HAMPSHIRE

I mile north of Liphook )

Peace and quiet played little part in Bramshott’s past. From Roman times until the 18th century the village was a centre for the mining and smelting of Wealden iron; and in the 16th and 17th centuries, when the industry was at its height, the woods were stripped by charcoal-makers, the land was pockmarked with excavations for ore, and even the streams were diverted to power the hammer-mills.

But times have changed. The village rests now, and only a few fragments remain to bear witness to its bustling past. A narrow overgrown lane winding out of the village and over the common leads to Waggoners Wells, three large ponds which were part of a system of waterfalls designed to operate the giant hammers. The wells, and 639 acres of surrounding commons and woodlands, now belong to the National Trust. The last mill in Bramshott was working until 1924, more than 300 years after it was built; but by then it had become a paper-mill, manufacturing the paper used to make postal orders.

The poet Tennyson knew Waggoners Wells, though in his day they were known as Wakener’s Wells. He visited them one day in the summer of 1860, wrote a small poem about them, and so fell in love with the area that he had a house built on Black Down, over the border into Sussex.

The Church of St Mary dates partly from the 13th century, as does the manor house near by. The nave and aisles, and the broach spire, are Victorian. Ghostly carriages are said to rumble by night over the roads around the village, particularly along the lane to Waggoners Wells.

[hampshirevillages]