Hidden Villages
Information taken from the article “Hidden Villages” by Jill Belcher in the November 2006 issue of Hampshire Life Magazine. For this and other articles of interest visit the website www.hampshire-life.co.uk where past issues are available to buy.
Starting at the village of Crondall, a real village, with a school, post office and stores and two excellent pubs including the Plume of Feathers, which has an oak-beamed dining room. Known as “the cathedral of north Hampshire” in the 19th century, the church was built to its present plan in the 12th century, but since then has been much adapted. One of the masons working there, on its first major Victorian restoration by Benjamin Ferrey, was Thomas Hardy’s father, John, and it is likely that the novelist (who studied to become and architect under Ferrey) visited Crondall. On the north porch you can just make out three crusader crosses, said to have been etched into the stone by knights keeping vigil there before setting out for the Holy Land. But the church has also kept up with the times and the modern Millennium Windows are a joy to behold.
Moving on IthroughWell, where there’s a lovely pub called the Chequers with a vine-smothered terrace for summer meals and a welcoming log fire in its cosy, low-beamed bar during the chillier winter months. Travelling down gorgeous leafy lanes past the Four Horseshoes and Lord Wandsworth College (an independent school for 11-18s built in 1915 as a boarding school for boys who had lost a parent) just before coming into the well-groomed village of Long Sutton.
The settlement is high up on the Harrow Way, one of England’s oldest roads (running from the tin mines of Cornwall to the Thames), and it’s well worth a stop to admire the half timbered cottages and village pond. There are footpaths leading from the main road to explore the nearby countryside and it, too, has an All Saints Church, although pre-Reformation it was St Leonard’s. Built in flint and chalk rubble, the church has Norman origins and the nave and chancel date from the early 13th century. Outside, the yew trees are thought to be between a staggering 1,800 and 2,600 years old.
Next to South Warnborough. The name derives from Weargebuman, the Saxon name for the stream where felons were drowned – an unattractive past for a very pretty village. The parish rises southwards from the valley of the River Whitewater to the North Downs at over 700 feet. The undulating countryside is unspoilt and the village features some old brick and half-timbered cottages under thatch. Here St Andrew’s Church lies well back from the main road. The 15th century rood loft is a rare survivor from Reformation destruction and is one of only two remaining in Hampshire. There’s a Jacobean altar table and lovers of heraldry and elaborate memorials will want to linger inside the building.
And so to Upton Grey, a gentle drive along quiet lanes to the village where you can lunch at the Hoddington Arms. There’s a local shop and post office which was threatened with closure 10 years ago, but fund-raising efforts by the villagers paid for alterations and an extension to the village hall so that the shop could continue to trade; a magnificent example of community enterprise. Further up the road is St Mary’s Church, a fascinating building where the 12th century nave was shortened two or three centuries later and a north aisle built in 1715. Don’t miss the man – some say it’s in fact a monkey – with his tongue out, carved into the Caen stone font! There’s a memorial to Lady Dorothy Eyre, maid of honour to James I’s queen, Anne of Denmark.
Upton Grey used to have a charming tradition every May 29 – Royal Oak Day. The church bells would be rung at 6am and bell-ringers would put a large branch of oak over the church porch and another over the lynch-gate. Then smaller branches were placed in the gateway of every house in the village, to bring good luck for the rest of the year. The village’s name derives from the de Grey family, 13th century lords of the manor, most of the delightful houses are listed as being of special architectural or historical interest and part of the village is a conservation area. If you’re looking for Gertrude Jekyll’s garden, The Manor House is just past the church, on the right – and mind the sharp bend! More details about the garden and it’s restoration can be found on the website http://www.gertrudejekyllgarden.co.uk/.
