Martyr Worthy is a small village and former

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 ...

, now in the parish of Itchen Valley, in the

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

non-metropolitan district Non-metropolitan districts, or colloquially "shire districts", are a type of Districts of England, local government district in England. As created, they are sub-divisions of non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties (colloquially ''s ...

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 part of the Worthys cluster of small villages. In 1931 the parish had a population of 350. On 1 April 1932 the parish was abolished to form Itchen Valley. Martyr Worthy is located on the banks of the River Itchen to the northeast of the city of

. The place-name 'Martyr Worthy' is first attested in Episcopal Registers of 1243, where it appears as ''Wordia le Martre''. 'Worthy' means 'enclosure', and Martyr Worthy is recorded as having been held by Henricus la Martre in 1201. 'Martre' may be

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...

''martre'' meaning martyr, or meaning marten and used as a nicknameEilert Ekwall, ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names'', p.536. The village has a Church of England parish church – St Swithun's Church, Martyr Worthy, St Swithun's – which is Grade II* listed building, listed.

Climate

References

External links

History and descriptionsGENUKI page

Stained Glass Windows at St. Swithun, Martyr Worthy, Hampshire
* Villages in Hampshire City of Winchester {{Hampshire-geo-stub