Abbotts Ann

In the early 18th century the manor passed to Thomas Pitt, an enterprising businessman who made a lot of money by selling a valuable diamond to the Regent of France. He became known as ‘Diamond’ Pitt and, having made a profit of £100,000 on the sale, he rebuilt the village church in 1716.
An extract from from"Hampshire Photographic Memories".

Most village churches near Andover are older, altered or rebuilt Victorian. St Mary’s, rebuilt in 1714, is a larger Georgian exception, seating 170 in box pews and gallery. The chandelier came from Andover’s St Mary’s when that church was rebuilt from 1842. The Georgian font is from another church. Hanging inside are paper Virgins’ Crowns, each marking a past village spinster or bachelor - the most recent was put up in 1973.
An extract from from"Andover Photographic Memories".

Abbotts Ann takes its name from the Pillhill brook, originally the Anna or Ann stream. The manor was granted to New Minster, later Hyde Abbey, at Winchester in 901, and the village subsequently became known as Abbotts Ann.
An extract from from"Hampshire Photographic Memories".

A 1930s Rover saloon is parked on the road. A trout stream flows through the water meadow here. This village, three miles from Andover, is renowned for awarding virgins’ crowns at the funerals of chaste villagers who were members of the village church and born here. The crowns are made of hazel twigs decorated with black and white paper rosettes and hung with five parchment gauntlets. The last crown was awarded in 1974.
An extract from from"Hampshire Living Memories".

The cenotaph in the High Street commemorates those who died in battle but whose remains lie elsewhere. It is of unusual and classic appearance; it was designed by the architect Harry Inigo Triggs, who had travelled and studied in Italy. The detailing is borrowed from the eight blank panels in the Medici chapel in Florence; on these panels are carved the names of the town’s dead of the First World War. (Plaques were added after the Second World War commemorating the 54 young men who died on duty away from home during that conflict). After much deliberation over an appropriate location for the town’s memorial, it was erected by the mason Andrew Perryman of Dragon Street in its present position early in 1922 - a position in the Square was discounted. In the wake of the war, under the auspices of the Housing Act of 1919, the country set about building ‘homes fit for heroes’. The first of these were built in Noreuil Road, which was named after a little village of some 100 inhabitants near Arras in France. Petersfield had adopted the village to help with its reconstruction, and a letter thanking the town for gifts of parcels of clothing and coloured wall maps to brighten the schoolroom was signed by J Nicholai, the schoolmistress at Noreuil. The Electricity Supply Act of 1919 gave rise to an application by Dr R J Cross, Mr T A Crawter and Mr C W Seaward, who wanted to form a company to supply electric light to Petersfield. The plan was for a generator on land located to the rear of the Volunteer Arms (now Meon Close), with a frontage on Frenchmans Road. (Note that the company was only to supply electric light, not power). With houses having only 40-watt lamps, it is unlikely that a supply greater than 20 kilowatts would be required. Tom Crawter’s house, Clare Cross, was the first house in Petersfield to be lighted by electricity. Nevertheless, there was enough power to supply the Electric Theatre with the town’s first film shows. The first cinema stood at the corner between Chapel Street and Swan Street - in fact, the demolition of the Swan public house made way for the Electric Theatre. That first cinema was replaced by the Savoy Cinema in 1935, and is now a nightclub.
An extract from from"Petersfield - A History & Celebration".