URPoint Details
There are bronze age burial barrows within the parish of East Meon which date back to around 2000 BC. There is also an iron age fort, situated just outside the parish boundaries on Old Winchester Hill, constructed approximately 500 years before the Romans invaded Britain. There is also evidence of Roman occupation in and around the village.
East Meon itself may have started life somewhere between 400 and 600 AD. Then it was part of a Royal Manor belonging first to King Alfred the Great who left it in his will to his youngest son Aethelweard (c.880-922). The Domesday Survey of 1086 shows that the Manor then belonged to William the Conqueror; it records six mills and land for 64 ploughs.
A superb village where Izaak Walton the 17th century author of The Compleat Angler stayed to fish on the River Meon which runs under and beside the main street.
To the south is unspoilt downland country and ideal for walks across the common and up to Salt Hill.
Location: 4.4 miles (7.1 km) west of Petersfield
- Type:
- Landmark