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Fearing the loss of all his estates as part of the grabbing of Church lands by the King during the Reformation the Bishop of Winchester sought to gain favour by giving Henry VIII the Manor of Merdon. Henry granted it to his courtier Sir Philip Hoby. The following years saw attempts to enclose the Park by both the bishop and local landowners.
In Edward VI's reign the disputes led to riot and the land re-granted to Sir Philip who built the first residence in the Park; The Great Lodge.
Under Mary and then Elizabeth the estate passed back and forth between Church and Laity. The Park & Lodge becoming separated from the manor and disputes between landlords and tenants increasingly violent. It was not until the estate was purchased by Southampton merchant, Richard Maijor, that the manor and house were to be reunited. Richard Maijor's protestant and parlimentary leanings were to prove key to the next phase of the estate's history.
