Ropley
| Ropley | |
| Hampshire | |
|---|---|
 View down Church Street | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SU646319 |
| Location: | 51°4’59"N, 1°4’43"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 1,526 (2011) |
| Post town: | Alresford |
| Postcode: | SO24 |
| Dialling code: | 01962 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | East Hampshire |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
East Hampshire |
Ropley is a village in Hampshire, four miles east of New Alresford, just off the A31 road.
The village is served by a station on the Watercress Line (the Mid Hants Railway, a heritage line) at Ropley Dean, just over a mile from the village shops.
The St Swithun's Way long distance walking route, part of the Pilgrims' Way route, passes through the village.
This village is distinguished by its general absence of pavements in favour of boundary walls, hedges and mature trees.
Name
Ropley is recorded in 1167 as Ropeleia.[1] The name is from the Old English personal name 'Hroppa',[2] so hroppan leag is 'Hroppa's meadow'.
Parish church
St Peter's parish church stands in te heart of the village. It is a Grade II listed building.[3] The church was severely damaged by a major electrical fire on 19 June 2014 which gutted the building and destroyed the roof. However plans were made to repair the building.[4]
The church as a war memorial, listing 40 villagers who died in the Great War, and a further 10 in the Second World War.[5]
The vicar of Ropley from 1796 to 1811 was the Reverend William Howley (who succeeded his father, also William Howley, in the post). He went on to serve as a Canon of Christ Church, Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford, Bishop of London (1813-1828), and Archbishop of Canterbury (1828-1848), in which capacity he crowned two British monarchs.
History
In the Domesday Book Ropley is recorded as part of the Hundred of Bishops Sutton (or "Ashley"). Ropley is noted as having provided the honey for William the Conqueror's mead.
By the 13th century much of the manor of Ropley was owned by the Gervase family (also written as Gervais, Gervas, Gervase, Gerveis and Jervays). In the 1370s the family began to gift lands in Ropley to the founding of Winchester College by William of Wykeham. William Gervas of Ropley mentioned in Winchester College documents in 1256 is the first record of a Gervais family member in Ropley although their presence in the village likely went back earlier. The last mention of the family is in 1450.[6]
IN 1709, the commons and common fields of Ropley, estimated at 500 acres, were enclosed by what was the first private parliamentary Inclosure Act of its kind. The bill was led by the bishop of Winchester, Jonathan Trelawny, in an effort to restore his family finances, and by the College of Winchester. The enclosure was strongly contested by petition by many of the commoners who claimed that the bishop and his three appointed commissioners were stealing their commons rights. Parliament declined to intervene. Serious and bloody repercussions followed affecting neighbouring parishes and later enclosures across the country.[7]
Station
Ropley railway station opened in 1865, and has operated continuously since that date, other than for four years from 1973 to 1977. Originally opened by the London and South Western Railway, services ended in 1973, but were restored by a preservation society four years later, as part of the Mid Hants Railway, running heritage services between Alton and New Alresford. There is a 100-year established garden topiary by the station house side. The locomotive shed and engineering works are located adjacent to the station, and tours may be booked.[8]
Events
Ropley holds an annual Boxing Day walk, and a pram race on the spring bank holiday in May.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Ropley) |
References
- ↑ A History of the County of Hampshire - Volume 3 pp 55-58: Parishes: Ropley (Victoria County History)
- ↑ The Saxon Land Charters of Hampshire with Notes on Place and Field Names (4th Series)
- ↑ National Heritage List 1339053: Church of St Peter (Grade II listing)
- ↑ "Ropley church gutted by blaze". BBC News. 19 June 2014. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-27918810.
- ↑ Roll of Honour Ropley
- ↑ Himsworth winchester college archives
- ↑ Heal, Ropley's Legacy.
- ↑ "Overview to stations". Mid Hampshire Railway. http://www.watercressline.co.uk/Your-Visit/Guide.
Further reading
- Hagen, Marianna S.: 'Annals of Old Ropley' (1929)
- Heal, Chris,:
- 'The Four Marks Murders', second edition, Chapters 2 & 4 (Chattaway and Spottiswood, 2021) ISBN 978-1-9161944-2-7
- 'Ropley's Legacy, The Ridge Enclosures, 1709 to 1850: Chawton, Farringdon, Medstead, Newton Valence and Ropley and the birth of Four Marks' (Chattaway and Spottiswood, 2021) ISBN 978-1-9161944-3-4
- Hogarth, Peter: 'Ropley in the Age of Smuggling', No. 84 (Alresford Historical & Literary Society 1993)
- Kirby, T. F., The Charters of the Manor of Ropley, Hants (The Society of Antiquaries, London 1902)
- Mason, Frederick, Ropley Past and Present, A Brief Story of a Hampshire Village (Scriptmate Editions, London 1989) ISBN 0-951-4647-0-1 (Hardback) 0-951-4647-1-X (paperback)
- Montgomery, Roy, The village of Ropley and the parish of St Peter (Hampshire Genealogical Society, Village Booklet No 20)