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| On the western bank of the River Test
can be found the village of Longstock, which has some lovely thatched
cottages some of which still have their original design The Romans were here around 43AD and it became one of the most Romanized parts of Britain. And centuries later there was a Danish ship building yard here, fifteen miles from the sea, it was built on the River Test and the ships sailed down it to Southampton. Longstock Manor now called Longstock House was in the hands of Hugh, son of Osmund and it changed hands many times over the years till it was returned to the Crown when Henry of Lancaster became Henry VI. It was leased by James I who granted it to the trustees of the Earl of Southampton. And at the start of the 20th century it was bought by the Beddington family. Then in the second world war John Spedan Lewis who was the creator of Longstock Water gardens and founder of the John Lewis Partnership purchased it. He owned around forty departmental stores around the country and also the Waitrose supermarket chain. He lived here for a time until it was converted to a club for the executives of his company. Stoke or stock means a place with wooden piles or stakes that are often associated with a wooden bridge and Longstock is aptly named the Domesday Survey recorded the village as Stoches. The present day church of St Mary was built in 1880 and replaces a very old chalk walled building which was built here, and the list of incumbents dates back to 1315, today the incumbency covers both Longstock and Leckford. Things here seem to have been in pairs as there were two blacksmiths, two builders, two beer sellers and two landlords here and basket and mat making was a thriving occupation carried out by the women and children of the village, Today though there are more retired people here in this peaceful little oasis, but with the modern trend of buying old buildings and converting them the younger generation are moving in and commuting to the nearby towns to work, but there are still some of the old family names here. The village had some well known people staying here, maybe because it was not far from Stockbridge Race Course, but one visitor was the Prince of Wales who later became Edward VII, he used to rent a Regency style house in Houghton Road and another was the famous actress Lillie Langtry who came down for the racing and rented a house in Stockbridge.
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