Steep, Hampshire

The village name has been spelled in various ways, including La Stuppe, La Stiepe, and Stupe (14th century) and Steepe (17th century).[2] There is evidence of Roman occupation in the village, with pottery, coins, baths and a Roman villa[3] being discovered on Bell Hill, directly opposite the village centre.[4] A Roman earthworks ridge was also found on Stoner Hill, which suggests evidence of Roman roads passing through the causeway.[4] Iron Age remains found in the area include pottery, boilers, and a site of a "sub-rectangular enclosure" found in Steep village centre. A Bronze Age barrow house was also excavated in the parish.[4]

The village was not mentioned in the Domesday Survey of 1086, however it was likely included under the entry of 'Menes'.[2] (Meon).

Beginning at an unknown point in the medieval period, the territory of the village of Steep formerly included two detached parish exclaves the larger of which was called Ambersham. This was a narrow strip of land situated 10.3 miles (16.6 km) east in the county of West Sussex, situated between Midhurst and Petworth and running south from the Surrey border near Haslemere to near Graffham. Under the Counties Act of 1844, Ambersham was detached from Steep and made part of Sussex. For ecclesiastical reasons it had been split into two tithings or parish sub-divisions, North Ambersham and South Ambersham, and these became civil parishes. Ecclesiastically the former was annexed to Fernhurst, and the latter to Easebourne.[2] The smaller of the two exclaves was a three-acre portion of Borden Wood in the Sussex parish of Chithurst, which was only united with the latter parish in 1883 because it had no inhabitants. Both of these detached portions were also exclaves of Hampshire.[5]

Steep's tiny exclave in a Sussex wood.

There is no written evidence that Steep was settled until late in the Anglo-Saxon period, however in the early Anglo Saxon period the Meon Valley formed the Jutish Kingdom of Meonwara. In the medieval period Steep was a sub-parish of East Meon.[2][3] so it too was probably a settlement of the Jutes and the Ambershams may well have been too.

Steep was first documented under the name of 'Stepe Place' in the 12th century. The church of All Saints was built around 1125. The oldest surviving dwelling in the village is the house known as "Restalls" which is on the eastern side of the church. It dates from the late 15th century,[3] and was remodelled in 1600 (and in 1905 by the Arts and Crafts architect Unsworth who lived here).

By 1600, Steep had a prospering local cloth-making industry and two fulling mills in operation, which were driven by the nearby Ashford Stream. The early 17th century was also described by historian William Page as a "great rebuilding" of the village, in which redevelopment of many wooden buildings were replaced by stone structures.[3] However, a decline in the cloth-making industry caused a depression in the latter half of the 17th century, which resulted in the closure of both mills.[3][2]

Edward Thomas' memorial stone on a hillside near Steep

By the 1830s the British Agricultural Revolution had disturbed traditional society and created a class of labourers who struggled to support their families in rural areas. This led to an unrest known as the Swing riots which swept across southern England, consequently reaching Selborne and Liphook in September 1830.[3] The Parliamentary Enclosure Acts of 1856 established a new land pattern for nearby Steep Marsh and Stroud, which still exists today. There was also extensive land drainage between 1860 and 1880; conduits and sluices were constructed to take water from Ashford Stream for the artificial flooding of hay meadows. In Steep, hops were grown for use in local breweries, watercress produced for commercial use, and a condensed milk factory was in operation in Steep Marsh.[3]

Voluntary schools were built in Steep in 1875, and the first almshouses were constructed by William Eames in 1882.[2] The first coeducational boarding school in England, Bedales School was constructed in 1899 at a cost of approximately £60,000, which at the time of 1912, had an enrolment of 160 children.[2] However, another source described the school as being constructed in 1900, and was formerly located in Lindfield, West Sussex.[3][6]

The First World War poet Edward Thomas lived in the village; his children attended Bedales and his wife also taught there.[7]

The prominent English poet, author and artist Thomas Sturge Moore lived at "Hillcroft" in Steep from 1919 to 1927, while his children Daniel and Riette attended Bedales. Sturge Moore took an active interest in Bedales, giving readings, speaking at Sunday assemblies, and even teaching a class in esthetics in 1924–1925.[6]