Tichborne

History

In archaeology in the south of the parish within the South Downs National Park is a bell barrow, bowl barrow and regular aggregate field system immediately east of Ganderdown Farm, a Scheduled Ancient Monument indicating bronze age inhabitation.

Manor

In AD 909 Edward the Elder granted the manor of Tichborne to Denewulf, Bishop of Winchester. However, Tichborne is not recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086.

The Tichborne family has held the manor since the 12th century. Tichborne House was built shortly after 1803 while a longstanding baronetcy (indicating the use of 'Sir') was held by the family. There was a notorious 19th-century legal case of the Tichborne Claimant, in which an English imposter, Arthur Orton, then living in Australia, claimed to be missing Tichborne family member Sir Roger Tichborne.

Other buildings

Almost all of the other buildings are clustered near each other and are listed buildings. They include an Old Rectory which may indicate chancel repair liability, the Chapel of St Margaret. and Tichborne Park House. Near Cheriton is the only Grade II* listed building, Sevington Farmhouse. 1 mile (1.6 km) east of Alresford are a northern small street of cottages, Lady Croft Cottages and Seward's Bridge over the River Itchen and Watercress Line railway.

Parish church

The Church of England parish church of Saint Andrew has an 11th-century Saxo-Norman chancel that combines characteristically Saxon double-splayed windows with Norman flat buttresses and has reached Grade I listed status. The nave and two-bay arcades are Early English Gothic. The north aisle is now railed off to form the Tichborne Chapel, with monuments to members of the manorial family. The west tower was added in 1703 and is built of blue and red brick. It has a ring of six bells cast between 1737 and 1887.

Amenities

Tichborne holds a traditional charitable festival called the Tichborne Dole.

Alresford Golf Course, founded 1890, covers much of the north-east, with greens highly rated on golfing websites.

Nearby attractions include the National Trust garden at Hinton Ampner.

In September is the large agricultural and funfair Alresford Show at Tichborne Park.