Greatham ( ) 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

East Hampshire East Hampshire is a local government district in Hampshire, England. Its council is based in the town of Petersfield, although the largest town is Alton. The district also contains the town of Bordon along with many villages and surroundin ...

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. It is north of Liss, just off the

A3 road The A3, known as the Portsmouth Road or London Road in sections, is a major road connecting the City of London and Portsmouth passing close to Kingston upon Thames, Guildford, Haslemere and Petersfield. For much of its length, it is classifie ...

. The nearest railway station is south of the village, at Liss.

Description

Greatham is a small village, about north of

Petersfield, Hampshire Petersfield is a market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is north of Portsmouth. The town has its own railway station on the Portsmouth Direct line, the mainline rail link connecting Portsmouth ...

, south of

Farnham, Surrey Farnham is a market town and civil parish in Surrey, England, around southwest of London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, close to the administrative counties of England, county border with Hampshire. The town is on the north branch of the ...

and east of

Alton, Hampshire Alton ( ) is a market town and civil parish in East Hampshire, England, near the source of the northern branch of the River Wey. It had a population of 19,425 at the 2021 census. Alton was recorded in the Domesday Survey of 1086 as ''Aoltone' ...

. The population of Greatham is approximately 800 people living in around 400 houses. The village is situated alongside the A3 which runs between London and Portsmouth. Greatham is a

linear village In mathematics, the term ''linear'' is used in two distinct senses for two different properties: * linearity of a '' function'' (or '' mapping''); * linearity of a ''polynomial''. An example of a linear function is the function defined by f(x)= ...

, mainly located along the old Petersfield Road (the main road between Farnham and Petersfield), with additional housing along Longmoor Road, Benhams Lane and Church Lane. At the north end of the village is Longmoor Military Camp, where remains of the

Longmoor Military Railway The Longmoor Military Railway (LMR) was a British military railway in Hampshire that was built by the Royal Engineers from 1903 to train soldiers on railway construction and operations. The railway ceased operation on 31 October 1969. Route ...

can be seen, and the new Woolmer Link road, re-routing the A325 from Farnham to join the A3 at Longmoor Camp, by-passing the village. Traffic calming within the village aims to discourage through traffic. Also at the north end of the village is Blackmoor stores, the combined village shop and Post Office. In the middle of the village is The Greatham Inn, the village's only public house, opposite the relatively new "Todmore" housing estate. Further south is Greatham Primary School, which caters for around 200 pupils from the village and surrounding areas. It has a large modern extension, housing a new hall, offices and library. Opposite the village school is the Village Hall, with The Village Nursery School attached to it. The village hall is adjacent to the recreation area, which contains a football field, and two playgrounds, catering for young and old children. The village hall and adjacent playing field are the venues for many of the events organised by the Greatham Village Events Committee (GVEC), including the annual fun day, summer ball and the bonfire/fireworks party. Towards the south end of the village is the Old Church, which dates back to the 13th century. The only remaining part of this church is the chancel, which includes a tomb of some historical value. The present church, the Church of St John the Baptist, was built in 1875, and lies opposite the Old Church. Adjacent to the Old Church is a manor house, which is occupied by the

L'Abri L'Abri (French for "the shelter") is an Evangelicalism, evangelical Christian organisation which was founded on June 5, 1955 by Francis Schaeffer and his wife Edith Schaeffer, Edith in Ollon, Huémoz-sur-Ollon, Switzerland. They opened their Alps, ...

Fellowship, a Christian group. The south of the village is bounded by the B3006 road from Liss to Selborne, known as the Selborne Road. Off the Selborne Road is Le Court, the first

Leonard Cheshire Geoffrey Leonard Cheshire, Baron Cheshire, (7 September 1917 – 31 July 1992) was a British Royal Air Force pilot, officer and philanthropist. Cheshire fought in the Second World War. Among the decorations Cheshire received as a pilot w ...

home.

History

The village is mentioned 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

as ''Greteham'', and later appears in written sources as ''Grietham'' in 1167 and as ''Grutam'' in 1236.

References

External links

The Greatham village website

Greatham Primary School

Greatham Village Events Committee

Further historical information on GENUKI
{{authority control Villages in Hampshire