Bentworth

Bentworth

St Mary's Church, Bentworth
Bentworth

 Bentworth shown within Hampshire
Population 550 (2010)
OS grid reference SU664401
Parish Bentworth
District East Hampshire
Shire county Hampshire
Region South East
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town Alton
Postcode district GU34
Dialling code 01420
Police Hampshire
Fire Hampshire
Ambulance South Central
EU Parliament South East England
UK Parliament East Hampshire
List of places: UK • England • Hampshire

Bentworth is a village and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It lies approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) west of the town of Alton and about 8 miles south of Basingstoke, west of the A339 road between Alton and Basingstoke.

The parish covers an area of 3,763 acres (15.23 km2), and is the largest civil parish in east Hampshire. Of this area, about 280 acres (1.1 km2) are woodland.[1] The Bentworth Parish Council meets regularly and has its own web page.[20]. There is also another web site for Bentworth with photos and reports on village events. [21]

The elevation of the ground at Bentworth church is 175m (574ft) and the highest point in the parish is 2.5 km to the South at Wivelrod, at 217m (712ft) one of the highest points in Hampshire.

Near the centre of the village are two public houses: the Star [22] and the Sun Inn. [23].[2] Close to the parish boundary beyond Ashley farm is another public house, The Yew Tree. [24]

Bentworth has a church and a primary school. [25] The nearest shops are at Medstead, 3km to the South, and in the town of Alton to the east.

It was formerly served by the Bentworth and Lasham railway station on the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway, until its closure in 1932. [3] The nearest railway station is now 3.6 miles (5.8 km) east of the village, at Alton.

The manor of Bentworth was not mentioned in the Domesday Survey but was included in the Odiham Hundred.[4] Henry I, the younger son of William the Conqueror, gave the manor of Bentworth to Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou, between 1111 and 1116.[5]

The satirist and poet George Wither was born in Bentworth in 1588.[6]

Contents

[hide]

History

Village name

The village name has been spelt in different ways including: Bentewurda or Bintewurda (as it was known about 1100) and Bynteworth (about 1400).[7] The original meaning of the name Bent-worth may have been a place of cultivated land, or a way through land such as woodland.[8]

Prehistoric and Roman times

Prehistoric remains found in the parish of Bentworth include a Stone Age implement found in 1942 in a field near Childer Hill east of the village centre on the way to Thedden. [9] The implement is now in Newbury Museum.

A Bronze Age cremation urn was found in 1955 just north of Nancole Copse about 4km north of Bentworth Church. [10] The urn is now in the Curtis Museum in Alton, together with a bronze roman coin of Valentinian I that was found in a garden about 1km south of Bentworth Church near Tinker's Lane. [11]

Belgic pottery and animal bones were found in 1954 at Holt End between Bentworth and Medstead [12]

Pottery, bone objects, spindle-whorls (stone discs with a hole in the middle used in spinning thread) and fragments of Roman roofing tiles were found at Wivelrod House between Bentworth and Beech village .[13]

The route between the Roman town of Silchester north of Basing, and the Roman settlement of Vindomis, just east of the modern town of Alton, passed through the Bentworth and Lasham area, the road today being the A339. [14][15]

Saxon and Norman times

King Egbert of Wessex (AD 770-839) had ownership of the manor of Bentworth and passed it to his son Ethelwulf of Wessex. Ethelwulf passed the manor to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Ethelnoth Æthelnothwho died in 1038 before the Norman conquest.

Domesday

Bentworth is not mentioned by name in the Domesday Survey, but the Domesday entry for Odiham mentions that it has a number of outlying parishes. Bentworth was recorded as an outlying parish of the Odiham Hundred, cut off from Odiham itself by part of the Bermondspit Hundred (now Upton Grey). The system of Hundreds was a Saxon system of regional administrative areas and was continued by William the Conqueror.

Bentworth Manor and Hall

The building originally called Bentworth Hall or Bentworth Manor House is on the E side of the main road to Medstead, about 300m SW of Bentworth Church, and today is called Hall Place, a new Bentworth Hall having been built in 1832 further to the south (see the drawings of these two buildings in the section headed "Bentworth Hall Estate"). Soon after Domesday, Bentworth became an independent manor in its own right. In about 1111 it was given by King Henry I, together with four other English manors, to the diocese of Rouen, and income from these manors may have contributed to the building of its cathedral.

Local Roads

Bentworth was mentioned as a crossing point on roads from Basing to Alton and from Odiham to Winchester. It is on high ground and unlike roads in the local valleys, does not become waterlogged in the winter. The ground to the South and East of the Bentworth and to the south of the nearby villages of Lashamand Shalden drains towards the River Wey which rises to the surface on the West side of Alton.[16][17] The Basingstoke-Alton road passed through Lasham village until World War II when due to the building of Lasham Airfield it was diverted to the West towards Bentworth, today being the A339. In earlier times the Basingstoke-Alton road [18] was part of the route between the Roman town of Silchester and another Roman settlement called Vindomis, just east of the modern town of Alton.[19][20]

After the Normans - the Middle Ages

After the Normans were succeeded by the Plantagenet kings, in the mid-1100s, the ownership of the manor of Bentworth passed to Geoffrey, Count of Anjou. When John, King of England, was losing his possessions in Normandy he took back the ownership of many manors, including Bentworth. King John then gave the manor of Bentworth in 1207–8 to the Bishop of Winchester, Peter des Roches who held it until his death in 1238.[21] It was King John who signed Magna Carta in 1215 at Runnymeded, staying at Odiham castle 10km NNE of Bentworth the night before.

In 1220 A Bentworth resident was called John de Aula. De Aula means "of the hall" in Latin, suggesting that John lived at the hall-house in Bentworth, presumably as a tenant.

About 1280 a new stone hall-house was built, the previous building probably being a wooden structure. It may have been built by the constable of Farnham castle, William de Aula. It is a typical mediaeval Hall-house and has been variously called Bentworth Hall (until 1832), Bentworth Manor House, and today is called Hall Place. A drawing of this house in about 1890 is in the section headed "Bentworth Hall Estate".

In 1330 a Matilda de Aula was given permission to have a private chapel at Bentworth Hall.

In 1336, ownership of the manor of Bentworth passed to William Melton, Archbishop of York, his son John de Melton inheriting the manor in 1399 and being recorded as owner of Bentworth in 1431.[22] He died in 1455, and was succeeded by his son (d.1474), then his grandson John Melton.[23]

About 1350 ownership of the manor of Bentworth passed by marriage to the Windsor family, who had been constables of Windsor Castle.

In 1354 Miles Windsor was born at Bentworth Hall. He is recorded in 1382 as serving with John of Gaunt in Spain and was knighted (source: Froissart’s chronicles).

Elizabethan and Stuart times

In 1590 Henry Windsor (1562-1605), the 5th Lord Windsor, sold the "sub-manor of Bentworth" to the Hunt family who had been tenants since the beginning of that century. Ownership passed in 1610 to Sir James Woolveridge of Odiham and in 1651 to Thomas Turgis, a wealthy London merchant. His son, also Thomas, was described as one of the wealthiest commoners in England and in 1704 left the manor of Bentworth to his relative William Urry, of Sheat Manor, Isle of Wight. The Urry family were staunch Catholics.

Georgian Period

In 1777 the Urry descendants were daughters Mary and Elizabeth who married two Catholic brothers, Basil and William Fitzherbert of Swynnerton Hall, Staffordshire. Their sister-in-law was Maria Fitzherbert, the catholic (secret) wife of the Prince Regent, later King George IV.

In about 1800 Mary Fitzherbert (who had 11 children) became owner of "Bentworth Manor and Manor Farm" (now Hall Place).

The 19th Century

Bentworth Hall Estate

 In 1832, the Bentworth Hall Estate was sold at auction at Garraway’s Coffee House, 3 Change Alley, Cornhill, London by the Fitzherberts to Roger Staples Horman Fisher for about £6000.  Almost immediately he started building the present Bentworth Hall.[24]   The post-1832 Bentworth Hall is some 500m E of the Bentworth-Medstead road at the end of a 800m private drive and is now split into several private dwellings.  The building known previously as Bentworth Hall or Bentworth Manor House is on the E side of the main road through the village, 500m SW of Bentworth Church.  This building is now known as Hall Place, at which evidence from wood analysis of beams dates to 1248 and a chapel to the S of the main building may be older.  In 1996, mediaeval wall paintings were discovered there.

In 1848 the Bentworth Hall estate was sold to Jeremiah Robert Ives and the drawing of Bentworth Hall opposite is from the sale documents which also included land of nearly 500 acres. This included the "Old Manor House" which was the building previously known as Bentworth Hall and in recent times known as Hall Farm and Hall Place. The Ives family later included George Cecil Ives who lived for a time at Bentworth Hall with his widowed mother Emma, and was a poet, writer, penal reformer and early gay rights campaigner.

Early 20th Century

In 1897, Mrs Emma Ives died and ownership of the Bentworth Hall estate passed to her son Colonel Gordon Maynard Gordon-Ives who had in 1990 built and lived in Gaston Grange. It appears that after his mother died he continued to live there, for instance leasing Bentworth Hall to W G Nicholson MP JP, as shown in a caption to a 1905 photo of Bentworth Hall that appeared in a country magazine.

In 1905 a telegraph office in the village was operated by W Payne, in what was then called Telegraph Lane, now Burkham Lane.

Colonel Gordon Maynard Gordon-Ives died 8 Spetember 1907 and the estate passed to his son Lt Col Cecil Maynard Gordon-Ives who also lived in Gaston Grange. In 1914, his son Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Gordon lived in Gaston Grange. He served in the First World War and was also a politician dealing with Northern Ireland, dying in July 1923.

After his death, on 19 July 1924 The Bentworth Hall Estate of 479 acres was offered for sale by Messrs John D Wood & Co, 6 Mount St., W1. A further sale on 26 June 1930, again by John D Wood & Co, was " by direction of A d’A Willis, Esq" and after this Major John Arthur Pryor lived at Bentworth Hall until the estate was taken over by the military during World War II.

1939–1945

The villages of Bentworth and Lasham both had roles in World War II.

In late 1940, a children's home was built in Bentworth for those who had been evacuated from London during the London Blitz. The home was located on Drury Lane, but it was either demolished or burned down in a fire along with the Half Moon Inn in 1951.[25]

In the Bentworth parish, the large houses of Bentworth Hall, Gaston Grange and Thedden Grange were taken over for use by the military.

As the war progressed there was a need for more airfields in the South of England, and Lasham Airfield was built in 1942 between Lasham Village and a historic avenue of trees ("The Avenue") planted in about 1810 by the Jervoise family (who own the Herriard Estate today).

In June 1942, a bomb fell close to St Mary'S Church, Bentworth, landing about 23 metres (75 ft) north of the church.[26] A dip can still be seen in the field between the church and Drury Lane.

Later in 1942, Thedden Grange was used as a prisoner of war camp until 1944, and was known as 'Fisher's Camp'.[27]

After WW II

After the war, there was a need for more houses and the council estates of Glebe Fields and Glebe Close were built in early 1946. The name "Glebe" is because the land was originally owned by the church. [28]

In 1947 the Bentworth Hall estate was bought by Major Herbert Cecil Benyon Berens, M.C.1942, later a Director of Hambros bank. [29] Parts of the estate were sold to local farms and after Major Berens died at Bentworth Hall on 27 October 1981 Bentworth Hall itself was divided into a number of separate dwelling units, which is the position today.

Bentworth Today

The village of Bentworth has grown in recent years with several new houses being built as well as the post-WW II development in Glebe Fields. Large houses such as the post-1832 Bentworth Hall, Burkham House, Gaston Grange and Thedden Grange are marked on the Ordnance Survey (OS) map of the area [30] and are separately owned, the 500 acre estate of Bentworth Manor having been split up as a result of various sales in the 1930s, 40s and 50s.

The remains of the Bentworth and Lasham railway station that served the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway can be seen between Bentworth and Lasham, just north of the A339 Alton-Basingstoke road. The row of houses there are called Station Cottages and were built to house railway workers. The station platform was between the cottages and the A339.

A primary school, St Mary's Bentworth [31] is immediately west of the church together with a school hall and playing field that are also used for events such as the annual summer village fete. The school hall is used for other village activities such as the Bentworth Garden Club, performances by the Bentworth Mummers (the local amateur theatrical group), other meetings, and as the local polling station in elections. The school is popular and pupils come not only from Bentworth but also from the surrounding villages.

There are two public houses: the Star [26] and the Sun Inn. [27].[2] Close to the parish boundary beyond Ashley farm is another public house, The Yew Tree. [28] The Star was built by Giles Willis in 1841 and is just south of the church close to the road to Medstead. The Sun is on the east side of the village on the road to Alton and Thedden ("Sun Hill"), and was first licensed in 1838, the building previously being part of the Bentworth Manor estate. There was also a third pub called the Moon or Half Moon Inn [24] just north of the church on Drury Lane, first licensed in 1841.the gross value being listed as £19. [32] The Half Moon Inn was destroyed by a fire in 1951 along with the children's home built to hold evacuated children from London in the Second World War.[33]

Parish area

In the mid 1880s, the parish of Bentworth had an area of over 4,800 acres (19 km2). Nearby places such as Bradley, Moundsmere, Medstead and Lower Wield were within the parish.

Holt End is between the centre of Bentworth village and Medstead. The owner of Burkam had also owned land to the west at Bradley and Moundsmere. At one time, the area of Wivelrod extended to Alton Abbey and some parts of what is now the village of Beech (although much of what is now Beech and Medstead did not exist in the 19th century).

By 1952, Bentworth parish area was less by nearly 1,000 acres (4.0 km2) because Beech, Bradley and Medstead, became independent parishes and Lower Wield was merged into the parish of Wield. Also, Bentworth had lost its individual postal address code, coming under the GU34 code for Alton.

In 1991, the parish gained a further 95 acres (38 ha) because the Home Farm Woodland Trust area was transferred from the parish of Bradley.[34]

St Mary's Church

The church of St Mary is at the centre of the village immediately west of the school.  It is about 150m north east of the Star public house and the small roundabout on the main road through the village between the A339 and Medstead.  It stands in the west corner of a churchyard which is enclosed by a wood paling and surrounded by tall trees. It consists of chancel that is 27 feet (8.2 m) by 17 feet 4 inches (5.28 m), with a small north vestry nave which is 48 feet 7 inches (14.81 m) by 17 feet (5.2 m). The nave arcades date from the late 12th century, and the chancel arch is of the same period.[35] The chancel was built round an older chancel which dates from 1260, and the lower part of the church tower is of the same date or a little earlier. The aisles of the nave were rebuilt in the 14th century, and in modern times the fabric has been repaired. 

The church used to be larger than it is today; a quarter of it was destroyed by a fire in the late 19th century. Externally, the extension building is Victorian, with plain roofs, flint walls with stone dressings with stepped buttresses, plinth, and in the nave coubled traceried lights. The west tower (which dates from 1891) has diagonal buttresses with an elaborate arrangement of steps (some with gabled ornamentation), and at the top is a timber turret, surmounted by a broach spire.[36]

The poet George Wither (1588-1667) was born in Bentworth and baptised in this church.[37]

Parish area - Hamlets and large Houses

Within the Bentworth parish there are several hamlets; the largest being Burkham to the north of Bentworth Village. Other hamlets include Wivelrod to the southeast, Holt End to the south on the road to Medstead, Thedden to the east and Ashley to the west. Large houses in the Bentworth area include Bentworth Hall (the 1832 building east of the Medstead road), Burkham House, Thedden Grange, and Gaston Grange west of the Medstead road.

Ashley

Ashley is a small hamlet and farm at the western corner of the parish towards the village of Upper Wield.[38] between Wield and Bentworth. Although the hamlet of Ashley is in the parish of Bentworth within the area of the East Hampshire District Council, it has sometimes been wrongly attributed to the (Winchester City Council) area.[39] [40]

Burkham

Burkham is a hamlet in the parish of Bentworth and includes Burkham House about 3km NNW of Bentworth church. [29].

It was first mentioned as part of Bentworth Manor in documents of the Archbishop of Rouen c. 1111–16, where it is described as a 'berewite' or outlying farm. [41]

Other spellings include Brocham (14th century); Barkham (16th century); Berkham and Burcum (18th century).

In returns dated 1316, John Daleron held 'Brocham'. In 1590 Robert Hunt acquired the manor of Bentworth from Henry Lord Windsor, including Burkham, and later that year Robert Magewick purchased it for £160.[22]

Home Farm between Burkham and Bentworth is a Woodland Trust area which consists 339 acres (137 ha) of farmland, copse and uncultivated land. Home Farm was brought by Woodland Trust and opened to the public in 1991.[42] The Trust planted new trees between Preston Oak Hills and Herriard Common. The area is well used by walkers and those exercising dogs.

Holt End

Holt End is an area of Bentworth towards Medstead and Medstead Grange.[43] A road called Jennie Green Lane branches off the main Bentworth-Medstead road and runs east towards the east end of Medstead and Beech. The word Holt means a small grove of trees, copse, or wood, and Holt End means the end of a wood. [44]

Thedden

Thedden[45] is part of the parish of Bentworth between the villages of Bentworth and Beech. [46] Thedden Grange is about 2.5km ESE of Bentworth church and is a country house that in the past was part of the Bentworth Manor estate. The grounds of Thedden Grange have featured in a number of television series.[47] During World War II Thedden Grange was a prisoner of war camp.[27]

Wivelrod

Wivelrod is a hamlet in the south-east corner of the parish of Bentworth.[48] It is mentioned in documents dating 1259 and there are tumuli and burial mounds around Wivelrod Hill, near the present-day Alton Abbey.[49] In the 18th century Wivelrod was part of the Bentworth Hall estate and a part was sold in 1832 when the estate was bought by Roger Staples Horman Fisher .[50] A spot height of 217m (712ft) between Wivelrod and Medstead is one of the highest points in Hampshire and is at the top of Beech hill just west of Alton Abbey on the road to Medstead.

Gaston Grange

Gaston Grange[51] is west of the Medstead road towards Upper Wield. Gaston Wood is north of the Grange house. The Grange area was part of the Bentworth Hall estate and is now privately owned. In the late 19th century, Emma Gordon-Ives owned Bentworth Hall and in 1990 her son Colonel Gordon Maynard Gordon-Ives built Gaston Grange 1500m to the E of Bentworth Hall. In 1914, his son Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Gordon lived in Gaston Grange. He served in the First World War and was also a politician dealing with Northern Ireland, dying in July 1923. [52] In July 1924 the Bentworth Hall Estate was offered for sale by Messrs John D Wood & Co, 6 Mount St., W1. and at this time consisted of 479 acres.

Bentworth and Lasham railway station

A railway station (part of the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway) was situated between Bentworth and Lasham, just north of the present A339 Alton-Basingstoke road.[3] It was designed by John Wallis Titt.[53] and was the first stopping point going north from Alton.[54] The station appeared in the 1929 film The Wrecker[55] and the 1937 film Oh, Mr Porter!.[56] The station buildings were demolished in 2003 but the employees cottages remain.[57]

The station opened on 1 June 1901 and first closed in 30 December 1916. It was reopened on 18 August 1924, until its final closure in 1932, the line being used for goods traffic until its closure in June 1936.[58] The problem was that it was a small rail link between Alton and Basingstoke, both having better rail connections. Alton was on the line from London Waterloo to Winchester and Basingstoke was on the fast line from Waterloo to Salisbury and Exeter. In the 1960s, the connection between Alton and Winchester was broken because of railway closures and the construction of the M3 motorway E of Winchester. Today, the rail line continues west of Alton to Alresford as the "Watercress Line", running historic steam engines.

Evidence of the Bentworth/Lasham railway station remains in the form of a row of Station Cottages north of the A339 and the remains of the platform between the cottages and the A339.[59]

Houses of Bentworth

The manor of Bentworth Hall was bought in 1832 by Mr Horman Fisher for £6,000 and included Bentworth Hall itself, this building being abut 300m southwest of the church and now called Hall Place. The original hall-house on this site is said to have been built by John of 'Bynteworth' and further details are in the "History" section. [60]

The present Bentworth Hall is about 1 km to the south and was built by Mr Horman Fisher starting in 1832. More details and a drawing dated 1848 are in the "History" section.[61][62]

Mulberry House is the former rectory and is next to the churchyard on the south side, [63] and a footpath leading to the church from the main village road passes west of Mulberry House.

Ivalls Cottage [64] is near Hall Place (the pre-1832 Bentworth Hall). With late 18th century and early 19th century extensions which includes brick and flint walls, with a tile and slate roof.[65]

Ivalls Farm House is a timber framed and cruck built farmhouse of which there are very few in Hampshire. It was built in about 1500, and has 20th-century additions.[66]

Another historic building in Bentworth is Holt Cottage, a small thatched cottage on the road to Medstead that was built in 1503. In southern England there are many thatched cottages but not many as early as this, before the reign of the Tudor Henry VIII. Amongst other reasons, until modern thatch was fire-proofed, many thatched cottages were either lost to fire or the roof material changed from thatch to slate or tile.

Churchyard Wall

Around the churchyard and the old rectory (now Mulberry House) is a wall made of stone and rough lime. The wall is thought to have been built around the 13th century, but much has now disappeared, particularly on the north side.[67] [68]

Notable people

King Egbert of Wessex (769-839) owned the manor of Bentworth and occasionally stayed there.[69] Egbert's son, Ethelwulf (839–856) is recorded as using Bentworth as a retreat from other activities. [70] After Ethelwulf's death, the next evidence on the manor of Bentworth is as part of the Odiham Hundredin the Domesday Survey in 1085.[4]

The younger son of William the Conqueror, King Henry I (1068–1135) owned the manor of Bentworth and is recorded as occasionally staying there.[5] After Henry's death, the manor passed to Geoffrey, Count of Anjou Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou (1068–1151) and in turn passed to the Bishop of Winchester,[71] Peter des Roches (?-1238) [71]

Later, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, the poet and satirist George Wither (1588–1667) was born in Bentworth in 1588. He was baptised in the church of St Mary and later (being a firm believer in Oliver Cromwell's cause during the English Civil War) sold all his land in the parish to raise a troop of horses for him.[72][73] The Wither family lived in Bentworth until the 17th century.[74]

In Victorian times, George Cecil Ives lived at the post-1832 Bentworth Hall with his mother Emma Gordon-Ives (before 1832 the original Bentworth Hall or Manor House was on the east side of the road to Medstead SW of St Mary's church and is now called Hall Place). George Ives knew Oscar Wilde and wrote and lectured on subjects such as prison reform and homosexuality and died in 1950.

The Hundred of Odiham

From the 18th century, a law in England required that all manors of villages and parishes had to be merged with a 'Hundred' to form it. The nearest Hundred to Bentworth was Odiham at the date, and thus all manors within the area were recorded in the Hundred of Odiham by law.

The royal Hundred of Odiham was a large plan containing the parishes of; Bentworth, Dogmersfield, Elvetham, Greywell, Hartley Wintney, Lasham, Liss, Odiham, Rotherwick, Shalden, Sherfield-on-Loddon, Weston Patrick, and Winchfield.

At the time of the Domesday Survey the parishes contained in the Hundred of Odiham were included in the two hundreds of Odiham and the parish of Hefedele (also known as Edefele and Efedele). The former comprised Lasham and Shalden and half a hide which had been taken from the nearby village Preston Candover,[75] and the latter included Odiham, Winchfield, Elvetham, Dogmersfield, and a 'past' parish named Berchelei.[76][77] For the manors of Bentworth, Greywell, Hartley Wintney, Liss, Sherfield-upon-Loddon, and Weston Patrick, there are no entries in the Survey, but they were all probably included in the large manor of Odiham.[78]

Demographics

Below are tables showing the population of the whole Bentworth parish with each table showing the total inhabitants of every hamlet in the parish. In 1789 the population of Bentworth was 425.[79] By 1861 the population had grew to 470.[80] Today the parish consists of a total of 550 inhabitants with 220 households.[81]

Distribution of residences

Bentworth Village Burkham Wivelrod Thedden Holt End Ashley Elsewhere
153 14 11 5 18 5 15

Estimated population by ages

Age Percentage Estimated number
Under 16 19 106
16–44 25 140
45–64 38 213
65+ 18 101

Geography

The area of Bentworth is situated in the South Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty which strecthes as far as the south of Hampshire towards Sussex. The land across Bentworth is surrounded by arable land and large farms which preserve local Woodland Trust parks such as Burkham's Home Farm.[82] Bentworth village is West of the A339 Alton-Basingstoke road on high downland 5km WSW of Alton; the elevation of the ground at Bentworth church is 175m (574ft) and the highest point in the parish is 2.5 km to the South at Wivelrod, at 217m (712ft) one of the highest points in Hampshire. The ground to the South and East of the village drains towards the River Wey which rises to the surface on the West side of Alton.

Climate

Along with the rest of South East England, Bentworth has a temperate climate which is generally wetter and walmer than the rest of the country. The annual mean temperature is approximately 9 °C (48.2 °F) and shows a seasonal and a diurnal variation, but due to the effect of the sea the range is less than in most other parts of the UK. January is the coldest month with mean minimum temperatures between 0.5 °C (32.9 °F) and 2 °C (35.6 °F). June and July are the warmest months in the area with average daily maxima around 25.5 °C (77.9 °F).[83] Bentworth is situated in one of the highest points in South East England, and receives colder than average weather and is usually affected by snow.

References

  1. ^ Statistics from Bd. of Agric. (1905)
  2. ^ a b Wendy Miller Hampshire Pub Guide: The Sun Inn, Bentworth Telegraph 20 October 2007
  3. ^ a b The Basingstoke & Alton Light Railway
  4. ^ a b [1] The Hundred of Odiham Domesday Survey
  5. ^ a b A History of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, Volume 2. Herbert Arthur Doubleday. pp. 194. http://books.google.com/books?id=FYMnzRhS6M0C&pg=PA194&dq=a+history+of+hampshire+geoffrey&hl=en&ei=LU6aTJ_uBsShONKoqdIP&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=a%20history%20of%20hampshire%20geoffrey&f=false. 
  6. ^ A History Of The Wither Family. Reginald Fitz Hugh Bigg-Wither. 1907. pp. 93, 94, 95. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=fKKZCh9qiAoC&pg=PA93&dq=george+wither+born&hl=en&ei=5ZBVTfBByqaEB76mhYwN&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=george%20wither%20born&f=false. 
  7. ^ Older Bentworth names
  8. ^ [2] Bentworth Name Origin
  9. ^ 680 399|SU 680 399 Mesolithic Thames found in Bentworth
  10. ^ 663 421|SU 663 421 Bronze Age cremation found by the A339, Bentworth
  11. ^ 664 399|SU 664 399 a Roman coin found in a garden in Bentworth
  12. ^ 658 391|SU 658 391 Belgic pottery and animal bones found in a rubbish pit in Bentworth
  13. ^ 675 383|SU 675 383 Roman pottery found in Wivelrod House
  14. ^ Vindomis – a lost Roman town
  15. ^ Vindomis location at Neatham
  16. ^ [3] River Wey Source
  17. ^ [4] Source of the River Wey
  18. ^ [5] The A339 Road around Bentworth
  19. ^ Vindomis – a lost Roman town
  20. ^ Vindomis location at Neatham
  21. ^ Peter des Roches ownership of Bentworth Hall
  22. ^ a b Feud. Aids, ii,. 1856. pp. 314. http://books.google.com/books?id=mHpIAAAAYAAJ&q=Robert+Magewick+burkham&dq=Robert+Magewick+burkham&hl=en&ei=d0-aTIqrGZSjOIS2vYYN&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAg. 
  23. ^ The Archbishops of York, the Yorkshire journal Volume 9. Yorkshire Archaeological and Topographical Association. pp. 420. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=1Y-MexpI2TkC&q=Inq.+p.m.+33+Hen.+VI,+no.+22%3B+14+Edw.+IV,+no.+47.&dq=Inq.+p.m.+33+Hen.+VI,+no.+22%3B+14+Edw.+IV,+no.+47.&hl=en&ei=7zezTMnvMs7GswaUudjLDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAQ. 
  24. ^ a b [Bentworth, the making of a Hampshire Village, by Georgia Smith. Pp 52-55]
  25. ^ List of houses and former attractions in Bentworth
  26. ^ [SU 66553 40358 OS Grid reference]
  27. ^ a b List of POW camps in Britain
  28. ^ Crockford's clerical directory. Church of England, Central Board of Finance, Church Commissioners. 1826. pp. 426. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=BzkFAAAAYAAJ&pg=PT437&dq=bentworth+glebe+fields&hl=en&ei=C2DFTJTdGs3Lswa6nIzmCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
  29. ^
  30. ^ [6] Map of Bentworth Hall
  31. ^ Bentworth Primary School
  32. ^ Proceedings , Volume 4. Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society. 1905. pp. 163. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=sssGAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA15&dq=moon+inn+bentworth&hl=en&ei=k2DFTLGHDo3KswbI0-XrCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA. 
  33. ^ "The Villager parish magazine of Bentworth, Lasham, Medstead and Shalden". The Villager: 8, 9. April 2011. 
  34. ^ Bentworth former parish size
  35. ^ St Mary's Church Detailed Record
  36. ^ [7] St Mary's Church
  37. ^ [8] George Wither baptised
  38. ^ [Farm]&searchp=ids.srf&mapp=map.srf Map of Ashley
  39. ^ [9] Ashley Farm parish. Bentworth or Wield?
  40. ^ [10] Ashley Farm postcode
  41. ^ [11] Map of Burkham
  42. ^ Home Farm, Bentworth
  43. ^ [Town]&searchp=ids.srf&mapp=map.srf Map of Holt End
  44. ^ [12] Previous A31 road found through Bentworth history
  45. ^ [13] Map of Thedden Grange
  46. ^ [14] Thedden Grange Address
  47. ^ "Press Release March 2004". Surrey Border Film & Video Makers. 2004. http://www.surreyborder.org.uk/pr0403-press-release-for-march-04.htm. Retrieved 2007-10-11. 
  48. ^ [City/Town/Village]&searchp=ids.srf&mapp=map.srf Map of Wivelrod
  49. ^ Tumuli Burial mounds in Wivelrod – Medstead Timeline
  50. ^ Book of reference to the plan of the parish of .... Ordnance Survey. 1879. pp. 26. http://books.google.com/books?id=KdwHAAAAQAAJ&q=wivelrod&dq=wivelrod&hl=en&ei=5U6aTLbZAcunOOqjwZwP&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CDUQ6AEwBA. 
  51. ^ [15] Map of Gaston Grange
  52. ^ Papers by command, Volume 83. House of Commons. 1947. pp. 24. http://books.google.com/books?id=B7IOAQAAIAAJ&q=gaston+grange&dq=gaston+grange&hl=en&ei=q1GaTM_eCI-NOKzItccP&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAw. 
  53. ^ Griffith, Edward (1982). The Basingstoke & Alton Light Railway 1901–1936. Newbury: Kingfisher Railway Publications. pp. p16. 
  54. ^ [16] Old Hampshire Gazetteer – Basingstoke Light Railway
  55. ^ [[The Wrecker (1928 film)|]]The Wrecker appearance in Bentworth and Lasham
  56. ^ Oh, Mr Porter!#ProductionOh, Mr Porter! appearance in Bentworth and Lasham
  57. ^ Bentworth an Lasham railway shelter
  58. ^ Basingstoke's Railway History Bentworth Goods Traffic
  59. ^ Railway Cottages
  60. ^ Bentworth Hall Place
  61. ^ Local information kindly supplied by the Rev. W. G. Cazalet, rector of Bentworth
  62. ^ [17] Hall Place Farm
  63. ^ Mulberry House
  64. ^ Ivalls Bentworth CP
  65. ^ Ivalls Cottage
  66. ^ Ivalls Farmhouse
  67. ^ Bentworth Wall decay and vandalism
  68. ^ Churchyard wall information
  69. ^ David Charles Douglas (1940). William the Conqueror: the Norman impact upon England. pp. 2. http://books.google.com/books?id=zSJnMdalm1cC&pg=PA71&dq=Round,+Cal.+of+Doc.+France+king+henry&hl=en&ei=RyqaTKO5NceOjAeXva0Z&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Round%2C%20Cal.%20of%20Doc.%20France%20king%20henry&f=false. 
  70. ^ Weir, Alison (1999), Britain's Royal Family: A Complete Genealogy, London, U.K.: =The Bodley Head, p. 6 
  71. ^ a b The Haskins Society journal: studies in medieval history. Robert Patterson. 1911. pp. 156. http://books.google.com/books?id=bT8Yy3FjKywC&pg=PA156&dq=Rot.+Lit.+Claus.+peter+des&hl=en&ei=BSuaTNvKFsqNOLbqpMcP&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
  72. ^ [18] George Wither in Bentworth
  73. ^ A History Of The Wither Family. Reginald Fitz Hugh Bigg-Wither. 1907. pp. 154. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=fKKZCh9qiAoC&pg=PA152&dq=Bentworth&hl=en&ei=czGSTI-nMouh4Qbo4cXIAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=Bentworth&f=false. 
  74. ^ George Wither#Early life George Wither early life
  75. ^ De Banco R.. Thomas Frederick Kirby. 1823. pp. 148. http://books.google.com/books?id=Bj0JAAAAIAAJ&q=De+Banco+R.+preston+candover&dq=De+Banco+R.+preston+candover&hl=en&ei=gCmaTPaXDIaNOKbLraEP&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAA. 
  76. ^ 'Berchelei' has not been identified, but it is suggested that it may have been at Bartley Heath in Odiham.
  77. ^ V.C.H. Hants. Eila M. J. Campbell. pp. 291, 450, 472, 502, 504. http://books.google.com/books?id=wpLM-PjDdoYC&pg=PA291&dq=V.C.H.+Hants+450&hl=en&ei=b_WYTPuxM8fuOeKy_IIN&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
  78. ^ Cal. Close. Edward Kennard Rand. pp. 353–354. http://books.google.com/books?id=BgY5AAAAMAAJ&q=cal+close+1272&dq=cal+close+1272&hl=en&ei=wPSYTJyqHsqFOKHvpZMP&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAA. 
  79. ^ A topographical dictionary of the united kingdom. Benjamin Pitts Capper. 1789. pp. 42. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=-pE9AAAAcAAJ&pg=PT93&dq=bentworth+population&hl=en&ei=4LmgTIeYN4-F4QaB_ZjfDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CFAQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=bentworth%20population&f=false. 
  80. ^ A new and comprehensive gazetteer of England and Wales, illustr. by a series .... Unknown. 1861. pp. 188. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ywkHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA188&dq=bentworth+population&hl=en&ei=GL6gTILpFsGB4Aarm6m2Dg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CFUQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=bentworth%20population&f=false. 
  81. ^ [19] Office of National Statistics Census 2001
  82. ^ Home Farm, Burkham
  83. ^ "About south-east England". Met Office. http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/so/. Retrieved 22 March 2010. 

External links

Local and national government
History
Church and village community
Miscellaneous