Welcome to East Hendred
Heritage Trust!
East
Hendred is one of several springline villages below the northern slopes
of the Downs, within the North Wessex (Berskshire) Downs.
Extending
south the Parish crosses the ancient Ridgeway track, and passes
Scutchamer Knob, the legendary burial mound of the Saxon King Cwichelm.
To the north, close to a village of Steventon, it adjoins its sister
village West Hendred on the west, and eastwards borders the lands of
Chilton and Harwell close to the world famous international scientific
centres.
As
East Hendred (Hennarith in 956 AD) has no through road today, its heart
has survived to a great extent, with winding streets and lanes leading
into field paths.
There
are two churches, the late 12th century St Augustine’s with a
famous
faceless clock, and the Roman Catholic St Mary’s, two modern
schools –
Catholic and Church of England – a sports ground and three
public
houses.
Known
as a town when it was an important centre for the wool and cloth trades
before Henry VIII’s reign, this village has a history of
unusual
interest. Hendred House, Manor of the Arches, goes back even before
permission to build its private St Amand’s Chapel was granted
by the
Pope in 1256 and the same family, Eystons, have lived there since 1443.
The little Chapel of Jesus of Bethlehem was built by the Carthusian
monks of Sheen when they came to the nearby Kings Manor in the 15th
Century.
For
a tiny village East Hendred has an amazing number of listed buildings
and historical monuments. Still true today is James Edmund
Vincent’s
comment, made over a century ago in 'Highways and Byways in Berkshire':
“East Hendred is a village of no ordinary
attraction”