East Hendred

East Hendred is a village and civil parish, near Wantage, in the English county of Oxfordshire (formerly in Berkshire).

The East Hendred Brook passes through the parish which spreads from the Vale of the White Horse up onto the Berkshire Downs. The western extremities of the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus are in the parish.

East Hendred is the location of Scutchamer Knob where King Edwin of Northumbria is said to have killed Cwichelm of Wessex in the 7th century. Scutchamer Knob is the site of an iron age burial chamber (long barrow) and was the meeting point of the Shire Moot in medieval times. It is located on the Ridgeway at the southern end of the village.

Hendred House is the home of the Eystons, the oldest family in old Berkshire to have continuously held the same manor. One of the local public houses is named after them. There is a small museum in an old 15th century wayside chapel (Champs' Chapel). The Ridgeway and Icknield Way pass through the village.

Hendred House and the Eyston Family

The village is unusual in having a manor, Hendred House, which has been in the occupation of a single family for over six hundred years. The Eyston family first acquired the property in the mid-fifteenth century and remain lords of the manor to this day.

The Eyston family remained staunchly Catholic following the English Reformation, and this has had a strong influence on the history and development of the village. The medieval chapel of St Amand , a private chapel attached to their manor house, remained in Catholic use during penal times and is still used for occasional services today. The family were also responsible for the building of St Mary's Church and the establishment of St Amand's School during the nineteenth century,

Notable members of the Eyston family include Charles Eyston, a seventeenth century antiquarian, and Captain George Eyston, who held the world land speed record during the 1930s.

St Augustine's Church

The Anglican parish church is dedicated to St Augustine. It contains a rare working example of a sixteenth century faceless clock.

ee also

* West Hendred

References

*Addenbrook, M. (1971), "East Hendred: a brief gude", The Hendreds Society
*Gibson, D. (ed.) (1982), "A Parson in the Vale of White Horse: George Woodward's Letters from East Hendred 1753-1761", Alan Sutton Publishing
*Manley E.R. (1969), "A Descriptive Account of East Hendred", privately published

External links

* [http://www.berkshirehistory.com/villages/easthendred.html Royal Berkshire History: East Hendred]
* [http://www.berkshirehistory.com/churches/easthendred.html Royal Berkshire History: St. Augustine's Church, East Hendred]
* [http://www.berkshirehistory.com/churches/champs_chapel.html Royal Berkshire History: The Chapel of Jesus of Bethlehem, East Hendred]
* [http://www.hendredmuseum.co.uk East Hendred Museum at Champs Chapel (The Chapel of Jesus of Bethlehem) in East Hendred - a village museum's website]
* [http://www.benedictinenuns.org.uk/ Holy Trinity Monastery in East Hendred - A monastery of Roman Catholic Benedictine nuns in the Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire]