Elaborately made chatelaine from Wickham Glebe.

Elaborately made chatelaine from Wickham Glebe.

Chatelaine

Post-medieval

Found during excavations by Winchester Museums Service Archaeology Section in a field just east of Wickham Square (opposite St Nicholas Church) in the mid- to late 1970s

This elaborate chatelaine or key chain, found on the site of Wickham Manor House was associated with the brick mansion of the mid- 18th to mid- 19th centuries. Jonathan Rashleigh, who had bought the manor house in 1724, and his son Philip were responsible for the last major building works on the site of the medieval manor, but they sold the mansion and its manorial estates to George Garnier in 1764. The Garnier family continued to live there for another 70 years or so, before moving to a new mansion at Rookesbury.

Women had worn such objects to symbolize their authority in the domestic sphere since Anglo-Saxon times, so perhaps this key chain once hung from the belt of the lady of the manor, or a trusted housekeeper.

Elaborately made chatelaine from Wickham Glebe.