THE Last Post rang across the Candover Valley as the peaceful parish of Northington unveiled a memorial to its war dead.

A plaque honouring 11 local men who fell in the World Wars was revealed at a poignant ceremony attended by relatives and dignitaries on Tuesday.

Guests fell silent 100 years to the day since the first soldier from the parish, near Alresford, died in battle. Rifleman Charles Albury fell on July 14, 1915.

Families of four other soldiers, from the villages of Northington, Swarraton and Totford, were among 40 present at St John the Evangelist Church.

The plaque was erected at the foot of a monument to the second Lord Ashburton, built by his widow in 1865 and now re-dedicated as a war memorial.

A descendant of his was among those honoured. Lieutenant Colonel Guy Baring, the sitting Winchester MP who rejoined the Coldstream Guards on the outbreak of war despite being over the age limit and in a protected profession.

The current Lord Ashburton opened the ceremony on the church mound ahead of veneration from the Reverend David Chattell and an address from Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire, Nigel Atkinson.

Hampshire Chronicle:

Pictures by Chris Moorhouse

Buglers from the Rifles sounded the Last Post and Reveille to mark the beginning and end of a period of silence.

The memorial was also the 99th anniversary of Lance Serjeant Herbert Andrews, of Totford Farm, receiving the Military Medal. His great nephew, Godfrey Andrews, lives nearby in Alresford.

Following the ceremony, Mr Andrews told the Chronicle: "It was lovely. It's wonderful that 100 years later people are still remembering. I don't think that they would have ever thought that in 100 years people would remember the sacrifices they made."

Tuesday's picturesque setting was until recently waste ground. Many villagers already thought the Lord Ashburton monument was a war memorial, according to an informal poll by the day's organisers. Until this week the only recognition was a small brass plaque inside the church.

The plaque remembered Private William White, the only Northington parishioner known to have fallen in the Second World War.

The 10 remembered from the First World War were as follows: Rifleman Charles Albury, Corporal Henry Mills, Rifleman William Cook, Private John Maton, Lieutenant Colonel Guy Baring, Lance Serjeant Herbert Andrews, Private Fredrick Maton, Private George Cotterell, Private Frank Kirby and Stoker Wilfred Hale.