Lambourn UK History etc
Lambourn is a large village and civil parish in the northwestern part of the ceremonial county of Berkshire in England. The civil parish has a population of 4,017 at the time of 2001 census and is most noted for its associations with British National Hunt racehorse training.
Lambourn is situated in the valley of the River Lambourn, a bourne in the chalk upland area of the Berkshire Downs. It is 13 miles (21 km) northwest of Newbury, 13 miles (21 km) northeast of Marlborough, 11 miles (18 km) southeast of Swindon, 7 miles (11 km) southwest of Wantage and 7 miles (11 km) north of Hungerford. It is the westernmost significant settlement in Berkshire, close to the border of northeastern Wiltshire and southwestern Oxfordshire. When the Vale of White Horse was transferred to Oxfordshire in 1974 Lambourn became the westernmost parish in Berkshire bordering Wiltshire to the south and west and Oxfordshire to the north and west, the only adjacent parishes in Berkshire are East Garston to the east and Hungerford to the southeast.
The Lambourn Downs – also known as the Berkshire Downs – are part of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and cover an area of 231 square miles (600 km2) from the Ridgeway in the north to the River Kennet in the south. Originally they were entirely in Berkshire, but the Local Government Act 1972 transferred large parts of the downs to Oxfordshire and Wiltshire. Due to the poor, chalky soil the downs could not be used for growing crops until the advent of modern fertilisers. Consequently the high ground was only used for breeding sheep – hence the name of Lambourn – and horses. The Oxford Don and author J. R. R. Tolkien lived nearby and travelled to the Lambourn Downs with his family and friends. He was impressed by the downs with their sarsen stones, barrows and hill forts and painted pictures of Lambourn in 1912. Within the parish itself are the following downs and chalk hills; Bockhampton Down, Cleeve Hill, Coppington Down, Coppington Hill, Crow Down, Eastbury Down, Ewe Hill, Farncombe Down, Fognam Down, Haycroft Hill, Hungerford Hill, Kingsdown, Lodge Down, Mandown, Near Down, Parkfarm Down, Pit Down, Post Down, Row Down, Stancombe Down, Thorn Hill, Warren Down and Wellbottom Down.
History
The most common explanation for the name of Lambourn refers to the lambs which were once dipped in the local river. Many spellings have been used over the centuries, such as Lamburnan (880 AD), Lamburna (1086 AD), Lamborne (1644 AD) and Lambourne. It was also called Chipping Lambourn because of its popular market. The spelling was fixed as 'Lambourn' in the early 20th century, but even today, towards Soley, three successive signposts at nearby junctions alternate the spelling of Lambourn and Lambourne.
Lower Lambourn was known as Bockhampton, but it was destroyed in the 16th century as the land was absorbed into the Bockhampton Manor House estate. Strangely, there is a modern road sign for Bockhampton on the Newbury Road pointing down Bockhampton Road to the site of the village.
In 2004 a metal detecting rally found a hoard of three gold bracelets and two armlets at Crow Down near Lambourn. They have been dated to 1200 BC and are the only prehistoric gold objects to have been found in Berkshire. The hoard was declared a treasure under English Law in 2005 and is currently on display at the West Berkshire Museum, Newbury. In Roman times, the area was extensively farmed, as shown by an archaeological research project based on Maddle Farm. Ermin Street, the major Roman road between Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester) and Glevum (Gloucester), also known as the "Upper or Baydon Road" passes through Lambourn Woodlands as part of the B4000.
Seven Barrows
Lambourn is famous for its 'Seven Barrows', just above Upper Lambourn. There are actually over thirty Bronze Age burial mounds forming a large prehistoric cemetery. On a line to the west of Seven Barrows is the Long Barrow, which dates from c. 4000 BC making it 2,000 years older than the other barrows. Unfortunately it has been half destroyed by deep ploughing and only the mound in the woods and a few sarsen stones remain.
Church and almshouses
St Michael and All Angels Detail on the south side of the church at the exact spot as in a sketch made by J.R.R.Tolkien in August 1912
...the Downs themselves shelter Lambourn's massive Norman nave
The mainly Norman parish church (Church of England) is in the village centre, with a surrounding wall built of sarsen stones, and is dedicated to St Michael and All Angels. The road pattern shows an original circular enclosure, suggesting pagan Celtic origins. Alfred the Great, born in Wantage, was also closely connected with the church and mentioned it in his will. It was probably King Canute who granted Lambourn Church to the Dean of St Paul's. Successors to that office held it until 1836. Inside are monuments to the great and the good of the many manors in the parish, including an excellent brass to John Estbury (1508), who founded the almshouses outside, and fine effigies of Sir Thomas Essex and his wife (1558). The almshouses were established by an Act of Parliament in the reign of King Henry VII and confirmed by his son King Henry VIII after the Dissolution of the Monasteries made the original uncertain as it included a now forbidden chantry. There is an arch with mediaeval carvings of hunting scenes. The church was much restored in the 19th century and has a chancel roof designed by G. E. Street. The church also boasts a fine three-manual Henry Willis organ. The clock faces were replaced, and the tower stonework repaired, in 2011.
The Anarchy
The Empress Matilda bequeathed Lambourn and Chippenham to Hugh de Plucket out of the Royal demesne in 1142 for his aid in The Anarchy of the civil wars against the usurper Stephen of Blois. However, another Breton adventurer Josce de Dinan and his knights retreated to Lambourn after he lost Ludlow Castle to Gilbert de Lacey and Maltida's son King Henry II gave him Chipping Lambourn in compensation in 1156 Josce died in 1162 AD and in either case the Plunket family were in possession of the Manor by the beginning of the 14th century.
Queen Elizabeth I
The Ditchley Portrait, Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, c.1592
The Ditchley portrait of Queen Elizabeth I was painted for Sir Henry Lee of Ditchley to commemorate her visit in 1592. The Queen stands on a map of England with her feet on Oxfordshire and Lambourn is shown (but not named) on the map below her feet, in the downs of Berceria at the head of the River Lambourn which joins the River Kennet at Newbury.
English Civil War[edit]
During the Civil War Prince Rupert and his Cavaliers rested at Lambourn on the night of 18 and 19 September 1643, between fighting a skirmish with the Parliamentarian Army at Aldbourne Chase on the 18th and the First Battle of Newbury on the 20th. Queen Henrietta Maria stayed at Kingswood House on 18 April 1644 en route to Exeter, having said her final farewell to her husband King Charles I a few days before at Oxford. Kingswood was an Elizabethan manor house which was demolished a long time ago and replaced by the current Kingswood House Stables. On 9 November 1644 King Charles and the Royalist Army relieved Donnington Castle in the face of the Army of the Eastern Association led by the Earl of Manchester and Oliver Cromwell. Thereafter he withdrew to Lambourn and stayed in "The King's Chamber" at Kingswood House, while the Royalist infantry were quartered in Lambourn and the cavalry at Wantage. The Parliamentarian Scoutmaster Sir Samuel Luke reported "Monday. 11 November 1644. The last night the King's head-quarters were at Wantage and Lamborne ... all the foot that which lay at Lamborne marcht away this morning towards Auborne".
The Luddites and Captain Swing[edit]
There were Captain Swing anti-machinery riots in Lambourn in 1832–33. It was said that 'there would be no good times at Lambourn until there was a good fire' and several farm buildings were burned by Luddite agricultural labourers whose wages had been slashed by the introduction of machinery. The Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawn wrote 'A threshing machine was broken at Lambourn; and from there the movement spread south to Eastbury and East Garston, where money was collected and several machines were destroyed'. The labourers demanded 40 shillings for their loss of earnings and an increase in wages from 8 shillings to 12 shillings a week. They threatened to burn down farm buildings if they were not paid and ten machines were destroyed in the Lambourn Valley from Fawley to Boxford and the movement spread northwards to the Vale of the White Horse and the Thames Valley.
Second World War plane crash[edit]
On 8 September 1944 a stricken B-24 Liberator flown by 2nd Lt Lawrence Berkoff DFC of the 856th Bombardment Squadron, 492d Bombardment Group (the Carpetbaggers), Eighth Air Force, USAAF was returning from an aborted mission. Berkoff maintained control of the plane so that his crew could parachute to safety over Baydon, but saw that if he bailed out the plane would crash into Lambourn. He therefore remained at the controls to divert the aircraft and was killed when it crash-landed in a field on Folly Road at 10:45 pm, missing the village by a few hundred yards. Berkoff was awarded a posthumous Distinguished Flying Cross and a plaque in his honour was unveiled by his great nephew Todd Berkoff at Lambourn Memorial Hall on 26 June 2003.
