South Warnborough is a small village and civil parish

Civil parish

In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...

 in the English county of 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...

. In the 2001 census, the population was 542.

South Warnborough is approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) south of the village of Odiham

Odiham

Odiham is a historic village and large civil parish in the Hart district of Hampshire, England. It is twinned with Sourdeval in the Manche Department of France. The current population is 4,406. The parish contains an acreage of 7,354 acres with 50 acres of land covered with water. The nearest...

 and 6 miles (9.7 km) north of the town of Alton

Alton, Hampshire

Alton is a historic market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of the English county of Hampshire. It had a population of 16,584 at the 1991 census and is administered by East Hampshire district council. It is located on the source of the River Wey and is the highest town in...

. Other neighbouring settlements include the villages of Upton Grey

Upton Grey

Upton Grey is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England.-Roman times:The village is on the line of an ancient Roman road, the Chichester to Silchester Way.-Norman times:...

 to the west and Long Sutton

Long Sutton, Hampshire

Long Sutton is a small village and civil parish in the Hart district of Hampshire, England. The village lies about south of the town of Odiham. Neighbouring villages include Well, South Warnborough and Upton Grey....

 to the east.

Geographic location

The parish rises southwards from the valley of the River Whitewater

River Whitewater

The River Whitewater rises at springs near Bidden Grange Farm between Upton Grey and Greywell. It flows northeast through Hampshire and is a tributary of the River Blackwater near Swallowfield. Its headwaters flow over chalk and there is little pollution making the River Whitewater rich in wildlife...

 to the North Downs at over 700 feet (213.4 m) - the highest point in the Hart district. The undulating countryside is unspoilt and the village contains old brick and half-timbered cottages, many under thatch.

Village amenities

The parish has a pub, The Poacher, a popular village shop and Post Office, Street Farm House, a beautiful Jacobean guest house, the 12/13th century Norman Church of St Andrew and a Village Playground managed by the Playground Committee. There is also a war memorial at the centre of the village. A small business unit and car repair garage is located on the southern edge of the village. In the centre of the village, there is The Ridley Hall, a small village hall that hosts village social occasions and events.

Interesting information

• A farm in South Warnborough supplies potatoes to Walkers Crisps
• The village Fête
  Fête
  Fête is a French word meaning festival, celebration or party, which has passed into English as a label that may be given to certain events.-Description:It is widely used in England and Australia in the context of a village fête,...
  
   is usually the centrepoint of the Village in June-July
• A television advertisement for Ambrosia Devon Custard was filmed in the field where the village fête is currently held, taking advantage of the view it provides over the centre of the village including the church

History

The name derives from "Weargebuman", evidently the Saxon name for Whitewater and meaning "felon stream", i.e. "the stream where felons are drowned.

The Domesday Book

South Warnborough, then known as Wergeborne, was included in the Domesday Book

Domesday Book

Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

. It was translated for the Victoria County History of Hampshire as follows:

In Odingetone (Hoddington) Hundret:

The same Hugh holds Wergeborne and Guy (de Craon holds it) of him with his daughter. Bondi held it of King Edward. It was then assessed at 11 hides; now at 6 hides. There is land for 12 ploughs. In demesne are 2 ploughs and (there are) 15 villeins and 16 bordars with 6 ploughs. There are a church and 3 serfs, and a mill worth ten shillings, and 12 acres (48,562.3 m²) of meadow. T.R.E. (in the time of King Edward) it was worth 12 pounds, and afterwards 6 pounds; and now 10 pounds

Church, Manor, Plough

In the book Church, Manor, Plough - Volume 1 of the History of South Warnborough written by John Simpson in 1946, he details a statement made on 28 September 1822 by William Cobbett

William Cobbett

William Cobbett was an English pamphleteer, farmer and journalist, who was born in Farnham, Surrey. He believed that reforming Parliament and abolishing the rotten boroughs would help to end the poverty of farm labourers, and he attacked the borough-mongers, sinecurists and "tax-eaters" relentlessly...

 who was passing through the parish on one of his 'Rural Rides' from Odiham to Winchester

Winchester

Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...

"We have come over roads and lanes of flint and chalk. The weather being dry again, the ground under you, as solid as iron, makes a great rattling with the horses feet. The country where the soil is stiff loam upon chalk, is never bad for corn. Not rich, but never poor. There is at no time anything deserving to be called dirt in the roads. The buildings last a long time, from the absence of fogs and also the absence of humidity in the ground. The absence of dirt makes the people habitually cleanly; and all along through this country the people appear in general to be very neat. It is a country for sheep, which are always good and sound..."

St. Andrews

St. Andrews was given by William the Conqueror to Hugh Fitzbaldric. St. Andrew's church dates from the early 12th century. Its walls are made of flint rubble, except for the West wall of the nave and the 19th century South aisle. Its roofs are now tiled, though in the Middle Ages they may well have been thatched. The unusual wooden bell turret at the West end is late 14th century. Inside, the roofs of the nave and chancel are of the trussed-rafter type, used in mediaeval and late mediaeval times. In its original form the church had no South aisle, which was added by the Victorian architect Street about 1870. There were, however, nave altars on either side of the chancel steps as well as the main altar at the East end.

The main doorway on the North side, with its interesting design of lozenges broken at an angle, and the West end of the nave, were built when Alan de Craon was lord of the manor. The rest of the nave and the chancel appear to have been rebuilt in the first half of the 13th century, the chancel keeping the width and perhaps some of the wall of its 12th century predecessor. Its east window is made up of three closely set stepped lancets under an enclosing arch. The single lancet windows of the nave are early 14th century, as are the windows on the south walls of the church. The large window to the left of the main altar is 16th century, though the stained glass is of a later date. One of the outstanding features of the church is the 15th century rood screen, a rare survival and now in its original position though there was a time when it was used under the belfry where it formed a gallery. Its supporting arches are of a later date. St. Andrew's is rich in monuments and heraldry, particularly of the Whyte family. To the left of the main altar there is a large altar tomb, probably not in its original position, bearing the Whyte arms - the three popinjays - on shields set on a four-leafed design (quatrefoils).

Although the South aisle was built in the 19th century, there is to the right of its altar an early 12th century volute capital and shaft possibly of the same date as the nave walls. The chief interest of the South aisle is in the 16th century heraldic glass. On the window behind the altar are represented the three feathers of Wales twice and the Tudor Rose once, probably for Prince Arthur, the elder brother of Henry VIII, and also the emblems of Katherine of Aragon who stayed at Dogmersfield when she first arrived in England to marry Arthur.

In the window to the right there are four panels. The top left hand is dated 1599 and shows the Whyte popinjays; the other three shields are encircled by garters and are from the first half of the 16th century; they include the quartered shield of Thomas Wriothesley, first earl of Southampton who had served with Sir Thomas Whyte on a Commission for disposing of Church plate at the Reformation; his grandson, the 3rd Earl, was the patron of the Elizabethan poets, and in particular of Shakespeare.

The Manor

At the Norman Conquest, William the Conqueror granted the manor of Wergeborne (South Warnborough) to one of his great Norman barons, Hugh Fitzbaldric. Hugh gave the manor and the living of St. Andrew's Church which went with it, to his daughter on her marriage to Guy de Craon. Their son Alan, grandson Maurice and great-grandson Guy continued as lords of the manor but the living of St Andrew's, with land and woods, was granted by Alan to Freiston Priory, a sub-cell of the renowned Crowland Abbey in Lincolnshire, in which county the de Craons also had lands.

External links

• 'Parishes: South Warnborough' A History of the County of Hampshire Volume 3 (1908), pp. 378-382
• Google Map of South Warnborough