Anglo-Saxon Romsey
The Evidence in the Landscape
Paulet St John & his Family
The parish register for Farley Chamberlayne recorded the birth and baptism of Paulet St John, son of Ellis St John and his wife Martha - born on the 7th of April 1704 and baptised on the 27th.
The church of Farley Chamberlayne
Paulet St John’s grandfather and father - Ellis Mews & Ellis Mews St John
The Coat of Arms of Ellis Mewes hangs in the Council Chamber in Romsey Town Hall. It is one of the 13 framed paintings of arms that had originally been displayed in the earlier town hall located in the Market Place next to Broadbridge.
Ellis Mews married Christian St John in Farley church on 4 October 1666. She was the daughter and heir of Oliver St John, Lord of Farley Chamberlayne.
Christian Mews, Paulet St John’s grandmother, was buried in Winchester Cathedral on 12 February 1680/81.
The will of Ellis Mews:
In the name of God, Amen I Ellis Mews of the City of Winchester Esqr being in good health and willing to settle my little Estate in peace, First I give to my Sonne Ellis St John Esqr Five Shillings— I give my House & Gardens unto my loving Wife Joane for the Terme of Twenty Yeares To comence at the Tyme of my Death; And I doe make my Daughter Elizabeth Mews my Executrix to enable hir to pay my Debts And doe hereby revoke all former Wills by me made In Wittnesse whereof I have hereunto sett my hand & seale the first day of Aprill 1709.
The burial of Ellis Mews on 26 June 1709 was recorded in the register of the church of St Thomas. The burial took place in Winchester Cathedral.
The graves of Ellis Mews and his wife Christian St John Mews are in the south aisle of Winchester Cathedral. The inscriptions on the slabs have been worn down through the centuries.
Oliver St John, the brother of Christian St John Mews, is buried along with his wife Margery in Farley Chamberlayne church. The frame around the slab gives details of her life. Margery was the daughter of Francis Rivet of Kings Somborne. She died in 1681, at the age of 39, leaving 3 daughters - Elizabeth, Frances, and Margery - and a son, Oliver. Oliver died unmarried in 1699, aged 20. His sister Frances St John married her first cousin Ellis Mews.
​Frances St John married Ellis Mews in December 1699 and died the following March. After he was married, Ellis changed his surname, by act of Parliament, from Mews to St John.
Ellis St John’s second marriage was to Martha Goodyer of Dogmersfield, recorded in the church Marriages Register on 31 January 1702/3.