Minstead - History

History

People have lived in the area of Minstead since prehistoric times. Paleolithic tools have been found here, and there are several Bronze Age barrows within the parish. There is an Iron Age hillfort at Malwood covering 1.8 hectares. It was on or near this hillfort that a medieval beacon was situated, receiving signals from Marchwood and from Freshwater on the Isle of Wight. There is a modern house in the middle of the hillfort which is privately owned.

Minstead is listed in the Domesday Book of 1086. Before the Norman Conquest, Minstead, assessed at three-and-a-half hides, was held by a Godric Malf, whose sons in 1086 were holding half a hide as the remaining 3 hides had been taken into the New Forest.

The name "Ivez" or "Ives" was an alternate name for Minstead in the 12th and early 13th centuries. The manor was closely associated with the manors of Bisterne and Totton. In 1186–7 tallage was due to the king from "Ivez, Budesthorn (Bisterne) and Todinton (Totton)" which had belonged to Hugh de Ivez and Robert son of Ulf. In 1248–9 Andrew de Ivez or Minstead (as he is alternately called) was said to hold jointly with John de Bettesthorne, then a minor, half a hide in Testwood, Eling and Bisterne by serjeanty. In 1255–6 John de Bettesthorne and William de Ivez were said to be holding their land conjointly by the above serjeanty, while in 1279–80 they were given as John de Bettesthorne and William de Minstead. After this time the name of "Ivez" disappears, but the Minsteads and the Bettesthornes continued to hold land side by side in Minstead and Totton.

In the 15th century these lands passed by inheritance to the Berkeley family of Bisterne. In 1460 Maurice Berkeley of Bisterne died in possession of the whole manor, leaving a son and heir also called Maurice. His son William apparently forfeited his estates because of his involvement in the rebellion of the Duke of Buckingham against Richard III, but by 1494 the estate must have been back in the hands of the family because William's wife Katherine died in possession of the manor. Her daughter Werburg, aged six years, inherited the estate, and later married Sir William Compton of Compton Wynyates (in Warwickshire), Groom of the Bedchamber and favourite courtier of Henry VIII.

From that time onwards, Minstead remained in the Compton family. In 1670 Richard Compton appeared before the court held at Lyndhurst, to assert formally his claim to the manor. The record of this court shows the special privileges attached to the manor of Minstead. He claimed for himself and the tenants of the manor common of pasture and common of mast "without paying anything therefor," free ingress and egress in the waste lands of the forest, to search for all his animals there straying, the right to hold view of frankpledge twice a year, the right to estrays found in the manor and honey found in the woods; also to have all his woods in the custody of his own woodward appointed at the court baron of the manor and his manor free of forest officials. He also claimed the right to the left shoulder of all deer found within the woods of the manor. Finally on the day of the holding of the view of frankpledge he claimed for himself and his steward the right to kill and carry away one deer.

Henry Compton was High Sheriff of Hampshire in 1758 and was a noted racing man, being an original member of the Jockey Club founded in 1753. His son John, who inherited his father's properties, was Sheriff of Hampshire in 1797. His son Henry became Sheriff of Hampshire in 1819 and took a prominent part in suppressing the 1830 Swing Riots at Fordingbridge. His son Henry who succeeded him was Sheriff in 1871, and on his death in 1877 his son Henry Francis Compton became lord of "the manor of Minstead and Brook."

Minstead manor house, which was a brick building in a park of 400 acres, was a pre-18th century building enlarged at the end of the 18th century, but it was demolished in 1950.