The manor was recorded in the Domesday Book as belonging to the Archbishop of York and the name was spelt Locherslei which means it is associated with a shepherd or a keeper, and it was also known as Lockerley Boteler and Lockerley Butler. It is a very attractive place with the present church dating from 1889-90 but there is a ground plan of an earlier Norman church marked out alongside. It was a thousand years ago that the South Hampshire Ridgeway ran along Dean  and Tote Hill and then on to Newton and travellers crossed the test near Kimbridge. Excavations at Canefield Farm found pottery from the Bronze Age showing that by 1000BC there was a settlement of some kind here.

The church of St John the Evangelist

Both ot the churches here were once side by side but the old medieaval one was demolished in 1891 and a school was opened in 1871 and supported by the Sarah Rolle Charity and in November the children displayed clothing that was bought through this charity which is still running today. The Southampton to Salisbury Canal went through Lockerley and Dean and later the London and South Western Railway company's line to Salisbury passed through.

Lockerley seems to have its own hero in the form of Frank Luke who lived at Lockerley Green. Frank was awarded the Victoria Cross in France by the King and he was greeted by a cheering crowd when he arrived at Romsey Station, where he was presented with a gold watch. Unfortunately I cannot verify this as his name does not appear on any VC lists on the internet.

The village also has its own band which was established as a Temperance  Band in 1880, the original conductor was a Mr Isaac Pritchard and his son Caleb succeeded him. Caleb died in the Great War of 1914-1918. The Pritchard, Moody and Webber families provided most of the musicians.  The band is still in existence today.

IMAGES OF LOCKERLEY

The gaily coloured 'kneelers' , (prayer cushions) in St Johns church
The old lead lined font in the entrance to St Johns church