Henstridge

infobox UK place
country= England
latitude= 50.9742
longitude= -2.3930
official_name= Henstridge
population= 1,651ref|population
shire_district= South Somerset
shire_county = Somerset
region= South West England
constituency_westminster= Somerton and Frome
post_town=
postcode_district = BA8
postcode_area= BA
dial_code=
os_grid_reference= ST725195

Henstridge is a village and parish in Somerset, England, situated five miles east of Sherborne in the South Somerset district, near the border with Dorset. The parish includes the hamlet of Yenston. The village has a population of 1,651ref|population. The village is situated at the junction of the A30 and A357 roads. Henstridge railway station was on the former Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway.

Just east of the village is Henstridge Airfield (ICAO code - EGHS). It was built during World War II as a training base for the Fleet Air Arm who commissioned it as HMS Dipper. Today visitors can still see the concrete outline of an aircraft carrier deck embedded into its one surviving runway. The MOD sold the airfield in 1957 and today it is mainly used as a base for General aviation and is an active training centre for Autogyros (Gyrocopters). Until 2007 the airfield was also the base for the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance.

Henstridge is mentioned rather unflatteringly in the 1983 book The Meaning of Liff by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd, which gives alternative meanings to village names in the UK. The village is listed as:

"HENSTRIDGE (n.)The dried yellow substance found between the prongs of forks in restaurants."

External links

* [http://www.henstridgeairfield.com/ Henstridge Airfield]

References

# Somerset County Council, 2002. [http://www.somerset.gov.uk/somerset/statistics/contents/population/estimates/2002mye/ Population estimates] .