Photograph of Tichborne House, Tichborne
Taken about 1870
The Tichborne family has owned at Tichborne House since at least the twelfth century, although the building seen here dates from the early 1800s. A lady and two little girls sit in the gardens, and it is just possible to make out a dog to their left. Blinds at a door and two windows give protection from the bright sunlight.
From the portico the Tichborne Dole was distributed on each Lady Day. Tradition has it that the dole of bread originated in the thirteenth century, when the dying Lady of the Manor wished to establish this bequest for the poor and her husband granted her the amount of corn which could be grown on the area of land she could crawl round while a brand burned. The dole (in the form of flour) is still distributed in the twenty-first century.
The photograph was taken by Winchester photographer William Savage (1817-87) and is found in an album entitled 'Hampshire Views of Churches, Country Houses and Public Buildings'.