Wherwell is a village on the

River Test The River Test is a chalk stream in Hampshire in the south of England. It rises at Ashe near Basingstoke and flows southwards for to Southampton Water. Settlements on the Test include the towns of Stockbridge and Romsey. The river's vall ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, England. The name may derive from its bubbling springs resulting in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

place name “Hwerwyl” noted in AD 955, possibly meaning “kettle springs” or “cauldron springs.” Pronunciation of the name has ranged from “Hurrell” to “Wer-rel” to present-day “Wher-well.”Test Valley Borough Council, 2011, “Wherwell”, http://www.testvalley.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=356, Page Last Updated: 10/08/2005. Before the Dissolution, the parish of Wherwell was in the hands of an important

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christians, Christian monks and nun ...

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

nuns, whose abbess was

Lady of the Manor Lord of the manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England and Norman England, referred to the landholder of a historical rural estate. The titles date to the English Feudalism, feudal (specifically English feudal barony, baronial) system. The ...

of an area much larger than the existing parish. Wherwell St Peter And Holy Cross

The village is associated with the

Cockatrice A cockatrice is a mythical beast, essentially a two-legged dragon, wyvern, or snake, serpent-like creature with a rooster's head. Described by Laurence Breiner as "an ornament in the drama and poetry of the Elizabethans", it was featured promine ...

. The story is that the cockatrice terrorised the village until it was imprisoned in the dungeons below Wherwell Priory. A prize of land was offered to anyone who could kill the creature. None were successful, until a man named Green lowered a mirror into the dungeon. The cockatrice battled against its own reflection until exhausted, at which point Green was able to kill it. Today there is an area of land near Wherwell called Green's Acres. For many years a weather vane in the shape of a cockatrice adorned the C19 church of St. Peter and Holy Cross in Wherwell until it was removed to

Andover Museum Andover Museum and Museum of the Iron Age is a museum with two collections: the Andover Museum focuses on the history of the town of Andover, and the Museum of the Iron Age serves as a major focus for museum and educational activities surroundi ...

. The

(which has more than one channel nearby, and a wide flood plain) flows through the village in parallel with the High Street. Several cottages in the village are thatched, some dating from C16. The village had an inn called "The White Lion Inn" which is currently closed for refurbishment at September 2024. Education The village is home to a primary school, Wherwell Primary School.

References

External links

Chilbolton and Wherwell Community MagazineWherwell photos, maps and memoriesWherwell and Chilbolton HistoryANY-village for Wherwell
Villages in Hampshire {{hampshire-geo-stub