Enham Alamein

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Enham Alamein is a village and civil parish about 2½ miles north of Andover in the north of Hampshire, England. It was named "Knight's Enham" until 1945.

About a kilometre south along the A343 road from the current site of Enham Alamein is the dein of Knight's Enham. This is a small collection of 3 or 4 houses and a 12th-century church. It is currently (2009) on the north edge of the suburban spread of Andover.

Enham Alamein and Upper Enham are the south and north ends of a village which is a little over a kilometer long. Enham Alamein has a museum about the Battle of El Alamein, and a factory.

Etymology and history

Enham

Houses, Enham Alamein

From Anglo-Saxon ēan-hām or ēan-hamm = "lamb homestead" or "enclosure by a river, for lambs".

The name is recorded in 1316 as Enham Militis (= "Enham of the knight": miles is Latin for "soldier" and was used in Mediaeval Latin for "knight").

The name "Knight's Enham" is recorded from 1398 and refers to a knight's fee held here by Matthew de Columbers in the mid 13th century. In 1900 it was a group of a few houses.

Alamein

In 1918 a charity named Enham was set up, with the support of King George V and Queen Mary. A 1,000-acre (4.0 km2) estate in the village was bought for it and adapted to house and rehabilitate and employ soldiers returning disabled from World War I with "the effects of amputations, neurasthenia, shellshock or fever". By the end of 1919, 150 men were residing in and about Enham Place and Littlecote House.

Much of its land had to be sold to pay expenses during the 1920s and 1930s.

Some of its patients remained there and set up in jobs such as carters, hauliers, market gardeners and dairy farmers.

In World War II many of the injured from the Battle of El Alamein were brought back to the UK and to the recovery centre in Knight's Enham. This close association of servicemen and the village continued during and after the war.

In November 1945, two public subscriptions in Egypt raised £6,000,000 to thank Britain for ridding their country of the Axis forces. A small part went to build a new UN Forces Sports Club in Gezira; most was given to the charity Enham to care for disabled ex-servicemen. This greatly improved the charity Enham's finances, and let them build their disabled ex-servicemen's centre as it is. In thankfulness for this the component "Alamein" was appended to the village's name.

In Enham Alamein there is still a charity, Enham, that provides work for disabled members of the community as well as services to enable disabled people to live the lives they choose, both in the village and across Southern England. Enham has sold some of its land to property developers, and is looking to sell more.

Arabic Al `Alamain اَلْعَلَمَيْن means "the two flags".

External links

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