STRATFIELDSAYE
"STRATFIELDSAYE, a parish, partly in the hundred of Reading, county Berks,
but chiefly in the lower half division of Holdshott hundred, county Hants,
8 miles N.E. of Basingstoke, its post town, and 2 S.E. of
Mortimer-Stratfield railway station. It is situated on the river Loddon,
and contains the tything of Beechhill. Stratfieldsaye was the seat of the
Sayes till Richard II.'s time, and afterwards of the D'Abridgecourts and
Pitts, but was bought by parliament of Lord Rivers in 1815, and presented
by the government to the Duke of Wellington. The Bramshill hounds meet in
this parish, The living is a rectory* in the diocese of Winchester, value
£669. The church is dedicated to St. Mary. The parochial charities produce
about £43 per annum, of which £22 go to Pitt's school. There is also an
infant school, supported by the Duke of Wellington. A Benedictine priory,
in honour of St. Leonard, was founded here in 1170 by Nicholas de
Stoteville, as a cell to the Abbey of Valemont in Normandy, and at the
suppression was granted to Eton College."
[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of
Great Britain and Ireland (1868) - Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]
[Last updated: 4th August 2003 - Brian Pears]
