Hinton Ampner is a village and country house estate with gardens within the

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 ...

of Bramdean and Hinton Ampner, near Alresford,

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 England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The village and house are 8 miles due east of Winchester. The name probably derives from a combination of old English words Hea (high ground), Tun (homestead) and Higna (home of the monks), with the suffix Ampner being a corruption of Almoner, as the manor was once attached to a priory landholding. The house is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. The house and garden are owned by the National Trust and are open to the public.

History

The area around Hinton has evidence of Neolithic and

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 ...

settlement, including the presence of several barrows. The first record of the village was in the Domesday survey of 1086 which recorded 8 Hides and a church. In the 1540s, a large Tudor Manor House was built in Hinton Ampner. By 1597, the house was under the ownership of the Stewkeley family, when Thomas Stewkeley took over the lease from the Dean and Chapter of Winchester. In 1719, on the death of Sir Hugh Stewkeley, the estate passed to his daughter Mary who married Edward Stawell. Their descendant, Henry Stawell Bilson-Legge subsequently inherited the estate and demolished the Tudor house in favour of a new building (the old house being on the site of the present day orchard). The current Hinton Ampner house was built in 1793 and remodelled extensively in 1867. The house passed into the Dutton family in 1803 when Mary Bilson-Legge married John Dutton. It passed to their son,

James Dutton, 3rd Baron Sherborne James Henry Legge Dutton, 3rd Baron Sherborne (30 May 1804 – 8 March 1883), was a British peer. Background Sherborne was the son of John Dutton, 2nd Baron Sherborne, of Sherborne, Gloucestershire, by his wife, Hon. Mary Bilson Legge (1780–1 ...

, whose descendants owned the estate until it passed to the National Trust. The house was again remodelled again in the Neo-Georgian style by Trenwith Wills and Lord Gerald Wellesley for Ralph Dutton between 1936 and 1939 to his vision of what it would have been like had it been built on its current scale in 1790 – a Georgian country house. Hinton Ampner North Side

During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, the house was used as accommodation for girls from the Portsmouth Girls School to keep them away from the city. The house was badly damaged by fire in 1960, and restored again much as it had appeared in 1936, while the current garden layout of the house was created by Ralph Stawell Dutton (1898–1985), the 8th and last Baron Sherborne, starting in 1930, making this a modern 20th-century garden. The property is now noted both for its house and extensive gardens. Previously, the parkland came directly up to the house, which was designed to be a hunting lodge. The house contains a number of fine paintings. There is a set of paintings of the four seasons by

Jacob de Wit Jacob de Wit (19 December 1695 – 12 November 1754) was a Dutch artist and interior decorator who painted many religious scenes. Biography Jacob de Wit was born in Amsterdam, and became famous for his door and ceiling paintings. He lived on ...

, depicting cherubs painted in a three-dimensional monochrome style. Ralph Dutton, with no direct heirs, gave the estate to the National Trust, on his death in 1985.

Poltergeist claims

The old Tudor house attained notoriety, in the 18th century, after it was said to have become uninhabitable due to loud noises attributed to a poltergeist. One tenant, Mary Ricketts, wrote about her experiences in the house. That house was pulled down in 1793, after its replacement had been built about to the south.

Harry Price Harry Price (17 January 1881 – 29 March 1948) was a British psychic researcher and author, who gained public prominence for his investigations into psychical phenomena and exposing fraudulent spiritualist mediums. He is best known for ...

, citing Ricketts' statements, wrote at length about the case in his book ''Poltergeist Over England'' (1945). Claims about the poltergeist were disputed by Trevor H. Hall who suggested that "underground water was mainly responsible for the noises at Hinton, although the account of some of them is highly suggestive of seismic disturbance."Hall, Trevor H. (1958). ''Four Modern Ghosts''. Duckworth. p. 22

Geography

The village lies on the north slope of a long chalk ridge, with the house and church at its highest point. The area is part of the broader

Hampshire Downs The Hampshire Downs form a large area of downland in central southern England, mainly in the county of Hampshire but with parts in Berkshire and Wiltshire. They are part of a belt of chalk downland that extends from the South Downs in the southe ...

, a large area of predominantly chalk downland. The nearest large river is the River Itchen to the west of the area. To the north west of Hinton is the village of Cheriton and New Cheriton. The village of Kilmeston is to the south.

Church

The local church, All Saints Church, lies between the Manor House and village cottages. The current church dates mostly from the 13th century but incorporates some pre-

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Con ...

elements from a previous church. The church was altered in the early 19th century and the bell tower modified. The church contains numerous memorials to the previous owners of the estate, as well as three historic bells (two dated 1603 and the other 1719). The church also contains several items and memorials rescued from the church of St.Mary at Laverstoke which was demolished in the early 1950s. The Church is a

References

External links

Hinton Ampner
– official site at National Trust *
A Natural History of Ghosts
– a history of the haunting of the house {{Winchester Country houses in Hampshire Gardens in Hampshire Historic house museums in Hampshire National Trust properties in Hampshire Grade II listed houses Grade II listed buildings in Hampshire Reportedly haunted locations in South East England Former civil parishes in Hampshire