Twyford, Hampshire

 

Our first Twyford is just outside Winchester, just a junction south down the M3. As we were heading for the Isle Of Wight one weekend, it seemed remiss not to stop on our way and check it out.

Twyford on the map

Our initial impression was  that it was likely to be a rather typical commuter village of the kind found in the hundreds within 40 miles of London. A little scout around, though, revealed a little more local history than we were expecting.

First stop, of course, was the church. And a most excellent starting spot, too. St Mary's, although it stands on an ancient site of worship, was reconstructed completely from scratch in the 19th Century. The remains of a ring of sarsen stones - ancient druidic stones, like Stonehenge only less impressive - lie underneath the tower, which has been imaginatively finished with decorative flint walling. It's certainly an impressive sight. 

 

St Mary's Church

The flint walling and welcoming gargoyles.
They do look like they're grinning at you!

In front you can see the yew tree. Opinion seems to be vague on its age, but at least 500 years old isn't a bad guess. It's immaculately pruned and underneath we found what believe to be the oldest grave:

Roger Hockley, d. 1666

The tomb of Roger Hockley, deceased 1666. In truth, it's hard to tell whether this tomb is in fact the oldest, as the more ancient parts of the churchyard are quite over-run with lichen, rendering many gravestones unreadable. But it was by some distance the oldest grave we found, and the fact that it was tucked up close to the church was an indication that we were probably on the right track, although we didn't search the whole churchyard.

I don't know if we found any fish symbology, but we did find this peculiar symbol inlaid in the church wall directly opposite Mr Hockley's tomb. It does look a little bit fish-like if you screw up your eyes and squint, and I can't find anything quite like it online. It looks a bit like the old alchemical squiggles, but I think the chances of there being any amateur alchemists still around in Victorian times are fairly slim. Any amateur symbologists out there who fancy having a go at it?

St Mary's Churchyard,
with lichen problem visible in foreground

Mostly, the reason we didn't search every single tombstone is because it's a MASSIVE churchyard, running a full hundred yards down the hill with graves all the way. Clearly this Twyford is a chic place to be buried.

Inside the church, there are signs that somebody really went to town on the architecture. All the pillars had little ornate finishes, there was a delightful font, some great stained-glass and a pretty little chapel.

Perhaps best of all were the signs that the church is making a real effort to be a community centre and host for all the local village societies. It's a rough old time to be a Church Of England property-holder, and whatever you think of religion, then something a little extra must be done to keep beautiful churches like St Mary's in good condition. Clearly the Parish Council have been grasping those opportunities with both hands.

The nave and vaulted roof

Stained glass

Note the different artistry
 around every column

The font

The chapel

A souvenir from St Mary's, Twyford, Hampshire

We were more than happy to contribute to the fund-raising efforts and bought ourselves a little set of hand-drawn note-cards as a souvenir. And then we went off to explore the village a little more.

Exploring the map

Twyford stands on the River Itchen, and it's clear from the map that it's probably been forded in several places, including the nearby Shawford. Norris's Bridge carries Shawford Road, so we suspected that this wasn't one of the 'Two Fords' for which Twyford was named. The obvious places to look were on the footbridge at the end of the churchyard, almost dead-centre on the map, and we guessed the other one would be a few hundred metres north, on the other side of Twyford Lodge. No-one seems to know exactly WHICH two fords gave Twyford its name, so it was time for a bit of detective work to see if we could find them.

As we explored this area, we started delving into local history. If Twyford was named after these Two Fords, then it seemed possible that Twyford Lodge was once the heart of the village, and that modern developments have all been well to the south. The modern Twyford Lodge dates back to the 18th century, when no doubt it was a hunting lodge with rights over the surrounding bit of the South Downs. It's been heavily walled off and you can't get anywhere near it, but from the photo I snapped from over the river it looks now more like the sort of grotty country retreat that runs executive team-building days.

But the name of Twyford goes right back to the Domesday book, so our suspicion was that there was an important building on this site from even earlier. We would find out later on our excursion though the village.

Down the side of the church, a couple more sarsen stones brought us to a modern footbridge. But off the side, very clearly, were the dips that showed this river was fordable. On closer inspection, you can clearly see the entry paving. No doubt this was one of them.

The ford behind the church

Evidence of entry paving

Twyford Lodge, from distance!

We made our way around the footpath loop, snapping a long-distance shot of Twyford Lodge, only to be stalled by a herd of enthusiastic cows. Not wishing to be trampled in our first Twyford, we backed up and went up the little yellow road in front of Twyford Lodge instead. There was a fair amount of established orchard and hedgerow in this region that suggests it was old - older perhaps than the main village to the south, and adding some weight our theories that the village had migrated south from this area over the centuries.

The second ford (just to the west of Hockley Farm on the map) was something of a trickier affair. In the past, the river had been extensively diverted in this region to power a water mill, and the sluices were still very visible. Unfortunately the water mill now houses a less-than-glamorous Botox clinic, so we couldn't see any waterworks in action (the nearby Twyford Waterworks were also closed off-season, so we couldn't even leverage our English Heritage cards).

Possible site of second ford

Probable original route of river,
 immediately to the right
 of the existing river

The diversion means the original route of the river is now just low-lying marsh, but the shape of the land suggest that this could easily have been a ford: the lawn of the ex-watermill slopes right down into the Itchen and everything would be very shallow, and much slower moving before human intervention.

The imposing brick monolith
 that is Twyford House

We walked back into the village along the main road. The road in had a few prominent Victorian buildings, not least the school (no photos, it doesn't behove well to go pointing cameras at schools on a Friday these days), and Twyford House, which surely was a prison or schoolhouse in a former life. The main cross of the village was something of a disappointment: just a convenience shop and a poky little coffee bar. And to the south was masses of commuter housing, which isn't even worth taking photos of. There were a couple of nice early-Victorian or late-Georgian agricultural buildings: what looked like a forge and old carriage-house. And our imagined narrative of the village's history made even more sense. These were the farmland that grew up to support the Lodge, or the predecessor of the Lodge, so - yes - it seems likely the original hub of the village was further north, near the fords, with the church in the centre.

The rather underwhelming 'village centre',
with legacy pub sign from the days
when a village could sustain two pubs.

One of the quainter buildings in the main village.
Possibly farm cottages once?

The village pub, apparently modelled
on Southfork Ranch from Dallas.
 Probably little by way of historic value.

A smart carriage house in the southern village

Looks like a forge. Lots of agricultural buildings
 suggest that what is now the 'main' village
 was once outlying

St. Mary's Church
as you approach from the village

Walking back up the footpath (the left hand side of the triangle with 'MS' (=milestone) in the middle) afforded us a lovely view of the church spire and that unusual flint-walling effect.

I don't know if our rambling guesses at the local history were correct, and were very much based on guessing the location of the second ford. It's hard to explain, but it feels sort of right - the north of the village has plenty of history that seems to be absent in the southern, residential area.

Overall, a successful start to our Twyford voyage. A delightful church, an interesting ford-based mystery, and a village with plenty of stories to tell, many of which we probably left uncovered.

Join us again as we visit Twyford, Shropshire.