Set in the Upper Itchen Valley Avington consists of about 3,000 acres that stretch from the banks of the  Itchen to Cheesefoot Head a local landmark just outside of Winchester. The boundaries of the parish allowed the inhabitants to be self supporting.

'Afintun' is recorded in the records of 961 when King Edgar the Saxon king granted land to Winchester Priory . Records in the Domesday Book show that there was a church and a mill and that some of the land was reconferred on the Priory of St Swithun in 1301.

In 1535 the Avington Estate was valued at £22.  7s. 8d and that it was under the administration of William Basing who was the cook and keeper of the priory granary, and in 1665 it was bought by George Rodney Brydges who was a friend of Charles II as well as the Groom of the Bedchamber. Brydges married the Countess of Shrewsbury and used both his and her wealth to develop Avington. Between 1670 and 1680 the house was given two more wings and a facade of brickwork was added to the oldest parts of the building, to create an aesthetic and modest stately home which it is said housed Nell Gwynne while Charles visited Winchester. In 1751 Avington Park was passed on the death of George Brydges son to his cousin James Brydges who was the Marquess of Carnarvon and who became the Third and last Duke of Chandos in 1771. James preferred to live at Avington though and he later added a main staircase and the library and gilded the dining room and ballroom. And later he erected three statues above the Portico and planned to build a new wing on on the site of the Orangery, but this did not take place.

St Mary's church Avington

It was James, the third Dukes only child, a daughter who married the Earl Temple and it was he who later became the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos .He asked the Bishop of Winchester in 1768 if he could replace the flint and Saxon church - "an old low building ... dark and incommodious for the parishioners ... ruinous and decayed" with a new church that would be in keeping with his newly enlarged manor.

The house was then passed to the wife of James on his death and then on her death to Anna Eliza, who was later the first Duchess of Buckingam and Chandos.

Maypole dancing at Avington on May Day

Over the years the village seemed to be a happy carefree place and during the Swing Riots of 1830 the estate works kept their loyalty to the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, and led by the Rev Robert Wright of nearby Itchen abbas a group of workers repelled a hostile mob from Winchester and Easton who planned to attack Avington House.

The Hampshire Chronicle dated 29th December 1834 describes how the Duke and his wife cared.."The Duchess of Buckingham, whose extensive charities are constantly experienced by the poor in the neighbourhood of Avington Park, distributed on Christmas Eve upward of 800 poor persons of the parishes of Avington, Easton and Martyr Worthy a plentiful supply of beef, strong beer and articles of clothing."

When the Duchess died in 1836 Avington Church was describe as

'......was overflowing with people wishing to pay their respects at her funeral'.

The Duchess was placed inside a glass coffin and buried beneath the floor of the north side of the church.

The Shelley grave, Avington

In July 1848 the estate came into the hands of the Shelley family as the second Duke of Buckingham and Chandos was declared bankrupt. The Shelly's were said to have been excellent landlords and were always sponsoring local fetes and May Festivities. They also carried out a lot of repairs in 1851, most of them done by John Shelley and this led to a much higher standard of living to be enjoyed by the estate workers and even better than those that lived in what were known as 'open villages'. Sir Percy Bysshe Shelley died in 1952 and both the house and stables were disposed of. It was in 1954 that the estate office was finally closed and the village, its park and various farms were put under the auctioneers hammer after the death of Sir John Shelley who was the brother of Sir Percy.

HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF ST MARY THE VIRGIN

IMAGES OF AVINGTON

The Stone outside the church (AD 2000 population 72 AD1088 population 65)		The War Memorial
Picturesque Dew Cottage		The Cottage
Avington Village scenes
Note the old well outside the cottages these were once barracks for troops of the Duke of Wellington		The unusual box pews inside St Mary's church
The gate and interior of St Mary's church (note the unusal box pews)