Church of St Mary and All Saints, Droxford

Droxford (arch. Drokensford) is a village in Hampshire, England.

Brockbridge is a hamlet in Hampshire, England in the South Downs National Park . All parts are between a .5-mile (0.80 km) to 1-mile (1.6 km) walk across two footbridges or one road bridge to Droxford. Its nearest town is Bishops Waltham, approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) west and the community's Council taxpayers by law contribute to the small parish precept of Soberton Civil Parish Council. It is entitled to enjoy the playgrounds, village hall, sports and parish amenities of Soberton, its civil (and in the Church of England ecclesiastical) parish which is centred approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) away.

Droxford railway station was an intermediate station on the Meon Valley Railway, built to a design by T. P. Figgis and opened in 1903. It served the villages of Droxford, Soberton and Hambledon in Hampshire, England. The railway served a relatively lightly populated area, but was built to main line specifications in anticipation of it becoming a major route to Gosport. Consequently, although the station was built in an area with only five houses, it was designed with the capacity to handle 10-carriage trains. It initially proved successful both for the transport of goods and passengers, but services were reduced during the First World War and the subsequent recession, and the route suffered owing to competition from road transport. In 1944, amid World War II, Droxford station was used by the Prime Minister Winston Churchill as his base during preparations for the Normandy landings. Based in an armoured train parked in the sidings at Droxford, Churchill met with numerous ministers, military commanders and leaders of allied nations. On 4 June 1944, shortly before the landings were due to take place, Free French leader Charles de Gaulle visited Churchill at Droxford, and was informed of the invasion plans. When discussing the future governance of liberated France at this meeting, Churchill expressed his view that if forced to side with France or the United States he would always choose the United States, a remark which instilled in de Gaulle a suspicion of British intentions and caused long-term damage to the postwar relationship between France and Britain. After the war, with Britain's railway network in decline, services on the Meon Valley Railway were cut drastically. A section of the line north of Droxford was closed, reducing Droxford to being the terminus of a short 9+3⁄4-mile (15.7 km) branch line. In early 1955 the station closed to passengers, and in 1962 it closed to goods traffic. Following its closure, Droxford station and a section of its railway track were used for demonstrating an experimental railbus until the mid-1970s. It then briefly served as a driving school for HGV drivers, before becoming a private residence and being restored to its original appearance.

The A32 is a road in Hampshire, southern England, that links Gosport and Alton. Starting at Gosport, facing Portsmouth, it travels north via Fareham, Wickham, Droxford, before joining the A31 road near Alton. The road is 29.2 miles (47.0 km) long from the seafront at Gosport to the roundabout with the A31 near Alton, and has entirely non-primary status.

Soberton is a village in the Meon Valley, Hampshire, England, east of the A32 and a few miles south of the village of Droxford. It appears in the Domesday Book as "Sudbertone" or "Sudbertune". For administration, it is in the Hampshire County Council area, headquartered in Winchester. Key features of Soberton include the War Memorial at its centre, the early 16th-century Church of St Peter and St Paul, and The White Lion, a 17th-century public house. The church is part of one of the largest parishes in the United Kingdom. The village was part of a smuggling route during the 18th century, and a vault beneath the church was used for the storage of contraband. North of the church is a large Georgian manor house, Soberton Towers. This was taken over by the Navy during the 1939-45 war and was used for accommodation for members of the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRENS) until 1971. Soberton is named in the 18th century peerage of Admiral Sir George Anson (1697-1762) "Baron Anson of Soberton". The children's writer Barbara Euphan Todd was brought up in the village.

Corhampton is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Corhampton and Meonstoke, in the Winchester district, in the county of Hampshire, England. It lies on the western bank of the River Meon. In 1931 the parish had a population of 87. On 1 April 1932 the parish was abolished and merged with Meonstoke to form "Corhampton and Meonstoke".

Corhampton and Meonstoke is a civil parish in the English county of Hampshire forming part of the area administered as the City of Winchester. It comprises the villages of Corhampton and Meonstoke.

Corhampton Church is an Anglican church in the village of Corhampton, in Hampshire, England. Unusually, it does not have a dedication to a saint or other local person. It is in the Diocese of Portsmouth, and is one of the churches of the Meon Bridge Benefice. The building, dating from the early 11th century, is Grade I listed.

Meonstoke is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Corhampton and Meonstoke, in the Winchester district, in the county of Hampshire, England. It is in the Meon Valley where it cuts through the Middle Chalk of the South Downs, Old Winchester Hill is at the edge of the parish to the east. In 1931 the parish had a population of 439.It sits on the eastern bank of the River Meon. On the northern part of the western bank is Corhampton. The A32 crosses the river between the two villages. On the southern bank is Droxford. Soberton lies to the south, Hambledon to the east and Exton to the north.

St Clair's Meadow is a 16-hectare (40-acre) nature reserve near Soberton in Hampshire. It is managed by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust.The River Meon flows through this grassland site, and it has diverse wildlife. There are water voles and kingfishers along the river, and insects include beautiful demoiselle damselflies, golden-ringed dragonflies and many species of butterfly.

Exton is a small village and civil parish in the City of Winchester district of Hampshire, England. The village lies in the South Downs National Park, on the west bank of the River Meon, immediately to the north of Corhampton. It is located two miles north of Droxford and five miles north-east of Bishop's Waltham. Its name first appears in 940 as East Seaxnatune, meaning "farmstead of the East Saxons".The parish straddles the Meon Valley, including higher ground of the South Downs to either side, with Old Winchester Hill to the east and the southern part of Beacon Hill (shared with Warnford parish) to the west. It is crossed from east to west by the South Downs Way long-distance footpath. The A32 and the Meon Valley Railway footpath cross from north to south. The parish contains numerous archaeological sites including a Mesolithic flint working site, Bronze Age bowl barrows and the Iron Age fort at Old Winchester Hill. There are also Roman and Dark Age sites and the site of the mediaeval village of Lomer. The 13th-century church of St Peter and St Paul was heavily restored in the 19th century. The 1892 restoration (the second of the 19th century) added stained glass windows by Charles Spooner in the style of the Arts and Crafts movement.Exton has remained a small community for more than two centuries. In 1801 Exton's total population was 224, by 1901 it had grown slightly to 299 yet by 2001 the population had shrunk to 230 and again to 203 at the 2011 Census. Photographs from the 1950s show a village shop and post office in Exton but this closed in the 1960s. The only community buildings in the village are the church and the Shoe Inn public house. In 1870–72, John Goring's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Exton like this: "EXTON, a village and a parish in Droxford district, Hants. The village stands 2 miles N by E of Droxford, and 5 NE of Bishops-Waltham r. station; and has a post office under Southampton. The parish comprises 2,464 acres (10 km²). Real property, £2,640. Pop., 257. Houses, 41. Exton Lodge is a principal residence. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Winchester. Value, 331.* Patron, the Bishop of Winchester. The church was rebuilt in 1847, and is in the early English style. "

There are two hills in Hampshire called Beacon Hill; the other one is near BurghclereBeacon Hill, Warnford is a 46.4-hectare (115-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest west of Warnford in Hampshire. It is a Nature Conservation Review site, and an area of 40.1 hectares (99 acres) is a national nature reserve. There is a round barrow cemetery dating to the Late Neolithic or Bronze Age on the hill, and this is a scheduled monument.