St Cross, Hampshire

Historical Description

Cross, St, or St Cross Hospital, an extra-parochial place in Hants, on the river Itchin, 1 mile W of Winchester. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Winchester. An hospital was founded here in 1132 by Bishop de Blois, and renovated in 1444 by Cardinal Beaufort; has now an income of about £1900; maintains thirteen poor men, who wear each a long black gown and a silver cross; gives weekly and general doles to other poor persons; and comprises a grand group of ancient buildings. The great gateway is surmounted by a statue of Beaufort. The entrance-court has some ancient offices, now used as a stable, and remains of a large building called the Hundred Men's Hall. The refectory, on the south side of the great quadrangle, has an old timber roof and a minstrel's gallery, and contains a triptych of the adoration of the Magi. The ambulatory, on the east side of the quadrangle, is 135 feet long. The church; on the south side, is cruciform, partly Early English, chiefly Transition Norman, with a central tower one storey high, measures 150 feet from east to west, and 120 along the transepts, and has Tudor stalls, encaustic tiles, stained windows, a fine brass of Archdeacon Campden, and a monument to Mr Speaker Cornwall.

Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Hampshire (County Southampton) is available to browse.

Maps

Online maps of St Cross are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Hampshire newspapers online:

• Portsmouth Evening News
• Hampshire Telegraph
• Hampshire Advertiser
• Hampshire Chronicle
• Aldershot Military Gazette

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitations of Hampshire, 1530, 1575, & 1622-34 is available to view on the Heraldry page.