Thruxton, Hampshire

Thruxton
Hampshire
Thatched cottages in Thruxton
Location
Grid reference:	SU292455
Location:	51°12’28"N, 1°34’60"W
Data
Population:	650  (2011)
Post town:	Andover
Postcode:	SP11
Dialling code:	01264
Local Government
Council:	Test Valley
Parliamentary constituency:	North West Hampshire

Thruxton is a tiny, pretty village in north-western Hampshire, squashed against the north side of the A303 road, five west of Andover and just two miles from the Wiltshire border. The village has a manor house, thatched cottages and village green.

The Pillhill Brook runs from Thruxton Down through the grounds of the Manor House and along the village street to Mullen's Pond, a natural habitat for many species of migratory birds and wild plants.

St Peter and St Paul

Parish church

The parish church, the Church of St Peter and St Paul, stands at the eastern edge of the village. Parts of the parish church of St Peter and St Paul's date from the thirteenth century. Additions were made in the 15th century, and a complete restoration took place in 1869.

The church is a Grade I listed building.

The church experienced a number of renovations and rebuilding work between 1839 and 1877, including the construction of the north aisle. The nave also contains a list of the church's rectors dating back to 1243.

St Peter and St Paul's church

The church contains the tombs of three knights. Coffin slabs for two of the knights stand upright at the entrance in the bell tower, made of Purbeck marble, heavily weathered, although the great helm and shield of one is still discernible. His spear lies beside him on his right side. It also has one of the best examples of a Tudor Renaissance tomb

Name

In the twelfth century the name of the village is recorded as Turkilleston, and the name accordingly may be from the Old English Þurkles tun or similar, meaning 'Thurkel's farmstead': the name 'Thurkel' is an originally Danish personal name. Over the centuries the name has apeared as Turcleston, Thorcleston (13th century), Throkeleston, Thurkcleston (14th century), Throkeston (15th century), Thruckleston (16th century), Throxton (18th century)

History

A Roman building considered to be a basilican villa was unearthed near the village in 1823, which contained a mosaic depicting Bacchus seated on a tiger. The tessellated pavement was acquired for the British Museum in 1899.

Thruxton is almost certainly one of four ‘Annes’ named in the Domesday Book under the Andover Hundred.

The manor was held in 1086 by Gozelin de Cormeilles; in 1304, his descendant, John de Cormeilles, was granted the right to hold a market every Monday and a fair on the eve of the feast of St Peter and St Paul (the saints to whom the village church is dedicated).

Just when the de Cormeilles family parted with the manor of Thruxton and how the Lisles acquired it is unknown. Sir John Lisle and his wife are buried in the church, with Sir John commemorated with an outstanding example of an early 15th-century monumental brass. The brass is dated 1407 and is the earliest known example of a knight in full plate armour in the country.

Further generations of Lisle family were buried in the church, although space was becoming restricted by the time of Sir John Lisle in the early 1520s. He decided to build a chapel to provide further room for future burials, including his own. The tomb of Sir John and his wife in the church, who both died in 1524, is considered a classic of the early Renaissance style. The effigies are made from Purbeck marble. Sir John lies with his bare head on his shield, wearing full plate armour and chain collar of linked "S"s.

The bulk of the Lisle chapel is gone. Most of it was used to provide building material when the church tower collapsed in 1796 and had to be rebuilt. The Lisle line of direct male heirs died out soon after Sir John and Mary, with the manorial rights passing to Agnes, married to John Philpot. Behind the choir pews on the left of the altar is a weathered wooden effigy from the early 17th century, believed to be of Elizabeth Philpot who died in 1616.

King James I and Anne of Denmark stayed with George Philpot at Thruxton in August 1603, while were travelling from Farnham Castle to Wilton House.

The road through Thruxton was well travelled and used by coaches on the Exeter-London route. In the 1720s a highwayman from Salisbury, John Dyer, would set ambushes on Thruxton Down to hold up coaches. He was captured and hung in London in 1729.

On 24 April 1920, Sidney Spicer, a taxi driver, was hailed in Amesbury by Percy Toplis, a criminal and black marketeer who was then serving in the Royal Army Service Corps. The vehicle was travelling towards Andover, but Topliss shot Spicer in the back once they reached Thruxton Down. The driver was killed instantly, with Toplis hiding the body and then stealing the vehicle. The body was found the following morning, with Toplis already on the run. He would be shot dead by police in Cumberland in June after a lengthy manhunt.

The toll house for the Andover to Amesbury turnpike road at Mullen's Pond was demolished in 1965.

Aerodrome and race track

Thruxton Aerodrome, immediately west of the village, incorporates Thruxton Circuit, a major draw for visitors to the area and can claim to be Britain's fastest motor racing circuit.

Land for the airfield was purchased by the Air Ministry from Thruxton Manor Estate. It was bombed during construction, with damage to one property in Thruxton village and other bombs missing the target, hitting Thruxton Down.

Public houses

There is one village pub; the White Horse, a fifteenth-century thatched pub at Mullens Pond south of the A303. The old George Inn, a former coaching inn is now a private house George House. Built in the late 18th or early 19th century, it is believed to have replaced and taken the name of the older inn opposite dating from the seventeenth century, now known as George Cottage, near the centre of the village.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Thruxton, Hampshire)

• Thruxton Village
• Old maps of Thruxton (Old Hampshire Gazetteer, University of Portsmouth)
• Flying School and Airfield home page - ICAO designation EGHO
• Thruxton Racing
• Airfield control tower: ControlTowers.co.uk