Upton Grey Probate Material 1500-1700
The rural parish of Upton Grey is located on the north-east edge of the Hampshire chalk downland some 20 miles (32 km.) north-east of Winchester and 5 miles (8 km.) south-east of Basingstoke. The village of Upton Grey as we know it today was formed from the two Saxon manors of Odingetone (Hoddington) and Aoltone (Upton); “Grey” was added in the late 13th century. There was a church in Upton at the time of Domesday, but the present nave and Norman arch date from around 1120 and the chancel from the early 1200s. The population of the village was about 175 in the 11th century, but is now a little over 600. There is peripheral pre-historic and Roman evidence of human occupation although traces of the Roman Road from Silchester to Chichester that crossed the village between the pond and the public house are no longer visible on the ground.
51 wills and 51 inventories survive from 1500-1700. These transcriptions have been made from copies of original probate documents supplied by HRO and TNA. Words have been modernized and punctuation added to make reading easier but names have been transcribed as written. Words in italics indicate omissions in the original document which have been added to make sense of the text. Words in square brackets indicate that they have been transcribed as seen but where the meaning is unclear. Hampshire is frequently described by its old name of Southampton.
Links to the wills and inventories appear below.
A glossary is attached of unusual words.
Content derived during research for new VCH Hampshire volume, Old Basing, Steventon and surrounding parishes
