Beech Hill

Infobox UK place
official_name = Beech Hill
lieutenancy_england=Berkshire
country=England
latitude=51.37433
longitude=-0.99922
region=South East England
os_grid_reference=SU696644
population= 284 (2001 Census)
unitary_england= West Berkshire
post_town=READING
postcode_area=RG
postcode_district= RG7
dial_code = 0118

Beech Hill is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. It is situated in the south-east of the West Berkshire district, close to the Hampshire and Wokingham district borders. The Foudry Brook, a tributary of the Kennet, and the First Great Western railway line, between Reading and Basingstoke, run through the north of the parish.

Local government

Beech Hill was originally part of the parish of Stratfield Saye, a cross-county-border parish, most of which was in Hampshire. The Berkshire part became a civil parish in its own right in 1894. In the 16th century, it was part of the hundred of Theale, but was later transferred to the hundred of Reading which effectively ceased to function after 1886. By 1875, Beech Hill had become part of the Bradfield rural sanitary district which, in 1894, became the Bradfield Rural District. Since 1974, it has been part of the district of Newbury, now called West Berkshire.

History

The "Camlet Way" - the Roman Road which runs south-west from Verulamium (St. Albans) - joins the "Devil's Highway" at Fair Cross on Beech Hill's southern border and continues on westward to Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester). "Beech Hill" is a Norman name derived from the family of De La Beche, usually resident at Aldworth, but who also had a home at Beaumys Castle, just over the parish boundary in Swallowfield. On the Beech Hill side is 'The Priory', a 17th century house on the site of "Stratfield Saye Priory" founded on the site of an old hermitage in 1170. It only lasted 200 years. Beech Hill House, of 1720, stands on the eastern side of the village and Trunkwell House on the west. Originally the Tudor home of the Noyes family, the current country house at Trunkwell was built in 1878 for a successful local business family and is now a well-known restaurant and conference venue. It is associated with the local pub, The Elm Tree Inn. The parish church (CofE) was built in 1867.

ee also

*Nearby towns: Reading
*Nearby villages: Stratfield Mortimer, Spencers Wood, Swallowfield
*Churches: Beech Hill Baptist Church, St Mary The Virgin Beech Hill
* List of civil parishes in Berkshire

External links

* [http://www.beechhillvillage.co.uk/index.htm Beech Hill Village Web Site]
* [http://www.berkshirehistory.com/villages/beechhill.html Royal Berkshire History: Beech Hill]