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Stratfield-Saye, or Strathfieldsaye (St. Mary)

STRATFIELD-SAYE, or Strathfieldsaye (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Basingstoke, partly in the hundred of Reading, county of Berks, but chiefly in the hundred of Holdshott, Basingstoke and N. divisions of the county of Southampton, 7¾ miles (N. E. by N.) from Basingstoke; containing, with Beechhill tything, 839 inhabitants, of whom 578 are in the tything of Stratfield-Saye. In this parish is the noble mansion of the Duke of Wellington, the grounds of which are about a mile in average breadth, and about 1½ mile in average length. The river Loddon winds through the park, dividing it into two unequal parts, in the smaller of which stands the mansion; the church is situated at the south-west corner of the domain. This estate was formerly the property of Lord Rivers, from whom it was purchased by government, and presented to his grace as a token of gratitude for his great military achievements. Her Majesty and Prince Albert visited the duke here in January 1845. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £24.13., and in the gift of the Duke of Wellington: the tithes have been commuted for £962; there is a glebe-house, and the glebe contains 12½ acres. Lora Pitt and others, in 1739, erected a school, and endowed it with £400, now producing an income of about £18.18. A Benedictine priory in honour of St. Leonard was founded here in 1170, by Nicholas de Stoteville, as a cell to the abbey of Vallemont, in Normandy, and at the suppression was granted to Eton College.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.

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