| GREATHAM | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| It was Queen Edith, who at the time of Edward the
Confessor held the Manor of Greatham but the Domesday Book has it
recorded as belonging to William the Conqueror. But in later years it
passed through many hands through marriage and also by being bought,
these included the Devenish, Marshall, Norton, Freeland and Love
families. A manor house has stood here since 1286 and the property also included arable lands, pastures, woodland and farm buildings. The old name of Le Court was used when the manor house was rebuilt in 1866 and int he 1940s Le Court House was purchased by Group-Captain Sir Leonard Cheshire and it was he who in 1948 took in people suffering from incurable diseases and Le Court House became the first of a worldwide network of hospice for the incurably ill and became know as the Cheshire Homes. Not far from Woolmer Forest there was a piece of land that was used for the training of the army since the 1870s and it was in 1903 that Longmoor Camp was first established as a permanent Military station. The camp was spread over 40 acres and included the garrison church of St Martin, a Roman Catholic chapel, a school and a military hospital and welfare centre. A railway was constructed by the Royal Engineers to move some of the huts at Longmoor to an adjacent army depot at Bordon and the Longmoor railway survived until 1969. Greatham lies to the north of Petersfield and has a population of around 600 people, the old church that was used in 1290 is now just a ruin and Dame Margey Caryll lies buried in its chancel, it was her family that took over and ran the village during the 17th century. The village has its own ghost called the Grey Lady and she wears a white veil and haunts the woods on the estate of Sir Arundel and Lady Neave, but nobody knows who she is or how she died.
The church of St John the Baptist was build in 1875 on land that was donated by William Foster in memory of his parents who are interred in the family tomb in the old churchyard, they lived at Le Court when it was demolished during the 1950s and his brother was curate in charge here at Greatham. In the churchyard can be found some unusual brick graves. Like most village churches St John's was the centre of all village activities during the reign of Victoria and several letters have been found that were written by the Rev F Bryans relating how he felt bad that a 'second Aldershot' was going to be built on the heathland nearby, which is now Longmoor camp, he feared that the soldiers would ruin the villagers way of life. The camp was duly built and at its finish it was visited by King George V on an inspection and it is said that the hill which is outside of the camp Apple Pie Hill cam through the king saying that everything was 'in apple pie order'. Both private houses now, the village hall and the school were near the churchm the school being built in 1911 and the hall in 1976, the latter was a popular venue for village activities. This village seemed to have it all, not only a village hall but a cinema, methodist church, blacksmiths and a wheelwright, there were also tea rooms and a shop selling bicycles!! But now there just seems to be the normal pub, in this case two of them, The Queen and the Silver Birch, and a post office cum grocery store. There are three charities still going strong in the village today and that is the Smith Bread Charity which was started to provide bread for the 'labouring poor of Greatham and Hawkley' but instead of bread vouchers are given to a few people in both villages at Christmas time. The Allotment Charity give financial help to those in need living in Old Greatham and The Coryton Almshouses of West Liss which were constructed by F Coryton a justice of the peace and Lord of the Manor, were to provide accommodation to those locals in need.
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