Headbourne Worthy

Headbourne Worthy
Headbourne Worthy
 Headbourne Worthy shown within Hampshire
Population 361 [1]
OS grid referenceSU4867732442
DistrictWinchester
Shire countyHampshire
RegionSouth East
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town WINCHESTER
Postcode district SO24
Dialling code 01962
Police Hampshire
Fire Hampshire
Ambulance South Central
EU Parliament South East England
UK ParliamentWinchester
List of places
UK
England
Hampshire

Coordinates: 51°05′21″N 1°18′23″W / 51.089235°N 1.306349°W

Headbourne Worthy (formerly Worthy Mortimer) is a village and former manor within the City of Winchester district of Hampshire, England. The parish[2] also includes the former manor of Worthy Pauncefoot.

History

Parish Council

The parish council consists of seven members elected every 4 years and a parish clerk. The council considers planning applications, carries out minor public works and organises the annual village litter pick. It is funded by a small precept (one of the smallest in Hampshire) collected by Winchester City Council as part of the Council Tax. Recent works include refurbishing the village notice boards in Agapanthus blue[4]

Notable Buildings

St Swithun's Church, Spring 2013

St Swithun's Church

The Grade I listed parish church dates from the 11th century and 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 Friend of St Swithun's carried out a great deal of clearance and conservation work in the churchyard, the burial ground, the dell and the pathways to School Lane and London Road in 2012/2013 and maintains the grounds. The Worthys Conservation Volunteers[6] carried out extensive habitat conservation work in the 'scrub' area to the north of the churchyard in 2013. The group opposes controversial plans to build a car park to the south of the church.[7]

A 3.5 acre parcel of land known as Chisslands has been owned by the church since time immemorial.[8] 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.

There is a service every Sunday at 10:00 using a traditional form of worship according to the Book of Common Prayer.

Manor House Stables

Now a stylish three bedroom family home,[9] the stables of the Manor House once housed the 1946 Grand National winner, Lovely Cottage. 25/1 Lovely Cottage beat 100/1 outsider Jack Finlay and 3/1 favourite Prince Regent in a race that saw 34 horses start but only 6 finish. The day after the race, Lovely Cottage was paraded around the village and local children were lifted onto its back.[10]

The Watercress Beds

20 watercress beds off Bedfield Lane and Springvale occupying 4 acres of land are owned 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.[11]

The Pudding Feast

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[12]

Flora

Agapanthus is a summer flowering perennial and native of South Africa, but in the late 1940s Lewis Palmer, of the Huntley and Palmers biscuit dynasty and a Vice President of the Royal Horticultural Society, bred hybrids in the garden of The Grange on School Lane where he lived with his sister-in-law, Lady Strathcona. 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).[13] He also bred a Pulmonaria named Lewis Palmer with violet-blue flowers which has the RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM).[14] A number of Hillier's Nursey staff were trained in the gardens of The Grange.[15]

Famous and Notable Residents

Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh lived in a bungalow on School Lane called The Headlands during World War II when Olivier was stationed at Worthy Down with the Fleet Air Arm.[16]

Joseph Bingham (1668-1723) was rector of St Swithun's (1695-1712). He was appointed to the living after accusations of heresy in Oxford. He is famous for his ten volume book, Antiquities of the Christian Church. He is buried at the east end of the church.

Sir John McNee (1887-1984), physician and pathologist, who carried out pioneering research on the liver and spleen and was physician to the Queen from 1952 to 1954 is buried in the churchyard of St Swithun's.[17][18]

The Ven. Arthur Winnington-Ingram (priest) (1888-1965), Archdeacon of Hereford (1942-1958), whose father was also Archdeacon of Hereford and whose uncle (Arthur Winnington-Ingram) was Bishop of London, is buried in the churchyard.

Lt. Gen. Sir Henry Edward Burstall (1870-1945), a Canadian General who fought in the Boer and Great wars, settled in England in 1925 and died in the village. The town of Burstall, Saskatchewan in Canada is named after him.

Alethea Hayter (1911-2006) OBE FRSL, writer and British Council Representative and a granddaughter of a former rector (John Henry Slessor) is buried in the churchyard.

Monica Mary Woodhouse OBE (1911-1987), proprieter of the Hampshire Chronicle, lived at Cherry Tree Cottage on London Road. A bench to the south of the church and a stone to the east commemorate her.[19]

Local Businesses

The Good Life shop, cafe and garden centre[20]

Church Paddock Trout Fishery[21]

Foundry Motors, Foresters Park, Wellhouse Lane, 01962 880269

The Dower House[22]

2014 Floods

Flood water from winterbournes above the village to the west threatened houses and the church and lead to the closure of Springvale Road near the Good Life shop in February and March 2014. Water ran down Down Farm Lane onto Springvale Road and had to be diverted with sandbags across the road to the watercress beds alongside Bedfield Lane. From there the flood water passed through the lake at Church Paddock Trout Fishery and into the streams around St Swithun's Church from where it followed the normal water course, under Worthy Lane and towards the Itchen. At one point the water levels around the church threatened it with flooding and sand bags were placed around the 11th century Grade I listed building to protect it.

References

  1. ↑ Census data
  2. ↑ http://www.theworthys.org.uk/Maps/Headbourne_Worthy_Boundary.jpg
  3. ↑ http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=56849
  4. ↑ http://www.theworthys.org.uk
  5. ↑ britishlistedbuildings.co.uk
  6. ↑ http://www.worthysconservationvolunteers.org.uk
  7. ↑ http://www.theworthys.org.uk/Minutes/Mins_HW_13_05_2013.pdf
  8. ↑ http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=56849
  9. ↑ http://www.bdonline.co.uk/manor-house-stables-headbourne-worthy-by-ar-design-studio/5053360.article
  10. ↑ http://www.communigate.co.uk/hants/worthyslocalhistorygroup/page9.phtml
  11. ↑ http://www.thewatercresscompany.co.uk/index.php
  12. ↑ http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=041-34m91w&cid=9-3-1#9-3-1.aspx?cat=041-34m91w&cid=9-3-1#9-3-1
  13. ↑ The Garden, RHS, December 2013
  14. ↑ The Garden, RHS, April 2014
  15. ↑ http://hantsgtrg.pbworks.com/w/page/16630022/Headbourne%20Worthy%20Grange
  16. ↑ Worthy History No 17, 2013, page 33
  17. ↑ http://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/biography/?id=WH2428&type=P
  18. ↑ http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gsr&GScid=2330591
  19. ↑ https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/51135/page/14762
  20. ↑ http://www.goodlifefarmshop.co.uk
  21. ↑ http://www.churchpaddock.co.uk
  22. ↑ http://www.thedowerhousewinchester.co.uk

External links