The Cricketers Inn, Longparish, Hampshire

The Cricketers Inn, Longparish, Hampshire, originally uploaded by Mike Cattell.

Longparish is a most apt name for the village as it is, indeed, a long parish, winding and twisting for three miles along the Test. The name did not appear until the middle of the 16th century, at about the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries, before which it was known as Middleton (of Middletune).

The parish was formed from four ancient ‘tithings’, East and West Aston, Middleton and Forton. Apart from some postwar development of council housing, Longparish remains much as it has for centuries, with half-timbered, brick and flint cottages.

The stocks near the village church are, alas, not the original ones, but the old grindstone is. The "Ashburn Rest" seat, provided by a thoughtful Rev Burnaby-Green in 1886, was sited by the spring with a tin cup. It was a long walk to church for some.

Longparish has held the Samuel Whitebread Trophy for village cricket, contested at Lords' cricket ground, London