Grateley is a village and civil parish in the north west of

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. The name is derived from the

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 settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

''grēat lēah'', meaning 'great wood or clearing'. The village is divided into two distinct settlements, apart: the old village and a newer settlement built around the

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

on the

West of England Main Line The West of England line (also known as the West of England Main Line) is a British railway line from , Hampshire, to in Devon, England. Passenger services run between London Waterloo station and Exeter; the line intersects with the Wessex M ...

. The hamlet of

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

adjoins the railway station settlement, although it is located in the civil parish of

Over Wallop Over Wallop is a small village and civil parish in the Test Valley district of Hampshire, England. The village lies close to the border with Wiltshire, approximately northwest of Stockbridge. Over Wallop is the westernmost of the three villages ...

. Grateley lies just to the south of the prehistoric

hill fort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...

Quarley Hill Quarley Hill is the site of an Iron Age univallate hill fort in Hampshire, southern England. The hill affords commanding views of the surrounding countryside. Oval in plan, the fort is in good condition with a counter-scarp and well defined ent ...

. The parish covers with 616 people living in 250 dwellings. The village has one pub, a thirteenth-century church dedicated to

St Leonard Leonard of Noblac (also Leonard of Limoges or Leonard of Noblet; also known as Lienard, Linhart, Leonhard, Léonard, Leonardo, Annard; died 559), is a Frankish saint closely associated with the town and abbey of Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, in Hau ...

, a primary school, a school for children with

Asperger syndrome Asperger syndrome (AS), also known as Asperger's, is a former neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significant difficulties in Interpersonal relationship, social interaction and nonverbal communication, along with restricted and re ...

, a railway station, a small business park, a golf driving range, and is surrounded by farmland with ancient footpaths and droveways. King Æthelstan issued his first official law code in Grateley in about 930 AD. Recorded in the early 12th century

Quadripartitus The title ''Quadripartitus'' refers to an extensive legal collection compiled during the reign of Henry I, king of England (1100–1135).Wormald, ''Making of English law'', p. 236 The work consists of Anglo-Saxon legal materials in Latin transl ...

text, name="foo" which referred to a ‘great assembly at Grateley’ (magna synodo apud Greateleyam). The legestaive assembly and construct of the Grateley law code acted as a manifestation of the peripatetic nature of

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

kingship. In the 20th century Grateley was one of many ammunition dumps during the World Wars. The economic history of Grateley is agricultural, but less than 10% of the village population now rely upon agriculture as an occupation.

Notes

External links

Villages in Hampshire {{Hampshire-geo-stub