A Brief History of West Meon
By Tim Lambert
In the 6th century a people called the Jutes from Denmark settled along the Meon Valley. (As late as the 18th century the Meon Valley was called Jutedene, which meant Jute valley). The tribe who settled there were called the Meon wara (wara meant people or tribe). They gave the Meon River its name. They also gave West Meon its name.
At the time of the Domesday Book (1086) West Meon was called Menes. It was quite a large village with a population of about 200. It had a church and it also had 2 mills where grain was ground to flour for the villagers.
In March 1644 skirmishes took place at West Meon during the Civil War prior to the battle of Cheriton Down on 29 March 1644.
However little else happened at West Meon through the centuries. It was a quiet agricultural community.
In West Meon is a memorial to George Vining Rogers. He was born in 1777 and was the village doctor for over 40 years. He died in 1846 and the memorial was erected about 1901.
In 1801 West Meon had a population of 536. By the standards of the time it was a large village. Most Hampshire villages were considerably smaller. In 1851 the population of West Meon peaked at 901. However later it declined. By 1891 it had fallen to 1824.
In 1830 Thomas Lord (1755-1832), who founded Lord's Cricket Ground retired to West Meon. He died there on 13 January 1832 and was buried in the village. (Today a pub in West Meon is named after him).
The Church of St John the Evangelist was rebuilt after 1843 using flint.
A Church of England school opened in West Meon in 1852.
In 1903 a railway opened from Alton to Petersfield with a station at West Meon. However it closed in 1955.
In 1906 a Roman villa was found in Lippen Wood.
In the First World War 30 men from West Meon were killed. Another 9 died in the Second World War.
In 1939 West Meon was an overwhelmingly agricultural settlement with 80% of the workforce working in mixed farming.
After 1945 many naval officers went to live in West Meon. Both private and council houses were built in the village. Knapps Yard was built on the site where flints were knapped for St John's Church.
In July 1979 there was a flood in West Meon. Muddy water flooded 8 council homes in Long Priors. When the water receded it left a residue of mud. There was also a 3 hour power cut in the village at that time.
Westbury House Nursing Home opened in 1982.
Today West Meon has 2 pubs and a village shop.
Today the population of West Meon is about 750.
Appendix
Meon Valley Village Names
In the 6th century AD a people from Denmark called the Meon Wara (wara meant people or tribe settled in the Meon Valley and they gave it its name. So West Meon and East Meon are obviously named after them. So is Meonstoke. It was originally Meon stoc. A stoc was a small hamlet dependent on a larger village nearby.
They also founded Soberton. At first it was called Sud (South) bere (grange) tun (farm). The south grange farm soon grew into a village.
The second half of the name Wickham is derived from the old word 'ham', which meant village or estate. The first part of the name is probably derived from the Latin word vicus, which means district or vicinity. So it was the village or estate by the Roman remains. Wickham is, of course, a common place name in England.
Mere is an old word for pond so Swanmore is named after a swan pond. The swans may have belonged to the Bishop of Winchester. In the Middle Ages the upper class ate swans as well as peacocks, herons and cormorants.
Warnford was, obviously, the site of a ford over the river but we do not know for certain what the 'Ward' meant. It is probably a corruption of a man's name like Warna. He owned the ford.The name Droxford is probably derived from ford and an old word 'drocen' meaning dry place.
The origin of the name Corhampton is obscure. At the time of the Domesday Book it was Quedementune. The word tune (pronounced tun) meant hamlet or estate but it is not known for certain what the first part of the name meant. It has been suggested that it was corn haem tun (corn home farm) but we are not certain.
To read a history of Meonstoke click here.