Cliddesden Hampshire

Cliddesden was the birthplace of James William Barnard, father of my wife's mother (Evelyn Barnard). He was born there on the 22nd of December, 1884, and christened on the 7th of December at St. Leonard's, Cliddesen. His parents were Harry Thomas Barnard and Annie Gregory. One other sibling of James William Barnard - Harry George - was born there. The others were all born in Basingstoke.

Lyche Gate, St. Leonard's, Cliddesden

History of Cliddesden

Included in Cliddesden parish is Hatch, a detached area to the west. lt was a separate parish until the late fourteenth century. By 1311 it had become the property of Cliddesden and from then on followed the descent of Cliddesden.

At the time of the Domesday Survey the manor was held by Durand de Gloucester and through him later descended to the Fitz Herbert family as overlords.
The ancient Hampshire family of Wallop eventually became lords of the manor in the fifteenth century. Throughout the following century the Wallops were fined repeatedly for encroaching on land and allowing animals onto surrounding fields. Included in Cliddesden parish is Hatch, a detached area to the west. lt was a separate parish until the late fourteenth century. By 1311 it had become the property of Cliddesden and from then on followed the descent of Cliddesden.

St Leonard was probably a hermit of the 6th Century who became one of the most popular saints in the West in the later Middle Ages. Leonard Is thought to have been a Frankish noble, converted to Christianity. His godfather, Clovis, offered him a bishopric. He refused this and became a monk and, later, a hermit, building himself a cell, living completely alone. He was the patron saint of pregnant women, of captives and prisoners of war.

Two Plaques are on the wall on either side of the carved statue of Christ. The one on the left shows the Arms of the Cathedral of Winchester and that on the right, the Crossed Chains of St. Leonard - the patron saint of prisoners and also of this church.

CLIDDESDEN, a parish in the hundred of Basingstoke (upper half), in the county of Hants, 2 miles S.E. of Basingstoke, its post town and railway station, both for the Great Western and South-Western railways. The living is a rectory* in the diocese of Winchester, value with the rectory of Farleigh Wallop annexed, £685, in the patronage of the Earl of Portsmouth. The church is an ancient edifice, dedicated to St. Leonard. Here is a school for children of both sexes of this parish, and of Farleigh Wallop, endowed in 1656 with £10 per annum by Ann Doddington. This parish is said to have formed part of King Harold's estates. The chief landowner is the Earl of Portsmouth, who is lord of the manor." [Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)