Leckhampstead is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England lying in the North Wessex Downs. It is a mixture of modern and more traditional thatched houses.
It is located in the West Berkshire district, north of the M4 motorway lying just off the road between Newbury about 6 miles (9.7 km) to the south-southeast and Wantage about 12.5 miles (20 km) to the north-northwest. The town of Hungerford is about 12.5 miles (20 km) to the southwest.
Nearby villages include Chieveley, Boxford, Chaddleworth, Brightwalton and Peasemore.
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A number of Bronze Age features have been recorded near Leckhampstead and a flint arrowhead of this period has been found.[1]
Roman finds include a 2nd century earring[2] and Samian ware.[3]
An 11th century church has been recorded about 0.6 miles (1 km) east of the present church near present day Chapel Farm.[4]
Leckhampstead was recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086 as Lecanestede and was owned by Abingdon Abbey.[5]
"Of the land in this manor, Reinbold holds Leckhampstead 10 hides and William 4 hides at Weston and Berner 2 hides at Boxford.... There is land for 11 ploughs . There are three ploughs and 12 villans and 24 bordars with six ploughs and six four slaves and two acres of meadow and a church. It is and was worth 10 pounds.[6]
A medieval deer park existed about 1228.[7]
The small, brick and flint church of St James, built in 1859, lies towards the southern end of the village. It was designed by the notable church architect, Samuel Sanders Teulon.[8] The interior is brick with patterns formed by the use of differently coloured bricks.
The public house in the village is called The Stag.
There is an unusual war memorial on the triangular village green. It comprises an obelisk on a plinth with two clock faces, one facing north and one facing south, which incorporate various types of ammunition in them. The chains surrounding the monument are from a battleship that took part in the Battle of Jutland and they are supported on spent shell cases.[9]
The Hangman’s Stone is a boundary stone lying about a mile south of the village at grid reference SU431748. It gets its name from a local tale which tells of a sheep rustler who was carrying a stolen sheep over his shoulder with a rope held around his neck. Feeling tired the thief sat on a stone beside the road and fell asleep. The sheep, in struggling to get free, hanged the man by the rope that had remained around his neck.[9] The stone has given its name to the road which passes it, Hangman’s Stone Lane, which leads to the village of Boxford.
Leckhampstead Thicket is a hamlet that lies between Leckhampstead and Chaddleworth (grid reference SU429769). There are a number of thatched cottages and a chapel, dated 1874, which is one of the very few Primitive Methodist chapels still in use.
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