Priors Dean, Hampshire

Description
Priors Dean, a parish in Hants, 5 miles NNW of Petersfield, and 4 NW of Liss, with stations on the L. & S.W.R. Post town and money order and telegraph office, Petersfield. Acreage, 1596 ; population, 113. Ecclesiastically it is a chapelry annexed to Colmer between 1161 and 1170. Both are in the diocese of Winchester. The church is ancient, with a Norman doorway. In the nave there is a timber structure which supports the belfry, in which there are two fine-toned bells. In the chancel there is a brass to John and Joan Compton (1605); also a monument with busts to Sir John and Dame Compton (1653), and two others with kneeling figures to their daughters Elizabeth Tichborne and Bridget Stoughton, and another with bust to Compton Tichborne their grandson, through whom the Priors Dean property became annexed to the Tichborne estate. The manor was. granted by King John to Southwick Priory. At the dissolution Henry VIII. granted it to his queen, Catherine Howard, and afterwards to Edward Eirington. It came eventually to the Comptons, and is now the property of the Tichborne family.