Otterbourne

Coordinates: 51°00′26″N 1°20′34″W / 51.00724°N 1.34288°W / 51.00724; -1.34288

Otterbourne
Otterbourne  Otterbourne shown within Hampshire
Parish	Otterbourne
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	Otterbourne Parish Council
List of places: UK • England • Hampshire

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 1,520, 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. Until late 2007 the convenience store was running under a SPAR franchise. It has now been taken over and is owned by Budgens.

Famous people from Otterbourne include Chris Tremlett who plays cricket for England and Surrey.

History

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 .^{[citation needed]} The physicist Sir Isaac Newton lodged at Cranbury House in his twilight years,^[1] and John Keble, a leader of the Oxford Movement, settled down as vicar of the parish church, St Matthew's, around 1838.^[1]

Map showing Otterbourne dated 1607

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 by the village. Within half a century, old Otterbourne had been abandoned, and the village moved half a mile east to its present location.

Charlotte Yonge grew up in Elderfield House, now a Residential Training Centre for former offenders run by the Langley House Trust, a registered charity. On August 17, 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.

Waterworks

Otterbourne Water Supply Works

Otterbourne is home to the Hampshire headquarters of Southern Water. The 1980s office building (part of which is leased to the Audit Commission) is situated on the site of a large water supply works, which takes water from the River Itchen and a number of boreholes. Otterbourne water supply works feeds a covered reservoir in the village, which in turn supplies most of the eastern side of Southampton.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "7 days - Lifestyle and Leisure: Down Your Way - Bourne to great names". Hampshire Chronicle / Romsey Advertiser. Newsquest Media Group. 2006. http://www.nqsouthern.com/digitalpublication/digitalpublications/index.cfm?dpid=109&section_id=743&article_id=3269. Retrieved 2008-09-30. 

External links

• Otterbourne Parish Council
• Hampshire County Council's Otterbourne page
• Otterbourne Village Hall Website
• John Keble 's Parishes John Keble's Parishes – A History of Hursley and Otterbourne. (1898) Edited by Charlotte M. Yonge