Selborne
From Wikipedia
Coordinates: 51°05′49″N 0°56′34″W / 51.09705°N 0.94267°W
| Selborne | |
.jpg) Gilbert White's House |
|
 Selborne
Selborne shown within Hampshire |
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| Population | c.650 |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | SU741366 |
| Civil parish | Selborne |
| District | East Hampshire |
| Shire county | Hampshire |
| Region | South East |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Police | Hampshire |
| Fire | Hampshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | East Hampshire |
| List of places: UK • England • Hampshire | |
Selborne is a village in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is 3.9 miles (6.3 km) south of Alton. It is just within the extreme northern boundary of the proposed South Downs National Park, which opened on 1 April 2011.[1] The village receives visitors on almost every day of the year because of its links with the world famous naturalist Gilbert White.[2]
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The village
St Mary's Church dates back to the late 12th century.[3] There are the Selborne Village Stores/Post Office and a primary school. Furthermore there are two public houses the "Selborne Arms" and "The Queen's Hotel".[4] A bus service that runs through the village links it to Alton and Petersfield.
At the back of the village, behind the Selborne Arms and Gilbert White's Field Studies Centre, there is the Zig-Zag Path,[5] which was cut into the hillside in the 1760s by Gilbert White and his brother John, to provide easier access to the Hanger and Selborne Common.
A complete history of Selborne, from its geology through its establishment as a settlement in the Dark Ages to the present day, including a study of local architecture, was locally published in March 2009: Knights, Priests & Peasants was written by Dr. Edward Yates, a retired academic polymath and long-time resident of the village. Its 400 pages include oral histories from the turn of the 19th/20th centuries.[6]
Gilbert White
Selborne is famous for its association with the 18th-century naturalist, Gilbert White (1720–1793), who wrote The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne.[7]
First published in 1789, the book has not been out of print in over 200 years. White is recognised as being the first ecologist or environmentalist. Most of his observations on wildlife remain pertinent, although he did have some strange theories; most notorious is his belief that not all swallows, martins and swifts migrated, but that some might hibernate instead, although he mocked the peculiar Swedish notion that swallows spent the winter beneath the surface of the local ponds. White was writing before seasonal migration was fully understood. However, White was the first person to discover that swifts mate on the wing.
White's home, The Wakes, has been converted into a museum, known as Gilbert White's House. This museum also contains the Oates Museum and family archive. This comprises an exhibition relating to the life of Captain Lawrence Oates, who died on Robert Falcon Scott's ill-fated expedition to Antarctica in the early 20th century, and Frank Oates, his uncle. Frank Oates was an explorer and naturalist, who mounted expeditions in the late 19th century into Central America and Africa.
The Wakes was substantially refurbished and updated in 2003–2004. The costs of £1.3m were covered by a combination of personal, institutional and charity grants amounting to 50% of the total, matched by a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. It is open throughout the year, attracting an annual average of 30,000 visitors. This tourism helps to support two pubs and a thriving village shop, which the resident population alone would make unviable. Many people combine their visit to The Wakes with one to Jane Austen’s House in nearby Chawton.
Local business
- Selborne Pottery, established in 1985, manufactures and sells a range of hand thrown and decorated stoneware pottery using rich copper red and cobalt blue glazes. Each piece of pottery is hand thrown and turned on a wheel; no industrial techniques or moulds are used in the making process. The pottery has a shop in the village, and also has 'seconds' available.[8]
- Selborne Biological Services, originally formed in 1974 on a 100-acre (0.40 km2) farm in Selborne, makes animal-derived products for the biotech, pharmaceutical, veterinary, and diagnostics industries. They moved their main production facilities to Tasmania in 1992 following the BSE outbreak in the UK in the late 1980s, but maintain a European sales, marketing and distribution centre in Selborne.[9]
- Tower Brick & Tile Company Limited have been making handmade Selborne bricks and roof tiles at their site near Selborne since 1872. However, the company went into administration on 6 November 2009.[10]
- Selborne Gallery is the only art gallery in Britain devoted entirely to the work of mouth and foot painting artists. Formed in 1992, it was visited by Prince Charles on its tenth anniversary in 2002. The displayed work includes painting, printmaking, drawing, textiles, ceramics, glass and jewellery.[11]
Transport
The village is on the B3006; and is served by the 72 and X72 routes.[12] The nearest railway station is Alton, 3.9 miles (6.3 km) north of the village. Liss is only fractionally further away to the east, with frequent trains on the Portsmouth-Waterloo line.
See also
References
- ↑ East Hampshire web site
- ↑ Natural History of Selborne
- ↑ "Selborne, Hampshire - St Mary's Church". Astoft. 2001–2004. http://www.astoft.co.uk/selbornechurch.htm. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
- ↑ "Pubs in Selborne". Pubs Galore. http://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/towns/selborne/hampshire/. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
- ↑ Hugh Craddock (2008-04-25). "The Zig Zag path up Selborne Hanger". http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/777046. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
- ↑ "Local Books". Alton Books: The Little Green Dragon Bookshop. 2003–2010. http://www.altonbooks.co.uk/index.cfm?dsp=local. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
- ↑ "Selborne Parish Council". Hampshire County Council. 2008-12-19. http://selborne.parish.hants.gov.uk/. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
- ↑ "Selborne Pottery - Home". http://www.selbornepottery.co.uk/. Retrieved 2011-09-01.
- ↑ "About Selborne Biological Services". Selborne Biological Services. 2006. http://www.selbornebiological.com/about/about.htm. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
- ↑ "Selborne Handmade Bricks and Roof tiles – Tower Brick and Tile". 2009. http://www.towerbrickandtile.co.uk/. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
- ↑ "Selborne Gallery, Hampshire". remotegoat. 2010. http://www.remotegoat.co.uk/venue_view.php?uid=21881. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
- ↑ Bus Time Table
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Selborne Selborne] |
- Gilbert White’s House and the Oates Museum
- Selborne Parish Council
- Selborne Village Hall
- Selborne & Headley workhouse riots of 1830
- St Mary,s Church, Selborne, Hampshire
- Works by Gilbert White at Project Gutenberg
