Steep
Steep is a small village on the outskirts of Petersfield. It has a long history although it was not mentioned in the Domesday Book. The village’s 13th century Church of All Saints contains the tombs of some members of the Austen family.
The principal occupations of the inhabitants of Steep were agricultural, but a prosperous cloth-making industry flourished in the early seventeenth century.
The village has more than its fair share of famous connections, partially because it is the home of the progressive public school, Bedales, which moved here in 1899. The school has taught many famous people including the children of Princess Margaret, the actress Minnie Driver and the actor Daniel Day Lewis.
Steep is also famous for being the home of the poet, Edward Thomas, who met an untimely death in 1917 at the Battle of Arras. He is remembered with a memorial stone on a nearby hillside. The Royal Physician Baron Horder, who treated many monarchs including Edward VII and Elizabeth II, also lived in Steep and died there in 1955.
Steep village website (opens in new window)
