Froyle
Encyclopedia
Froyle, or to be more accurate, Upper and Lower Froyle, is a village and civil parish
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...

 in the East Hampshire
East Hampshire
East Hampshire is a local government district in Hampshire, England. Its council is based in Petersfield. Other towns are Alton, Horndean and Whitehill-Bordon....

 district of Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is 3.6 miles (5.8 km) northeast of Alton
Alton, Hampshire
Alton is a historic market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of the English county of Hampshire. It had a population of 16,584 at the 1991 census and is administered by East Hampshire district council. It is located on the source of the River Wey and is the highest town in...

, just off the A31 road.

The nearest railway station is Bentley
Bentley (Hampshire) railway station
Bentley railway station serves the village of Bentley in Hampshire, England. It is situated on the Alton Line, between Farnham and Alton. The station and all trains serving it are operated by South West Trains....

, 2 miles (3.3 km) east of the village.

Froyle is situated on the edge of The Downs
The Downs
The Downs are a roadstead or area of sea in the southern North Sea near the English Channel off the east Kent coast, between the North and the South Foreland in southern England. In 1639 the Battle of the Downs took place here, when the Dutch navy destroyed a Spanish fleet which had sought refuge...

 above the Pilgrims' Way
Pilgrims' Way
The Pilgrims' Way is the historic route supposed to have been taken by pilgrims from Winchester in Hampshire, England, to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury in Kent...

 that leads from Winchester
Winchester
Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...

 to Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....

. It is most likely that, in the winter months, the actual route taken by Pilgrims passed through the village to avoid the wet conditions in the valley of the River Wey. There was a Church at "Froli" (mentioned in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

) in 1086. The entry for Froyle also states "Froyle, it was ever there...." and there are traces of habitation on the surrounding downs going back to the Iron Age.

It is also known by some who live there as the 'village of the saints' because of the 19 statues of saints in niches on the front walls of houses and other buildings in Upper Froyle. They were bought by Sir Hubert Miller in the early 20th century from Italy.

Notable people

  • Rev. Sir Thomas Miller, 6th Baronet
    Sir Thomas Miller, 6th Baronet
    Sir Thomas Combe Miller, 6th Baronet , was an English clergyman and landowner.The second but eldest surviving son of Sir Thomas Miller, 5th Baronet, Miller became a Church of England priest and Vicar of Froyle, Hampshire, in 1811. He was largely responsible for the rebuilding of the nave of the...

    : he was both the vicar
    Vicar
    In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...

     and the lord of the manor
    Lord of the Manor
    The Lordship of a Manor is recognised today in England and Wales as a form of property and one of three elements of a manor that may exist separately or be combined and may be held in moieties...

     of Froyle. His grandson, Sir Hubert Miller, said of him "My grandfather hunted hard to hounds and drank two bottles of port with his dinner. I wonder he wasn’t sick." It was also reported that on hot Sunday mornings Miller would smash the church windows with his walking stick to let air in.
  • Sir Henry John Miller (1830-1918), emigrated to New Zealand and became Speaker
    Speaker (politics)
    The term speaker is a title often given to the presiding officer of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body. The speaker's official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the...

     of the New Zealand Legislative Council
    New Zealand Legislative Council
    The Legislative Council of New Zealand was the upper house of the New Zealand Parliament from 1853 until 1951. Unlike the lower house, the New Zealand House of Representatives, the Legislative Council was appointed.-Role:...

    .

Further reading

  • Froyle, 100 Years of Memories ISBN 0 9545460 1 6
  • A Village School ISBN 0 9545460 0 8

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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