Barton Stacey is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

and undulating

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

, which includes the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

s of Bransbury, Newton Stacey, Drayton and Cocum, in the

Test Valley Test Valley is a local government district and borough in Hampshire, England, named after the valley of the River Test. Its council is based in Andover. The borough was formed on 1 April 1974 by a merger of the boroughs of Andover and Romsey, a ...

district of

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

, England, centred about south-east of

Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia *Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * Andove ...

. It is bounded to the north by the estate of Drayton Lodge (north of the

A303 The A303 is a trunk road in southern England, running between Basingstoke in Hampshire and Honiton in Devon via Stonehenge. Connecting the M3 and the A30, it is part of one of the main routes from London to Devon and Cornwall. It is a pri ...

trunk road), and, to the south, by the minor

A30 road The A30 is a major road in England, running WSW from London to Land's End. The road has been a principal axis in Britain from the 17th century to early 19th century, as a major coaching route. It used to provide the fastest route from Lond ...

; both being east–west routes, and connected by The Street/Cocum Road, the main road that bisects the village. The distance between the A303 and A30 at this point is , which is twice the width of the parish. The area is well-connected by roads. Bullington, to the east has the

A34 road The A34 is a major road in England. It runs from the A33 and M3 at Winchester in Hampshire, to the A6 and A6042 in Salford, close to Manchester City Centre. It forms a large part of the major trunk route from Southampton, via Oxford, to B ...

, joining

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

and the south-central coast from near the close of the M3 to

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and

The Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the In ...

. Barton Stacey parish has the westernmost end of the A272 road, which runs from the A30, through nearby Winchester and on to Cross In Hand, East Sussex. At Newton Stacey and Bransbury Common in the west the parish adjoins the braided

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. Below the village of ...

; its tributary the Dever runs through the north of the parish; both are noted for their trout fisheries.

Civil parish

The total area of the

is . At the time of the 2001 census, it had a population of 892 living in 341 households; the population of the parish in 2016 was estimated to be 1,034. The civil parish includes the village of Barton Stacey, and the

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...

of Bransbury, Newton Stacey, Cocum, and Drayton. Cocum lies to the south, it includes a farm and buildings, and incorporates a military small-arms firing range, situated to the north of the A30 road. South of the A303 at Drayton is Barton Stacey Services, a trunk road service area accessible by westbound traffic only. This area was formerly known as Drayton Filling Station, having been developed from a parcel of MOD land in 1959. Bransbury is to the west of Drayton, accessible either by turning south off the A303 or via Barton Stacey. There is a former mill building here alongside the river. The hamlet of Newton Stacey lies west of Baron Stacey on the road to

Chilbolton Chilbolton is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England, near to Stockbridge. It is situated north of Southampton and south of Andover. Its most notable feature is the Chilbolton Observatory situated on the disused RAF Chilbolton airf ...

Geography

Barton Stacey lies in a corridor of land between the North Wessex Downs and the

South Downs National Park The South Downs National Park is England's newest national park, designated on 31 March 2010. The park, covering an area of in southern England, stretches for from Winchester in the west to Eastbourne in the east through the counties of Hamp ...

. Its

downland Downland, chalkland, chalk downs or just downs are areas of open chalk hills, such as the North Downs. This term is used to describe the characteristic landscape in southern England where chalk is exposed at the surface. The name "downs" is deriv ...

area is predominantly arable farmland, which has traditionally been used for growing malting

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley p ...

, though other crops are grown, and

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated ...

grazed. The

chalk stream Chalk streams are rivers that rise from springs in landscapes with chalk bedrock. Since chalk is permeable, water percolates easily through the ground to the water table and chalk streams therefore receive little surface runoff. As a result, th ...

s of the

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

and Dever are managed for

sport fishing Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing or game fishing, is fishing for leisure, exercise or competition. It can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is professional fishing for profit (economics), profit; or subsistence fishing ...

and the Dever also feeds a trout fishery just outside the village. The valley to the north of the village is characterised by

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or sw ...

and

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (se ...

, whilst the local sections of the Dever and Test valleys are predominated by

wet woodland A wet woodland is a type of plant community. It is a biodiversity habitat in the United Kingdom as part of the British National Vegetation Classification system. Wet woodlands occurs on poorly drained or seasonally wet soils. They may occur in riv ...

and

water meadows A water-meadow (also water meadow or watermeadow) is an area of grassland subject to controlled irrigation to increase agricultural productivity. Water-meadows were mainly used in Europe from the 16th to the early 20th centuries. Working water-m ...

. At either end of Roberts Road there are two pieces of woodland, both belonging to the MOD, past or through which run various public rights of way. Much of the remainder of the MOD land is rented to a local farmer. Much of Barton Stacey lies within a Conservation Area. Some of its structures are

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

or designated 'buildings of local interest' The village itself lies in two parts: the original section comprises Kings Elms, Gravel Lane and The Street, situated around the church. Over the years, housing has been extended to the south but principally to the north-west. Half the parish's homes are located around Roberts Road, East Road and West Road in housing built in the 1950s by the MOD as married quarters for troops posted to local

army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

camps. From 1987 the MOD has sold many of these houses into private hands, retaining some in West Road for military personnel. Since then, only a few houses have been built in the parish, all privately constructed. In 2006/07 four flats were built on the edge of Roman Way. In 2018 five homes were constructed on a former commercial site next to the village store, with another five being built at the south end of the village. A plan exists to build some low-cost housing on land owned by the MOD. Ninety per cent of the residential properties in the village overlook open land. In the south west of the parish there is a working oil well.

Ecology

Local

wildlife Wildlife refers to undomesticated animal species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous to game: those birds and mammals that were hunted ...

includes several protected species and includes the water vole, otter,

roe deer The roe deer (''Capreolus capreolus''), also known as the roe, western roe deer, or European roe, is a species of deer. The male of the species is sometimes referred to as a roebuck. The roe is a small deer, reddish and grey-brown, and well-adapt ...

fallow deer ''Dama'' is a genus of deer in the subfamily Cervinae, commonly referred to as fallow deer. Name The name fallow is derived from the deer's pale brown colour. The Latin word ''dāma'' or ''damma'', used for roe deer, gazelles, and antelopes ...

muntjac deer Muntjacs ( ), also known as the barking deer or rib-faced deer, (URL is Google Books) are small deer of the genus ''Muntiacus'' native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. Muntjacs are thought to have begun appearing 15–35 million years ago, ...

badger Badgers are short-legged omnivores in the family Mustelidae (which also includes the otters, wolverines, martens, minks, polecats, weasels, and ferrets). Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united by ...

, and

pipistrelle ''Pipistrellus'' is a genus of bats in the family Vespertilionidae and subfamily Vespertilioninae. The name of the genus is derived from the Italian word , meaning "bat" (from Latin "bird of evening, bat"). The size of the genus has been cons ...

and

brown long-eared bat The brown long-eared bat or common long-eared bat (''Plecotus auritus'') is a small Eurasian insectivorous bat. It has distinctive ears, long and with a distinctive fold. It is extremely similar to the much rarer grey long-eared bat which was o ...

s. The area is popular for brown trout fishing. Birds include the

lapwing Lapwings (subfamily Vanellinae) are any of various ground-nesting birds (family Charadriidae) akin to plovers and dotterels. They range from in length, and are noted for their slow, irregular wingbeats in flight and a shrill, wailing cry. A gro ...

skylark ''Alauda'' is a genus of larks found across much of Europe, Asia and in the mountains of north Africa, and one of the species (the Raso lark) endemic to the islet of Raso in the Cape Verde Islands. Further, at least two additional species are ...

red kite The red kite (''Milvus milvus'') is a medium-large bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as eagles, buzzards, and harriers. The species currently breeds in the Western Palearctic region o ...

kestrel The term kestrel (from french: crécerelle, derivative from , i.e. ratchet) is the common name given to several species of predatory birds from the falcon genus ''Falco''. Kestrels are most easily distinguished by their typical hunting behaviou ...

yellowhammer The yellowhammer (''Emberiza citrinella'') is a passerine bird in the bunting family that is native to Eurasia and has been introduced to New Zealand and Australia. Most European birds remain in the breeding range year-round, but the eastern ...

corn bunting The corn bunting (''Emberiza calandra'') is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae, a group now separated by most modern authors from the finches, Fringillidae. This is a large bunting with heavily streaked buff-brown plumage. The se ...

house martin ''Delichon'' is a small genus of passerine birds that belongs to the swallow family and contains four species called house martins. These are chunky, bull-headed and short-tailed birds, blackish-blue above with a contrasting white rump, and w ...

swift Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to: * SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks ** SWIFT code * Swift (programming language) * Swift (bird), a family of birds It may also refer to: Organizations * SWIFT, ...

swallow The swallows, martins, and saw-wings, or Hirundinidae, are a family of passerine songbirds found around the world on all continents, including occasionally in Antarctica. Highly adapted to aerial feeding, they have a distinctive appearance. The ...

and barn owl.

History

Three

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

long barrow Long barrows are a style of monument constructed across Western Europe in the fifth and fourth millennia BCE, during the Early Neolithic period. Typically constructed from earth and either timber or stone, those using the latter material repre ...

s have been found on Moody's Down which date from between 3,500 and 2,000 B.C., along with

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

bowl barrow A bowl barrow is a type of burial mound or tumulus. A barrow is a mound of earth used to cover a tomb. The bowl barrow gets its name from its resemblance to an upturned bowl. Related terms include ''cairn circle'', ''cairn ring'', ''howe'', ''ker ...

s at Moody's Down and Newton Down Farm. All of them are designated

Scheduled Monuments In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

. The Andyke at Bransbury is an

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

ditch and bank, and a remnant of a promontory fort, with some evidence of roundhouses. A Roman road that once linked Winchester to Marlborough and

Cirencester Cirencester (, ; see below for more variations) is a market town in Gloucestershire, England, west of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswolds. It is the home of ...

crosses the parish via Bransbury Common and signs of a Roman camp can be seen east of Manor Farm. Evidence of

Romano-British The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, ...

inhabitants was discovered between Barton Stacey and Bransbury in 1977, in the form of a ‘plank burial' of a woman. The first written record of Barton Stacey (Beretune), Newton Stacey and Bransbury is within the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles (855 A.D.) Beretune is thought to be

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

for ‘

farm’. The Drove, an unpaved road leading east from the village towards

Sutton Scotney Sutton Scotney is a village in Hampshire, England, north of Winchester in the civil parish of Wonston. It lies alongside the River Dever and is now bypassed by the A34 trunk road. It is notable for having been the site of numerous Spitfire cras ...

, may be of Saxon origin. The re-allocation of land in Drayton to New Minster is recorded in the Drayton Charter of 1019, a royal charter of

King Cnut Cnut (; ang, Cnut cyning; non, Knútr inn ríki ; or , no, Knut den mektige, sv, Knut den Store. died 12 November 1035), also known as Cnut the Great and Canute, was King of England from 1016, King of Denmark from 1018, and King of Norway ...

. The hundred of Barton was granted by King John to Rogo de Sacy or Stacey in September 1199, and remained a possession of his son Emery who paid his knights fees for ''Bertune Sacy'' in 1206, and afterwards remained in the possession of the lords of the manor of Barton Stacey, once known as the Hundred of Barton Stacey. The hundred court was held in Barton Stacey until the late 19th century when other governmental divisions assumed local jurisdiction. The ‘Great Fire of Barton Stacey’ in 1792 razed much of the village. Rebuilding works resulted in the present day character of the village, centred around The Street. The Barton Stacey Village Store was erected as a shop at about this time, and the original school buildings followed in Bullington Lane in 1886. There was some expansion of the village in the late 19th century and many of the present-day homes were added between 1939 and the 1980s. In 1943 the War Department (now MOD) purchased 2106 acres (852.5 hectares) to the north, east and south of the village for £24,000 for use as a military training area. Four army camps were developed at Drayton: 'A', 'B' & 'C' Camps to the north of the A303, and 'D' Camp to the south, east of the road from the village to

Longparish Longparish is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England. It is composed of the four hamlets of Middleton, East Aston, West Aston and Forton that over time have expanded and effectively joined up to become one village. Longparish is situate ...

. All of the original buildings are long gone, though many of the roadways and hard-standings remain visible and these areas are now vacant. The last of the 'A' Camp huts was gifted to the parish in the 1970s when the MoD closed the barracks. It was relocated to the recreation ground where it was used as a sports pavilion until August 2020 when it was burnt down following a lightning strike.

Religious buildings

Barton Stacey - All Saints Church - geograph

All Saints Church is situated in the west of the village, at the junction of The Street and Bullington Lane. Built largely of flint, it is renowned as one of the oldest churches in England, and certainly the oldest building in Barton Stacey, dating in part from the 12th century; it is 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 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

. Both the parish church and Church Farm House are grade II* listed. The church was extended in the 1200s, 1400s and 1500s, and much of it was restored in 1877. it consists of an aisled nave with a west tower partly inserted into it, and a chancel with transeptal north and south chapels, and a porch to the south. The tower is early 16th century, of ashlar, with a polygonal south west turret, and battlemented parapet with pinnacles.

Education

A school, Barton Stacey C. of E. Primary, is located at the end of The Green. It has around 96 enrolled students. Secondary school students in the village attend Testbourne Community School in the nearby village of Whitchurch, with a bus service running during school time. Sixth Form students attend

Peter Symonds College Peter Symonds College is a sixth form college in Winchester, Hampshire, in the south of England. Founded as a boys' grammar school, it is one of the few specialist sixth form colleges which is also a boarding school. It serves Falkland Island ...

, in Winchester.

Sport and Leisure

Activity clubs include a

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...

judo is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...

club, football club, two

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

clubs,

Women's Institute The Women's Institute (WI) is a community-based organisation for women in the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand. The movement was founded in Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada, by Erland and Janet Lee with Adelaide Hoodless being the ...

, and a 'Tuesday Club'. Many activities are held in the village hall.

Recreation ground

The recreation ground is situated in the west of the village and contains two football pitches and a play park. A new pavilion is planned to be built in 2025. There are car parks in front of the village shop and in an adjacent road.

Sports clubs

Barton Stacey Football Club was established in 1919. The team plays and trains on the Barton Stacey recreation ground. The club currently fields four youth teams at Under 8, U9, U13 and U15, along with a senior side. The Black Swans is the village netball team.

Economy

Barton Stacey - Village Stores And Post Office - geograph

A village store and

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...

is in the centre of the village, next to the village's one remaining

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

, The Swan Inn. The shop has operated as a general store since around 1810, while The Swan dates to the late 18th century. Dever Springs is a private trout fishery specialising in corporate fishing days. Specimen fish taken at Dever include a British record

brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model us ...

of 28 lbs 2 ozs. Lionel Hitchens Essential Oils Ltd is the largest employer in the village. The trunk road service area 'Barton Stacey Services' comprises a Park Homes site of seven occupied units, a petrol filling station, a Starbucks, and motel, together with a vehicle repair business.

Travel and transport

Barton Stacey enjoys good road links to Winchester, Andover, Basingstoke and Newbury thanks to its proximity to regionally important trunk roads. Stagecoach operates the Cango C4 bus to Andover. The nearest railway services run from

Micheldever Station Micheldever Station is a village in Micheldever, a parish of Hampshire, England. Following the construction of the 'Andover Road' railway station (later renamed Micheldever), a cluster of houses and small shops including The Canada Stores were a ...

(5.5 miles),

Whitchurch, Hampshire Whitchurch is a town in the borough of Basingstoke and Deane in Hampshire, England. It is on the River Test, south of Newbury, Berkshire, north of Winchester, east of Andover and west of Basingstoke. Much of the town is a Conservation Area. ...

(7 miles) and

(8 miles). A Barton Stacey railway station operated briefly during World War II for military purposes.

References

External links

Barton Stacey Parish Council website

Barton Stacey History Group

*
Barton Stacey Walks and More (Ordnance Survey)
*
Barton Stacey Primary School
{{authority control Villages in Hampshire Test Valley