Hartley Wintney
| Hartley Wintney | |
| Hampshire | |
|---|---|
 St Mary's parish church | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SU764567 |
| Location: | 51°18’15"N, -0°54’19"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 4,999 (2011) |
| Post town: | Hook |
| Postcode: | RG27 |
| Dialling code: | 01252 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Hart |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
North East Hampshire |
| Website: | Hartley Wintney Parish Council |
Hartley Wintney is a large village in Hampshire, in the east of the county about three miles north-west of Fleet and eight miles east of Basingstoke. The wider parish includes the smaller contiguous village of Phoenix Green as well as the hamlets of Dipley, Elvetham, Hartfordbridge, and West Green.
The 2011 census recorded the parish's population as 4,999.
The town has a typical wide Hampshire main street, lined with local businesses, shops, an osteopath, public houses and a number of churches.
The parish includes large, wooded areas such as Yateley Heath Wood and part of Hazeley Heath. The River Hart flows through the parish north-east of the town. The River Whitewater forms the western parish boundary. The southern boundary now follows the M3 motorway.
The town is known for its numerous antique shops. At the southern end is the green and with thatched duck house. The pond is called Hatton's Pond, after a landlord of the Waggon and Horses public house in about 1870. The red-brick Church of England parish church of St John the Evangelist overlooks the green.
Beyond the green are the Mildmay oak trees. They were planted at the behest of Lady St John Mildmay in response to a call in 1807 by Admiral Collingwood after the Battle of Trafalgar for landowners to plant oaks to provide timber for naval ships. The cricket green, home of the oldest cricket club in Hampshire, is behind the shops, with a second duckpond and Dutch-gabled farmhouse, Causeway Farm, a short distance away through a stand of oaks.
Churches
St Mary's Church, a little south of the centre of the town, is Hartley Wintney's original Church of England parish church. It was built in the 13th century and given new windows in the 14th and 15th centuries. In the 19th century the brick transepts and west tower were added and more windows were inserted.[1] St Mary's is a Grade II* listed building.[2]
In 1869–70 a new parish church of St John the Evangelist was built nearer the centre of the town. It is a Gothic Revival building designed by EA Lansdowne.[1] In the 20th century the Diocese of Winchester declared St Mary's redundant and vested it in the Churches Conservation Trust, leaving St John's as the parish's sole Anglican place of worship.
- Church of England:
- St John The Evangelist
- St Mary's (closed)
- Baptist
- Methodist
- Roman Catholic: St Thomas More, built in the 1960s
History
In prehistory the area was probably fairly heavily wooded with a lake and a marshy area.
The Domesday Book of 1086 does not record Hartley Wintney by name. Both before and after the Norman conquest it was probably part of the royal manor of Odiham.[3]
The earliest record of Hartley Wintney by name is from the 12th century, when Wintney Priory of Cistercian nuns was founded there. In the 13th century its name was variously recorded as Hercelega, Hurtlegh or Hertleye Wynteneye. This last version means "forest clearing where the deer graze by Winta's island": 'Winta' was probably a Saxon landowner of the island in the marshes. The name was recorded as Hurtleye Winteney or Wytteneye in the 14th century and Herteley Witney in the 16th century.[3]
About 100 years after the Norman conquest Hartley Wintney was made a separate manor held by the FitzPeter family. It was Geoffrey FitzPeter who founded the Cistercian priory.[3] A deer park stretched from Odiham to the outskirts of the village and to the north. It was used for 600 years by royalty and others for hunting, and its wood was used for fuel.
In 1831 the parish (then excluding Elvetham and part of Hartfordbridge) had a population of 1,139.
Elvetham
Elvetham is a hamlet about a mile east of Hartley Wintney. Until the 20th century it was a separate civil parish. Hartfordbridge, about three-quarters of a mile north-east of Hartley Wintney, was partly in Elvetham parish and partly in Hartley Wintney.[4]
Elvetham was a manor by the time of Edward the Confessor in the 11th century.[5] There has been a country house there since at least 1535, when John Seymour entertained Henry VIII there. Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford entertained Elizabeth I there in 1591.[5] Of that house no trace remains.
The present Elvetham Hall was designed by Samuel Sanders Teulon and built in 1859–62. It is now a Grade II* listed building.[6] Formerly the seat of the Barons Calthorpe, the house is now a 70-bedroom hotel, conference and banqueting venue.
Elvetham had a parish church from an early date, but in 1840 it was dismantled. The present Romanesque Revival church of St Mary the Virgin in the grounds of Elvetham Hall was completed in 1841.[7] In the 20th century the Diocese of Winchester declared it redundant. The church is now one of Elvetham Hall's conference and banqueting venues.
Air crash
On 5 October 1945 a Consolidated B-24 Liberator GR.VI aircraft of No. 311 Squadron RAF crashed and burst into flames in a field on the Elvetham Hall estate. All of its passengers and RAF crew were Czechoslovakian and all twenty-three people aboard were killed, including five young children who were aged from 18 months to three years old. Thirteen of the civilians were buried in a communal grave in Brookwood Civil Cemetery, and the crew received a military burial 100 yards away in Brookwood Military Cemetery. An unlisted passenger was found, Edita Sedlakova, who had not long been married to the Flight Engineer, Zdenek Sedlak, and this was their honeymoon flight home. Edita lies in the communal grave while Zdenek is in the Military Cemetery. Edita was just 19 years old.[8][9]
Other notable buildings
- West Green House is an 18th-century country house owned by the National Trust. The gardens are open to the public.[10]
- Victoria Hall, at the west end of Hartley Wintney, was designed by Thomas Edward Collcutt. It was built in 1897 and opened by Lady Calthorpe on 20 October 1898 to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria.
Sport and leisure
- Cricket: Hartley Wintney Cricket Club, founded in 1770. The village is believed to have one of the oldest continuously used cricket grounds in Britain.[11]
- Football: Hartley Wintney F.C., which plays at The Memorial Playing Fields.
Society
Hartley Wintney Preservation Society was founded in 1966 but in 2019 chose to change its name to Hartley Wintney Heritage Society, to project a more positive and forward-thinking attitude, such as opposing the benches on the cricket green.[12]
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Hartley Wintney) |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Pevsner & Lloyd 1967, p. 274.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1092270: Church of St Mary (Grade II* listing)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Page 1911, pp. 79–81.
- ↑ Lewis 1931, pp. 421–427.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Page 1911, pp. 74–76.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1092322: Elvetham Hall House (Grade II* listing)
- ↑ National Heritage List 1116853: Church of St Mary at Elvetham Hall (Grade II listing)
- ↑ 'Crash in Hampshire', The Times 8 October 1945; page 4; issue 50267
- ↑ "Mystery of 23rd body in blazing 'plane wreck". The Scotsman. 8 October 1945.
- ↑ "West Green House". West Green House. http://westgreenhouse.co.uk. "2017's season runs from March 1st to 29th October inclusive. We are open Wednesday to Sunday each week, & Bank Holiday Mondays 11am to 4.30pm. We close briefly on October 29th 2017 before re-opening for our Christmas Fair on Wednesday November 8th. The Christmas Fair is open daily (including Mondays and Tuesdays) from November 8th to December 23rd"
- ↑ The Old Batsman (30 March 2017). "Cricket & psychogeography number 2: the fast bowlers of Hartley Wintney". The Consolations of a Cricketing Life. Blogspot. http://theoldbatsman.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/cricket-psychogeography-number-2-fast.html.
- ↑ Hartley Wintney Heritage Society
- Gorsky, David. The Old Village of Hartley Wintney. Hartley Wintney: Hartley Wintney Preservation Society.
- Lewis, Samuel: 'A Topographical Dictionary of England' (S. Lewis and Co., 1848) pp421-427 ISBN 978-0-8063-1508-9
- A History of the County of Hampshire - Volume 4 pp 79-81: Parishes: Hartley Wintney (Victoria County History)
- Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England: Hampshire & The Isle of Wight, 1967 Penguin Books ISBN 978-0-300-09606-4