- Compton and Shawford
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Coordinates: 51°01′24″N 1°19′45″W / 51.023255°N 1.329079°W
Compton and Shawford 
Compton and Shawford
Compton and Shawford shown within HampshirePopulation 1,420 [1] OS grid reference SU470251 Parish Compton and Shawford District City of Winchester Shire county Hampshire Region South East Country England Sovereign state United Kingdom Post town Winchester Postcode district SO21 Dialling code 01962 Police Hampshire Fire Hampshire Ambulance South Central EU Parliament South East England UK Parliament Winchester Website Compton and Shawford Parish List of places: UK • England • Hampshire Compton and Shawford is a civil parish in the City of Winchester, Hampshire, England. The word compton means village in a combe and aptly describes the settlement as it primarily consists of a long street on the side of a chalk valley.
All Saints church in Compton is unusual in that it has two naves and two chancels, the original Norman constructions being supplemented by a new nave and chancel in 1905.
Shawford is notable for having the longest railway viaduct in Hampshire (now known as Hockley Railway Viaduct). This is over 2,000 feet (610 m) feet in length and 40 feet high. The viaduct was initially threatened with demolition when the M3 motorway was proposed but after much protest it was incorporated into the scheme.
The two halves of the parish are linked by Shawford Down which runs alongside the River Itchen. However they are now symbolically separated by the motorway with Compton on its west side and Shawford on its east.
Shawford is served by a railway station on the South Western Main Line. The parish is crossed from east to west by the Monarch's Way long distance footpath, and from north to south by the Itchen Way.
Compton are represented in the Hampshire Cricket League as one half of Compton & Chandlers Ford CC following the merging of Compton & Shawford CC and Chandlers Ford CC in 1995. The club is thriving and still play their home games at the Memorial playing fields, just off of Shepards Lane.
Contents
Geology
The parish lies on the Upper Cretaceous chalk at the northern edge of the Hampshire Basin, dipping south from the Winchester anticline, with successively younger beds being exposed from north to south. In the north the Seaford Chalk formation of Santonian age makes up Compton Down. South of this the Newhaven Chalk outcrops in the dry valley running down from Olivers Battery to Shawford. In the south of the parish the Culver Chalk of Campanian age is largely overlain by a layer of 'clay-with-flints' weathered out of the chalk. In the east the chalk is cut through by the Itchen valley and overlain by calcareous tufa.[2]
Media
Shawford was the location used for Victor Meldrew's death in One Foot in the Grave in the episode "Things Aren't Simple Any More".[3][4] It is also referred to in Robyn Hitchcock's song "Winchester". [1]
Shawford railway station was featured in a 1974 film starring Sophia Loren, a remake of Brief Encounter, as was Winchester station. It caused great excitement in the village; a large crowd watched the actress being filmed getting out of a car on the forecourt.
Nearby places
References
Notes
- ^ "Parish Headcounts, Area: Compton & Shawford CP". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. 2001. http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=3&b=795198&c=Compton+and+Shawford&d=16&e=15&g=453044&i=1001x1003x1004&o=1&m=0&r=1&s=1205154614500&enc=1&dsFamilyId=779. Retrieved 2008-03-10.
- ^ British Geological Survey (2002), Winchester. England and Wales Sheet 299. Solid and Drift Geology, 1:50,000 Series geological map, Keyworth, Nottingham: British Geological Survey, ISBN 0-7518-3340-1
- ^ Banks, David (21 July 2000). "Village scene of Victor’s demise" (Extract reproduced on unofficial website by permission of the Editor). Hampshire Chronicle. http://compton.parish.hants.gov.uk/VictorMeldrew.htm. Retrieved 28 January 2007.
- ^ Webber 2006, p. 186
Bibliography
- Webber, Richard (2006). The Complete One Foot in the Grave. London: Orion. ISBN 9780752873572.
External links
Media related to Compton and Shawford at Wikimedia CommonsCategories:- Civil parishes in Winchester
- Villages in Hampshire
- Monarch's Way
- Hampshire geography stubs
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