England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
East Meon All Saints

The Parish

The parish of East Meon lies in southeastern Hampshire roughly 4 1/2 miles west of the small town of Petersfield. East Meon sits just over 2 miles south of the A272 road which links Petersfield with Winchester. East Meon is a mid-sized and compact village sitting within a bowl in the chalk downlands and surrounded on 3 sides by tall rolling chalk downs, only east is there a way through the hills. East Meon has two parallel lanes running west to east with virtually every property lying south of the more northerly, The Hyde, a complex set of side lanes sits between the two and south of the High Street, most properties south of the High Street are relatively modern. In medieval times much of the parish was dominated by the vast East Meon Hundred estate, the feudal property of the Bishops of Winchester, most land was in extensive strip fields and largely arable. The power of the Bishops was eventually broken by the Parliamentarians in passing the Root & Branch Bill in 1646 expropriating the Bishops holdings, the result was land ownership was concentrated in the wealthy who acquired such extensive tracts. By early modern times a tradition rotational farming system was in place, arable constituted 70% of the acreage, in early gazetteer estimates, with the remainder a mixture of riverside pastures and more extensive sheep runs on the higher Downs. The sheep provided fleeces for the burgeoning textile businesses of both Winchester and Petersfield and fulling mills developed to prepare said fleeces. Today the area remains strongly arable with cereals, beet & oil-seed widespread. The parish is traversed by the South Downs Way National Trail which passes close to the village and since it is a day's hike from the start in Winchester brings many overnight stays. Despite the swelling downland to both north & west the infant River Meon, which drains the parish, manages to find a route though to the northwest before curving sharply back to the south to eventually pass Fareham and reach the English Channel at Titchfield Haven. East Meon is sited at around 110 metres above the sea with downs rising to the north 207 metres on Park Hill, to the west 201 metres on Henwood Down and to the south 234 metres on Wether Down over which the South Downs Way passes. East Meon was a very extensive parish as a consequence of its early ownership, it covered almost 10,900 acres and would have supported a population of close to 1,500 parishioners. The Domesday entry for East Meon is very extensive with a high population and a vast array of assets, there are two major reasons for this anomaly, a) the entry includes the population & resources of Steep, Stroud, Froxfield, Coombe, and Riplington exaggerating the data but also b) East Meon had been a highly valued Royal Manor belonging to Alfred the Great and was consequently was intensively managed and heavily populated to maximize agricultural output. As a consequence of the assets of 68 ploughs, meadows & woodland plus 7 mills should carry a caveat.

The Church

All Saints' church stands on the northern edge of the village, on the northern side of The Hyde and directly opposite Church Street. All Saints is one of the finest Norman Romanesque parish churches in the region. Its construction reflects the deep patronage of the Bishops of Winchester, who held East Meon as one of their largest and most important manors. The church site was probably occupied by a Saxon church during the ownership of King Alfred but nothing remains except the size of the footprint from that early church. Today's All Saints was planned in the 11th century and largely completed under the aegis of Henry de Blois, Bishop of Winchester from 1129 - 1171, the cruciform core of nave, chancel, transepts, and the central crossing tower was completed by about 1150. The church has liberal examples of Norman Romanesque motifs including round-topped arches, zig-zag carvings on the western doorway and tower bell openings, and scalloped pillar capitals. For a more thorough analysis of the core of the church Pevsner compiles a detailed forensic inventory over 2 full pages of dense text. Suffice it to say that it is a splendid piece and will reward anyone sufficiently interested in Norman architecture. The 13th century Early English Gothic period saw the church further extended, the southern aisle and Lady Chapel were added to its footprint whilst the crossing tower acquired its timber & stone broach spire. The only further significant medieval work came in c1500 when the eastern end was rebuilt using the Perpendicular style. There have been Victorian and more modern changes, in 1870 box pews and internal galleries were removed as part of typical Victorian restoration whilst in the 20th century a lengthy phase of work spread over between 1906 &1922 added the Perpendicular east window and changed both altar & screens. Church Street is wide enough near to the junction for safe on-street parking, the churchyard backs on to the rising ground of Park Hill with a thick band of trees forming its northern edge, the church sits tight to this band losing any views from the north, from the south odd trees in the southeast quadrant are positioned badly for the photographer but all other views are readily available.