Wikipedia

Hartley Wintney

Hartley Wintney is a large village and civil parish in the Hart district of Hampshire, England. It lies about 3 miles (5 km) northwest of Fleet and 8 miles (13 km) east of Basingstoke. The parish includes the smaller contiguous village of Phoenix Green as well as the hamlets of Dipley, Elvetham, Hartfordbridge, and West Green.

Hartley Wintney
St Mary's parish church
Hartley Wintney is located in Hampshire
Hartley Wintney
Hartley Wintney
Location within Hampshire
Population4,999 [1]
OS grid referenceSU764567
• London39 mi (63 km)
Civil parish
  • Hartley Wintney
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townHook
Postcode districtRG27
Dialling code01252
PoliceHampshire and Isle of Wight
FireHampshire and Isle of Wight
AmbulanceSouth Central
UK Parliament
WebsiteHartley Wintney Parish Council
List of places
UK
England
Hampshire
51°18′15″N 0°54′19″W / 51.3043°N 0.9054°W / 51.3043; -0.9054

The 2011 census recorded the parish's population as 4,999.[1]

Character

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The parish includes large wooded areas such as Yateley Heath Wood and part of Hazeley Heath. The River Hart flows through the parish northeast of the town. The River Whitewater forms the western parish boundary. The southern boundary now follows the M3 motorway.

 
Hartley Wintney Methodist church

The town has a typical wide Hampshire main street, lined with local businesses, shops, an osteopath, public houses and a Baptist church. The town has also a Methodist church. The Roman Catholic church of St Thomas More was built in the 1960s. In 2016 a fire destroyed its roof.[2]

The town is known for its numerous antique shops. At the southern end is the green and with thatched duck house. The pond is called Hatton's Pond, after a landlord of the Waggon and Horses public house in about 1870.[3] The red-brick Church of England parish church of St John the Evangelist overlooks the green.

Beyond the green are the Mildmay oak trees. They were planted at the behest of Lady St John Mildmay in response to a call in 1807 by Admiral Collingwood after the Battle of Trafalgar for landowners to plant oaks to provide timber for naval ships. The cricket green, home of the oldest cricket club in Hampshire, is behind the shops, with a second duckpond and Dutch-gabled farmhouse, Causeway Farm, a short distance away through a stand of oaks.

In 1831 the parish (then excluding Elvetham and part of Hartfordbridge) had a population of 1,139. In 2004 the ward had a population of 4,954. The town is twinned with Saint-Savin near Poitiers, France and with Malle in Belgium.[4]

Hartley Row is a former hamlet within Hartley Wintney.[5] As late as 1969, bus timetables referred to the village as Hartley Row.[6]

History

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In prehistory the area was probably fairly heavily wooded with a lake and a marshy area. The Domesday Book of 1086 does not record Hartley Wintney by name. Both before and after the Norman conquest of England it was probably part of the royal manor of Odiham.[7]

The earliest record of Hartley Wintney by name is from the 12th century, when Wintney Priory of Cistercian nuns was founded there. In the 13th century its toponym was variously recorded as Hercelega, Hurtlegh or Hertleye Wynteneye. This last version means "forest clearing where the deer graze by Winta's island".[8] Winta was probably a Saxon who held the island in the marshes. The toponym was recorded as Hurtleye Winteney or Wytteneye in the 14th century and Herteley Witney in the 16th century.[7]

About 100 years after the Norman conquest Hartley Wintney was made a separate manor held by the FitzPeter family. It was Geoffrey FitzPeter who founded the Cistercian priory.[7] A deer park stretched from Odiham to the outskirts of the settlement and to the north. It was used for 600 years by royalty and others for hunting, and its wood was used for fuel.

Parish churches

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Parish church of St John the Baptist

St Mary's Church, about 2⁄3 mile (1 km) south of the centre of the town, is Hartley Wintney's original Church of England parish church. It was built in the 13th century and given new windows in the 14th and 15th centuries. In the 19th century the brick transepts and west tower were added and more windows were inserted.[9] St Mary's is a Grade II* listed building.[10]

In 1869–70 a new parish church of St John the Evangelist was built nearer the centre of the town. It is a Gothic Revival building designed by EA Lansdowne.[9] In the 20th century the Diocese of Winchester declared St Mary's redundant and vested it in the Churches Conservation Trust, leaving St John's as the parish's sole Anglican place of worship.

Elvetham

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Part of Elvetham Hall

Elvetham is a hamlet about 1 mile (1.6 km) east of Hartley Wintney. Until the 20th century it was a separate civil parish. Hartfordbridge, about 3⁄4 mile (1.2 km) northeast of Hartley Wintney, was partly in Elvetham parish and partly in Hartley Wintney.[11]

Elvetham was a manor by the time of Edward the Confessor in the 11th century.[12] There has been a country house there since at least 1535, when John Seymour entertained Henry VIII there. Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford entertained Elizabeth I there in 1591.[12] Of that house no trace remains. The present Elvetham Hall was designed by Samuel Sanders Teulon and built in 1859–62. It is now a Grade II* listed building.[13] Formerly the seat of the Barons Calthorpe, the house is now a 70-bedroom hotel, conference and banqueting venue.

Elvetham had a parish church from an early date, but in 1840 it was dismantled. The present Romanesque Revival church of St Mary the Virgin in the grounds of Elvetham Hall was completed in 1841.[14] In the 20th century the Diocese of Winchester declared it redundant. The church is now one of Elvetham Hall's conference and banqueting venues.

 
A Consolidated B-24 Liberator GR.VI of No. 200 Squadron RAF. This is the same version of B-24 as the one from 311 Squadron that crashed at Elvetham.

Air crash

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Main article: Elvetham air crash

On 5 October 1945 a Consolidated B-24 Liberator GR.VI aircraft of No. 311 Squadron RAF crashed and burst into flames in a field on the Elvetham Hall estate. All of its passengers and RAF crew were Czechoslovak. All twenty-three people aboard were killed, including five young children who were aged from 18 months to three years old. The Flight List had the names of the five crew and the seventeen civilians who were on board the plane. However an extra civilian was found, a woman. Thirteen of the civilians were buried in a communal grave in Brookwood Civil Cemetery, and the crew received a military burial 100 metres away in Brookwood Military Cemetery. The extra casualty was Edita Sedlakova who had initially been offloaded in favour of a replacement but she had stowed aboard the flight. Sedlakova had not long been married to the Flight Engineer, Zdenek Sedlak, and this was their honeymoon flight home. Edita lies in the communal grave while Zdenek is in the Military Cemetery. Edita was just 19 years old.[15][16]

Other notable buildings

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West Green House

Sport and leisure

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Hartley Wintney F.C. is a Non-League football club that plays at The Memorial Playing Fields.

The village is believed to have one of the oldest continuously used cricket grounds in England.[19] In 2020 the Hartley Wintney Cricket Club celebrated its 250th anniversary.

Transport

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Road

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The town is on the A30 at its junction with the A323 Fleet Road, almost equidistant between Basingstoke to the west and Camberley to the east. This was the main trunk road to the West Country and Southampton until 1971, when the M3 motorway was opened.

Railway

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The nearest railway station is at Winchfield on the South West Main Line. It is about 1 1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) south of Hartley Wintney and is signposted from the village.

Bus

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Stagecoach South route 7 runs between Aldershot and Phoenix Green.[20] In addition, route 65X runs between Alton College and Phoenix Green via Hartley Wintney[21] and route 408 runs between Farnborough College of Technology and Odiham via Hartley Wintney during term time.[22]

Hartley Wintney Community Bus Service runs a regularly weekday commuter service to Winchfield railway station and services to Hook, Yateley, Frogmore and The Meadows. A Saturday service goes to Camberley as well as The Meadows from Hartley Wintney, via Yateley and Frogmore.[23]

Nearby towns

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  • Hook – 3 miles (5 km) west
  • Fleet – 3 miles (5 km) southeast
  • Yateley – 4 miles (6.4 km) northeast
  • Sandhurst – 5 miles (8 km) northeast
  • Farnborough – 6 miles (10 km) east-southeast
  • Camberley – 7 miles (11 km) east-northeast
  • Aldershot – 7 1⁄2 miles (12 km) southeast
  • Basingstoke – 8 miles (13 km) west
  • Reading – 11 miles (18 km) north
  • London (central) – 39 miles (63 km) east-northeast

Notable residents

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Preservation Society

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Hartley Wintney Preservation Society was founded in 1966 but in 2019 chose to change its name to Hartley Wintney Heritage Society, to more accurately reflect the Society's positive and forward-thinking attitudes. The Hartley Wintney Heritage Society strongly oppose the benches on the cricket green.[25]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Area: Hartley Wintney (Parish): Key Figures for 2011 Census: Key Statistics". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  2. ^ "Hartley Wintney Church roof destroyed in blaze". BBC. 18 May 2016. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
  3. ^ "Page 87 – Hartley Wintney". Hampshire Treasures. Hampshire County Council. Archived from the original on 23 December 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  4. ^ "Welcome to Hartley Wintney". Hartley Wintney Parish Council. Archived from the original on 28 March 2009. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
  5. ^ Old Hampshire Gazetteer Archived 27 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ "Aldershot and District Traction Co Ltd. 1969". Timetable World. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
  7. ^ a b c Page 1911, pp. 79–81.
  8. ^ Hartley Wintney Parish Council (5 June 2024). "Village History". Hartley Wintney Parish Council. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  9. ^ a b Pevsner & Lloyd 1967, p. 274.
  10. ^ Historic England. "Church of St Mary (Grade II*) (1092270)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  11. ^ Lewis 1931, pp. 421–427.
  12. ^ a b Page 1911, pp. 74–76.
  13. ^ Historic England. "Elvetham Hall House (Grade II*) (1092322)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  14. ^ Historic England. "Church of St Mary at Elvetham Hall (Grade II) (1116853)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  15. ^ "Crash in Hampshire". The Times. No. 50267. London. 8 October 1945. p. 4.
  16. ^ "Mystery of 23rd body in blazing 'plane wreck". The Scotsman. 8 October 1945.
  17. ^ "West Green House". West Green House. Retrieved 17 October 2017. 2017's season runs from March 1st to 29th October inclusive. We are open Wednesday to Sunday each week, & Bank Holiday Mondays 11am to 4.30pm. We close briefly on October 29th 2017 before re-opening for our Christmas Fair on Wednesday November 8th. The Christmas Fair is open daily (including Mondays and Tuesdays) from November 8th to December 23rd
  18. ^ "The Victoria Hall in the 19th Century". Archived from the original on 15 June 2009. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
  19. ^ The Old Batsman (30 March 2017). "Cricket & psychogeography number 2: the fast bowlers of Hartley Wintney". The Consolations of a Cricketing Life. Blogspot. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  20. ^ "7 Bus Route & Timetable: Aldershot - Phoenix Green". Stagecoach South. 2023. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  21. ^ "Alton College bus routes" (PDF). Stagecoach South. 2017. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  22. ^ "8 408 Reading Riseley Yateley Farnborough" (PDF). Stagecoach South. 2017. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  23. ^ "Hartley Wintney Community Bus Service". Hartley Wintney Parish Council.
  24. ^ Bears Barn is his home address in 1947 Burke's Peerage and in the 1960 Kelly's Handbook.
  25. ^ Hartley Wintney Preservation Society

Bibliography

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  • Gorsky, David. The Old Village of Hartley Wintney. Hartley Wintney: Hartley Wintney Preservation Society.
  • Lewis, Samuel, ed. (1931) [1848]. A Topographical Dictionary of England (Seventh ed.). London: Samuel Lewis. pp. 421–427.421-427&rft.edition=Seventh&rft.pub=Samuel Lewis&rft.date=1931&rft_id=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-dict/england/pp421-427&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Hartley Wintney" class="Z3988">
  • Page, WH, ed. (1911). A History of the County of Hampshire. Victoria County History. Vol. 4. Westminster: Archibald Constable & Co. pp. 74–76, 79–81.74-76, 79-81&rft.pub=Archibald Constable & Co&rft.date=1911&rft_id=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/hants/vol4/pp79-81&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Hartley Wintney" class="Z3988">
  • Pevsner, Nikolaus; Lloyd, David (1967). Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 274–275.274-275&rft.pub=Penguin Books&rft.date=1967&rft.aulast=Pevsner&rft.aufirst=Nikolaus&rft.au=Lloyd, David&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Hartley Wintney" class="Z3988">
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  Media related to Hartley Wintney at Wikimedia Commons

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