Butcher

John Butcher was specified as the lease holder of the Church House and Priory Grove of Chewton Mendip granted by Roger Manners in 1586. John had two sons, Henry and Philip. This information comes from one of the rediscovered records from the Hampshire archives and provides information to support the traditional view that there were priory buildings of some kind in Chewton Mendip. The name could have described a job role so John may be the earliest tenet of Priory Farm.

The  family name may have been written as Boucher and both versions appear in the 18th century churchwarden accounts and poor-law records.

A Mr Butcher  was listed as being rsponsible for the Wason’s estate in 1754. A Charles Butcher was presenting Chewton Mendip poor relief accounts for Kingshill in 1763 and a Mr Butcher was accepting apprentices in 1769. They are probably the same person. A number of fields are named Boucher in the 1794 map which may have formed part of the Boucher estate which suggests Charles Butcher was a tenant of Barrow Farm