is from the 12th century, when Wintney Priory of Cistercian nuns was founded there. In the 13th century its toponym was variously recorded as Hercelega, Hurtlegh or Hertleye Wynteneye. This last version means "forest clearing where the deer graze by Winta's island". Winta was probably a Saxon who held the island in the marshes. The toponym was recorded as Hurtleye Winteney or Wytteneye in the 14th century and Herteley Witney in the 16th century. About 100 years after the Norman conquest Hartley Wintney was made a separate manor held by the FitzPeter family. It was Geoffrey FitzPeter who founded the Cistercian priory. A deer park stretched from Odiham to the outskirts of the settlement and to the north. It was used for 600 years by royalty and others for hunting, and its wood was used for fuel. Parish churches St Mary's Church, about south of the centre of the town, is Hartley Wintney's original Church of England parish church. It was built in the 13th century and given new windows in the 14th and 15th centuries. In the 19th century the brick transepts and west tower were added and more windows were inserted. St Mary's is a Grade II* listed building. In 1869–70 a new parish church of St John the Evangelist was built nearer the centre of the town. It is a Gothic Revival building designed by EA Lansdowne. In the 20th century the Diocese of Winchester declared St Mary's redundant and vested it in the Churches Conservation Trust, leaving St John's as the parish's sole Anglican place of worship. Elvetham Elvetham is a hamlet about east of Hartley Wintney. Until the 20th century it was a separate civil parish. Hartfordbridge, about northeast of Hartley Wintney, was partly in Elvetham parish and partly in Hartley Wintney. Elvetham was a manor by the time of Edward the Confessor in the 11th century. There has been a country house there since at least 1535, when John Seymour entertained Henry VIII there. Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford entertained Elizabeth I there in 1591. Of that house no trace remains. The present Elvetham Hall was designed by Samuel Sanders Teulon and built in 1859–62. It is now a Grade II* listed building. Formerly the seat of the Barons Calthorpe, the house is now a 70-bedroom hotel, conference and banqueting venue. Elvetham had a parish church from an early date, but in 1840