Otterbourne
Otterbourne is a
village in
Hampshire,
England. It is located approximately four miles (6 km) south of
Winchester and eight miles (13 km) north of
Southampton. In
October 2002, its population was approximately 1520, and there were 602 dwellings.
There are three
public houses in the village: the White Horse Inn, The Otter, and the Old Forge. There is also a
school, a
post office and village shop. Before the
21st century, the post office and village shop were located opposite Cranbourne Drive at the bottom of Otterbourne hill. However, at the end of the
1990s, the car garage at the centre of the village was rebuilt to include a petrol station and convenience store. Shortly after the opening of the convenience store, the village shop closed; the store then expanded to include a post office, taking over all previous functions of the old village shop. The convenience store is currently running under a '
SPAR' franchise.
Famous people from Otterbourne include
Wayne Bridge who plays
football for England and
Chelsea,
Chris Tremlett who plays
cricket for England and
Hampshire.
David Beckham ownes a house in the neighbouring village of
Compton, just outside Otterbourne, to escape media attention; the house is FairField, Highways Road, Compton SO21 2DF.
The village of Otterbourne, on the
stream Otter Bourne, lies on the old Roman road between Venta Belgarum (
Winchester) and Clausentum (
Southampton). It appears in the
Domesday Book as Otrebourne. A picture of idyllic rural life, it attracted luminaries as their lights slowly dimmed. The physicist
Sir Isaac Newton lodged at Cranbury House in his twighlight years, and
John Keble, a leader of the
Oxford Movement, settled down as vicar of the parish church, St Matthew's, around
1838.
At that time, Otterbourne's illustrious novelist
Charlotte Mary Yonge (
1823-
1901) was 15 years old; her writings were deeply influenced by Keble's sermons. In her day, she was a major celebrity, publishing more than a hundred novels.
Already by
1840, however, the
London to
Southampton railway opened (later the
South Western Main Line, passing right by the village and shattering the idyll with its smoke and deafening noise. Within half a century, old Otterbourne had been abandoned, and the village moved half a mile east to its present location.
Charlotte Young grew up in Elderfield House, now a Residential Training Centre for former offenders run by the
Langley House Trust, a registered charity. On the 17th
August 2005, resident Anthony Rice murdered Naomi Bryant at her home in Winchester, prompting an
independent review (pdf) of his case by HM Inspectorate of Probation.
*
Otterbourne Parish Council*
Hampshire County Council's Otterbourne page*
Otterbourne Village Hall Website
