St Mary Bourne

"ST. MARY BOURNE, a parish in the hundred of Upper Evingar, Kingsclere division of the county of Southampton, 3 miles to the N.W. of Whitchurch railway station, and 5 N.E. from Andover, its post town. It includes the tythings of Binley, Bourne, Egburg, Stoke, and Week, and part of Swampton. The living is a perpetual curacy annexed to the vicarage of Hurstbourne-Priors, in the diocese of Winchester, of the joint annual value of £202, in the gift of the bishop. The tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £110. The church, dedicated to St. Peter, is an ancient Norman structure, with pointed arches, resting on massive pillars. It has a square embattled tower, and contains a curious font, hewn out of a block of black marble; of which there are said to be only three other examples in England. The Baptists, Wesleyans, and Primitive Methodists have chapels here. The Earl of Portsmouth is lord of the manor.

[From The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) - transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]