England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Soberton St Peter & St Paul

The Parish

The parish of Soberton lies in southeastern Hampshire roughly 8 miles north of the town of Fareham and sits a half mile east of the A32 road which connects Fareham with Alton. Soberton, itself, is a small compact village sitting on the eastern banks of the River Meon, whilst its extensive parish covers large tracts of farmland to the east of that river valley. Soberton is a linear settlement straggling along a lane which sits at the eastern edge of the Meon's flood-plain. The Meon is noted for its clarity as a chalk stream a fact which lead to the local industry of growing water cress, the wider parish has extensive chalk downs which were the haunt of countless sheep in earlier times, modern machinery and fertilisers has turned the area largely to arable. Modern developments have come and gone from Soberton, a branch railway line linking Fareham to Alton has since closed and been dismantled. The Meon drains the parish southwards, passing west of Fareham to reach the English Channel. Soberton is sited at around 60 metres above the sea, away from the Meon's valley land rises onto rolling downland where a local high spot is Teglease Down at 202 metres. As already implied Soberton parish was an extensive one at just over 5,800 acres, in size more typical of a northern upland parish, that acreage would have supported a population of around 950 parishioners. In Domesday times Soberton was much more important than today's small village, shared between the Bishop of Winchester, a chamberlain, Herbert, and King William its population of 87 households was enough to place it amongst the top 20% of settlements recorded in that tome. Its assets were impressive too, 40 ploughs were backed by meadows and woodland and 13 mills, the power no doubt provided by the River Meon.

The Church

St Peter & St Paul's church sits west of the village. separated from the River Meon only by the disused railway line's former course, and accessed by a short dead-end lane Church Close. The church is a complex one with a long history, Pevsner identifies its earliest form as a 12th century aisle-less chapel in the Norman Romanesque style, sadly only a pair of arches above windows in the tower remain. To this early church a 2-bay northern arcade was added given a broad date range of c1180-1190. In the early 13th century a southern matching arcade was added, by now styles had changed to become Early English Gothic. Also 13th century but since replaced was a western tower, traces of which can still be found. Completing the Early English Gothic work is the southern transept which Pevsner calls "the finest part of the church", it was created at the end of that century when styles were in transition to Decorated, a style that can be seen in the chancel which was rebuilt in that time-frame. The replacement tower, built in the 16th century completes the church as we see it today with the usual exception of the Victorian restoration which here fell in 1881. Church Close is narrow with no parking or turning circle outside the entrance, a few spaces exist opposite the White Lion Inn if permission granted. Once within the churchyard there are no obstacles for the photographer other than a few trees to the west of the church.