South Warnborough is a small village and civil parish in the English county of Hampshire. In the 2001 census, the population was 407. It is in the civil parish of Long Sutton. In the 2016 census, the population was estimated to be 509. South Warnborough is approximately south of the village of Odiham and north of the town of Alton. Other neighbouring settlements include the villages of Upton Grey to the west and Long Sutton to the east.
Geographic location
The parish rises southwards from the valley of the River Whitewater to the North Downs at over – the highest point in the Hart district. The undulating countryside is unspoilt and the village contains old brick and half-timbered cottages, many under thatch.
Village amenities
The parish has a pub, The Poacher, a popular village shop and Post Office, Street Farm House, a beautiful Jacobean guest house, the 12/13th century Norman Church of St Andrew and a Village Playground managed by the Playground Committee. There is also a war memorial at the centre of the village. A small business unit and car repair garage is located on the southern edge of the village. In the centre of the village, there is The Ridley Hall, a small village hall that hosts village social occasions and events.
Interesting information
A farm in South Warnborough supplies potatoes to Walkers Crisps
The village Fête is usually the centrepoint of the Village in June–July
A television advertisement for Ambrosia Devon Custard was filmed in the field where the village fête is currently held, taking advantage of the view it provides over the centre of the village including the church
History
The name derives from " Weargeburnan", apparently the Old English name for the river Whitewater and meaning "felon stream", i.e. "the stream where felons are drowned".
South Warnborough, then known as Wergeborne, was included in the Domesday Book. It was translated for the Victoria County History of Hampshire as follows: In Odingetone Hundret:
Church, Manor, Plough
In the book Church, Manor, Plough – Volume 1 of the History of South Warnborough written by John Simpson in 1946, he details a statement made on 28 September 1822 by William Cobbett who was passing through the parish on one of his 'Rural Rides' from Odiham to Winchester
St. Andrews
St. Andrews was given by William the Conqueror to Hugh fitzBaldric. St. Andrew's church dates from the early 12th century. Its walls are made of flint rubble, except for the West wall of the nave and the 19th century South aisle. Its roofs are now tiled, though in the Middle Ages they may well have been thatched. The unusual wooden bell turret at the West end is late 14th century. Inside, the roofs of the nave and chancel are of the trussed-rafter type, used in mediaeval and late mediaeval times. In its original form the church had no South aisle, which was added by the Victorian architect Street about 1870. There were, however, nave altars on either side of the chancel steps as well as the main altar at the East end. The main doorway on the North side, with its interesting design of lozenges broken at an angle, and the West end of the nave, were built when Alan de Craon was lord of the manor. The rest of the nave and the chancel appear to have been rebuilt in the first half of the 13th century, the chancel keeping the width and perhaps some of the wall of its 12th century predecessor. Its east window is made up of three closely set stepped lancets under an enclosing arch. The single lancet windows of the nave are early 14th century, as are the windows on the south walls of the church. The large window to the left of the main altar is 16th century, though the stained glass is of a later date. One of the outstanding features of the church is the 15th century rood screen, a rare survival and now in its original position though there was a time when it was used under the belfry where it formed a gallery. Its supporting arches are of a later date. St. Andrew's is rich in monuments and heraldry, particularly of the Whyte family. To the left of the main altar there is a large altar tomb, probably not in its original position, bearing the Whyte arms – the three popinjays – on shields set on a four-leafed design. Although the South aisle was built in the 19th century, there is to the right of its altar an early 12th century volute capital and shaft possibly of the same date as the nave walls. The chief interest of the South aisle is in the 16th century heraldic glass. On the window behind the altar are represented the three feathers of Wales twice and the Tudor Rose once, probably for Prince Arthur, the elder brother of Henry VIII, and also the emblems of Katherine of Aragon who stayed at Dogmersfield when she first arrived in England to marry Arthur. In the window to the right there are four panels. The top left hand is dated 1599 and shows the Whyte popinjays; the other three shields are encircled by garters and are from the first half of the 16th century; they include the quartered shield of Thomas Wriothesley, first earl of Southampton who had served with Sir Thomas Whyte on a Commission for disposing of Church plate at the Reformation; his grandson, the 3rd Earl, was the patron of the Elizabethan poets, and in particular of Shakespeare.
Manor
At the Norman Conquest, William the Conqueror granted the manor of Wergeborne to one of his great Norman barons, Hugh fitzBaldric. Hugh gave the manor and the living of St. Andrew's Church which went with it, to his daughter on her marriage to Guy de Craon. Their son Alan, grandson Maurice and great-grandson Guy continued as lords of the manor but the living of St Andrew's, with land and woods, was granted by Alan to Freiston Priory, a sub-cell of the renowned Crowland Abbey in Lincolnshire, in which county the de Craons also had lands.
