East Wellow
| East Wellow | |
| Hampshire | |
|---|---|
 St Margaret's Church | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SU302204 |
| Location: | 50°58’56"N, 1°34’13"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Romsey |
| Postcode: | SO51 |
| Dialling code: | 01794 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Test Valley |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Romsey |
East Wellow is a hamlet in Hampshire, on the eastern bank of the River Blackwater which forms the border with Wiltshire. Its larger sister, West Wellow stands to the south-west, in Wiltshire. The nearest town is Romsey (four miles), while the City of Southampton is eight miles to the south.
The village is mainly residential: the shops and facilities are across the border in West Wellow. Of the two villages, East Wellow is the elder and has the parish church, though it is far surpassed in size by modern West Wellow.
East Wellow shares civil administration and a civil parish council with its Wiltshire neighbours, West Wellow and the hamlet of Canada
Parish church
The parish church of St. Margaret of Antioch is a flint-faced stone structure consecrated in 1215 and the interior contains some wall paintings from this period.
A chancel was added in the Thirteenth Century and a south aisle in the Fifteenth Century, but the church is famous as the burial site of Florence Nightingale, whose family home was the nearby Embley Park, now a private school.
St Margaret's is a destination for many visitors interested in Nightingale and the history of nursing.
History and the village
King Alfred at his death in 899 left "the toune of Welewe" in his will to his eldest daughter Æþelgifu. "Welue" is mentioned in the Domesday Book (1086) where it is recorded that Agemund had five hides of about 600 acres there.
In 1251 Henry III of England granted a charter to Wellow to hold an annual fair on the eve of St Margaret's Day. It has never been a large place though.
The name of the village appears just as "Wellow" in early records and appears as such on Saxton's 1575 map of Hampshire, spelled "Wellew" in various maps from the seventeenth century.
Embley Park was the family home of Florence Nightingale, founder of the nursing profession. It is today a school, called Hampshire Collegiate School.
The school was originally funded by money from Florence Nightingale's family, and bears a plaque recording that information.[1]
The former Wellow Mill on the Blackwater was served by a complicated series of sluices to deal with changes in water level but was converted to a private residence in 1945 and no machinery remains. Along the river are a series of lakes which form the site of Woodington and Whinwhistle fisheries.
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Wellow, Hampshire) |
- St Margaret's East Wellow, burial place of Florence Nightingale
- Old Hampshire Mapped by Jean and Martin Norgate
References
- ↑ "Service marks centenary of Florence Nightingale's death". Diocese of Winchester. 7 September 2010. http://www.winchesteranglican.org/page.php?id=2775. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
