HAMSTEAD MARSHALL in Berkshire, England

Welcome to the website of Hamstead Marshall, a picturesque and historic village lying between the Kennet and Enborne rivers, four miles west of Newbury in West Berkshire. The name applies to a Saxon manor, a church parish of twelfth-century foundation and a civil parish since 1896. All fall within roughly the same boundary, enclosing nearly three square miles of gently rolling farm and park land.	Facts and figures about the village Parish council: details of meetings and members West Berkshire Council: services to the village
Village news
	Village Design Statement An early draft version of the village design statement (VDS) can be viewed here. it is currently being revised in line with advice from West Berkshire Council's planning department. Following a change in central government policy aimed at streamlining the planning process, the status of VDSs has changed. Read West Berkshire Council's interpretation of their new status, issued after the September issue of the Hamstead Hornet went to press. Parish Plan The parish plan has now been formally adopted, and can be seen via the WBC website. Dial-up users please be patient; the VDS and Parish Plan are large files. Broadband See the reports of the broadband committee: the latest issued with the September Hamstead Hornet the previous report issued with the June Hamstead Hornet The broadband committee is now conducting Vodafone signal tests for those who have requested it. Meanwhile there are reports of some village houses being able to receive a 3UK signal.
Stories in the September 2008 issue Record number of village houses for sale Planning applications Broadband solution in prospect? Village hall refurb This issue also carries an insert of the second report on broadband, which can be read here. The Hamstead Hornet is delivered quarterly free to all houses in the parish and several more just inside adjoining parishes. If you would like to be notified by email when the next issue has been posted here please send an email.	Previous Hornet issues in full June 2008 March 2008 December 2007 September 2007 June 2007 March 2007 (Dial-up users please be patient; these are 500 - 650kb files)
Finding your way to, from and around Hamstead Marshall
Multimap of a four-mile radius around Hamstead Marshall Larger-scale road-map of the village images produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service with permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland. Local public transport links	Village gazetteer A-Z listing of houses, roads and places in Hamstead, with history, description and pictures, plus the first-ever guide to the fiendish house-numbering system
Take the tour on foot five local walks detailed or on screen Hamstead Marshall in pictures a gallery tour of local views
groups, organisations, services and facilities
Monthly market in the village hall Circle of Friends (ladies' group) Enborne & Hamstead Marshall Garden Society White Hart Inn - accommodation, real ales, good food, seven days a week 01488 658201 Village hall: available for hire for meetings, classes, parties St Mary's Church: 900 years of service to the parish - services and contacts Business directory: services and products sourced within the village Want to pay less for your heating oil? Residents of Hamstead, Enborne, Woodhay and Kintbury can join Lanie's Oil Co-op
Hamstead's history
A page-length potted parish history Craven Country: the Story of Hamstead Marshall book-length village history from Domesday to the twentieth century, now out of print, but online with revised text and new illustrations Listed buldings and protected sites in the village The village hall and its former role as Hamstead's school (For present-day details go instead to this page) St Mary's Church - architectural history of Hamstead's oldest building (For present-day details go instead to this page)	Old maps of the village Georgian Hamstead as mapped by John Rocque 1761 Victorian Hamstead as mapped by Ordnance Survey 1880s Twentieth-century Hamstead the entire parish mapped around 1980 Links to other sites covering Hamstead's past Geophysical survey report - English Heritage's 1996 survey of Hamstead's ancient sites in full
Every effort is made to ensure that information in this website is accurate and up to date, but no responsibility can be taken for inaccuracies, nor for the content of any other website to which links are offered here. Your comments and questions are welcome. Please send an email. 3 October 2008 Copyright Penelope Stokes