England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Popham St Catherine

The Parish

The parish of Popham lies in northern Hampshire roughly 7 miles southwest of the town of Basingstoke. Popham sits immediately east of the A33 road which links Basingstoke with Winchester and alongside the modern M3 motorway. Popham is the remnants of a village that has shrunk considerably since medieval times, today only a few cottages and a couple of farms make up this tiny settlement. Throughout early modern times the congregation shrunk to fewer than 100 parishioners and the parish was absorbed into Woodmancott, Like most areas in this part of the county the parish largely grew cereals on vast prairie-like fields. Modern developments have covered a  section of the parish acreage as not only the modern M3 passes by but its junction with both the A33 and A30 roads in one the major junctions in southern England. Popham sits on porous chalk with no surface drainage, water makes its way sub-surface to either the Itchen to the south or the Test to the northwest each arriving eventually at the English Channel. Popham is sited at around 150 metres above the sea, all around the tops of the chalk hills roughly summit at between 160 & 170 metres. Before it absorption Popham covered around 1,400 acres so was fairly typically sized yet supported only around 100 parishioners. Whilst Popham has a Domesday entry it is one of the regional entries and not specific to this manor.

The Church

St Catherine's church began life as a chapel subsidiary to Micheldever, the old church is mentioned in documents from the earl 14th century. During the 1870s the medieval church was demolished and a replacement church built at the behest of the Lord of the Manor Lord Ashburton but this too has been demolished leaving only the gravestone in the former churchyard to mark its passing.