Grateley
| Grateley | |
 The Plough Inn |
|
  Grateley Grateley shown within Hampshire | |
| Population | 616 |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | SU2774441883 |
| District | Test Valley |
| Shire county | Hampshire |
| Region | South East |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Andover |
| Postcode district | SP11 |
| Dialling code | 01264 |
| Police | Hampshire |
| Fire | Hampshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | North West Hampshire |
Grateley is a village and civil parish in the north west of Hampshire, England.
The name is derived from the Old English grēat lēah, meaning 'great wood or clearing'.[1]
The village is divided into two distinct settlements, ¾ mile apart: the old village and a newer settlement built around the railway station.[2] The hamlet of Palestine adjoins the railway station settlement, although it is located in the civil parish of Over Wallop.[3]
Grateley lies just to the South of the pre-historic hillfort of Quarley Hill. The Parish covers 1,551 acres (6.28 km2) with 616 people[4] living in 250 dwellings. The village has two shops, two pubs, a thirteenth-century church dedicated to St Leonard, a primary school, a school for children with Aspergers Syndrome, a railway station, a small business park, a golf driving range, and is surrounded by farmland with ancient footpaths and droveways.
Grateley is historic in its own right, for it was here that King Æthelstan issued his first official law code in about 930.[5] Also, Grateley was one of many ammunition dumps during the World Wars.[6]
The railway station is on the West of England Main Line.
Grateley has its roots firmly in agriculture; as are most of the villages in Hampshire. Farming has been the main source of income for parishioners for the past 2000 years [citation needed], but now like many other rural locations the reliance upon farming as a livelihood is slowly dying out to the extent nowadays that less than 10% of the village population rely upon agriculture as an occupation [citation needed].
References
- ↑ "Grateley, Hampshire". Key to English Place Names. University of Nottingham.
- ↑ "Introduction". Grateley Parish Council.
- ↑ streetmap.co.uk. Map of Grateley, Hampshire (Map). Cartography by Ordnance Survey. http://www.streetmap.co.uk/idld.srf?x=427307&y=140690&z=115&sv=427307,140690&st=4&ar=Y&mapp=idld.srf&searchp=s.srf&dn=698&ax=427500&ay=141500&lm=0. Retrieved July 19, 2012.
- ↑ "Neighbourhood Statistics (Test Valley Borough)". Office for National Statistics. Retrieved July 29, 2012.
- ↑ Lavelle, Ryan (2005). "Why Grateley? Reflections on Anglo-Saxon Kingship in a Hampshire Landscape". Hampshire Studies: Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society 60: 154–69.
- ↑ "History - Part twelve". Grateley Parish Council. "Later, Grateley, like many areas within reach of the south coast ports, became a munitions store for part of the invasion force involved in Operation Overlord."
External links
Media related to Grateley at Wikimedia Commons
