The parish of Longstock, Hampshire, lies on the western bank of the River Test, with Leckford to the east, and Stockbridge to south. To the west is the ancient Iron Age hill fort of Danebury, and to the north, the Clatfords and Andover. In 1868, as well as the ancient parish church of St Mary, largely rebuilt in the 1880s, there was a Primitive Methodist chapel and a school. Then, the land was primarily arable, and indeed today, Longstock Park is part of the Leckford Estate, owned by the John Lewis Partnership, a family long associated with the parish. Whilst I can’t claim a lengthy family connection with the parish, it is a place held dear in our hearts. James Lyne Beaumont James was Vicar of Longstock, 1941-1952, and my mother was born in the vicarage in 1944. On his death in 1952, my grandfather was buried in the churchyard, and the ashes of my grandmother, who died in 2004, were later interred alongside.
