Holybourne cum Neatham or Holybourne as it is called is on the A31 Alton to Farnham road and the name derives from 'bourne' or 'bourn' which means being a stream, and this comes from a spring which flows beneath the main road and links the River Wey at Neatham. It is believed to rise under the alter of Holyrood Church which stands by the duck pond. The village has a great many old cottages some dating back to the 16th century and the village which is now  divorced from Holybourne because of the railway being built and the bypass, but it still keeps its quiet lanes. It is said that Charles II s topped off here on his way through to Alton but there is no actual record of this happening. This village has never been a small quiet retreat and both Holybourne and Neatham have been larger that they are today and they were also of more importance than the town of Alton. Once upon a time there were nine mills here and three of them were on the River Wey for fulling, tanning and grain and a row of tanneries can still be found on the main road. The main feature of the village is the school which was given as a gift by Thomas Andrews who also gave a grant of £20 a year for the poorer families to purchase boots for the boys and a dress for the girls. The appearance of this lovely Georgian house has not changed since it was built and if there have been changes they remain a secret.

In the 1940s there were great changes in the village, the football and cricket teams both disappeared and the popular flowers how is no more, this was a geat place for the village brass band to hold concerts. Only one of the two pubs remain the forge and wheelwrights businesses were both bought out and a post office and general store are now combined whereas there were three shops before this.

Connections with days gone by can be seen by a large housing estate called  Vindomis after Roman remains were found here during an excavation

The old chapel		Half timbered cottage
Cottages in the village
The White Hart public house		Church of the Holy Rood
More views of the church
The church from the pond		Interior of the church
Two carved church chests
One of the heads		The glazed door leading from the porch
The Font		The Pulpit
A "Peep"		The Piscina
THE WAR MEMORIAL 1914-1918 NAVY W.Vince ARMY H. Brown W. Brambley J, Burningham D. Butcher H.Faithfull P.Faithfull F.Gates R.Gosden R.Hayden W.C.Messenger J.Oakley W.Oakley     W.Pinnells C.Reed A.G.Sharp C. Stacey H.F.Stopford J.V.Twitchin E.T,Watts 1939 - 1945 NAVY S.F.Hayden ARMY W.Brambley H.W.Kempster W.L.Tinkler H.J.Whittock AIR FORCE C.V.Hawkins

The Florence Treloar College for children with impairments is a great asset to the village and so was the building of a theatre in an old army Nissen hut that had house prisoners of war in. The theatre demolished and a new one built to replace it in 1950 and this was opened by Sir Michael Redgrave, three plays a year are produced here and also a pantomime for the children and adults each Christmas. Oh Yes it is!!!

The village sits in a large faming community and hops were once grown here with the all the villagers including children helping to harvest the hops.

A large farming community now surrounds the village, but the old hop gardens have long gone. The entire village, including women and children used to help out with the hop harvest, now a thing of the past. Bass Brewery now imports hops from Europe, after the closure of the Courage and Harp Breweries.

HOLYBOURNE VILLAGE WEBSITE