Hampstead Norreys History

Another major factor for change for Hampstead Norreys has been the increase in size and all round excellence of the village primary school. In the time that has seen the village lose its last shop, garage, and one of it’s two public houses the school has played a very positive part in changing the life of the village.One aspect of the parish that has not changed is the beautiful countryside that surrounds it. Hampstead Norreys residents have inherited access to what were once deer parks, drove roads and ancient woodlands. Evidence of earlier residents can still be found in the fields and woods above the river if you search carefully and the parishioners value and makes great use of their woods and footpaths, play areas, river and open spaces.

It was during this period, that the railway was expanded, becoming twin track to carry war munitions and to support the war effort. Its looked as if its future was secure, however the line became a causality of Dr. Beeching’s cuts and the station was eventually closed in 1964.

And so to 21^st century. Now most of the 745 residents, of Hampstead Norreys, rely on their cars to transport them to their employment and for shopping, and other activities. The farms that once were the source of employment for the parish continue to do well but now provide work for less than a score of people. However the IT age, and the opportunities for skilled people to work from their home, has seen a number of specialist businesses set up and it is good to see them prospering and this trend is likely to grow.

With the exception of major involvement and a heavy price paid in lives lost in the 1914/18 war, the village inhabitants carried on working the farmlands, much as usual, throughout the early part of the 20^th century.

There were, however, significant changes during the Second Word War with the commissioning of the Hampstead Norreys Airfield on the hill above the village. This brought many new people into the parish as well as a more exciting social life and of course the benefits of additional work. Many sorties were flown, into occupied France, from this airfield as well as pilots being trained to fly Wellington Bombers, Lysanders and Gliders. For the parish it proved a brief but important episode and Airfield was closed in 1945.

Succeeding generations have seen Hampstead Norreys go through many significant changes. The village was a sleepy backwater, situated on an unpaved chalk road until linked to the outside world by the railway, which opened in 1881. The line ran from Southampton to Didcot.

At this time the parish was, by and large, self-sufficient with a good range of shops, trades-people and a horse-drawn carrier that took produce and people to Newbury market. However it was the railway that was central to the daily life of the village and those living there. People, produce and all types of materials and goods, for farms, houses as well as the race horses for Wyld Court Stud, came by rail to the station in the centre of the village.

This all changed in 1770, around the same time that The “new” Manor house was built. The introduction of the Enclosures Act radically altered farming methods and produced the landscape we see today. The enclosed pastures, for livestock and the larger arable fields brought hardship as well as visual change. However, the village survived and until the early 19^th century nearly 1,000 people lived and worked the land in the extended parish.

After the Napoleonic wars, agricultural prices slumped and the industrial revolution saw rural people moving to the cities for employment in workshops and factories. The parish population fell to around 700 by 1900. and to this day has remained around this figure.

St Mary’s Church is substantially 12th century, with later additions in the 15^th and 19^th centuries.

In 1450 the parish was renamed Hampstead Norreys, (with variable spellings e.g. Norris) when The Manor and the village lands were bought by the Norreys family from Bray. The parish lands were open fields and strip-farmed by local villagers, most of whom were farm labourers and lived in houses built and owned by the Lord of The Manor. Traces of the field system can still be found in the surrounding valley, as can the remnants of boundaries of The Manor deer park, in the woods, and old fish ponds above the house.

The village and outlying hamlets were recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086, it was then named Hanstede, meaning farm settlement in early English. The village grew and flourished and in the Middle Ages was renamed Hampstead Sifrewast. It continued to prosper and grow, mainly in the area around The Manor Farm and St Mary’s Church. The church still retains Saxon stonework and pre-Norman records tell of mills on the river Pang.

The Pang is a bourne or chalk steam, which rises in the Berkshire Downs above the village. Its fast running water, together with the local woodlands and good grazing, have attracted people for thousands of years. There are Bronze Age burial mounds in Park Wood, an Iron Age Hill fort close to the village, as well as sites of Roman villas and settlements on the slopes above the river.