Village History
The name Medstead may have originated from Midstead, or half-way place on the road between Winchester and Farnham. More likely, however, is a derivation from two Saxon words Maed, an open space, meadow or clearing in the forest, and Stede, an inhabited place. Medstead is therefore, literally, the place in the clearing.
Origins
The landscape provides evidence of early settlement in the form of two burial mounds, or tumuli, possibly as old as 1000 BC, to the south of Trinity Farm and at the rear of houses in Wield Road.
At this time it is likely the native woodland was cleared to establish a settlement. Clearing the thinner growth on the high chalk hill was considerably easier than in the valleys below. There was also less danger of flooding and it provided a more defendable space.
A substantial ring fort, or entrenchment can be found near the present Convent of St. Lucy, to the east of Trinity Hill. Believed to be Iron Age, or possibly Medieval, in construction, the seven foot embankments and six foot ditch originally enclosed about four acres of land. The tumuli and embankment are all Ancient Monuments.
A banjo enclosure with a trackway on the western side, in the field between Bighton Road and Hattingley Road, also dates from the Iron Age.
A chalk pit by the side of the road just before Stancombe Farm also appears to be an ancient excavation. Stone Age implements, now in the care of the British Museum, were removed from the bottom of the pit in the 1880s.
The earliest human evidence, however, comes from a find from Grove Wood, Hattingley of two axe or, possibly, spear heads and an adze, dating from 3,000-2,000 BC.
There is some, limited, evidence of Roman settlement. A Roman road, from Winchester to Farnham, ran through Medstead, which formed a road junction in the forest. A small number of Roman artefacts, mainly potsherds and coins, have also been discovered. The site of a Roman villa has been identified to the north of Bighton Wood, near Lanham, a mile to the west of the parish and the remains of a second villa have been found in Wivelrod.
The grant of the Liberty Of Alresford indicates Medstead had a well-established land settlement pattern during the Anglo-Saxon period. A charter of King Ine in 701 first defines the boundaries of the Liberty. References to ditches, bounds, gates and stiles in the charter suggests existing land boundaries were well defined and a need to separate people and animals. The granting of 40 hides, or about 4,800 acres of land in Alresford and Medstead, to the Bishop of Winchester indicates the land was settled, relatively wealthy and capable of producing an income.
The earliest datable features of St Andrew's Church are Medieval. There is also evidence to suggest the presence of a deserted Medieval village near, what was then, the Manor House and is now the Convent of St. Lucy. A hollow-way with earthworks on either side leads from the Manor and the deserted settlement south-westwards towards the Church. Speculatively, this village may have been abandoned at the time of the Black Death in 1347-1351.
The Land and its Owners
In 1250 the Customs of the Manor of Old Alresford documented the earliest known Medstead landholders. They were tenants of the feudal lord, the Bishop of Winchester, who held the Manor. Around half of the land was common land, woodland, or in demesne, the Manor Farm, whilst the remaining land was let to tenants.
The Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Old Alresford, of which St. Andrew's was a chapel, held 2 virgates, or about 64 acres. William de Houtot held "two parts of the vill of Medested" for which he owed military service, William de Hactyngele held 1 hide, or 4 virgates rent free, Daniel de Hattyngele 2 virgates for 5/-, Hugo de Solrigge 1 virgate for 6/- and John Yunge 2 virgates for 10/-.
The farmland was divided into a strips of roughly a quarter or a half acre, with different landowners farming each strip. The main crops were corn, barley and oats, with meadows and feeding grounds for pigs which, together with sheep, were the main livestock. Horses and oxen were used for ploughing and carting.
By 1556, when the strip system was beginning to break down as landowners aggregated their holdings, Medstead had seven large fields: North, West, Suth and Myddel Feld, Ry Feld, Grete Pace Feld and Little Pace Feld.
Consequently, many people were dispossessed of their land and by 1600 poverty had become a major problem. This led to the introduction of the Poor Laws, which initially placed responsibility on the church to support the poor of the parish, later supplemented by parish rates. St. Andrew's burial records from this period have many entries recording the death of impoverished, itinerant labourers who were kept by the parish.
A 1776 inventory of Medstead, undertaken by the Rector, identified 2257 acres of arable and pasture land and twenty-two major landholders, including Charles Hobbs, who farmed 446 acres, William Budd of Tenantry, William Budd of Soldridge and Richard Wake.
In 1800, when the land was enclosed, Medstead had 229 acres of Common Land which included The Green at 12 acres, Heath Green at just under an acre, and The Knapps at 1.6 acres.
By 1845 the strip system had disappeared completely. The land was owned and farmed in large fields, with the eight largest farms covering 2,200 acres.
Among the Medstead farmers listed in W. White's Directory of Hampshire & the Isle Of Wight, 1859 were: William Cross, Pullingers; James Knight Red Hill; John Knight, South-town; William Lambert, Heath Green; Jno. Gillett Rope, New-barn; William Stevens, Goat-acre; George Wake, Trinity Farm; Jane Wyeth, South-town and John Wyeth, Manor Farm.
People
Death & Taxes
The earliest records, from 1327, show five people in Medstead were liable for a tax of 1/20th of the value of all moveable goods, raised to pay for Edward III's defence of the realm against the Scots. They included Andrew de Hancoitt who paid 5/-, Hugano de Solregge who paid 2/6 and Willo de Hatyngelegh who paid 2/-.
Subsequent tax records, in the form of lay subsidy returns for Medstead, from 1334 and 1524 show a significant increase from 12s 6d to £5 13s 6d. If this was not due to a change in the area covered by the returns, it may indicate a significant expansion in the settlement or economic wealth of Medstead during this period. The returns from 1524, 1548, 1586 and 1664 show thirty-three, eight, seventeen and sixteen people in Medstead were liable for this tax.
A fuller picture of Medstead life in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is given by the wills of the time. In 1561, for example, Robert Wacke died, leaving a cottage with a hall, containing a table and chest, a chamber, with two bedsteads and a flock bed, and a kitchen. He left an two acres of wheat and barley, a horse, a cow, a steer, two heifers, fourteen ewes, four lambs, twenty-two goats, a sow and five pigs.
In 1570 John Bud, a substantial Medstead farmer, died. He lived in a two-storey house with a downstairs hall, front, back and servants chamber, a buttery and kitchen. Upstairs were three lofts. Two contained four feather or flock beds and six bedsteads, the other was used as a cheese loft. Outbuildings included a malt house, wheat and barley barns.
In 1625 William Budd, a Hattingley yeoman, or farmer who had bought and consolidated his neighbours' field strips, left a five room house, with a mill and malt house. He farmed wheat, barley and oats and kept cattle, sheep, pigs, geese and poultry.
Population
In 1665 an assessment for the Hearth Tax, levied in 1660 to fund the restoration of the monarchy, found 34 houses and 25 cottages in Medstead parish. A subsequent assessment in 1673 found 30 houses and 20 cottages.
By 1811, the Census records there were 46 dwellings in Medstead, supporting a population of 350, with 58 families, 55 in agriculture and 3 in trade. The 1841 Census identified 99 dwellings supporting a population of 480.
The village population then grew steadily from 497 in 1861 to 776 in 1921, before increasing significantly to 1,383 in 1961. Since then the rate of increase has slowed, to 1,881 at the last census in 2001.
Communications
Roads
The earliest known roads in the parish were little more than paths, or ridgeways, between settlements. At Barton's Copse a branch ridgeway broke off south past Heath Green and Hattingley into the present centre of Medstead, where it carried on south past Roe Downs to leave the parish somewhere between the present Chawton End Garage and The Windmill Inn.
Smuggling
Throughout the nineteenth century Medstead, then a relatively isolated village, was reported to be a haven for smugglers. The old belfry in St. Andrew's church tower, a cave between Medstead and Wivelrod and Goatacre Farm were all reputed to be repositories for smuggled spirits, silk, lace and other goods from Portsmouth and Southampton.
According to local legend, the Pilgrims' Way was used to collect smuggled goods from Winchester in the dead of night. To avoid arousing the suspicions of farm labourers, the explanation given and apparently believed for the horses being tired and mud-splattered in the morning was that pixies had taken them out.
By the thirteenth century, following a grant by Henry III, the London Road, also known as the Pilgrims' Way or Royal Road, was being used by pilgrims, kings and bishops to travel between Winchester and London. From Alton it ran through Chawton Park Wood, Soldridge and Stancombe Farm, with an alternative route through Paice Lane and Broadlands to Bighton.
To the right of Lower Paice Lane, as it nears Broadlands, at a depth of about four feet, is a hard surface which may possibly be a remnant of Henry's Royal Road.
The Pass Of Alton
On the Royal Road at its highest point, from the top of Red Hill on the eastern edge of Medstead parish, and running through Chawton Park Woods, was the notorious Pass Of Alton (Passus de Aulton), a passage through the forest where slow moving travellers climbing the hill, either way, were regularly subjected to ambush.
In 1248, two merchants were attacked and robbed of 200 marks, then a substantial sum. Records of the case show a widespread conspiracy, with 60 local people charged and tried in Winchester. They included Richard Pitcomb and his wife who were accused of supplying the robbers with a pig and two sheep, whilst others were accused of supplying cider and aiding and abetting the robbery in various ways.
The most notorious outlaw, Sir Adam de Gurdon, was the deposed lord of the manor of Selbourne and a follower of Simon de Montfort. He fought against Henry III and is quoted as a prototype for Robin Hood.
Legend has it Prince Edward, later King Edward I, ran Gourdon to ground in a wood near Alton. The Prince spared his life and restored his estates, in return for Gourdon promising to give up being an outlaw. Gurdon subsequently became a faithful servant of the Crown, died a rich and honoured man and is buried at St. Mary's, Selbourne.
In 1264 following the loss of a consignment of wine intended for his cellars in Winchester, Henry III set up a commission "To enquire re the gravity of crimes committed daily in the Passus de Aulton between that Royal Manor and Alresford." It appeared to have little effect, for in 1272 prisoners being escorted to Winchester jail, ironically by Adam de Gurdon, were freed by outlaws in the pass.
During the reign of Edward I (1272-1307) 200 feet of woodland either side of the road was cleared to make the pass safe for travellers.
Rural Rides
"At Alton we got some bread and cheese at a friend's, and then came to Alresford by Medstead, in order to have fine turf to ride on, and to see, on this lofty land that which is, perhaps, the finest beech-woods in all England. These high down-countries are not garden plats, like Kent; but they have, from my first seeing them, when I was about ten, always been my delight. Large sweeping downs, and deep dells here and there, with villages amongst lofty trees, are my great delight."
William Cobbett, Rural Rides: From Chilworth, in Surrey, to Winchester, October 1825.
The sense of Medstead as a village in the forest is reinforced by a 1551 survey made for a prospective purchaser, Sir John Gate, which describes the parish at that time:
"Medsted...is verie well wodded with great beches and some oaks onn everie side the greate wodds thereof, which from the village roun a mile and a haulf of Alton, and on the westside from the ferm of Alresford downe to the common felds of Medsted and on the sowth side to London heighwaie that leadeth from Alresford to Alton, and on the northe side to the mannor of Wild."
By 1565 the King's Road, from Alresford to London via Odiham, was regularly being used by stagecoaches. The road came through Hattingley, past the Tithe Barn, where the Church Hall now stands, the Church, then down Trinity Hill into Bentworth.
St. Andrew's Church is located at the meeting place for a number of routes, including the King's Road and, until 1753, the Winchester Road from Chawton. The church, being at a high point, would have been an important landmark on the route.
By the middle of the sixteenth century the first road names also began to appear, including Grene Lane, now Wield Road, Heth Grene Lane and Hatyngley Lane.
An Ordnance Survey map of 1810 shows the King's Road and three roads into Alton from Medstead: via Hussell Lane and Beech; the old Royal Road through Chawton Wood; and a turnpike, or toll road, laid out in 1753 which follows the route of the A31 today.
The opening of the turnpike in 1753 as the new route to Winchester may have led to a decline in the importance of Medstead as a settlement and, conjecturally, may also have been a reason for the desertion of the Medieval village, located near the present Convent of St. Lucy.
The Railway
The railway from London to Alton opened in July 1852. In October 1865 the Alton, Alresford & Winchester Railway Company, subsequently the Mid-Hants Railway, extended the line to Winchester, at an estimated cost of £150,000.
One of the promoters of the new railway was the MP for Winchester, John Bonham Carter. A stained-glass window in St. Andrew's Church is dedicated to the memory of his nephew, George Bonham Carter, who died in 1890, aged 9.
The railway joined existing routes at Alton and Winchester Junction and ran through Butts Junction, Medstead, Alresford Station and Itchen Abbas Station. Services were run by the London & South Western Railway (LSWR).
Medstead station opened three years after services began, in August 1868, delayed due to lack of funds. The Southern Railway, which took over from the LSWR in 1923, renamed the station Medstead & Four Marks in 1937.
At around 630 feet above sea level, Medstead & Four Marks is the highest station in Hampshire. The highest point of the line, at 652 feet above sea level, is signposted by the railway bridge on Boyneswood Road. For comparison Alton and Alresford stations lie at 339 feet and 263 feet above sea level respectively, with inclines of 1 in 60 either side of Medstead, a journey referred to by railwaymen as "crossing the Alps".
Throughout its life the railway suffered from being an alternative route, secondary in importance to the main line which ran from London to Winchester and the south coast via Basingstoke. In 1884 the LSWR bought the line outright from the Mid-Hants Railway for £237,500 and until 1937 ran six trains per weekday in either direction. The line was also used for freight services, primarily for the distribution of watercress from Alresford.
In 1937 the line from London to Alton was electrified. Consequently, the Mid-Hants Railway became a branch line, running seven steam-hauled services each weekday in either direction between Alton to Eastleigh until 1957, when they were replaced by diesel.
The introduction of diesel services improved journey times and, initially at least, increased passenger usage of the line. Freight services, however, declined to such a degree that they became uneconomic, and between 1960 and 1964 they were gradually withdrawn. Consequently, Medstead goods yard closed in 1964.
During the 1960s passenger services also entered a general decline. In 1965 the chairman of British Railways, Dr. Beeching, announced a plan for the widespread closure of branch and secondary lines to improve profitability. Once the electrification of the main line from London to the south coast was complete, the Mid-Hants Railway's importance as a diversonary route, which, arguably, had kept the railway operating, was reduced to such a degree that, in 1967, the line was put under notice of closure, and Medstead station lost its staffing.
After an intensive campaign against closure by local people and councils, a protracted enquiry and appeals process and amidst accusations of partiality in reporting of the line's incomes and expenditures, the line was closed in February 1973. The track was lifted three years later.
Members of the Mid-Hants Railway began the rebuild Medstead station from a state of advanced dereliction in 1980 and the first train ran again to the restored station in May 1983. The line between Alton and Alresford was re-opened as a heritage steam railway, the Watercress Line in 1985.
Today, Medstead & Four Marks station has been restored as typical small Southern Railway country station, very much as it would have appeared between the 1930s and 1960s.
The Village
Trade & Commerce
Directories from the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries describe Medstead as a thriving, self-sufficient village with varied commercial activity. For example, Harrod & Company's Directory of Hampshire & the Isle of Wight from 1865 describes Medstead as:
"A parish and village 4 miles W.S.W from Alton Bishop's Sutton hundred and Alton union, North Hants. The Winchester, Alresford and Alton railway passes through this parish, and has a station about 1¼ from the church. The living is a rectory, annual value £580, in the gift of the Bishop of Winchester; the Rev. Maurice Allen Smelt M.A is the rector. The church (St. Andrew) is an ancient edifice with a small pointed belfry. In the church are some fine old Norman pillars in a good state of preservation. The Independents have a chapel here. Here is a National school for boys and girls, supported by voluntary contributions. The population in 1861 was 497; acreage is 2,811."
There is a similar description in the The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland from 1868.
Trade in the parish in the mid-nineteenth century was both varied and specialised. The changing nature of this trade over the following eighty years provides a unique insight into Medstead's social history:
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Harry Allwork
Firewood Dealer |
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James Andrews
Common Baker |
J. Andrews
Baker |
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Alfred W. Ashling
Shopkeeper, Four Marks |
A. Ashling
Grocer |
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John Richd. Bates
Butcher, Soldridge |
J.R. Bates
Butcher |
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William Bond
Grocer, Linen Draper, Clothier, Coal Merchant & Post Office |
William Bond
Grocer & Coal Merchant |
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G.L. Bond Broomfield's Stores
Draper, Grocer, Baker & Confectioner |
Richard Bone
Farrier |
Adam Bone
Farrier |
Adam Bone
Farrier |
Adam Bone
Farrier &
Castle PH |
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William Bone
Blacksmith, Hattingley |
William Bone
Blacksmith, Hattingley |
William Bone
Blacksmith, Hattingley |
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W. Bone
Painter |
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Frederick Boutell
Windmill Inn, Four Marks |
Alfred Crowe
Farrier |
G.H. Dutton
Chemist, West End |
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Dyer & Sons Ltd
Grocers |
Dyer & Sons Ltd
Grocers |
E. Hamilton
Drapery, Outfitters, Boots & Shoes |
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Percy Eddells
Saddler |
G. Eggleton
Coal Merchant |
H. Hawkins
Fishmonger & Poulterer, Hussel Lane |
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Richard Walter Gibbs
Nurseryman, Croombs Hill |
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Lewis G. Honisett
Eggs & Poultry, Town Gate Farm |
Robert Jeffrey
Shopkeeper & Butcher |
Lucy Jeffrey
Shopkeeper & Post Office |
George Jeffrey
Carpenter,
Boyne's Wood |
Arthur Jeffrey
Carpenter |
Arthur Jeffery & Sons
Carpenters |
A. Jeffery
Carpenter & Undertaker |
A. W. Jeffery
Undertaker, Builder & Mortgage Arranger, Roedown Road |
William Jeffrey
Carpenter & Shopkeeper |
William Jeffrey
Carpenter & Shopkeeper |
William Jeffrey
Shopkeeper |
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Ernest & Harry King
Blacksmiths |
Ernest King
Blacksmith |
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Harry King
Blacksmith & Chimney Sweep |
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Thomas King
Blacksmith, Cycle Agent, Ironmonger & Sub-Postmaster |
Thomas King & Son
Ironmongers |
T. King & Son
Ironmongers & Builder's Merchants |
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George Knight
Shoemaker |
George Knight
Shoemaker |
George Knight
Shoemaker |
Edwin Knight
Bootmaker |
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James Langridge
Victualler Old Windmill |
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James Lambourne
Wood Dealer |
Alick Harry Licence
Baker & Sub-Postmaster |
A. Licence
Grocer, Baker & Post Office |
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Jas. Pitter
The Lymington Arms |
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Richard Mattingley
Miscellaneous Dealer, Beechcroft |
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Nelson & Mant
Butchers, Paice Lane |
William Pitter
Carpenter & Wheelright |
William Pitter
Carpenter & Wheelright |
William Pitter
Carpenter |
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Geo. Smith
Windmill Inn, Four Marks |
G. Smith
Windmill Inn |
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George Ray
Grocer & Draper |
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Wm. Stevens
Painter, South Down |
G. Soper
Coal Merchant |
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Henry Wakely
Victualler Castle |
Henry Wakely
Castle |
Simon Wakely
Castle |
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Harry Stanford
Castle Of Comfort |
Harry Stanford
Castle Inn |
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James Westbrook
Blacksmith |
James Westbrook
Blacksmith |
David Westbrook
Blacksmith |
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Percy Warren
Cycle Dealer & Boot Repairer |
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Joseph Westbrook
Wheelright |
Francis Whitear
Bricklayer |
Jessse Whitear
Bricklayer |
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John Wyeth
Old Wind Mill |
John Wyeth
The Four Marks |
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J.T. Wyeth
Carpenter |
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The first mention of the cottage which subsequently became The Castle Of Comfort appears in 1831, when the, then, owner, Thomas Budd, died. It probably first served alcohol in 1838, and may have been known simply as The Castle.
In 1855 Henry Wakely (Wakeley in the source materials) is recorded as the owner, by 1875 he had been succeeded, presumably by his son, Simon Wakely. By 1898 ownership had passed to Adam Bone, a farrier.
The first mention of the name Castle Of Comfort appears in 1891 in papers relating to properties acquired by Farnham United Breweries Ltd of Holybourne. By 1911, Harry Stanford is recorded as the owner of the Castle Of Comfort.
During this period the names of four other inns are mentioned in Medstead Parish:
- The Lymington Arms owned in 1875 by Jas Pitter.
- The Windmill Inn owned in 1898 by Frederick Boutell and between 1911-1913 by Geo Smith.
- The Old Wind Mill, where in 1855-1859 James Langridge is listed as the victualler, by 1865 John Wyeth is listed as commerial owner of the Old Wind Mill and farmer.
- The Four Marks, owned in 1875 by John Wyeth.
It is likely, therefore, that both the Old Wind Mill and the Four Marks were earlier names for the Windmill Inn.
The Windmill Inn remained in the parish until 1932 when Four Marks - literally the place where four boundaries meet - was created from land transferred from the parishes of Medstead, Chawton, Farringdon, East Tisted, Newton Valence and Ropley.
Services
John Duthy, in his Sketches Of Hampshire, 1839, describes Medstead at that time:
"The parish and chapelry of Medstead lie at the distance of nearly six miles northeast of Old Alresford. Its situation is elevated and exposed, and its soil, for the most part, strong, retentive, deep, but not very fertile, clay, situated on a calcareous base. It abounds in flints, embedded in the soil, and strewed on the surface; a portion of it is well adapted to the growth of wheat and oats; very little is suited to barley; but coppice wood and timber, particularly beech, flourish abundantly. It is far above the springs, and depending chiefly on its ponds for water, suffers much in dry summers from the want of this necessary article, which in such seasons is brought from a distance of several miles, in water barrels, for the supply of cattle, and other domestic purposes."
Medstead's position on a chalk plateau limited the available, natural sources of water to springs at Bighton and Bishop's Sutton, and to natural dew and other ponds, such as those on the Village Green, what is now the small triangle of land between Church Lane and Castle Street and, what was once, Hustle Field in Hussell Lane.
Moody describes how women in the nineteenth century carried water from Hustle Field in two buckets suspended from a shoulder yoke, and were invariably met with the cry from passers-by "Now then, Hustle or the pond will be dry".
Due to the depth required by the thick chalk subsoil, wells were few and seldom used. Possibly the deepest of these wells, at 308 feet, was at Medstead Manor, where, until 1920, water was still being pumped by a donkey and a large oak wheel, each bucket taking a quarter of an hour to reach the top.
Two other water wheels were used: one at Southtown Farm, which used two walking men to draw the water up 270 feet; the other at Stancombe Farm. At Goatacre Farm there is evidence of an old artesian well in the cellar, 225 feet in depth.
By 1875 some village houses were supplied from a tank which collected rainwater from the roof of St. Andrew's Church and the original school building. Other properties had their own underground storage tanks and, by 1898, all new houses were required to have a water tank.
Medstead then, as now, lacks mains sewerage. With the exception of Greenstile and Boyneswood Close, all properties accommodate their own septic tank and drainage. Today, water is pumped from Shalden to supply the village. Both these act as a constraint to further significant development in the village.
Electricity came to Medstead in 1929, gas in 1990 and broadband in 2003.
Buildings
Nineteenth century maps show Medstead was sparsely populated. The village centre was defined, very much as it is today, around St. Andrew's Church. There were also small clusters of buildings around farms at Hattingley, Heath Green, Goatacre, Stancombe, Soldridge, South Town and Red Hill.
Goatacre
"There was once a farmer who lived in a farm called Milbury who had a daughter. This daughter was not good looking, but was a champion butter maker and an expert with livestock.
In the neighbouring farm at Hattingley lived a man who had a son. The father was continually urging his son to marry the butter maker. Finally the son plucked up all his courage and asked the owner of Milbury for his daughter's hand. The answer he got was 'go take her'. Hence Milbury became Goatacre."
From A Chronicle Of Medstead, Lorents Rathbone.
A more likely, if less romantic, derivation for this old Medstead place name is a corruption of God's Acre.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, as farming entered decline, a property development company, Homestead Ltd, bought up plots of land between Common Hill, Goatacre Road, Paice Lane and Station Road, advertising plots of land for development at £20-£30 an acre.
Bungalows subsequently become a characteristic feature of the parish. Of particular note are the Colonial-Style, timber-framed bungalows, with corrugated iron walls and overhanging roofs forming a veranda along the front. Constructed during the period after the Boer War and First World War on 2-3 acre plots, they were built to enable returning servicemen to earn a smallholding living. Only a handful now remain, the best examples lie to the south of the village, and at the bottom of Chalky Hill.
By the early twentieth century it seems most of the thatched cottages situated in the village centre, clustered around the church had been burnt down, including an almshouse and the old post office.
Possibly the oldest residences still in the village are two thatched cottages: one in Grosvenor Road which dates back to the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries; the other in Hussell Lane which dates back to 1655.
In the centre of the village, Beech Cottage, the cottages at Pleasant Place and Lavender Cottage, are over 150 years old. Old Rectory Cottage on Castle Street possibly dates to the seventeenth century.
The Convent of St. Lucy was established in 1955, in what was previously Medstead Manor. Owners of the Manor can be traced directly back to Richard Houtot in 1346. Houtot was a descendant of a family holding land in the parish in 1202.
Alton Abbey, a Benedictine Monastery in the Church of England, has been in existence since 1895. The community was founded in 1889 by Father Charles Plomer Hopkins. Work on building the flint and yellow brick church began in 1896 and completed in 1907. The gatehouse dates from 1903.
The original Independent Chapel was built in 1850 and can still be seen on the High Street as Clubhouse Cottage. After it fell into disuse, a new Congregational Chapel was built in 1896 on South Town Road. Made of corrugated iron and with seating for up to 100, it was built at cost of £196.
According to W. White's Directory of Hampshire & the Isle Of Wight, 1875, Medstead's original village hall was built in 1876 at a cost of £400, paid for by T.F. Miller, and contained reading and smoking rooms. Kelly's Directory of Hampshire & the Isle Of Wight 1898 records Medstead had:
"a Village Hall, consisting of two rooms erected through the kindness of Mr. Thomas Miller, late of this parish, for the benefit of young men; lectures and entertainments are given in it through the winter months; coffee and refreshments are provided at a cheap rate and games and daily papers supplied."
A new Village Hall, located on the Village Green, was opened in 1971.
Three buildings in the parish are listed as being of Special Architectural or Historic Interest: Southdown Old Farmhouse, a Grade 2 listed building on South Town Road which dates from the eighteenth century; Southdown also on South Town Road; and St Andrew's Church.
Medstead School
The original village school was built between 1847 and 1849 at a cost of £165, "for the education of children... of the labouring, manufacturing and other poorer classes in the parish" on the site of St. Andrew's Tithe Barn which, by then, had become redundant.
In 1869 the school was rebuilt at a cost of £565, raised by voluntary contributions. Although this school could take 115 children, average attendance in 1898 was 60 and in 1911, 81.
The school was extensively refurbished in 1926-1927, but closed in 1984 when the school moved to a new building in Roe Downs Road.
The site of the original school is now occupied by School House cottage and the Church Hall.
The new Medstead Church Of England Primary School opened in 1985. In 1986 the school contributed to Medstead's entry in the BBC Domesday Project to mark the 900th anniversary of the original Domesday Book.
"We are educating children for the Needs of the Future, to equip them for a changing society and to prepare them for a future we cannot describe."
From the Medstead Village entry in the BBC Domesday Project, 1986.
The entry records the school was a pioneer in the use of computers in education: it had five IBM PCs, three BBC computers, a modem and printer; was the first primary school in the country to link to the Times Network, a schools database and email system; and worked with IBM on a project to assess children's interaction with software.
Today, the school continues to be high-achieving, with standards well above the national average. The school motto Together We Learn, chosen by the children, embraces the ethos which pervades the school.
St. Andrew's Church
In an appraisal undertaken in 2002 for the Medstead Village Design Statement, villagers were asked to rate the importance of the church:
| For Sunday worship |
30.2% |
| For baptisms |
34.2% |
| For weddings and funerals |
50.6% |
| As a focal point for the community |
51.9% |
| Every place should have one |
59.9% |
| As an historical building |
66.7% |
Strong support in the village for the protection of the Church as a historic building led to the creation of the Friends of St. Andrew's Church in 2001 to maintain and restore this fine old building.
Read more about St. Andrew's Church, the building and it's history:
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