For a discussion of the breakup of the manors see Manor Evolution.
The hundred of Frustfield contained five Tithings or Tythings, each with an associated church or chapel. Four of these five were in what is now the parish of Whiteparish. Each Tithing contained between one and three separate manors, and in each case one of the manors has/had the same name as the Tithing: Alderstone, Abbotstone, Whelpley and Cowesfield. The other Tithing and manor in Frustfield was Landford.
The first map below shows the locations of the eight manor centres as purple circles, labelled in red with their names.
The modern parish of Whiteparish showing the eight manors, key farms and settlements
Right click and select 'open in new window' or 'open in new tab' for a larger image
The next map uses colour sets to show the area covered by the manors within the context of the Tithings they belonged to. In this map Alderstone Tithing is blue, Cowesfield red, Whelpley Green and Abbotstone magenta/pink. Shades of each of these colours differentiate the individual manors and some later estates are also differentiated - for instance New House and the five later subdivisions of Blaxwell Manor. The text and detail on this map can be viewed by clicking the map itself to open a larger version, or for a fully detailed and more up-to-date analysis see Manors and Tithings in 1842.
The eight Manors and four Tithings of Alderstone, Cowesfield, Whelpley and Abbotstone overlaid on the 1842 Tithe Map
(click image for larger map)
There is a more frequently updated and fully detailed version of this map here (opens in a new tab)
Detailed maps of all the parcels of land in Whiteparish in 1842 have been traced from the Tithe Map and copies coloured in different ways to highlight landowners, occupiers, roads and paths, commons, land use, manors and tithings and of course an uncoloured version as well, as follows:
Blue links in the tables below are available, links in purple have not yet been uploaded for public viewing
| Introduction to the three Whiteparish Tithe Maps (includes the links below) |
| Landowners in 1842 |
| Occupiers in 1842 |
| Roads and paths in 1842 |
| Commons in 1842 |
| Land use in 1842 (in preparation - part coverage) |
| Manors and Tithings in 1842 |
| Uncoloured in 1842 |
Individual pages or sets of pages about each of the manors can be accessed via the following table. In addition see Manor evolution for a discussion of how the Manor Houses were moved around between manor, village and park over the history of the parish and the way land ownership changed over the years from the original eight manors in the parish to the land ownership patterns and settlement names we see today.
The various areas of common around the parish can be looked up directly as follows [none of these pages have been uploaded yet]:
| The Common (Common Road) Alderstone, Whelpley. Blaxwell | |
| Great Common Field strips mixed between Alderstone and Cowesfield Louveras due to historical ownership | |
| North Field Cowesfield Esturmy | |
| Ash Hill Common Alderstone | |
| North Common Probably Abbotstone and Landford | |
| Alderstone - Forton, West and Linacre were demesne plus 32 acres in open fields in 1330, those becoming Forton, West and Nine Acres on the 1842 Tithe Award map (ref: C.C. Taylor) | |
| Holmere Common (Abbotstone and Moor) | |
| Whelpley - Royal field, Tipple or Triple field, Elm or Ellen field and Southern Field (Matcham and 1842 Tithe Award) | |
| Cowesfield Green (Cowesfield Esturmy and Cowesfield Spilman) | |
| Moor (Holmere Common - with Abbotstone/Titchborne) | |
| Wicketts Green | |
| Hayter's Wood (Blaxwell) |
The term Common can be confusing, with the original nomenclature having been largely lost and replaced with the generic term common for areas that had been open fields, grazing, woodland, pasture and meadow.
This Wikipedia article gives a good general introduction to the open field system
Terms used include:
- Open Field
- Common Field
- Common Meadow
- Commonable land
- Demesne: land retained by the lord of the manor for his own use. Also Royal demesne, ancient demesne (held by the crown at the time of the Domesday Book (1086). From some sources the lord of the manor also reserved some strips in each furlong.
- Furlong: strictly a measure of distance equal to 220 yards. Sometimes used to describe a section of a common field containing ten strips, nominally 220 yards length and width, although there was always great variability about these measurements and many strips were longer, shorter, wider, narrower or odd shapes. Sometimes used to refer to a strip, but this may be erroneous.
- Glebe: strips in the open field held by the parish church.
- Close: an enclosed area of land in the days of open fields.
- Strip: The same as a selion, an open strip of land used for growing crops, usually owned by or rented to peasants. Typically one furlong (220 yards) long and one chain (22 yards) wide, but measurements varied.
- Selion: A term rarely, if ever, encountered, but described in Wikipedia (see above for reference). The same as a strip, an open strip of land used for growing crops, usually owned by or rented to peasants. Typically one furlong (220 yards) long and one chain (22 yards) wide, but measurements varied. Etymology: Old French seillon, a measure of land, French sillon, a ridge or furrow, Latin selio, a measure of land.
- Sub-enfeoffed: let to sub-tenants.