Swanmore is a rural village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

situated in the Meon Valley,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, England. It is very near to

Bishop's Waltham Bishop's Waltham (or Bishops Waltham) is a medieval market town situated at the source of the River Hamble in Hampshire, England. It has a foot in the South Downs National Park and is located at the midpoint of a long-established route betw ...

. Swanmore was originally set up to provide homes for workers in local brickworks. As such, the houses in the village are mainly early- and mid-Victorian brick buildings, although there are some older houses, especially in the hamlet of Upper Swanmore 1/4 mile north of the main village. The village continued to thrive after the closure of these brickworks, and at one time had many shops and services in the village, however many of these closed with the advent of easier transport to nearby towns, but Swanmore does still have a village shop, post office, and hairdresser. Hill Place is a

grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...

Georgian country villa located in the parish.

Churches

The church, St Barnabas was built when the village gained independence in the 19th century, whereas before it was part of the parish of

Droxford Droxford ( Drokensford) is a village in Hampshire, England. Geography The village is clustered with slight ribbon development along its main, north–south, undulating road. It is entirely on the lower half of the western slopes of the Meon v ...

. With its independence Swanmore gained its own resident priest and parsonage. As well as St Barnabas, Swanmore has a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related Christian denomination, denominations of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John W ...

chapel which was built in 1863. The Paterson centre, which was built to replace the old parish room, was built in the late 1980s and named after retired Swanmore vicar Rev. Ron Paterson and in remembrance of the three members of his family who died while he was serving the parish.

Education

Swanmore houses the schools Swanmore Primary School (a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

aided school) and Swanmore College, which is the secondary school for neighbouring towns and villages. The nearest major town is

Fareham Fareham ( ) is a market town at the north-west tip of Portsmouth Harbour, between the cities of Portsmouth and Southampton in south east Hampshire, England. It gives its name to the Borough of Fareham. It was historically an important manufac ...

, six miles south. Swanmore also has two pre-schools, Swanmore Pre-School and the Greenery.

References

External links

Parish Council Site

St.Barnabas site

Swanmore College of Technology, school site

Swanmore Primary School Site
Villages in Hampshire {{Hampshire-geo-stub