main line of the London and South Western Railway.  The Parish covers an area of 2,290 acres, including 1,540 acres of arable land.

An impressive Tudor farmhouse, a 13th Century Church, a round duck pond (complete with ducks) and numerous brick and half timbered cottages including a traditional Village Inn, all combine to create an attractive scene that is a perfect example of an historic Hampshire Village.

The Harrow Way (also spelled Harroway), one of the oldest roads in England, once ran through Long Sutton and formed the western part of the Old Way, an ancient trackway in the south of England, dating from the Neolithic period.

It is thought Harroway derives from the name herewag, a military road; har, ancient way or heargway, the road to the shrine, perhaps Stonehenge.  The outlying Heel Stone located at Stonehenge long predates the site and is said to have served as a trackway marker for the prehistoric Harroway. The Harroway itself may have originated from the earliest animal migration paths.
The first settlement owed its origin to this and both the primitive Church and the stone one that was to succeed it, serving the spiritual needs of travellers who passed the south door.

After the murder of Thomas Becket in 1170 the Harrow Way, leading from the west of England towards Kent, became one of the branches of the Pilgrims Way and Long Sutton a stopping place for pilgrims.

Whats in a Name? The Village name of can be traced back to AD979 when it was known as Suthtun, derived from Suth Tun, which means ‘South Farm’, also known as Sudtune (XI Century), Launge Sutton (XII Century) and Sheep Sutton (XVIII Century). In AD 1244 the Village became known as Longa Sutton, and during the 18th Century it was known as Sheep Sutton on account of sheep being the mainstay of farmers but reverted to Long Sutton during the 19th Century.

The Village was granted by King Ethelred to Bishop Ethelwold (Æthelwold) for the benefit of the Old Minster of Winchester and formed part of the huge ecclesiastical manor of Crondall.  In fact, Long Sutton farmers continued to be tenants of the great Cathedral at Winchester until the late 19th Century.  The present All Saints’ Church is built, as many Hampshire churches, from flint and rubble with chalk quoin stones positioned at each corner.

The part known as Long Sutton Manor extends to the north along the entire length of the Parish, and it is presumed that the shape and extent of this division led to the distinctive appellation of Long Sutton. The southern portion consists of Sutton Warblington to the west, and Well Manor to the east.

The Village lies to the north of Sutton Warblington, and is set along The Street, a narrow road running east and west.  The principal building is Manor Farm, a fine farmhouse of red brick, a little to the west of All Saints Church, beyond the large pond skirted by the road. In the Churchyard of All Saints Church there are three fine Yews Trees, at the north, southwest, and south-east.

East of the Church is Parsonage Farm, another fine red-brick gabled house of the 17th Century, and opposite the Church on the south side of the road is The Old School House, adjacent to the Village Hall.
Long Sutton House was the residence of Mr. John Arthur Keith Falconer, and Warblington Hall of Mrs. Falconer. Well Manor was occupied by Mr. John M. Bush.

In Long Sutton the ground is higher than in the neighbouring parts of Crondall Hundred, rising around Well to over 520 ft. above the ordnance datum. Numerous old chalk pits exist throughout the Parish, and a number of ancient Copse inclosures are to be found. The soil is stiff clay and loam, the subsoil clay and chalk. The crops are corn in rotation and roots; hops are also cultivated.

n 1592 a dispute seems to have arisen with regard to the boundaries of Long Sutton Manor, held by the Dean and chapter of Winchester, and those of Odiham. In the document relating to this, mention occurs of a down called ‘Prior’s Downe,’ containing about 70 acres, bounded by a ditch called ‘White Diche,’ thence to a certain Holme lately cut down, ‘where the parishioners of Longsutton weare wonte to heare a gospell in there yearlye perambulation.’  The following places in Long Sutton are mentioned in the Crondall Customary of 1567:

’Lymmer Feald,’ ‘Butter Croft,’ ‘Manven’s Meade,’ a meadow called ‘Materfast,’ seven crofts called ‘Nutcrofts,’ a messuage called ‘Mablyns,’ a wood called ‘Le Sole,’ 2 virgates of land called ‘Widowe’s Garden,’and a meadow called ‘ Dymperk.’

In Long Sutton the ground is higher than in the neighbouring parts of Crondall Hundred, rising around Well to over 520 ft. above the ordnance datum. Numerous old chalk pits exist throughout the parish, and a number of ancient copse inclosures are to be found. The soil is stiff clay and loam, the subsoil clay and chalk. The crops included corn in rotation and roots; hops were also cultivated.

In 979 King Ethelred granted 5 hides of land at Sutton to Æthelwold (Ethelwold), Bishop of Winchester, for the use of the old minster, this grant being the first he made after his Coronation.
In his charter, this land is stated to have been given to King Edgar, Ethelred’s father, by Ethelbriht the steward, and to have been formerly subject to the lordship of Crondall.
In 1249, when a division was made between the lands of William de Syneguy, Lord of the Manor of Sutton Warblington, and Hugh de Wengham, Lord of Well, it was duly arranged that‘  Whatsoever is towards the east from the wood of Henham to Great Knulle, and from Great Knulle to La Splette, and from La Splette to the assart of the parson of Crondall, and thus to La Heythorne, shall remain to Hugh and his heirs for ever. And whatsoever is by the same division towards the west shall remain to William and his heirs for ever.’

The Manors
At the time of the Domesday Survey, Long Sutton was a sub-manor of Crondall, assessed at 7 hides, held by Turstin. Justin and Lefsi had held the Estate previously of the Bishop, in parage (a type of feudal land tenure under which there would be equality in the division of an inheritance among those of the same blood). It was then worth the grand sum of £7.
Long Sutton continued to be held by the Prior and convent of St. Swithun until the Dissolution.
It was then granted by the King in free alms to the Dean and Chapter of Winchester in 1541. This grant was confirmed by James I in 1604, and from that period the history of the manor of Long Sutton is identical with that of Crondall (q.v.).
It was from Thomas de Warblington that the manor derived its name, although his tenure cannot have been long, for in the following year he granted all his lands and tenements in Long Sutton to Nicholas de Hanyton.

By 1346 Sutton Warblington was held by the Prior of St. Swithun, Winchester, and its subsequent descent seems to have been identical with that of Long Sutton (q.v.), the Ecclesiastical Commissioners being the present lords of the manor.
Mr. John A. K. Falconer, who purchased Long Sutton House and Warblington Hall in 1899, now owns about 950 acres of land in the parish, of which 397½ acres are enfranchised copyhold of the manor of Sutton Warblington. It appears that very little land of the manor now remains unenfranchised.

On the Warblington Estate there still exists a very old house called ‘The Court’, where it is believed the courts of the manor were once held, traced back to Oliver Cromwell.

The manor of SUTTON WARBLINGTON is represented by the land in Long Sutton which William de St. Martin inherited in 1224. William was succeeded by his son Hugh de St. Martin, who died without issue in 1243. Thereupon his lands escheated to the king, who granted them in 1248 to William de Syneguy.
In 1284 William de Syneguy, probably a son of the last-named, was holding one fee in Long Sutton, but by 1316 it had passed to Elizabeth widow of Geoffrey de Wengham, who was most probably his daughter and heir.
In 1335 Thomas de Warblington was in possession of lands in Long Sutton formerly belonging to Joan de Wengham.

Long Sutton Through the Ages 
100 million years ago all the land around Long Sutton was part of the seabed, with shells settling down in layers as the decades passed, eventually forming a chalk layer. As sea creatures including urchins, ammonites and fish died, some of them sank into the soft mud, which filled the cavities of their shells. Over many thousands of years this mud turned into flint, leaving just the inside impression these creatures as fossils, which we can now see today.

These fossilised sea urchins, and even shark’s teeth, are millions of years old and have been picked up, from time to time, from the surface of the fields below Sheephouse Copse, within the field between Ham Copse and Long Lane, and surrounding areas of Long Sutton. One fossil sea urchin was even found in a garden in Well. A large ammonite was found in Stevens Field, the big field opposite West Lodge, and the other was unearthed from the garden at Pond Cottage. Lastly, a meteorite was even found in Stevens Field!

Early History
Although stone axe-heads, a Roman weight and a Roman coin have been found in the Long Sutton area, there is no evidence that there was a permanent settlement here before Saxon times.

Saxon Origins
Long Sutton was originally known as Suthtune and, as the name suggests, is of Anglo-Saxon origin. It originally formed part of the Manor of Crondall. The Village was located on the ancient trackway known as the Harroway, one of the oldest roads in England.
AD 959 : The first mention of Long Sutton when the young King Edgar bought the land. 
AD 979 : King Ethelred granted the village of Suthtune to the Bishop of Winchester. There may have been a wooden Church here at the time, a Chapel to the Mother Church in Crondall

1066 and the coming of the Normans
After the Conquest, King William had his new lands surveyed. Known as the Doomsday Book, this survey was completed in 1086 and states that Long Sutton was divided between a man called Thurstin, who held 7 Hides (a measurement of land), and two others named Justin and Lefse, who jointly held two Halls (these may actually have been quite modest dwellings).
Only seven other Long Sutton inhabitants are mentioned, but there were probably also ‘unfree’ (or ‘tied’) workers in the Village at this time.

Medieval Period
The Parish was divided into 3 Manors: Long Sutton, Sutton Warblington and Well. The Village was often called “Sheep Sutton” in the records, indicating the mainstay of its agriculture.

Early Modern Period
Agriculture continued to be the main occupation within Long Sutton. In 1725 the population numbered around 150, and some fine houses were built between the 16th and 18th Centuries. There was no school and the Doctor rode over from Odiham to treat the sick. Parish records chart the progress of Long Sutton during this period – roads were repaired, rates paid to help the poor and fines were paid for misdemeanours.
Churchwarden accounts show that Parishioners who were ill or in need were helped by the Overseers of the Poor.

19th Century
In 1861 the population numbered 301 and remained approximately at this level throughout the rest of the century.
Long Sutton School opened in 1854 with room for 49 pupils.
The Parish continued to be a farming community. During the 19th Century there was considerable hardship among the agricultural labourers, but again Long Sutton officials seem to have done their best to help those in need.

20th Century
A century of change – as agriculture became fully mechanised, fewer and fewer people worked on the local farms.

At the beginning of the century there was no mains electricity or water supply, and transport to Odiham or Alton was by carrier’s cart.  
Sheep House (now Long Sutton House), with its grounds and farmland, was bought by the Lord Wandsworth Foundation as the site of a non-fee paying school for orphans or one-parent boys. Known as Lord Wandsworth Agricultural College, the school was to provide much-needed work for the Village.

1914-18: In the First World War, nine local men gave their lives. A total of 45 men served in the Armed Forces in the War.
1923 : The first boys arrived as pupils at Lord Wandsworth College.
1932 : Mains electricity was brought to Long Sutton.
1939-1945 : During the Second World War, seven men from the Parish became victims of the conflict. In addition, a further 17 men who had been educated at the College died as a result of the War.
From the middle of the century there was increasing change. More and more people worked away from the Village, more houses were owned by families who had come from elsewhere and the larger houses which had been divided up into cottages in the 19th Century were returned to their original state.  Lord Wandsworth College was no longer an orphanage.