Liss Tourist Information

Close by the A3 London to Portsmouth Road lies the large East Hampshire Village of Liss, dating back to medieval times and mentioned in the Domesday Book. It is also on the borders of West Sussex, with all the delights that county has to offer.

Once it was purely an agricultural village with its fertile sandy loam ideally suited to many crops, including the growing of mint. It has now expanded to a current population of 6000 with several housing estates spreading around the village and constructed on brown field sites.

The River Rother runs through the village by the small, "one platform" railway station, created '50 years ago and serving busy commuters to and from London and Portsmouth.

Nowadays Liss has a vibrant friendly community with two churches, the '3th. Century St. Peter's Church and the attractive Victorian, St. Mary's Parish Church (right at the heart of village life in its many and varied forms.) The "Triangle Community Centre" is home to many local organisations (with something for everybody) and there is a village hall, donated by a generous benefactor over '00 years ago, which is now a registered charity.

Locals and visitors alike are well served by a wide variety of shops, with food and liquid refreshments being readily available to suit all tastes.

There are several good schools and nurseries in and around the area, including the modernised junior school and the village has produced some notable residents across the years in the fields of Literature, Music and Drama, Sport and Religion.

Liss has a comfortable and relaxed charm with some interesting old Victorian buildings and can be justly proud of its contribution to southern life. The Parish Council strives to produce annual fairs, both summer and Christmas, breathing music, laughter and light into rural village life.

A disused military railway line, closed nearly forty years ago is now a pleasant well-used footpath-walk at nearby Liss Forest and the ancient Roman towns of Chichester and Winchester are well worth a visit. The Pilgrims Way goes from Winchester to Canterbury and leads to the shrine of the martyred Bishop, Saint Thomas Becket.

Alton, Petersfield and Haslemere are close by and the whole region is classed as an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Visitors are able to enjoy the tantalising prospect of visiting Jane Austen's House at Chawton and the famous '8th Century Naturalist, Gilbert White's House and Oates Museum at nearby Selborne.

Description by David M. Page