The Norman and Medieval Period

After defeating Harold II’s Saxon army in 1066, the Normans swept ruthlessly through the country imposing their will on every village and town. The old Saxon aristocracy was mostly displaced and ownership changed hands for ever. The impact can be imagined and nowhere more so than in the heartland of the Saxon race, Wessex. William the Conqueror subsequently commissioned a survey of his new Kingdom: the Domesday Survey. The Survey shows that there was one large manor in Houghton, called Houghton Drayton, and four smaller estates. The large manor was held by the Bishop of Winchester and comprised 24 hides and 28 ploughs. There were 36 villeins and 46 bordars; 14 slaves; 4 mills assessed at 70s; a fishery at 3d; a meadow of 156 acres; woodland pasturage for 22 pigs; 3 burgesses assessed at 30d. There were 2 churches. Wibert the clerk had the living from these, including ½ plough valued at 60s. It also noted that a certain William Peverel farmed 1 hide of the manor, as did one Walter.The whole manor was valued at £30.

Domesday gives us a reasonable picture of what was happening in our valley at the end of the11th century. The mixture, if not the scale, of agriculture, animal husbandry and fishing is not dissimilar today. Allowing for the fact that the Survey only refers to the adult male population and what is thought to have then been the size of the average family, it is estimated that the total population of the village would have been 400-450.

In the autumn of 1348 the Black Death arrived in England and quickly spread through the West Country. As Hampshire lay on the trade routes from the South and the South West, the county was badly infected. 50% of Hampshire’s clergy died and it seems likely that this reflected the mortality rate of the wider population. There is inside the church in Houghton the most poignant testimony to the scale of the disaster. In the nave there is a list of all the parish priests who served the village. For the fateful year of 1348 the names of no less than four priests are recorded. It is only too clear that the Plague did come to Houghton and the village suffered badly.

On a more romantic note, the year 1415 saw Henry V make his claim for the French crown. He summoned his army to assemble at Southampton for an invasion of France. While it waited for favourable winds one division of the army pitched its camp in Sie-Marsh meadow, near Bossington House. Ever since, this site has been known as the Agincourt field. Legend even has it that the King himself heard Mass in the little church of St. James.