St. Mary Bourne book list

St. Mary Bourne is a parish which has been written about many times over the years which provides a lot of information about the place, it’s inhabitants, the geography and even the early history of the place.

AMONG the retired villages of North Hampshire, St. Mary Bourne may be considered as possessing picturesque and pleasing features, for which it is mainly indebted to the rude and scattered character of its habitations. The homes like the people have undergone but little change, or rather the change has been so slow as to be scarcely appreciable. The same may be said to characterise the hamlets of North Hampshire generally, thereby contrasting somewhat remarkably with the upgrowth which has been so apparent in many of the manufacturing districts. The consequence is that these old agricultural centres have obtained the reputation of maintaining the simplicity of former times.

Dr Joseph Stevens, A Parochial History of St. Mary Bourne (1888)

Books by Dr Joseph Stevens

• 1863 – St. Mary Bourne Past and Present
• 1867 – A descriptive list of Flint Instruments found at St. Mary Bourne
• 1874 – The Farm Labourer, at home and in the field
• 1888 – A Parochial History of St. Mary Bourne (addendum added 1895)

Dr Joseph Stevens was a prolific writer with a long list of books and articles to his name. These are just the ones about St. Mary Bourne. His 1888 Parochial History is a key text for anyone researching the parish, and today cheaper facsimile copies are available to purchase. I myself am lucky to have an original which I bought on eBay back in 2006, I don’t get it out too often these days as I have a digital version available to me that was included in a volume of texts about the village produced some years ago on DVD.

Books by Kathleen Innes

• 1944/5 – Life in a Hampshire Village
• 1947 – St Mary Bourne Records
• 1948 – Hampshire Pilgrimages
• c1948 – Bourne Valley Anthology
• 1955 – Village Story

SOCIAL LIFE, PAST AND PRESENT – ONE tradition has persisted in the village through many centuries. Celebration of the coming of summer, maypole dancing, the annual revels on Fair Day, games in the Summerhaugh-notably singlestick on a platform beyond the present bridge-have passed, but the coming together for social intercourse in this open village centre, remains. Lads as they grow up sit and talk on the bridge; it is a place to meet in; the bus turns there, and the Salvation Army has a pitch there on Sunday afternoons.

Life in a Hampshire Village by Kathleen Innes (1944/5)

Kathleen Innes picked up where Stevens left off updating the village history into the 1940s/50s, some excellent information for the first half of the 20th century in her books.

Other Books

• 1996 – Bourne to the Beacon by Tony Bowden
• 1998-2010 – Wheelbarrow Words by Martin Coppen & Hans Van Well
• 2000 – Bourne Yesterday by Margaret Wedge
• 2001 – A Village History by Gordon Timmins
• 2002 – Young Georgie’s Story by Margaret Wedge
• 2006 – WW1 Tribute Album by Mike Willoughby
• 2009 – WW2 Tribute Album by Mike Willoughby
• 2015 – Dr Joseph Stevens of St Mary Bourne by John Isherwood
• 2020 – The Trials of William Easton by Martin Coppen
• undated – Mrs Spankies Scrapbook

There have been other publications and a scrapbook put together other the years, with the latest being “The Trials of William Easton”, this book tells the story of the Vicar of the Parish at the time of the Swing Riots and the one who’s house the rioters entered demanding “money or blood”, through Martin Coppen’s telling of his story in this we start to see a different side of Rev’d Easton.

I am lucky to have a copy of every publication listed either physically or digitally and I don’t think I have left any off of the list, but if anyone knows of any other publication concerning St. Mary Bourne please do let me know.