Liphook

Liphook is a large village in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is 4.1 miles (6.6 km) west of Haslemere, bypassed by the A3 road, and lies on the Hampshire/West Sussex/Surrey borders. It is in the civil parish of Bramshott and Liphook, which includes Bramshott, Griggs Green, Conford, Passfield, Hammer Bottom (also called Hammer Vale), Ludshott Common and Waggoners Wells, and has an area of and a population of 8,491 in 2011. Liphook has a railway station, on the Portsmouth Direct Line. The village grew as a coaching stop between London and Portsmouth during the 17th and 18th centuries. It served as a base during the First World War and the Second World War for Canadian troops stationed in Southern England. The first record of Liphook is in the Bramshott Manor Court Rolls to one 'Robert of Lupe' in 1281. Then follows Matilda of 'Lhupe' in 1337, William at 'Lupe' in 1365, John at 'Lepe' in 1386, and John Maunser at 'Leope' in 1423. On his death in 1428, John Maunser's tenancy at 'Lepe' between modern London Road and Headley Road is the first identifiable landmark in Liphook. Sir Edmund Pakynham inherited a tenement and land in 'Lepoke' in 1527, and John Hooke bought the manor of 'Chiltle' in 'Lippuck' in 1591. John Speed's map of 1610 shows it as Lippocke. It was also a tuppe. Some people escaped from the manors of Bramshott, Chiltlee and Ludshott to Liphook, an area above the marshes around the River Wey, to evade taxes of their local Lords. Liphook grew further as a coach stop on the London - Portsmouth route. In Tudor times mail was sent from London to Portsmouth via Southampton and the route through Liphook was only used in emergencies, such as the Armada of 1588. The map of 1675 by John Ogilby shows this road bypassing Bramshott and going through Lippock, however the quality of this road was very poor. Originally travellers' needs were catered for by stalls, eventually replaced by the half-timbered houses that exist around The Square. Growth accelerated with wagons being replaced by coaches, and coaching in Liphook was firmly established by 1660.