Sheet, Hampshire
| Sheet | |
| Hampshire | |
|---|---|
| |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SU758245 |
| Location: | 51°-0’55"N, -0°55’15"W |
| Data | |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | East Hampshire |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
East Hampshire |
Sheet is a pretty village in Hampshire, at the edge of Petersfield, a mile north-east of the town centre and a mile west of the Sussex border.
This is in its heart a picture-postcard rural village, gathered around a village green with a huge tree surrounded by traditional cottages, a village hall, a pub and a red phone box with a church nearby. The 20th century, however, saw much infilling between town and village until they became conjoined. New houses have continued to be built in the 21st century.
History
Between 1147 and 1265, Sheet was divided between the Manor of Mapledurham, Durford Abbey and the Prior of St Swithin.
In 1536, at the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Durford Abbey was dissolved. In 1597, when the Borough of Petersfield was purchased by Thomas Hanbury, the boundary between it and Sheet was fixed in what is now Madeline Road.
The oldest building in Sheet, Old Sheet House in Adhurst Hill, was built in 1670.
In 1858, the Bonham Carter family built a substantial home in Sheet, which they named Adhurst St Mary. During the Nineteenth Century the population of the village rose from 247 in 1801 to 784 in 1891.
During Second World War an aircraft factory in Southampton was bombed and several Hawker Typhoons stored under camouflage in a field between the Portsmouth Road and Pulens Lane. From 1940 to 1945 there was an air raid shelter for the pupils at the school dug into the bank in School Lane.
On 23 and 24 December 2013, massive floods hit the village.
St Mary Magdalene Church
The parish church, St Mary Magdalene, was built from 1867 and consecrated the next year, funded by the Lord of the Manor, John Bonham Carter. It was designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield[1][2]
The church is built of local stone with Bath stone dressing in the Early Decorated style. The reredo was donated by Mary, widow of John Bonham Carter after his death in 1905. The family also have several memorial stained glass windows within the church.
Inside the church is a banner of a Knight of the Bath, given to the church by a worshipper Admiral of the Fleet Sir Algernon Usborne Willis, a Knight Commander of the Order. The priest at Sheet has always been Chaplain at Churcher's College but during Second World War he also ministered at Westmark Camp, a school for children evacuated from Portsmouth.
In 1990, Sheet became a parish in its own right.
Society
- Sheet Association and Village Community Trust
- Sheet Women's Institute, founded in 1935
- Sheet Scouts
- Sheet Film Club, which runs an annual Film Festival
- Sheet & Tilmore Allotment Association
About the village
Sheet Common is a wooded area, of historic and scientific interest, with a ravine and parallel footpath running through its length. The woods surround an area of grass much used by the community and visitors.
Sheet Recreation Ground lies on a plot of land between Village Street, Inmans Lane and the old London to Portsmouth road. On its edge is Sheet Scout Hut.
Pictures
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Sheet, Hampshire) |
-
Sheet Village Hall -
Love Lane -
Westmark Farm -
Village Gren, parish church beyond -
River Rother near Sheet Mill
Outside links
References
- ↑ Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England: Hampshire & The Isle of Wight, 1967 Penguin Books ISBN 978-0-300-09606-4page 371
- ↑ 'St Mary Magdalene, 'Sheet 150 years 1868-2018' Bovington et al. (ibid) p2
- A History of the County of Hampshire - Volume 3 pp 111-121#h3-0004: Parishes: Petersfield: Sheet (Victoria County History)