Winchfield is a small village in the

Hart District Hart is a local government district in Hampshire, England, named after the River Hart. Its council is based in Fleet. The district also contains the towns of Blackwater and Yateley, along with numerous villages and surrounding rural areas. ...

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, ...

in the South-East of England. It is situated south-west of

Hartley Wintney Hartley Wintney is a large village and civil parish in the Hart district of Hampshire, England. It lies about northwest of Fleet and east of Basingstoke. The parish includes the smaller contiguous village of Phoenix Green as well as the ...

, east of

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is a town in Hampshire, situated in south-central England across a valley at the source of the River Loddon on the western edge of the North Downs. It is the largest settlement in Hampshire without city status in the United King ...

, north-east of

Odiham Odiham () is a large historic village and civil parish in the Hart district of Hampshire, England. It is twinned with Sourdeval in the Manche Department of France. The 2011 population was 4,406. The parish in 1851 had an area of 7,354 acres ...

and west of London. It is connected to

London Waterloo Waterloo station (), also known as London Waterloo, is a major central London railway terminus on the National Rail network in the United Kingdom, in the Waterloo area of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is connected to a London Undergroun ...

and

by the

South West Main Line The South West Main Line (SWML) is a 143-mile (230 km) major railway line between Waterloo station in central London and Weymouth on the south coast of England. A predominantly passenger line, it serves many commuter areas including south wes ...

. Winchfield consists of a recently rebuilt

village hall A village hall is a public building in a rural or suburban community which functions as a community centre without a religious affiliation. United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, a village hall is a building which is owned by a local gover ...

(in 1998), a church, a 17th century inn called the Winchfield Inn and a combination of old residential properties and new ones. In the 2011 census Winchfield parish had a population of 664. The population is scattered across this wide parish, which includes Potbridge, settlement around Winchfield church, Winchfield Hurst and Shapley Heath.

History

There was a Stone Age settlement at Bagwell Green, a few hundred yards past the church in the direction of Odiham Common. Winchfield also has a few examples of 16th and 17th century buildings, particularly near the church. Winchfield's manor was mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1088. In 1838, a station was constructed, known as Shapley Heath and was renamed Winchfield Station, probably in 1840. Between 1838 and 1839, Shapley Heath station served as the terminus point for all rail services from London. From here, all mail was then distributed to the rest of the South of England by mail coach. This continued for about a year, when the railway was extended to Basingstoke late in 1839. A large workhouse was located in Pale Lane which became a hospital and has since been redeveloped for housing. The parish council was formed in 1894, and since then the village has continued to slowly expand, with newer properties constructed at Winchfield Hurst and near the Station.

Notable buildings

St Mary the Virgin

St Mary the Virgin was built during the 12th century. The church has been hardly altered since its original construction in the 12th century, with the exception of the sixteenth century south porch and a modern north aisle and top stage of the tower.

The Old School House

The Old School was built in 1860–61 by

William Burges William Burges (; 2 December 1827 – 20 April 1881) was an English architect and designer. Among the greatest of the Victorian era, Victorian art-architects, he sought in his work to escape from both nineteenth-century Industrial Revolution, ...

. The building is of brick, in the gothic style, with a patterned tiled roof. Its most striking feature is the pair of "full height windows with open timberwork gables marking the former schoolroom." Following alteration, the school is now a private residence.

Winchfield Festival

Winchfield holds a biennial festival, which is centred on Winchfield's 12th century church. The festival developed from a single musical event in 1990 to raise funds to renovate the church organ. Since then the festival has expanded with the help of the local community to include both fun and educational events. The Winchfield Festival is a properly constituted charity, with educational as well as entertainment goals. The festivals cover many musical genres, including classical, jazz,

global Global may refer to: General *Globe, a spherical model of celestial bodies *Earth, the third planet from the Sun Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 198 ...

and pop.

Proposed new development at Winchfield

On 27 November 2014, Hart District Council voted to test Winchfield as a suitable location for a new settlement of up to 10,000 homes. However in November 2021 the council's cabinet agreed to abandon the development project when government funding failed to meet expected requirements, with a July 2022 council report noting deficiencies in the way the project had been run.

Notable people

* Arthur Wood (1875–1961), Royal Navy rear admiral and

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

Notes

References

External links

Hart District Council WebsiteWinchfield Parish's Official Website
(Version )
St Mary's Winchfield WebsiteWinchfield Action Group
{{authority control Villages in Hampshire William Burges buildings