Catherington is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Horndean, in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is 1 mile (1.8 km) northwest of Horndean. The village is also close to Cowplain and Clanfield. It is situated about 10 miles north of Portsmouth and eight miles south of Petersfield, in the very south of the district of East Hampshire. It has a semi-rural character. Catherington is not a very large village and has an approximate population of 3900 (estimated 1998). The village is a conservation area.[1]
History
The name of Catherington is derived from Cateringatune (first recorded in 1015) and possibly means ‘farmstead of the people living by the hill called Cadeir’, or alternatively ‘farmstead of the family or followers of a man called Cat(t)or’.[2]
The village lies at the top of a hill and is similar to its pre-19th century layout in a linear pattern, with buildings either side of Catherington Lane, the main road in the village.[1] The church in the village is the oldest building in Catherington and dates to the mid 12th century.[1] There are several listed buildings in the village. In 1838 there were three working farms in the village and many of the farm buildings still exist, including a listed Granary building erected in 1820 on the west side of Catherington Lane.[1] There are two Georgian era mansions in the village (St Catherines and Catherington House).[1] The current vicarage was built in 1880, replacing an earlier building.[1] In 1931 the parish had a population of 3833.[3]
The village has a medieval church, All Saints’ Church, which is mid 12th century in origin.[5][6] The church was restored in 1883 by Edmund Ferrey (son of Benjamin Ferrey).[5] The church contains a notable tomb monument to Sir Nicholas Hyde and his wife which occupies the east end of the north chapel. In the churchyard is the tomb of Admiral Sir Charles Napier and a monument to another Admiral, Sir Christopher Cradock, as well as the tomb of Edmund Kean, an actor who had a house in Horndean (some of his later family paid the restoration of the church in the late 19th century).[6]
The church has an early 14th-century painting of the Weighing of souls (also known as the Psychostasia) on the wall of the nave.[7]
Attached to the church is a hall, and there is a public house, The Farmer Inn. It was rebuilt in the 1920s following a fire.[1]
Culture and community
Catherington main street with the Farmer Inn
The main community centre of Catherington is the Church Hall (used by the Scouts).
There is a pond in the village and there is a car park in the village for access to Catherington Down.
In 2021, the village held an inaugural craft fair.[8]
The nearest railway station in 3.3 miles (5.4 km) southeast of the village, at Rowlands Castle.
Education
Catherington Infant School
There is a primary school in the village, Catherington C of E Infant School. The school was originally built in 1851 for girls and infants but became a primary school in 1939 and then again at infant school in 1994.[9]
Kingscourt School is a private school in the village. Kingscourt School occupies Catherington House, once the family home of Admiral Samuel Hood (mentor to Lord Nelson) who commissioned the house in 1771.[10][11] In 2021, land clearance nearby to the school revealed extensive evidence of pre-19th century farm buildings, previously owned by another admiral, Admiral Sir Roger Curtis, and family.[11]
Edmund Kean, (1789–1833), actor. Kean had a house in Horndean. His remains may have been moved to Catherington from Richmond, Surrey during restoration work there in 1904.
^ abGwyffyn, PencerDD (1884). "Catherington Church". Musical World (London, England). 62 (4): 67. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
^Tingle, Elizabeth; Booth, Phillip (2020). A Companion to Death, Burial, and Remembrance in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe, C. 1300–1700. Brill. p. 50. ISBN9789004443433.
