Whitsbury 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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

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, close to Fordingbridge. Whitsbury is a part of a group of villages on the edge of the

Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) covering of Dorset, Hampshire, Somerset and Wiltshire. It is the sixth largest AONB in England. The area was designated as an AONB in 1981 and confirmed i ...

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Overview

The village of Whitsbury consists of a straggling village street running roughly north/south with timbered and thatched houses.Victoria County History of Hampshire: Whitsbury
/ref> The parish was originally in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, but was transferred to

in 1895. There are several tumuli on Whitsbury Down and an Iron Age hillfort, known as Whitsbury Castle, overlooks the village.Hampshire Treasures Volume 5 (New Forest) Page 315
/ref> The land rises generally from south to north, reaching a height of 120 metres at Whitsbury Castle Ditches, and Iron Age hill fort. Whitsbury Wood and Whitsbury Common are to the east and south of the village respectively. The only

inn Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway; before the advent of motorized transportation they also provided accommo ...

in the village is the Cartwheel Inn.Whitsbury Village Plan - Securing Our Future
page 3, retrieved 12 October 2011 There used to be a shop, a small post office, and a village school, located just to the south of Major's Farm. The school was demolished during the 1950s and there is no sign of it now. The main employment is based upon the very successful equine and agricultural industry, comprising 4 major yards of racing stables, stud.Whitsbury Village Plan - Securing Our Future
page 4, retrieved 12 October 2011 Consequently, the people-intense nature of these businesses has allowed Whitsbury to retain a charm that has been lost in many other villages and communities. William Hill, of betting shop fame, owned a stud farm in Whitsbury, and is buried in Whitsbury. The Gold Cup winner Desert Orchid was trained in Whitsbury.

History

Whitsbury is not listed 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 manusc ...

of 1086 – but it has occasionally been identified with the ''Witeberge'' listed in the Wiltshire folios, but ''Witeberge'' is usually identified with Woodborough.H. C. Darby,

R. Welldon Finn Reginald Arthur Welldon Finn (14 March 1901 – 1971) was an English historian whose main interest was in Domesday Book. His work appeared under the names R. W. Finn, R. Welldon Finn, and Rex Welldon Finn. Born at Sandbach, Cheshire, Finn was the ...

, (2009), ''The Domesday Geography of South-West England'', page 6. Cambridge University Press The name Whitsbury, recorded as Wiccheberia in the 12th century, may mean "fort of the wych elm."Whitsbury, Old Hampshire Gazetteer
/ref> The fort ("burh") is presumably the hillfort. Whitsbury was said in 1274–5 to have belonged to the Kings of England until the time of

Henry I Henry I may refer to: 876–1366 * Henry I the Fowler, King of Germany (876–936) * Henry I, Duke of Bavaria (died 955) * Henry I of Austria, Margrave of Austria (died 1018) * Henry I of France (1008–1060) * Henry I the Long, Margrave of the No ...

, who then granted it to Reading Abbey. Another slightly later source states that Henry I had given the manor to Godfrey de Vilur, and it was he who transferred it to the abbey. The

manor certainly belonged to the abbey in the time of Henry I, who confirmed to it the church and land in Whitsbury which had belonged to Ingram the monk, and later kings added similar confirmations. In 1222 the Abbot of Reading obtained a grant of twenty oaks in the New Forest for mending his houses at Whitsbury. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries the site of the manor was leased in 1540 for twenty-one years to Anthony Cotes, the tenant of the abbot, and five years later the manor itself was granted to Richard Morrison. He died in 1556, leaving a son and heir Charles, who was succeeded in 1599 by his son

Sir Charles Morrison, 1st Baronet Sir Charles Morrison, 1st Baronet (18 April 1587 – 20 August 1628) (also Moryson) of Cashiobury in Watford, Hertfordshire, was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1621 and 1628. Origins Morrison ...

, created a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

in 1611. The latter sold the manor in 1623 to Sir John Cooper, 1st Baronet of

Rockbourne Rockbourne is a village and civil parish in the English county of Hampshire, close to Fordingbridge. Overview Rockbourne is a village of thatched, brick and timber houses, next to a stream now known as Sweatfords Water.

Whitsbury Castle Hill Fort

The hillfort of Whitsbury Castle (also known as Castle Ditches and Whitsbury Camp) covers sixteen acres.Hampshire Treasures Volume 5 (New Forest) Page 317
/ref> It has two large ramparts with outer ditches and an additional counter scarp bank on northern half. Some parts of the earthworks were destroyed to make way for a post-medieval manor house. St Leonards Whitsbury

Church and Manor

On the east side of the village is the Church of

Saint 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 Haut ...

and Whitsbury Manor. The church was originally built in the 14th century, and was altered and restored in the late 19th century. The Manor House is Georgian from the early 18th Century.

Notes

External links

{{authority control Villages in Hampshire Places formerly in Wiltshire