| Country: | England |
| Official Name: | Headbourne Worthy |
| Coordinates: | 51.0892°N -1.3063°W |
| Population: | 361 |
| Population Ref: | [1] |
| Shire District: | City of Winchester |
| Shire County: | Hampshire |
| Region: | South East England |
| Constituency Westminster: | Winchester |
| Post Town: | Winchester |
| Postcode District: | SO24 |
| Postcode Area: | SO |
| Dial Code: | 01962 |
| Os Grid Reference: | SU4867732442 |
| Static Image Name: | Saint Swithun, Headbourne Worthy- war memorial (geograph 2520482).jpg |
| Static Image Caption: | War memorial |
Headbourne Worthy (formerly Worthy Mortimer) is a village and former manor within the City of Winchester district of Hampshire, England. The parish[2] also includes the former manor of Worthy Pauncefoot.
The parish council consists of seven members elected every 4 years and a parish clerk. The council considers planning applications, carries out minor public works and organises the annual village litter pick. It is funded by a small precept (one of the smallest in Hampshire) collected by Winchester City Council as part of the Council Tax. Recent works include refurbishing the village notice boards in Agapanthus blue[4]
The Grade I listed parish church dates from the 11th century and is particularly noted for its 11th century rood on the outside of the original west wall, now part of the vestry. What remains of the stone carving, which was vandalised at the time of the Reformation, depicts the crucified Christ, St Mary the virgin and St John.
The church sits on an island, surrounded by chalk streams, to the west of Worthy Lane. The graveyard to the south extends to School Lane. In 2012 an oak tree was planted in the churchyard to commemorate the Queen's diamond jubilee. A Friend of St Swithun's carried out a great deal of clearance and conservation work in the churchyard, the burial ground, the dell and the pathways to School Lane and London Road in 2012–2013 and maintains the grounds. The Worthys Conservation Volunteers[6] carried out extensive habitat conservation work in the 'scrub' area to the north of the churchyard in 2013. The group opposes controversial plans to build a car park to the south of the church.[7]
A 3.5 acre parcel of land known as Chisslands has been owned by the church since time immemorial.[3] This parcel of land is to be sold to the developer of the Barton Farm estate for a substantial sum which will provide the church with capital for church maintenance for many years to come.
An annual dinner, known as The Pudding Feast, was provided to the Mayor and Corporation at The Pudding House (now known as Pudding Farm House). A lease of the property in 1817 converted this obligation to an annual payment of £3[8]
Now a three bedroom family home,[9] the stables of the Manor House once housed the 1946 Grand National winner, Lovely Cottage. 25/1 Lovely Cottage beat 100/1 outsider Jack Finlay and 3/1 favourite Prince Regent in a race that saw 34 horses start but only 6 finish. The day after the race, Lovely Cottage was paraded around the village and local children were lifted onto its back.[10]
Agapanthus is a summer flowering perennial and native of South Africa, but in the late 1940s Lewis Palmer, youngest son of the 2nd Earl of Selborne and a Vice President of the Royal Horticultural Society, bred hybrids in the garden of The Grange on School Lane where he lived. The hybrids, commonly known as Headbourne Hybrids, are still widely available at garden centres and nurseries. In the 1960s at The Grange, Lewis Palmer maintained one of the country's best collections of the winter flowering shrub, Christmas Box (Sarcococca).[11] He also bred a Pulmonaria named Lewis Palmer with violet-blue flowers which has the RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM).[12] A number of Hillier's Nursery staff were trained in the gardens of The Grange.[13]
20 watercress beds off Bedfield Lane and Springvale, occupying 4 acres of land, are owned by Robert Chisnell and managed by The Watercress Company. The water used in the beds drains to streams along the Nuns Walk and then into the River Itchen.[14]
Flood water from winterbournes above the village to the west threatened houses and the church and led to the closure of Springvale Road near the Good Life farm shop (now Cobbs) in February and March 2014. Water ran down Down Farm Lane onto Springvale Road and had to be diverted with sandbags across the road to the watercress beds alongside Bedfield Lane. From there the flood water passed through the lake at Church Paddock Trout Fishery and into the streams around St Swithun's Church from where it followed the normal water course, under Worthy Lane and towards the Itchen. At one point the water levels around the church threatened it with flooding and sand bags were placed around the 11th century Grade I listed building to protect it.
On 27 January 2015 at 18:30 Headbourne Worthy was the epicentre of a tremor of magnitude 2.9 at a depth of 3 km. No injuries or serious damage was reported but everyone in the village felt the extraordinary quake which could be felt as far afield as Southampton.[18]
