Hatford

Hatford is a small village and civil parish of some convert|1000|acre|km2, lying within the Vale of White Horse district of Oxfordshire, England. It was formerly part of Berkshire, until the reorganisation of the county boundaries in 1974.

Amenities

As Hatford is so small, there are virtually no amenities, but the Community Bus Service, from Stanford in the Vale, provides regular transport to the nearby market towns of Faringdon and Wantage. There is no shop in the village and no pub. There was an off-licence before the Second World War, until this received a direct hit from a German bomb (see below).

Geography

The village is located at gbmapping|SU337948. The sandstone soil is a rich source of sand and gravel. Sand has been extracted here for many years and it was during quarrying, between 1937 and 1958, that an early Iron Age settlement was discovered. The lane leading North out of the village is called "Sandy Lane".

History

The earliest evidence of human habitation is a Bronze Age spearhead, found near the river Hat. Signs of an early Iron Age settlement have also been found and there is thought to have been at least one Roman villa, in the fields adjoining the present village. Despite its long history, the population of Hatford has not changed much in size since the time of the Domesday survey, when it had some 120 residents.

Perhaps the most striking feature of Hatford is that, despite being such a small settlement, it has two churches. After serving the village for almost a century, the later church of the Holy Trinity became dilapidated and was finally deconsecrated and sold in 1972, for use as a private dwelling. The older St George's was reopened in the same year, reroofed in 1973 and reglazed in 1974, once more to assume its role as the place of worship for the village.

St George's stands on the site of the Saxon church mentioned in Domesday. It is mostly Early English, with a Norman South doorway to nave and chancel arch and a Norman font. One Saxon window is still visible. There is a sundial carved into the stone near the doorway. This old church is famous for being the scene of the marriage between Anne Dudley, the widowed Countess of Warwick, and Sir Edward Unton of Wadley House on 29 April 1555. The lady was the daughter of Edward Seymour, the Duke of Somerset and niece to Jane Seymour, who married King Henry VIII.

The manor house, adjacent to St George's church, has an 18th century frontage but parts of the house date from the 15th century or even earlier. It stands at the western approach to the village and enjoys an uninterrupted view of the distant Berkshire Downs and the famous Uffington White Horse. On the other side of St George's is the rectory. Next to the rectory, and fronting the B4508 road through the village, is "Hatford Cottage", which was converted into a single dwelling from a row of very early cottages. It used to be an antique shop in the 1960s.

In 1634, during the English Civil War, the church register records the burials of two soldiers, killed in action.

The old village off-licence received a direct hit from a German bomb in September 1940. One village girl was killed and two young London boys, who had been evacuated to stay with their grand­parents, in order to escape the Blitz.

Literary connections

Hatford has appeared in literature, since the "Wiltshire Thresher" turned poet, Stephen Duck, who worked here in the early 19th century, commemorated life on a Hatford Farm, in one of his last poems.

External links

* [http://www.berkshirehistory.com/churches/hatford_old.html Royal Berkshire History: Hatford Old Church]
* [http://www.west-wiltshire-dc.gov.uk/community/getfaq.php?id=39 Stephen Duck]