Wellow 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
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 that falls within the
Test Valley district. The village lies just outside the
New Forest
The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conqueror, featu ...
, across the main
A36 road which runs from the
M27 motorway to
Salisbury
Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...
. The nearest town is
Romsey, to the east, and the closest city is
Southampton
Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...
, to the southeast. The parish had a population of 3,239 in the
2021 census.
Some people refer to the two villages of East Wellow and West Wellow individually, while others refer to them collectively as Wellow. There is no official administrative or political division which separates the two parts, and they share the same
parish council, which also covers the small settlement of Canada. Canada is just inside the
New Forest
The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conqueror, featu ...
boundary and can only be reached by public road from the roundabout on the
A36 at West Wellow.
History
King Alfred (d. 899) left "the toune of Welewe" in his will to his eldest daughter Ethelgifu. Thirteen households at "Welue" are mentioned in
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 ...
(1086).
Only the name "Wellow" appears on Saxton's 1575 map of Hampshire; it is spelt "Wellew" in various maps from the seventeenth century. East and West Wellow appear separately by the time of John Harrison's 1788 map, separated by the
River Blackwater. Their exact positions on these early maps are hard to reconcile with the modern road and settlement pattern, but until 1895 when the
county
A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...
boundary was realigned, West Wellow was in
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...
and East Wellow in Hampshire.
Amenities

Most of the current housing dates from the twentieth century, with a few earlier buildings (notably some
thatched cottages). There is continuing small-scale
infill development. All the principal services are found in the larger West Wellow and include some small shops, a
petrol station,
village hall, recreation ground and Wellow School. The school was originally funded by money from Florence Nightingale's family and bears a plaque recording that information.
The smaller mainly residential East Wellow is approximately one mile to the south-east of West Wellow. Throughout the 1990s, there was discussion of various options for the construction of a Wellow
bypass route to relieve the village of the increasing volume of traffic on the A36; but none of these were constructed. The northern boundary of the modern village is effectively the River Blackwater, and the surrounding area is agricultural.
The former Wellow Mill on the Blackwater was served by a complicated series of sluices to deal with changes in water level but was converted to a private residence in 1945, and no machinery remains. Along the river are a series of lakes which form the site of Woodington and Whinwhistle fisheries.
Church
The
parish church
A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...
of
St. Margaret of Antioch is a flint-faced stone structure consecrated in 1215, and the interior contains some wall paintings from this period. Archaeological evidence suggests the site was previously home to a Saxon church and its possible that one of the arches in the chancel dates to around 1180.
In 1251
Henry III of England
Henry III (1 October 1207 – 16 November 1272), also known as Henry of Winchester, was King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine from 1216 until his death in 1272. The son of John, King of England, King John and Isabella of Ang ...
granted a charter to Wellow to hold an annual fair on the eve of St Margaret's Day. A chancel was added in the 13th century and a south aisle in the 15th. A number of internal fittings come from a now demolished church at
Sherfield English
Sherfield English is a small village and civil parish in the Test Valley borough of Hampshire, England. It is located on the A27 road, around 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Romsey.
Sherfield English appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as the man ...
from where they were moved in 1860.
The church is notable as the burial site of
Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during th ...
, whose family home was the nearby
Embley Park, now a
private school
A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...
. St Margaret's is a destination for many visitors interested in Nightingale and the history of nursing. The church is some distance from the majority of the modern housing, and there is no archaeological evidence that there was ever a substantial settlement close to the church.
Education
State-funded schools
* Wellow Primary School
Independent schools
*
Embley
References
External links
St Margaret's East Wellow, burial place of Florence Nightingale site
{{authority control
Villages in Hampshire
New Forest
Test Valley
Civil parishes in Hampshire