Kimpton is a village and

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

Test Valley Test Valley is a local government district with borough status in Hampshire, England, named after the valley of the River Test. The council is based in the borough's largest town of Andover. The borough also contains the town of Romsey and nume ...

district of

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 village is situated west 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 * Andov ...

, in the north of the county, and has a boundary with Ludgershall, in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

. South of Kimpton there is Thruxton motor racing circuit, in the parish of Thruxton. The main settlement in the parish is the village of Kimpton, in the south of the parish; in the north there is the

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

of Shoddesden. In the 2001 census, the parish had a population of 352. Before the reorganisation of local government in 1974, the parish was in Andover Rural District. The A342 passes through the north-east corner of the parish. The

Midland and South Western Junction Railway The Midland and South Western Junction Railway (M&SWJR) was an independent railway built to form a north–south link between the Midland Railway and the London and South Western Railway in England, allowing the Midland and other companies' t ...

, which runs parallel to the road, was closed to passengers in 1961, however the line remains open as far as Ludgershall to serve an army depot on the edge of the town. Kimpton Down, a rural area in the north and west of the parish, contains the remains of several historical sites including

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 and Roman buildings. Excavations near Shoddesden found a former

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

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, ...

settlement site. A

racehorse Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

training complex at Kimpton Down Stables was opened in 2003 by Toby Balding. Ralph Beckett bought Kimpton Down Stables and gallops in late 2010, and trained Talent to win the 2013 Oaks at Epsom Downs Racecourse The

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

Church of St Peter & St Paul is situated in the village. The church is built of

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...

, stone rubble and

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

, and has a tower and a

cruciform A cruciform is a physical manifestation resembling a common cross or Christian cross. These include architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly described as having a cruciform ...

layout. The oldest parts of the church are the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

, built in the 13th century; other parts were added later. Kimpton Manor, originally built in 1444, is one of the oldest inhabited houses in Hampshire. The village has a small pub called The Welcome Stranger, Kimpton Apple Press, a park and a village hall which also acts as a pre-school.

References

External links

Kimpton Village Web Site

Kimpton
on

British History Online ''British History Online'' is a digital library of primary and secondary sources on medieval and modern history of Great Britain and Ireland. It was created and is managed as a cooperative venture by the Institute of Historical Research, Universit ...

{{Authority control Civil parishes in Hampshire Test Valley Villages in Hampshire