| SHERFIELD-ON-LODDON | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The manor of Sherfield on Loddon is not
mentioned in the Domesday Survey as at that time it was part of the
manor of Odiham and in the late 12th century it was granted by Henry II
to William Fitz-Aldelin who was his marshall.; from him the manor passed
to the Warbertons or Warblingtons and then on to John de Wintershill in
1274. The Warblingtons were once again the owners in 1281 and it then
passed by marriage to the Puttenhams. One of this family was the author
of the first attempted philosophical criticism of English literature,
"The Arte of English Poesie" that was published anonymously in 1589. The
manor was divided and sold in two lots in 1572 both of which changed
owners regularly after this time. In 1838 the estate was purchased by
the Duke of Wellington. It is now know why the village is away from the church but one idea is that during the Black Death a lot of the villagers perished and the survivors may have decided to mover to ground they thought had not been touched by the plague.
The church dedicated to St Leonard is 14th century and the chancel was rebuilt in 1866 and teh steeple in 1872. The only remains of the former church are some mediaeval windows that has 14th and 16th century glass in them. Oliver Cromwell is reputed to have given St Leonards the bells which survived uncracked from the seige of Basing House. (Basing House was built in 1535 as a new palace for Sir William Paulet, the first Marquis of Winchester and Treasurer to Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I.) Webmaster note: Sherfield English also has a St Leonard's church which was given the bells of Basing. The parish has several properties where traces of moats can be seen, this could be due to an abundance of water that is provided by the many tributaries of the River Loddon, the river which is immortalised in the poetry of Alexander Pope.
Today one has to negotiate a rather elaborate 'traffic calming' method which entails a series of chicanes along the main road. Here can be found the village pond with its colony of rather noisy water fowl, and the war memorial a little way past and a sign warning of ducks crossing! The village hall stands just past a local shop and has a plaque denoting that it has twice won the Best Kept Village in Hampshire, and just across the road is the Old Coach House and many of the local people reach a good age hence the saying, "You live as long as you wish in Sherfield on Loddon"
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
