Near The Queens College Arms on the A340 is a jewel of a building – Pamber Priory.

It has a very long history dating back to soon after the Norman Conquest of 1066. When William the Conqueror became King of England, his many Norman knights and supporters were rewarded with land, including Hugh de Port who died in 1096 leaving swathes of southern England in the hands of his son, Henry.

The large motte and bailey castle at Basing (Basing House) was built, centuries later expanded into a grand house, and finally destroyed in the English Civil War.

As Sheriff of Hampshire, Henry de Port was witness to the coronation of King Henry I in 1100.

Henry (born at Basing) married Hawise and in 1110 he sought permission to build a Benedictine Priory on his land at West Sherborne.

The mother church in France was the priory of St Vigor at Cerisy-la-Fôret in Normandy.

At the church in Normandy, a copy of the deed of gift by Henry de Port survives and is interesting for the places he owned, whose tithes would support the Priory. His wife Hawise and their sons, William and John were witnesses to this charter.

Although in Norman French, the place names which would provide the tithes are recognisable – Languebruge, Brummelegue, Westdegueston today known as Longbridge, Bramley, Woodgarston. Also recognisable are the tithes of Basing, Mapledurwell, Upton [Grey], Lydes mill and Newnham. ‘Mapledurwell’ alone remains with the same spelling today

What survives of this large priory church is very little – the cloister and other monastic buildings are long gone. It was regarded as an ‘alien’ priory because it was held by a French ‘mother’ church, and these were dissolved or restored depending on the state of relations between England and France.

Finally, under Henry V in 1414, the priory was finally dissolved in and came into the hands of Queens College, Oxford – hence the name of the inn nearby. Often open on Heritage Day in September, a visit is well worth it.