The fine old Elizabethan manor house at Breamore was built in 1583 by one William Doddington, and remained in his family until 1748 when it was sold to Sir Edward Hulse, Baronet, whose descendants occupy it to this day.
There are guided tours of the house which, with the exception of the Great Hall, is fairly unremarkable. The guide therefore concentrates mainly on the portraits, of which there are many. I must admit I ended up feeling I knew slightly more about the history of the Hulse family than I really wanted to. There are however some nice bits of furniture and other interesting artefacts to see.
The best that can be said for the gardens is that they do not distract from the beauty of the house. And what a beauty it is. Even the more modern additions, such as the water tower have been carefully blended in to match the original.
For opening times, admission prices, etc. please go to the official site detailed below.
Also included in the admission price is the Breamore Countryside Museum, which would be well worth visiting in its own right, as it holds a very fine collection of old farm machinery, tractors, historical tools, and other bygones. Unfortunately I did not have time to do the museum justice. One to go back to one of these days.
External Links and References
External Links
Breamore House
The official site. Click Information for opening times, etc. https://breamorehouse.com/
St Mary's Breamore is a very old church dating back to around 980CE, possibly built for King Ethelred II, known as 'The Unready'. It is very unusual, as it a rare example of an Anglo-SaxonTurriform church.
These churches owe their basic ground plan to the Byzantine tradition of Eastern Europe.
Byzantine churches have a large central domed tower, the ground floor of which serves as the nave, and two or more small extensions or porticus. The Anglo-Saxons dispensed with the dome and built a tower, then added a large nave to the west side to accommodate the basilican style of worship.
Of the three small porticus or chapels, only that on the south side survives, although the roof lines of the others can be seen in the external stonework of the tower. The current chancel which replaced the eastern porticus dates from the early 14th century as does the east window.
External Links and References
External Links
Church of St Mary, Breamore, Hampshire
Lots more on the architecture of the church from the Anglo-Saxon Churches site. http://www.anglo-saxon-churches.co.uk/breamore.pdf
St Mary's, Breamore (currently off line)
Service times from the official parish site. https://www.avonvalleychurches.org.uk/st-marys-breamore
Breamore
More on the history of the church from the Great English Churches site https://greatenglishchurches.co.uk/html/breamore.html
Breamore Station is the only one to survive on the Salisbury & Dorset Junction Railway.
This was opened on the 20th December 1866 and was a single track line between Salisbury and West Moors. There it joined the Southampton to Dorchester line through Wimborne, known as Castleman's Corkscrew.
The line closed on the 4th May 1964 as part of the Beaching cuts. After a long spell of dereliction the station was restored in 2005 for use as offices. It was up for sale at the time of my visit.
External Links and References
External Links
BREAMORE
A history of the station on the Disused Stations site. http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/b/breamore/
Breamore Railway line
Includes a link to the Adobe Acrobat format leaflet on the railway footpath. https://www.hants.gov.uk/thingstodo/countryside/walking/breamorerailway
A short walk from Breamore Station is Breamore Mill which was built in the early 1800s although most of the current buildings date from early to mid 19th century.
That said, the earliest mention of a mill at Breamore occurs in 1551-2, and there are three grist-mills mentioned in a deed of 1741.
It remained in use until 1970, and is now a very handsome private house.
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