Greatham Old Church

This is the old parish church of Greatham near Liss, which dates from approx 1282. As you can tell, it is disused and in a considerable state of ruin. At the latter part of the nineteenth century it was beginning to fall into disrepair and it was decided that the church should be left to its own demise as funds were no longer available for its upkeep or repair. Extraordinarily, it was another hundred years (1990) before the Church declared it redundant!

Interestingly, 1282 was the year that one of my ancestors, John, married his wife Susannah in Lancashire - and a copy of his "marriage certificate", a document written on a large piece of parchment still exists.