The village of Bentworth is about 3 miles NW of the town
of Alton in Hampshire. Records show that members of the Ivall family lived
there from about 1732 to 1834.
My earliest known ancestor, William Ivall, was born in
1699 in Preston Candover, a village 4 miles W of Bentworth. He married Anne
Kersley in 1730 in Shalden, a village 3 miles NE of Bentworth. They seem to
have moved to Bentworth soon after they married as their first child Mary was
baptised there in 1732. Anne died in 1759 and William in 1773. Both are buried
in St Mary’s Churchyard, Bentworth.
St Mary’s Church,
Bentworth
The churchyard contains a row of 5 Ivall graves under a
yew tree, near the main church door.
The graves are, from left to right, those of
1. William Ivall (1699-1773)
2. William Ivall (1736-1811), William and Anne’s eldest
son. The 1798 land tax records show that he owned land in Bentworth. He is
described as a yeoman in his will.
3. Anne Ivall nee Kersley (1705-1759)
4. James Ivall (1745-1809), third son of William and Anne
Ivall. James was a farmer and wheelwright.
5. Dinah Ivall nee Camies (1748-1819), who married James
Ivall in 1774.
The map above is a drawing of the 1911 Ordnance Survey
map showing Bentworth. It includes two buildings with Ivall in their name.
2. Ivall’s House (see above). This is said to have
originally been one of the subsidiary buildings of the farm, which over the
years was modified and extended.
The number of Ivalls living in Bentworth decreased from
about 1800 onwards – several members of the family moved to nearby villages or to
London. The final Ivall entries in Bentworth parish records are the burials
of Elizabeth Charlotte and Anne Ivall, grandchildren of James Ivall, who both died
in 1834. There are no Ivalls listed in Bentworth in the 1841 census or later ones.
