Villages around Petersfield and the Hangers

Alton

Grid Reference: SU720390
Georgian town on the northern fringe of the East Hampshire AONB.

Buriton

Picturesque Buriton is a favourite starting point for people wishing to walk to Butser Hill. The village has a pond, a Norman church with a 12th century interior and a Georgian manor house, once the home of the father of Edward Gibbon, who wrote ‘The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire’.

East Meon

The pretty and historic village of East Meon has some fine architecture, including a 12th century church, Tudor and Georgian houses in Workhouse Lane, and 14th century cottages in the village centre. The old Court House, now a private residence, has a medieval barn from the same era, used by the Bishops of Winchester for a local manorial court.

Selborne

Grid Reference: SU720330
Village made famous by Gilbert White's Natural History of Selborne. On the Hangers Way with attractive National Trust countryside around.

South Harting

One of the most attractive villages of the South Downs, South Harting has ancient thatched cottages and elegant Georgian houses. Novelist Anthony Trollope wrote four of his novels here and his pen and paper knife are displayed in the church. Just outside the churchyard, near the gate, are the parish stocks and a whipping post equipped with three sets of wrist irons.

Trotton

Just east of Petersfield, Trotton has an impressive medieval bridge.

West Meon

Another attractive village. A famous former resident was Thomas Lord, founder of Lord's cricket ground. He died here in 1832, and is buried in the churchyard, his grave still tended by the Marylebone Cricket Club. Another grave holds the ashes of Guy Burgess, the spy and traitor who defected to Russia in 1951 and who lived in the area with his family. He died in 1963 and was cremated in Moscow.