Scutts Hill

The field marked ‘Kingsmills.’ in the extract from the1794 map is still called Scutts Hill. The name is now pronounced ‘scutsle’ but the name Scutt can be traced back to the 17th century.  Chew Hill is at the top of this map whilst the road to the left of Scutts Hill is Coles Lane (east). There can be no doubt that Scuts Hill is in the Town tithing but the Scutt family were responsible for farms in other parts of the village.

The first recorded tenant of Scuts Hill so far identified was Joseph Curtis who was paying  poor rates from 1706 to 1725. He may have become ill c1719 and died between 1725 and 1730. Joseph may not have been a farmer in the traditional sense. Members of the Curtis family were recorded living in Chew Hill and working as blacksmiths in the 19th century and it is possible this tradition could be traced back to Joseph. Many tradesmen would also have some land to help support their family. Another possibility was that the farmhouse was situated near the modern Tudor Cottage.

The records are consistent in showing that Scutts Hill was owned by the Kingsmill family throughout the 18th century and it was probably was always part of the church lands. What is unusual is that the Kingsmills were paying the poor rates themselves. It is unlikely that William Kingsmill, or his bother Henry who was managing his mentally ill brother’s estate, were paying the poor rates personally. The probability is that an estate manager was paying the rates on their behalf.

John Sheppard esquire had an estate based on Scutts Hill sometime between the 1750s and 1770s. He is listed in the same record of apprentices described above.

Hampshire archive record 41M89/322 dated 1774 describes  a seven year lease sold by Robert Kingsmill to Robert Austice (Anstee?) for “… a piece of pasture ground containing 6 acres, known as Scutshill, and pasture land containing 12 acres, formerly part of an estate called Smiths.. ” The former Smiths ground could have been the field marked Anstee on the 1794 map.

Hampshire Archive record 19M61/4175 shows that George Roberts was the tenant in 1785.