Hayling

Hayling Island lies in Langstone Harbour between the Hampshire mainland and the open sea. The earliest record is a grant by King Edwy in 956 of five mansae at East Stoke to Ethelsig (VCH Hampshire Vol. 3, pp. 129-134). Queen Emma granted the manor to St Swithun's Priory around 1043, reportedly as thanksgiving for surviving ordeal by fire. Ulward White held half the manor for life from Queen Emma and held it of Queen Edith before the Conquest.

William I confirmed Queen Emma's grant to St Swithun's and granted four hides to the Abbey of Jumieges in Normandy. The abbey held approximately half the island in demesne, with overlordship of the remainder. A dispute between the monks of St Swithun and the abbey was settled when Bishop Henry de Blois and the Winchester monks renounced their rights at Pope Innocent's request, with Archbishop Theobald of Canterbury witnessing the concession in 1150. Henry II confirmed free warren in Hayling and allowed the abbey to export produce to English and Norman ports (VCH Hampshire Vol. 3, pp. 129-134).

The abbey established a priory on the island, which suffered severely from coastal erosion. In 1324-5 the losses of Hayling Priory through the ravages of the sea amounted to at least 42 pounds, including the submersion of East Stoke hamlet. In 1340 a great part of the island was entirely drowned by the sea, and in 1346 it was said to be laid waste daily. The Black Death then killed nearly half the inhabitants. Edward I held the priory lands during the French wars. In 1414 Henry V dissolved the alien priory and granted Hayling to the Priory of Sheen in Surrey (VCH Hampshire Vol. 3, pp. 129-134).

After the Dissolution in 1541, Henry VIII granted the manor and priory site to Holy Trinity College, Arundel, in exchange for Bury manor. In 1548 Henry, Earl of Arundel, received the college lands and settled them on his daughter Joan, wife of John Lord Lumley. In February 1579-80 Philip, Duke of Norfolk, received the Arundel estates but was attainted in 1589. His son Thomas had the estates restored in 1604. The successive Dukes of Norfolk retained the property through the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In 1825 William Padwick purchased the manor from Bernard Edward, Duke of Norfolk, under Act of Parliament. After Padwick's death the greater portion was enfranchised. In 1871 J. C. Park purchased the remainder, and by the date of the VCH his son C. J. Park held the manor (VCH Hampshire Vol. 3, pp. 129-134).

The sub-manor of East Stoke had a separate descent through the Abbey of St Martin at Troarn in Normandy, which was granted the land by Earl Roger of Shrewsbury. In 1261 the Abbot of Troarn conveyed it to John Falconer of Wade at a yearly rent of one penny. The manor descended through several families and by 1902 the largest portion had been purchased by Frank Pearce of Portsmouth (VCH Hampshire Vol. 3, pp. 129-134).