Weston Colley is a hamlet of about twenty dwellings, adjacent to (and within the parish of)
Micheldever
Micheldever is a village in Hampshire, England, situated north of Winchester. It lies upon the River Dever .
The river, and village, formerly part of Stratton Park, lie on a Hampshire grass downland, underlain with chalk and flint. Parts of th ...
,
Winchester,
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. It is within the
City of Winchester
The City of Winchester () is a local government district in Hampshire, England, with a city status.
The district covers the ancient settlement of the city of Winchester itself, but also covers a large area of central Hampshire including ...
local government ward of Wonston And Micheldever. Winchester is also the nearest large settlement, lying approximately south of the hamlet.
History
Within the past thirty years, the landed estate which owned much of Weston Colley has sold (mostly to private owners) its housing portfolio, retaining most of the farmland within and around the hamlet, together with Weston Farm, which is run on a long tenancy. The landed estate is now owned by
Zurich Financial Services
Zurich Insurance Group Ltd is a Swiss insurance company, headquartered in Zürich, and the country's largest insurer. As of 2021, the group is the world's 112th largest public company according to ''Forbes'' Global 2000s list, and in 2011 it ran ...
, which acquired it as part of its buy-out of
Eagle Star Insurance
The Eagle Star Insurance Company plc (formerly Eagle Star Insurance Company Limited) was a leading British insurance business. It underwrote the full range of risks including liability, fire, accident, marine, motor, life, contingency and Pluvius ...
- which, in-turn, bought the assets from the estate of
J. Arthur Rank - based at near-by
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 ...
.
The housing stock mainly dates from the 1930s but there are some centuries' old
thatched
Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...
, oak-timber buildings.
Business & Services
Whilst there are no large commercial activities in Weston Colley, some residents operate enterprising small businesses. Examples are a lock-up yard, farm, horticultural service, photo-artist, a bed-and-breakfast and a small (maximum five caravans) certified field camping site. However, the hamlet has no shops, pubs nor places of worship.
ADSL broadband-internet is limited to about six GB because Micheldever's telephone exchange serves a small population (therefore is low priority to
British Telecom) and because of the distance from that exchange. The quality of service is, however, good, with few drop-outs. Both the telephone / broadband wires and those that deliver electricity are located above ground on poles. There is
mains water
A water supply network or water supply system is a system of engineered hydrologic and hydraulic components that provide water supply. A water supply system typically includes the following:
# A drainage basin (see water purification – sourc ...
. However, there is no cable TV / fibre broadband, no mains gas nor
mains sewage (residents have
septic tank
A septic tank is an underground chamber made of concrete, fiberglass, or plastic through which domestic wastewater ( sewage) flows for basic sewage treatment. Settling and anaerobic digestion processes reduce solids and organics, but the treatm ...
s in their gardens).
Nearby services include: churches in several villages, a village shop, petrol station and doctors' surgery in
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 ...
, a primary school in
Micheldever
Micheldever is a village in Hampshire, England, situated north of Winchester. It lies upon the River Dever .
The river, and village, formerly part of Stratton Park, lie on a Hampshire grass downland, underlain with chalk and flint. Parts of th ...
and
Micheldever railway station
Micheldever railway station, in the village of Micheldever Station, serves Micheldever (approximately to the south) and the surrounding area in Hampshire, England. It is a flint building with an added veranda. The station is on the South West ...
on 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 we ...
. More comprehensive services are available in
Winchester (circa nine miles),
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 ...
and
Basingstoke (both circa fifteen miles)
At each end of the hamlet is a bridge. The Micheldever end has an elevated railway line over the single-track lane, restricting the height of traffic below. At the
Stoke Charity end, the
River Dever
The River Dever is a chalk stream in Hampshire in the south of England. It rises at West Stratton near Micheldever and flows westwards for to meet the River Test at Wherwell.
Course
The source is at Above Ordnance Datum (AOD) alongside the ...
is crossed by a single-track road bridge, which was rebuilt in the 2000s to safely carry heavy grain lorries to and from the farm.
By the railway bridge is a mobile telephone transceiver, owned by
EE. Some while ago,
Vodafone
Vodafone Group plc () is a British multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates services in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania.
, Vod ...
applied to install another mast, close by. However, whereas the EE mast is camouflaged by trees, the proposed Vodafone mast was much taller and received considerable local opposition.
Geography
![River Dever near Weston Colley - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/River_Dever_near_Weston_Colley_-_geograph.org.uk_-_165790.jpg)
Weston Colley is located entirely within the Dever Valley; the
River Dever
The River Dever is a chalk stream in Hampshire in the south of England. It rises at West Stratton near Micheldever and flows westwards for to meet the River Test at Wherwell.
Course
The source is at Above Ordnance Datum (AOD) alongside the ...
flows through the hamlet but briefly disappears under the tall Victorian railway-track embankment which separates Weston Colley from Micheldever. The busy main
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
(Waterloo) to
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 ...
railway still uses the line. There is one proper through-road (Weston Lane) in the hamlet, from Northbrook (Micheldever) at one end and toward Stoke Charity at the other. There is also a
green lane (unsuitable for most road transport) 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 ...
.
Weston Colley sits on southern English chalk downland. This means the valley sides rise gently and the River Dever runs very clear - though it dries in arid summers (chalk being porous). Bare soil is
alkaline and populated by chunks 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. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...
. Most of the non-garden area is arable fields with some woodland by the river. A few cows, nursing young cattle, are often to be seen in the water meadow but the dairy has not operated for decades.
References
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Villages in Hampshire