Swanmore

The signpost in the centre of the village

Swanmore is a small rural village situated in the Meon Valley, Hampshire, England. It is very near to Bishop's Waltham. Swanmore houses the schools Swanmore Primary School and Swanmore College of Technology which is the secondary school for neighbouring towns and villages. The nearest major town is Fareham, six miles south.

Swanmore was originally set up to provide homes for workers in local brickworks. As such, the houses in the village are mainly early- and mid-Victorian brick buildings, although there some older houses, especially in the hamlet of Upper Swanmore a 1/4 mile north of the main village. The village continued to thrive after the closure of these brickworks, and at one time had many shops and services in the village, however many of these closed with the advent of easier transport to nearby towns, but Swanmore does still boast a village shop, post office, butchers and hair dressers.

Churches

The church, St Barnabas, was built when the village gained independence in the 19th century, whereas before it was part of the parish of Droxford. With its independence Swanmore gained its own resident priest and parsonage. As well as St Barnabas, Swanmore has a Methodist chapel which was built in 1863.

The Paterson centre, which was built to replace the old parish room, was built in the late 1980s and named after retired Swanmore vicar Rev. Ron Paterson and in remembrance of the three members of his family who died while he was serving the parish.

Tapestry

A Tapestry made to represent Swanmore in 1997

This Tapestry was created just before the turn if the millennium. St Barnabas Church is in the middle near the war memorial and the village shops are in the bottom right-hand corner. Other key locations that are around Swanmore and parts of Upper Swanmore are included.

External links

• Parish Concil Site
• St.Barnabas site
• Swanmore College of Technology, school site
• Swanmore Primary School Site

Donate to Wikimedia