Manydown

Manydown
The great house in 1833
Location within Hampshire
General information
Architectural style	Tudor (mostly)
Location	Wootton St Lawrence, Hampshire
Country	England
Coordinates	51°15′58″N 1°10′07″W / 51.266°N 1.16864°W / 51.266; -1.16864
Construction started	14th century
Completed	1790
Demolished	1965

Manydown — or Manydown Park — was an ancient manor in Wootton St Lawrence, Hampshire, England. The fortunes of the estate were associated with those of the Wither family for more than 400 years. Author Jane Austen (1775–1817) was a frequent visitor at the Manydown great house circa 1799-1806 and received her only proposal of marriage there.

The manor of Manydown at Wooton was a possession of the prior and convent of St. Swithun from the time of the Domesday Book (1086). (A Manor of Wootton was probably created for Ethelric the thegn in the year 958, long before the name “Manydown” was first devised.) Manydown estate was granted a license to impark the wood of Wootton in 1332 and was visited by royal huntsmen in 1361 and 1363. It was fenced in in 1377. William of Wykeham (1324–1404) was supplied with oak timber from the estate when he reconstructed Winchester Cathedral nave around 1390-92. In 1449, William Wither — whose family had lived at Manydown as tenants since at least 1402 (some sources say as early as 1344) — purchased the manor. William thereby commenced a long and eventful connection between his descendants and Manydown that continued for some four centuries.

The connection with the local priory continued until the time of the dissolution of the monasteries, when, in 1540, King Henry VIII granted Manydown to the Dean and Chapter of Winchester Cathedral. This situation continued until 1649-50 when, under the Commonwealth Republic, it passed into the hands of the Contractors of the Long Parliament and was sold to another William Wither (1584-1653). Following the Restoration (1660), it was returned to the Dean and Chapter, without compensation being paid to the Wither family. They did allow the then current Mr. Wither to retain the Manydown manor house and the estates as their tenant on a 21 years' lease, renewable in the usual way every seven years, at a small annual rent and a moderate fine.