Headbourne Worthy

Headbourne Worthy
Hampshire
War memorial
Location
Grid reference:	SU487324
Location:	51°5’21"N, 1°18’23"W
Data
Population:	361  (2011)
Post town:	Winchester
Postcode:	SO24
Dialling code:	01962
Local Government
Council:	Winchester
Parliamentary constituency:	Winchester

Headbourne Worthy (formerly Worthy Mortimer) is a village in Hampshire, by the braided streams and meadows of the River Itchen at the south-west edge of its larger, sister village, Kings Worthy, and to the north-east of the city of Winchester. It is amongst a cluster of neighbouring villages by the Itchen in the Barton Stacey Hundred known as 'The Worthys', which are:

• Abbots Worthy
• Headbourne Worthy
• Kings Worthy
• Martyr Worthy

History

• 9th century – manor believed to have been granted by Egbert of Wessex, to St Swithun's Priory
• 1086 – manor held by Ralph Mortimer (Ranulph de Mortimer)
• 1424 – manor held by Richard of York (3rd Duke of York)
• 17th century – manor bought by Sir Thomas Clerke, who in 1594 had acquired the neighbouring manor of Worthy Pauncefoot

Church

St Swithun's Church

The parish church has a dedication reflecting that of Winchester's saint: St Swithun. It stands on Worthy Lane and is a Grade I listed building.

The church dates from the early 11th century and retains its Saxon chancel and nave. It is particularly noted for its 11th century rood on the outside of the original west wall, now part of the vestry. What remains of the stone carving, which was vandalised at the time of the Reformation, depicts the crucified Christ, St Mary the Virgin and St John.

The church sits on an island, surrounded by chalk streams, to the west of Worthy Lane. The graveyard to the south extends to School Lane. In 2012 an oak tree was planted in the churchyard to commemorate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

A three and a half acre parcel of land known as Chisslands has been owned by the church since time immemorial. This parcel of land is to be sold to the developer of the Barton Farm estate for a substantial sum which will provide the church with capital for church maintenance for many years to come.

About the village

Now a three bedroom family home, the stables of the Manor House once housed the 1946 Grand National winner, Lovely Cottage. The day after the race, Lovely Cottage was paraded around the village and local children were lifted onto its back.

Agapanthus is a summer flowering perennial and native of South Africa, but in the late 1940s Lewis Palmer, youngest son of the 2nd Earl of Selborne and a Vice President of the Royal Horticultural Society, bred hybrids in the garden of The Grange on School Lane where he lived. The hybrids, commonly known as Headbourne Hybrids, are still widely available at garden centres and nurseries. In the 1960s at The Grange, Lewis Palmer maintained one of the country's best collections of the winter flowering shrub, Christmas Box (Sarcococca). He also bred a Pulmonaria named Lewis Palmer with violet-blue flowers which has the RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM). A number of Hillier's Nursery staff were trained in the gardens of The Grange.

Twenty watercress beds off Bedfield Lane and Springvale, occupying 4 acres of land, are owned by Robert Chisnell and managed by The Watercress Company. The water used in the beds drains to streams along the Nuns Walk and then into the River Itchen.

Society

An annual dinner, known as The Pudding Feast, was provided to the Mayor and Corporation at The Pudding House (now known as Pudding Farm House). A lease of the property in 1817 converted this obligation to an annual payment of £3

Outside links

• The Worthys Community
• History and images of Headbourne Worthy's Saxon church