King's Somborne is a village in Hampshire

Hampshire

Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The village lies on the edge of the valley of the River Test

River Test

The River Test is a river in Hampshire, England. The river has a total length of 40 miles and it flows through downland from its source near Ashe, 10 km to the west of Basingstoke , to the sea at the head of Southampton Water...

.

General information

The 'Sombornes' comprise the scattered village of King's Somborne, together with the hamlets of Little Somborne, Up Somborne, and Ashley.

Between King's Somborne and the river lies John of Gaunt

John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster

John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster , KG was a member of the House of Plantagenet, the third surviving son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault...

's Deer Park

Medieval deer park

A medieval deer park was an enclosed area containing deer. It was bounded by a ditch and bank with a wooden park pale on top of the bank. The ditch was typically on the inside, thus allowing deer to enter the park but preventing them from leaving.-History:...

 and to the south the Romans

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

 had a river crossing. King's Somborne had its own drove road used by travellers unwilling to pay the tolls on the turnpike roads to Stockbridge

Stockbridge, Hampshire

Stockbridge is a small town and civil parish in Hampshire, England. It has an acreage of and a population of little under 600 people according to the 2001 census in Hampshire, England. It lies on the River Test, in the Test Valley district and renowned for trout fishing. The A30 road goes through...

 and the Fair. Cruck

Cruck

A cruck or crook frame is a curved timber, one of a pair, which supports the roof of a building, used particularly in England. This type of timber framing consists of long, generally bent, timber beams that lean inwards and form the ridge of the roof. These posts are then generally secured by a...

 beams still survive from the 15th century flint

Flint

Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...

 and chalk

Chalk

Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....

 cottages in the village. These beams were whole timbers curving from the roof to the ground. Nearby Marsh Court is built entirely of blocks of local chalk and designed by Edwin Lutyens

Edwin Lutyens

Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens, OM, KCIE, PRA, FRIBA was a British architect who is known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era...

, as was the War memorial

War memorial

A war memorial is a building, monument, statue or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or to commemorate those who died or were injured in war.-Historic usage:...

 which stands in the village. The original garden plan for Marsh Court was designed by Gertrude Jekyll

Gertrude Jekyll

Gertrude Jekyll was an influential British garden designer, writer, and artist. She created over 400 gardens in the UK, Europe and the USA and contributed over 1,000 articles to Country Life, The Garden and other magazines.-Early life:...

. Somborne Park is the home of the Hervey-Bathurst family

Hervey-Bathurst Baronets

The Hervey-Bathurst Baronetcy, of Larinston in the County of Southampton, is a title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 7 December 1818 for Felton Hervey-Bathurst, with remainder, failing heirs male of his own, to the heirs male of his father. Hervey-Bathurst was the...

 and Compton Manor was the home of the late Sir Thomas Sopwith

Thomas Sopwith

Sir Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith, CBE, Hon FRAeS was an English aviation pioneer and yachtsman.-Early life:...

 of aviation fame. The cliffs at Brook are a local landmark where chalk is extracted.

At Ashley, near Farley Mount, the Normans

Normans

The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...

 built a large castle. At Eldon is the tiny 12th-century Church of St John the Baptist

Church of St John the Baptist, Upper Eldon

The Church of St John the Baptist, Upper Eldon, is a redundant Anglican church in the parish of King's Somborne, Hampshire, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust...

, (now redundant

Redundant church

A redundant church is a church building that is no longer required for regular public worship. The phrase is particularly used to refer to former Anglican buildings in the United Kingdom, but may refer to any disused church building around the world...

). The ecclesiastical Parish

Parish

A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...

 of Somborne with Ashley must surely be unique in having three restored or conserved redundant churches within its boundaries.

Little Somborne has the small but charming church of Saxon

Saxons

The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...

 origin, redundant but conserved in the 1970s and now used for two services a year.

Up Somborne, a ribbon of houses among farm land, is under one mile from Little Somborne.

Interesting Trivia

The television series Worzel Gummidge

Worzel Gummidge

Worzel Gummidge is a British children's fictional character who originally appeared in a series of books by the novelist Barbara Euphan Todd. A walking, talking scarecrow, Gummidge has a set of interchangeable turnip, mangel worzel and swede heads, each of which suit a particular occasion or endow...

 was filmed partly at or near King's Somborne, as well as nearby Braishfield

Braishfield

Braishfield is a village and civil parish north of Romsey in Hampshire, England. It has neither main roads nor railways, but is crossed by the Monarch's Way long-distance footpath...

.

SS. Peter & Paul church, Somborne with Ashley

External links

• The Sombornes Online is the community web site for Kings Somborne and the surrounding villages.

There are many groups and organisations within the village

• The Somborne Players