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Quarley Hill Fort

Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Hampshire
Farmland beneath Quarley Hill, near Grateley geograph.org.uk 1001292
Farmland beneath Quarley Hill, near Grateley geograph.org.uk 1001292

Quarley Hill Fort is a 3.5-hectare (8.6-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest west of Grateley in Hampshire.Quarley hillfort is a hillfort with no public access, which is privately owned. This site on the land surrounding the Iron Age hill fort on Quarley Hill has chalk grassland which is maintained by cattle grazing. It is rich in herbs, such as felwort, small scabious, dropwort, chalk milkwort, greater butterfly-orchid and bastard toadflax.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Quarley Hill Fort (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Quarley Hill Fort
Grateley Drove, Test Valley Grateley

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 51.18 ° E -1.627 °
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Quarley Hill Fort

Grateley Drove
SP11 8LJ Test Valley, Grateley
England, United Kingdom
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Farmland beneath Quarley Hill, near Grateley geograph.org.uk 1001292
Farmland beneath Quarley Hill, near Grateley geograph.org.uk 1001292
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Grateley
Grateley

Grateley is a village and civil parish in the north west of Hampshire, England. The name is derived from the Old English grēat lēah, meaning 'great wood or clearing'.The village is divided into two distinct settlements, 0.75 miles (1.21 km) apart: the old village and a newer settlement built around the railway station on the West of England Main Line. The hamlet of Palestine adjoins the railway station settlement, although it is located in the civil parish of Over Wallop.Grateley lies just to the south of the prehistoric hill fort of Quarley Hill. The parish covers 1,551 acres (6.28 km2) with 616 people living in 250 dwellings. The village has one pub, a thirteenth-century church dedicated to St Leonard, a primary school, a school for children with Asperger syndrome, a railway station, a small business park, a golf driving range, and is surrounded by farmland with ancient footpaths and droveways. King Æthelstan issued his first official law code in Grateley in about 930 AD. Recorded in the early 12th century Quadripartitus text, which referred to a ‘great assembly at Grateley’ (magna synodo apud Greateleyam). The legestaive assembly and construct of the Grateley law code acted as a manifestation of the peripatetic nature of Anglo-Saxon kingship.In the 20th century Grateley was one of many ammunition dumps during the World Wars.The economic history of Grateley is agricultural, but less than 10% of the village population now rely upon agriculture as an occupation.

Snoddington
Snoddington

Snoddington is a small hamlet in Hampshire and close to the border of Wiltshire near to Thruxton Aerodrome and first mentioned in the eleventh century in the Domesday Book. The hamlet is surrounded by agricultural downlands and has become part of the South of England urban sprawl being largely inhabited by commuters. Local facilities are limited with no local shop. Likewise the absence of public transport links requires that local inhabitants own at least one vehicle for the purposes of shopping in local supermarkets. The hamlet is part of the parish of Shipton Bellinger where local Church of England worshippers repair to St Peters Parish Church for Sunday services. Snoddington Manor House is first mentioned in Domesday Book and has a long history of occupancy passing through a number of different families. In a "History of Hampshire" a limited history is offered: The manor of SNODDINGTON belonged before the Conquest to Tovi and at the time of the Domesday Survey to Hugh de Port, tenant-in-chief. (fn. 38) It was held in the 13th century of Robert de Pont de L'Arche, lord of Newton Valence, and by him of Robert St. John, a descendant of Hugh de Port. (fn. 39) The overlordship of the St. John family subsequently lapsed, and the manor was held henceforward as of the manor of Newton Valence (q.v.) by suit of court and the service due from the fourth part of a knight's fee. (fn. 40)At the beginning of the 13th century Thomas de Port and Margery de Cundy held jointly of Robert de St. John the fourth part of a knight's fee in Snoddington, (fn. 41) and a century later, in 1305, Gilbert Cundy held the same land, valued at 60s., of Aymer de Valence. (fn. 42) However, before 1316, Snoddington had come into the possession of Ingram Berenger, (fn. 43) lord of Shipton Bellinger, who two years later obtained from Thomas Harengod and Eleanor his wife (fn. 44) a quitclaim of all their rights in two messuages and 2 carucates of land in Snoddington for a rent of £5 during the life of Eleanor. (fn. 45) From this date the manor followed almost exactly the descent of Shipton Bellinger (fn. 46) (q.v.) until 1466, when Robert Bodenham died seised only of the reversion of the manor. This right passed to his infant grandson and heir Richard, son of his son Robert, (fn. 47) who as soon as he came into possession evidently sold the manor, probably to pay his grandfather's debts, to Tristram Fauntleroy, (fn. 48) a younger son of the Dorset family of that name. Tristram died in 1538, leaving a son and heir Brian, (fn. 49) whose son Henry held the manor until his death in 1578. (fn. 50) His heir was his son William, (fn. 51) who evidently died in a few years without issue, since his brother Henry was returned as the heir of his father Henry in 1589. (fn. 52) From this date the descent of the manor is unknown until the beginning of the 18th century, when it was in the possession of Richard Bird. Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Richard, brought Snoddington in marriage to Ralph Etwall of Andover, and the manor continued in the Etwall family until 1885. when Mr. William Etwall sold it to Mr. William H. Alexander. (fn. 53) The latter dying in 1905 devised the manor by will to Mr. H. C. Formby, B.A., J.P., the present owner. (fn. 54)

Battle of the Beanfield

The Battle of the Beanfield took place over several hours on 1 June 1985, when Wiltshire Police prevented The Peace Convoy, a convoy of several hundred New Age travellers, from setting up the 1985 Stonehenge Free Festival in Wiltshire, England. The police were enforcing a High Court injunction obtained by the authorities prohibiting the 1985 festival from taking place. Around 1,300 police officers took part in the operation against approximately 600 travellers.The convoy of travellers heading for Stonehenge encountered a police road block seven miles from the landmark. Police claimed that some traveller vehicles then rammed police vehicles in an attempt to push through the roadblock. Around the same time police smashed the windows of some of the convoy's vehicles and some travellers were arrested. The rest broke into an adjacent field, and a stand-off developed that persisted for several hours. According to the BBC, "Police said they came under attack, being pelted with lumps of wood, stones and even petrol bombs". Conversely, The Observer states the travellers were not armed with petrol bombs and that police intelligence suggesting so "was false".Eventually the police launched another attack during which the worst of the violent police behaviour took place. According to The Observer, during this period pregnant women and those holding babies were clubbed by police with truncheons and the police were hitting "anybody they could reach". When some of the travellers tried to escape by driving away through the fields, The Observer stated that the police threw truncheons, shields, fire extinguishers and stones at them to try to stop them.Dozens of travellers were injured, and 537 travellers were eventually arrested. This represents one of the largest mass arrests of civilians since at least the Second World War, possibly one of the biggest in English legal history.Two years after the event, a Wiltshire police sergeant was found guilty of Actual Bodily Harm as a consequence of injuries incurred by a member of the convoy during the Battle of the Beanfield.In February 1991 a civil court judgement awarded 21 of the travellers £24,000 in damages for false imprisonment, damage to property and wrongful arrest. The award was swallowed by their legal bill as the judge did not award them legal costs.

Kimpton, Hampshire

Kimpton is a village and civil parish in the Test Valley district of Hampshire, England. The village is situated west of Andover, in the north of the county, and has a boundary with Ludgershall, in Wiltshire. South of Kimpton there is Thruxton motor racing circuit, in the parish of Thruxton. The main settlement in the parish is the village of Kimpton, in the south of the parish; in the north there is the hamlet of Shoddesden. In the 2001 census, the parish had a population of 352.Before the reorganisation of local government in 1974, the parish was in Andover Rural District.The A342 passes through the north-east corner of the parish. The Midland and South Western Junction Railway, which runs parallel to the road, was closed to passengers in 1961, however the line remains open as far as Ludgershall to serve an army depot on the edge of the town. Kimpton Down, a rural area in the north and west of the parish, contains the remains of several historical sites including bowl barrows and Roman buildings. Excavations near Shoddesden found a former Iron Age/Romano-British settlement site.A racehorse training complex at Kimpton Down Stables was opened in 2003 by Toby Balding. Ralph Beckett bought Kimpton Down Stables and gallops in late 2010, and trained Talent to win the 2013 Oaks at Epsom Downs Racecourse The Grade I listed Church of St Peter & St Paul is situated in the village. The church is built of flint, stone rubble and brick, and has a tower and a cruciform layout. The oldest parts of the church are the nave and chancel, built in the 13th century; other parts were added later. Kimpton Manor, originally built in 1444, is one of the oldest inhabited houses in Hampshire. The village has a small pub called The Welcome Stranger, The Kimpton Apple Press, a park and a village hall which also acts as a pre-school.