Lomer, deserted medieval settlement

Lomer was a medieval village on the Hampshire South Downs. It stood seven miles south-east of Winchester until it was abandoned in the 16th century after enclosure. Traces of Iron Age barrows and Celtic fields lie around the site. Roman pottery has been found in an early earthwork nearby. The remains sit within the Preshaw Estate and can be reached along the South Downs Way. The village appears in the Domesday Book held by Ruald, who paid six sextaries of wine each year to St Peter’s Abbey. At that time it supported about fifty people—six villeins, three bordars and two slaves—working three hides of land. By 1291 its taxable value was six pounds or nine marks. After the Black Death it still paid the same tax in 1367, though later records show a drop in payments as the population fell. Today the site shows ridge-and-furrow fields, the sunken paths of former lanes and raised platforms where houses and the church once stood. A drinking-water point marks the route along the South Downs Way. A small pond and earthworks remain visible in the open downland. The remains give a quiet picture of a place that once supported families and farms before it was deserted.