Parson and Parish
in Eighteenth-Century
Hampshire
Replies to Bishops
Visitations

Longparish

Visitation of 1725

Corbett  Shelbery, vicar 1722-34
20 August 1725

1 Area
My parish is 27 miles in compass it contains about 4,740 acres.

2 Population
There are about 500 souls in my parish.

3 Marriages &co
There are in my parish, communibus annis, of marriages about 3, of births about 13, of burials about 13.

4 Patron
The Duke of Bolton presents the prebendary, and the prebendary presents the vicar of my parish. Prebendary of Middleton, John Pretty 1724-9 presents to the vicarage of Middleton alias Longparish.

5 Chapels
No chapels in my parish, but a parish church onely.

6 Lecturer
There is no lecturer or curate in my parish.

7 Papists
There are no papists in my parish

8 Dissenters
There are no meetings of Protestant dissenters in my parish.

9 Gentry
There are no gentlemen of quality or distinction in my parish.

10 Schools
There are no publick schools in my parish. There are 3 women who, in a private capacity , teach children to read.

11 Charities
There appear to have been no charities give to my parish, neither are there any hospitals erected.

12 Post-town
Andover is the next post-town to my parish.

My Lord,

I have answered the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd queries to the best light I can gather, and all the rest to a punctual exactness. I wish Your Lordship’s predecessors had been animated with desire equal to their power of enquiry into the affairs of this diocese. I speak this the more feeling because I share in the highest degree the fate of poor vicars, whose small dues, buryed in oblivion are wrongfully detained, and those wrongs made lawfull by custome. The expensive suit I now maintain against a powerful adversary (Sir John Fry) and the difficulty I labour under through want of my endowment, as makes me to lament the remissness of former ages so it imprints a deeper sense of Your Lordship’s care

Visitation 1765

Henry Binfield MA, vicar 1762-5
George Ryves Hawker, curate

Replies given only to the following questions

5 Terrier
There is no terrier

8 Impropriation
Stipend for the curacy is £35 p.a. Value of the living small and uncertain.

11 Dissenters
There is a licenced meting-house for the Anabaptists.

Longparish and St. Mary Bourne

Visitation of 1788

Edward Woodcock LLB, prebendary 1765-92
James Lamb AM, curate
19 March 1788

I can now make answer with accuracy to several questions proposed to me. As I have been upwards of 8 years curate of St Mary Bourne, as well as this place, though the first is accounted a chapel to Hurstbourne Prior, I shall send you the information that you want concerning it.

1 Area In Longparish 5200 acres. In St Mary Bourne 7500 acres.

2 Population In Longparish 593. In Bourne 901.

3 Marriages Marriages 3; births 18; burials 10 in Longparish. Marriages 5; births 26; burials 15 in Bourne.

4 Patron  Mr Woodcock, the prebendary, patron of Longparish. Your Lordship is patron of St. Mary Bourne.

To questions 5 and 6 I answer in the negative.

7 Dissenters Anabaptists 22 in Longparish; 3 in Bourne.

8 Schools  No endowed school

9 Charities  Or hospital, and only an annual donation of 10s for the benefit of the poor in Longparish