Easton is a village in Hampshire located in the Itchen Valley about 3 miles north east of Winchester. The town includes a village hall, two pubs and St Mary's church.
In 1870-72, John Goring's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Easton like this:"EASTON, a village and a parish in Winchester district, Hants. The village stands on the River Itchen, near the Southwestern railway, 2¾ miles NE by N of Winchester; is small and uninteresting; and has a post office under Winchester. The parish comprises 2,734 acres. Real property, £3, 656. Pop., 455. Houses, 106. The property is much subdivided. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Winchester. Value, £514.* Patron, the Bishop of Winchester. The church is late Norman; has a rich south doorway, and an apsidal vaulted chancel; contains a monument to Bishop Barlow's widow, recording that her five daughters were all married to bishops; and was restored in 1850. There is a Wesleyan chapel."
In 2013 Easton remains a small village but underwent limited development during the inter and post-war period. The population has grown by about 300 since John Goring's time. Around ten additional houses have been built since 2000, and the land price has rocketed, although planning restrictions are very strict. The church mentioned in the above passage still stands and operates. The town hall performs various functions including crèche services, WI meetings, a pavilion for the village cricket team and is the venue for an annual pantomime. The hall has just been rebuilt, after a 5 year fund-raising drive by villagers.
The Fine Pair series was originally started by wizardsmum but is now managed by mattd2k.
If anybody would like to place 'A Fine Pair' of their own please do. I would just ask that you first visit www.afinepair.co.uk to request a number to avoid any duplication.
mattd2k also keeps a public Bookmark List of this series. Once your cache is published please contact him via at geocachingafinepair@gmail.com to have yours added.