| MARTIN |
| This small downland parish is the most
Westerly Parish in Hampshire and W. H. Hudson brought fame to the
village when he wrote in 'A Shepherd's Life' in 1910. 'I cannot think that any person
for whom it had no association, no secret interest, would, after looking at this village
with its dried-up winterboume, care to make his home in it... [or] wants to see it...'
the shepherd lived in Martin. Until 1895 Martin was in Wiltshire on the River Allen which is a tributary of the Avon and the village of the same name is in the centre of the Parish. There has been a lot of restoration work in recent years and a lot of the brick tile and thatched cottages that can be seen along the Main street have been transformed into modern homes that are greatly sought after. The Winterbourne, a chalk stream runs through the village and the parish church of St Martin has a 15th century tower topped with a spire and is set just off the mains street and if you look closely you can see practically every century back to the 11th, dspite huge restorations during the Victorian times. There are also several prehistoric sites including Bokerley Dyke and Soldiers' Ring an ancient earthwork, the Northern boundary is formed by Grim's Ditch which extends into both Dorset and Wiltshire
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