Liss
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| Liss | |
  Liss shown within Hampshire |
|
| Population | 6081 [1] |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | |
| Parish | Liss |
| District | East Hampshire District Council |
| Shire county | Hampshire |
| Region | South East |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Liss |
| Postcode district | GU33 |
| Dialling code | 01730 |
| Police | Hampshire |
| Fire | Hampshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| European Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | East Hampshire |
| List of places: UK • England • Hampshire | |
Liss (previously spelt Lys or Lyss) is a village and parish in north east Hampshire, lying between Petersfield and Liphook, and south of Alton in the East Hampshire Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The parish consists of 3,567 acres (14 km²) of semi-rural countryside, and is one of the largest parishes in the region.
The earliest written mention of Liss (or Lyss as it was known then) may be that found in the Domesday book.[1]
The village consists of an old village at West Liss and the modern village, which congregated around the 19th Century ‘Southern Railway’ station, which is largely Victorian and later. West Liss contains most of the historical and architectural interest.
Contents |
[edit] Prehistory
Flint spearheads, arrowheads, scrapers, flakes and cores dating from Palaeolithic and Mesolithic times have been found.
Evidence of Neolithic activity is present in axe heads and flint implements. An Irish decorated axe and two bracelets engraved with parallel lines and chevrons have been found, and there are plentiful Bronze Age features on the chalk hangers above the village and at Berry Grove, the Wylds and at Peacewood, Farther Common. There was settlement in the Rother Valley by the Bronze Age. Bowl barrows and other Bronze Age features exist at Berry Grove (Bowl Barrow - Located in the garden, 12 m. in diameter and 1.5 m. high. Has two large oaks growing on it), the Wylds (Bowl Barrow 23.0 m. in diameter, and 2.0 m. high. Surrounded by tree ring of dry stone walling, and planted with fir trees. Traces of human and animal hair found in tree trunk coffin burial) and at Peacewood, Farther Common (An almost circular enclosure on a slight northern slope. Circular barrow Enclosure contains trees).
[edit] Iron Age and Roman periods
It is likely that the area was also inhabited in the Iron Age and throughout the Roman period.
The name Liss may be of Celtic origin and is presumed to be one of the very few remaining Celtic names in lowland Britain. The name implies a location of importance, possibly a chieftain's court or hall. It may refer to the presence of early governmental structures.
There are numerous elements of early Roman infrastructure in the area, and being in proximity to Roman Chichester and Winchester with the course of a Roman road in north-east corner of parish. It appears that the area would have been extensively settled with excavated evidence at Alton, Selbourne etc. and there is doubtless much that remains to be found along the downfoot and the spring line villages. The Liss Archaeological Group have recently uncovered an extensive Roman villa site close to East Liss, with further excavations to be made.
[edit] Saxon period
No direct evidence of habitation or Anglo-Saxon architecture exists in the current Liss village area, and the early Saxon period is also slightly represented archeologically in the whole area of East Hampshire. It seems unlikely that there was any major community on the site of the original or the current villages.
However, the comparative remoteness was useful when in the late Saxon at 900 Alfred the Great created an Abbey at Lyss Place under the control of St. Mary's Abbey at Winchester as a retreat for nuns.
In the time of Edward the Confessor (1042-1066), the penultimate Anglo-Saxon king, there was a mill in operation at Liss paying an annual rent.
Local historians indicate their belief that St Peter's Church has Saxon footings, and that the remaining plan reflects an earlier Saxon Church on the site. However, Taylor and Taylor[2] do not list St Stephen's and no fabric is evident. Hopefully future opportunities for specialist archaeological work will clarify the order of construction.
[edit] Norman period
In 1086, at the time of the Domesday Survey, the manor of Liss probably formed part of the original endowment of the Abbey of St. Mary at Winchester. The manor was later known as Liss Abbess, and the Abbess and nuns of Winchester kept the land until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538.
The earliest wooden Church is normally regarded as one of the two churches mentioned as being held by two priests of the manor of Odiham in Domesday Book. It would have been deeded by King Stephen, with the churches of Bentworth and Odiham for the master of the Choristers' School of Salisbury and the chancellor of the cathedral.
[edit] 13th century onwards
The village centre in what is now West Liss around Church Street and the nearby triangular patch of ground, the Plestor (derived from 'playstow', or playground - see Plestor House). The Village Stocks were sited here, near an ancient oak, which now entirely hollow remains, in front of the current Spread Eagle Inn.
Liss developed economically in the three centuries following Domesday although being of limited significance politically or economically other than in relation to the monastic establishment at Lyss Place. Part of Liss Place Farm, West Liss. dates from the C.14 with an addition of C.19 date, and a prosperous farming community can reasonably be assumed. Farms existed throughout the parish. To the East, timber framed houses and farms were constructed in the 17th and 18th centuries
A traditional fair was held in May in the field between the Spread Eagle Inn and Church Street, opposite the glebe meadow where Liss Cricket Club now plays.
Serving the community, St Peter's Church(West)Liss was built in stone in the 13th century, replacing the earlier timber structure. The Chancel, parts of tower, and octagonal piers of arcade date from C.13. The existing Octagonal font, mullioned and transomed window in south aisle and indeed the distinctive weatherboard top stage of tower are later.
Liss Church was attached to the church of Odiham which appointed the curate-in-charge and remained so until 1867 when it was separated and the Rev. W. French, who had been the curate, was appointed the first Rector of Liss by the Bishop of Winchester.
The manor, Liss Abbess, remained in the hands of the Abbess and nuns of Winchester until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538. It then remained Crown property until about 1610. The monastic establishment at Lyss Place then passed into private ownership and was subsequently held variously by the Cole, Fitzpatrick, Taylor and Hawkshaw families.
One route of the Pilgrims' Way between Winchester and Canterbury passes through Stodham, Balls Farm, Woodlands Farm, Barn Place Farm, Ciddy Hall Farm, Palmers Farm (resting place for pilgrims), Reeds Farm leaving the parish past Brewells Farm.
[edit] Victorian period
Liss remained primarily an agricultural village in an open setting, but became known in the nineteenth century for the production of peppermint, an industry sponsored by the Money family of Stodham Park. The mint was grown, distilled and sold at four pence a pint.
The bounds of the parish were apparently beaten yearly. Local historians indicate that a small boy was traditionally put in the oven of the Flying Bull Inn, as the parish boundary was believed to pass through the kitchen of the inn.
Major transformations of the landscape physical and social, began at this time.
Stodham Park House was built circa. 1820 as part of the Money family Estate. It has 3 storeys and basement with an imposing 4-pillared porch with steps to the main door. Clara Maria Burdett, apparently tracing her family to the Norman Conquest. married into the Money-Coutts of Stodham Park (d 22.12.1899) and lived at the House. The family donated the existing Village Hall.
The village was radically altered in C.19th essentially being moved East by new developments of that era - and that new centre is late Victorian in character. Specifically, the Southern Railway came from the North East to East Liss (and then along the Rother Valley towards Portsmouth) in 1859. East Liss became the Village of Liss.
The Inclosure (see Inclosure Act) of the commons and wastelands occurred in 1864. Station Road, St Mary's Road, Western Road, the shopping area, the beginning of Hill Brow Road, Andlers Ash Road, Liss Forest Road, Mint Road, the original village school and the Village Hall were all built on inclosed land. Under the Inclosure Award the West Liss Recreation Ground, the four allotments sites "for the labouring poor of the parish" and a number of roads were created. In 1894 the management of the village's affairs, hitherto undertaken by the Vestry, was transferred to the newly formed Parish Council.
St Mary's Church was built in 1892/94 (Arthur Blomfield) to serve the new parts of the village replacing St. Peter at West Liss, which remains an intact thirteenth century structure with its few later additions.
The original construction of St Mary's consisted of a chancel with a north transept for the organ and a vestry, and a nave with north and south aisles and a north porch in plain 13th-century style. It is built of local sandstone with dressed quoins, with brick lining.
The Education Board Schools were built in 1872, and enlarged in 1878 and again in 1888.
In 1911, an iron mission hall is recorded at Hill Brow with a Wesleyan chapel at East Liss, and for Plymouth Brethren a meeting-house at West Liss.
The tower of St Mary's was added in 1932 - again from local sandstone - and it became the Parish Church in 1959. In the 1940s and 50's it was often described locally and unflatteringly as the "stump".
[edit] The Titanic. April 14, 1912
Edward Arthur Dorking , 19, from Liss, Hampshire, was one of the 705 survivors of the Titanic. He boarded at Southampton as a third class passenger traveling to join his uncle, Fred Cooke at Oglesby, Illinois, a cement manufacturing town about five miles south of LaSalle, Illinois. Dorking's stepfather Mr. John C. Baker lived in Clevedon, England. Edward Arthur Dorking was rescued in Collapsible B. He was quartered for a time at a New York Hospital before making his way to Illinois where he earned money for a time by relating his experiences in a series of public appearances, as reported by the local press at the time.
[edit] The Longmoor Military Railway
In 1933 a military railway known as the Longmoor Military Railway was built from Liss Station to the Longmoor Army Camp. This caused a further increase in population, but was closed in 1969. The railway was used as a set for many films including "The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery".
[edit] The modern period
Immediately following World War II, a development of local authority housing was built in East Liss under the William Beveridge inspired programs. Since the mid 1960's, a number of large new estates extended the Village, and increased its population. The 1965 Harcos development at Patrick's Copse and Greenfields etc has been extended several times since the 1970s to cover existing landscaped open ground and traditional marshland.
The early estates contain houses of different sizes, and initially of uniform 1960's estate style. Such development is now subject to much criticism in relation to local architectural style and appropriate rural village design (see Poundbury Village, Cornwall).
Newer, and smaller developments on brownfield sites have been necessitated by increasing population pressure, and government policy which continues.
In the early 1970s Liss Infants and Junior School were moved from their central village location to a site 300 yards from the village centre on the Hill Brow Road. The Infants School Building has been reused as the Triangle Centre, while the Junior School Building was demolished to make may for new housing on the site and playing fields. A mid 1990's new junior school on the new site by Hampshire County Council’s Architecture and Design Servicehas received a great deal of praise.
In the 1980s new and imposing red brick shopping areas and housing have extended the centre of the Village where rough grazing for horses previously existed, and added a new supermarket unit, other shops and office space. The 1920s white façade of Smiths Garage nearby, has recently (2007) been demolished and the land cleaned for the construction of new housing.
The Village Hall has been modernised, and outside it, a new green oak bus shelter added during 2006. Hampshire County Council's Mobile Library Service has served Liss since the 1960s. The Library Vehicle is parked in the public car park at the bottom of Hill Brow Road at specified times and dates. Various plans by East Hampshire District Council to charge for parking have been opposed by Villagers. Car Parking often occurs unofficially outside the old and new shopping areas of the Village.
There are 3 East Hampshire District Council car parks in Liss.
Station Road Car Park Station Road, Liss
Village Centre Car Park (Short Stay) Station Road
Hill Brow Car Park Hill Brow Road
The construction of the Petersfield & Liphook bypass (see A3 road), now in that section a four lane motorwaypast West Liss, has created a considerable environmental impact in the Liss area, and elsewhere. The new dual carriageway has removed much though traffic from the centres of Petersfield and Liphook, and apparently more minor volumes of traffic from Farnham Rd, West Liss (formerly part of the A325). The Highways Agency indicates that quiet road surfaces were not used in construction and that no effort was made to design sound reducing features into the new road, which was normal practice at that time.
The large "Ham Barn" roundabout has been created to distribute vehicles from the A3 on the B3006 towards Liss and Selborne. Areas of West Liss are now very close to the carriageways which has inevitably changed their rural and medieval character. It is reported that sound from the road can be heard in East and West Liss and throughout the area, in the Hangars and Hill Brow. Environmental damage and limited effectiveness of new road building has been predicted by groups such as Road Alert.
The population of Liss is approximately 6,000. It is assumed that the demographic profile has shifted from a largely rural base to accommodate commuters due to good road (A3) and railway (Portsmouth Direct Line) links to London. Liss is served by Liss railway station.
There has been recent concern about incidents of anti-social behaviour in the centre of the Village, with local newspaper reports of disturbances and some few violent incidents.
The local newspapers are the broadsheet Petersfield Herald, and the tabloid Petersfield Post.
Liss has a successful Road Running Club, Liss Runners, and long established Association Football Club Liss Athletic and Cricket Club. There is also a tennis club, the Newman Collard and a new Petersfield Golf Club on the site of Tankerdale Farm. The sports facilities etc. for Liss are to be improved by the charity the Newman Collard Pavilion Fund.
[edit] The future
Various local groups and the Parish Council are attempting to preserve the village character, despite pressure for development from central government. The village is included in the proposed new South Downs National Park, which will change the basis of planning and conservation practices currently under East Hampshire District Council, formerly Petersfield Rural District Council.
There are controversial plans by the Church Commissioners to sell the 13th Century St Peter's Church in West Liss, to an Evangelical Christian group to be reused.
[edit] Education
Liss Junior School is a state school catering for children aged 7-11 (years 3-6). The school was opened in 1994 after moving from its old site in the centre of the village. Most children join the school from Liss Infant School, which is on the adjoining site, and then go on to Bohunt School in year 7. The head teacher is Andy Burford.
[edit] Notable connections
- Francis Rose 1921 - 2006 Field botanist whose exemplary books and inspirational teaching established him as the leading authority on Britain’s flora
- Selwyn Jepson (1899-1989) British author and Screenwriter, former Member of the Special Operations Executive.
- Michael John Hurd (1928-2006) was a noted composer and author, principally known for his choral music.
- Richard Dering [also Deering, Dearing, Diringus etc.] (c.1580-1630) was an English composer, lived and worked most of his life in the South Netherlands.
- Monica Storrs (1888-1967) British born Pioneer and Missionary, lived in Liss.
- Cliff Lazarenko (born Liss, March 16, 1952) English professional darts player who competed for the British Darts Organisation and the Professional Darts Corporation.
- Richard Purchase (1757 – 1837) was a famous English cricketer who played for the Hambledon Club.
- Andrew Simmons (born Liss, May 21, 1984) is a British professional wrestler who is best known for competing under the persona of Andy Boy Simmonz
- Minnie Driver (lived in Liss, , 1975-1984) famous film actress and latterly singer lived with her mother in West Liss and attended Bedales School.
 Old school and war memorial |
 Parish church of St Mary's |
 Entrance to Newman Collard recreation ground |
 Village hall |
[edit] References
- ^ Liss, Hampshire, from 43v Great Domesday Book (Web from book). Domesday Book is one of our earliest surviving public records. It is a highly detailed survey of land and resources which was carried out in late 11th century England. www.nationalarchives.gov.uk (1086). Retrieved on May 19, 2007.
- ^ Anglo Saxon Architecture (Web from book). seminal work widely acclaimed when it first appeared in 1978. Cambridge University Press (
- New Ed edition (November 30, 1984)). Retrieved on May 19, 2007.
