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This article is about the Hampshire village. For other uses, see Bentworth (disambiguation).

Bentworth
Village
Clockwise from top: St Mary's Church, Thedden Grange, farmland near Childer Hill, Bentworth village centre (with the Star Inn and gold postbox), the Sun Inn, and Hall Place
Population553 (2011)
OS grid referenceSU664401
• London44 mi (71 km) ENE
Civil parish
  • Bentworth
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townAlton
Postcode districtGU34
Dialling code01420
PoliceHampshire and Isle of Wight
FireHampshire and Isle of Wight
AmbulanceSouth Central
UK Parliament
Websitebentworth.org.uk
List of places
UK
England
Hampshire

Bentworth is a village and large civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. The nearest town is Alton, which lies about 3 miles (5 km) east of the village. The parish covers an area of 3,763 acres (15.23 km2) and contains one of the highest points in South East England at 712 feet (217 m) above sea level. According to the 2011 census, Bentworth had a population of 553.

Bentworth has a long history; Bronze Age and Roman remains have been found in the area and there is evidence of a Anglo-Saxon church in the village. After the Norman conquest in 1066, the manor of Bentworth was not named in the Domesday Survey of 1086, but it was part of the Odiham Hundred. In the Second World War a children's home was built in the village for those who had been evacuated from London during The Blitz. The former Bentworth Stream, a tributary of the River Wey, disappeared as a result of drainage in the latter half of the 20th century, along with many large adjacent ponds. In recent years, Bentworth has grown modestly, with the construction of a dozen houses as well as a post-war development in Glebe Fields. In 2013, Bentworth won the Hampshire Village of the Year Award.

The parish contains several large manors including Bentworth Hall, Hall Place, Burkham House, Gaston Grange and Thedden Grange. The 500-acre (2.0 km2) estate of Bentworth Hall was split up as a result of various sales from the 1950s. St Mary's Church, a Grade II* listed building which partly dates back to the late 11th century, lies at the centre of the village. The village has two public houses; the Star Inn and the Sun Inn,[a] a primary school, and its own cricket club. Bentworth formerly had a railway station, Bentworth and Lasham, on the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway until the line's closure in 1936. The nearest railway station is now 3.8 miles (6.1 km) east of the village, at Alton.

History

Prehistory to Roman times

Farmland and hills near Childer Hill, showing the typical "rolling downland" of the area
Farmland near Childer Hill, Bentworth, showing the "rolling downland" typical of the area

The village name has been spelt in different ways, including: Bentewurda or Bintewurda (12th century) and Bynteworth (c. 15th century).[1][2] The original meaning of the name Bent-worth may have been a place of cultivated land, or a way through land such as woodland.[3] The Swedish scholar Eilert Ekwall argues that a derivation from the Old English bent-grass is unlikely, and suggests a derivation from The tũn of Bynna's people.[4]

During a 1942 excavation of a field near Childer Hill, east of the village centre, a Stone Age implement was unearthed, indicating occupation during the Prehistoric period.[5] Other remains found in the area include an unidentified flint axe, a Neolithic arrowhead and various earthworks of an uncertain nature near Ivall's Cottage.[5] The route between the Roman town of Silchester to the north of Old Basing, and the Roman settlement of Vindomis, just east of the present-day town of Alton, passed through Bentworth (the road today being the A339).[6][7][8]

A Bronze Age cremation urn was found in 1955 just north of Nancole Copse, approximately 2.5 miles (4.0 km) from St Mary's Church.[9] The urn is now displayed in the Curtis Museum in Alton, together with a bronze Roman coin of Valentinian I that was found in a garden about 0.6 miles (0.97 km) south of St Mary's near Tinker's Lane.[9] Belgic pottery and animal bones were found in 1954 at Holt End, a hamlet south of Bentworth.[9] Pottery, bone objects, spindle-whorls (stone discs with a hole in the middle used in spinning thread) and fragments of Roman roofing tiles were unearthed at Wivelrod Manor.[9]

Medieval times

Bentworth was not mentioned by name in the 1086 Domesday Survey that was ordered by the first Norman king, William the Conqueror, although the entry for the surrounding Hundred of Odiham mentions that it had a number of outlying parishes including Bentworth.[10] Soon after Domesday, Bentworth became an independent manor in its own right. In 1111 it was given by King Henry I, together with four other English manors, to the diocese of Rouen and Geoffrey, Count of Anjou.[11]

King Henry I of England holding a miniature chapel in one hand and the Domesday Book in another
The Norman King Henry I, from the Chronicle of Matthew Paris

The earliest mention of Bentworth village was recorded in the charter of 1111–1116 to Henry I to the Archdiocese of Rouen of "the manor of Bynteworda and the berewica (outlying farm) of Bercham (present day Burkham)".[12] St Mary's Church was not included in this charter but in 1165 King Henry II granted it to Roturn, then the Archdiocese of Rouen.[12] When King John began losing his possessions in Normandy he took back the ownership of several manors, including Bentworth. He then ceded Bentworth manor to Peter des Roches, the Bishop of Winchester, in 1207–8.[13][14] The manor was returned to Rouen, who held the property until 1316, when Edward II appointed Peter de Galicien as its custodian.[15]

Some time after 1280 a new stone hall house was built in Bentworth, possibly by the constable of Farnham Castle, William de Aula.[16] The house is a typical medieval hall house and has been variously called Bentworth Hall (until 1832) and Bentworth Manor House. Since 1832 it has been known as Hall Place. In 1330 Matilda de Aula was given permission to have a private chapel at Bentworth Hall, and the remains of this building can be seen today immediately to the southwest of Hall Place. In 1336 ownership of the manor passed to William Melton, Archbishop of York.[15] Upon his death in 1340 he left his possessions to his nephew William de Melton, the son of his brother Henry.[<ref name=Handbook282 1]

In 1348, William de Melton obtained King Edward III's permission to give his manor to William Edendon, Bishop of Winchester. The ownership of the manor of Bentworth was then passed by marriage to the Windsor family, who had been constables of Windsor Castle. The Bentworth Hall estate was evidently returned to the Melton family, because it is mentioned among their possessions in a document dated to 1362. It then passed to his son, Sir William de Melton.[15] Sir William's son, John de Melton, who inherited the house in 1399 was recorded as owner of the manor of Bentworth in 1431.[15][17] He died in 1455, and was succeeded by his son until the latter's death in 1474, then finally his grandson John Melton.[18] After the death of the latter, the manor of Bentworth remained in the possession of the Windsor family for at least 150 years.[15]

Elizabethan to Georgian times

A map of Bentworth's parish as it appeared 1811
A map showing the parish of Bentworth in 1811

In 1590, Henry Windsor (1562–1605), the 5th Lord Windsor, sold the sub-manor of Bentworth to the Hunt family, who had been tenants since the beginning of that century.[15] Ownership passed in 1610 to Sir James Woolveridge of Odiham and in 1651 to Thomas Turgis, a wealthy London merchant.[15] His son, also Thomas, described as one of the richest commoners in England, left the manor of Bentworth to his relative William Urry, of Sheat Manor in 1705.[15]

In 1777 William Urry's daughters Mary and Elizabeth, married two brothers, Basil and William Fitzherbert of Swynnerton Hall, Staffordshire.[15] Their sister-in-law was Maria Fitzherbert, the secret wife of the Prince Regent, later King George IV.[19] In about 1800, Mary Fitzherbert (who had eleven children), became owner of Bentworth Manor and Manor Farm.[15]

19th century to the Second World War

In 1832 the Fitzherbert family sold the Bentworth Hall estate at an auction in London to Roger Staples Horman Fisher for approximately £6000. Almost immediately Fisher started building the present Bentworth Hall.[20] In 1848 the estate was sold to Jeremiah Robert Ives, including the Old Manor House (now Hall Place) and Bentworth Hall.[21] The Ives family later shared ownership with the author George Cecil Ives who lived for a time at the hall with his widowed paternal grandmother.[22]

In 1852 the London and South Western Railway opened a railway station in Alton, connecting to London via Farnham and Woking.[23] In 1901 the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway opened with a Bentworth and Lasham station situated in between the two villages.[24] In 1870–72 the Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales by John Marius Wilson described Bentworth as

... a village and parish in Alton district, Hants. The village stands 3½ miles WNW of Alton r. station, and had a post office under Alton. The parish comprises 3,688 acres (1,492 ha). Real property, £4,091. Pop., 647. Houses, 123. George Withers, the poet; sold property in Bentworth at the outbreak of the civil war (1642), to raise a troop of horse. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Winchester. Value, £760, Patron, the Rev. Mr. Mathews. There is a dissenting Chapel.[25]

North view of Bentworth village green in 1905, with thatched cottages in the foreground
The north side of Bentworth village green in 1905, looking north.

In 1897 Emma Ives died and ownership of the Bentworth Hall estate passed to her son Colonel Gordon Maynard Gordon-Ives, who had in 1870 had built Gaston Grange as his residence. After his mother died he continued to live there, leasing Bentworth Hall to William Nicholson, the Member of Parliament for Petersfield.[26] In 1905 a telegraph office was operated by W. Payne in what was later the Bentworth village shop in Church Street, opposite the playing field to the north of St Mary's School.[14]

Gordon-Ives died on 8 September 1907 and the estate passed to his son, Cecil Maynard Gordon-Ives, a Captain in the Scots Guards in First World War, who occupied it until his death on 23 July 1923.[27][b] The Bentworth Hall Estate (which at the time comprised 479 acres) was then offered for sale by John Wood & Co in 1924 and again by them in 26 June 1930, when an A. Willis purchased it.[14] Shortly after Willis' purchase, Major John Arthur Pryor lived at Bentworth Hall until the estate was taken over by the military during the Second World War.[28]

Second World War

Bentworth's Telegraph office circa 1905

The villages of Bentworth and Lasham both had their part to play in the war. In late 1940, a children's home was built in Drury Lane in Bentworth for those who had been evacuated from London during The Blitz.[29]

As the war progressed there was a need for more airfields in southern England, and as a result Lasham Airfield was built north of Bentworth in 1942. The airfield was built on high ground between the nearby village of Lasham and a historic avenue of trees that had been planted in 1809 by the Jervoise family to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of King George III.[30] Until 1942 the Basingstoke-Alton road passed through Lasham village but its route north of Lasham was needed for the airfield and the road was diverted to the west towards Bentworth, today forming the A339.[30]

Bentworth Hall was requisitioned for war use, as were many other country houses, and a number of organisations were based there. In 1941 it was used by the Mobile Naval Base Defence Organization (MNBDO) and it was later an outstation of the Royal Navy's Haslar Hospital in Portsmouth, the bedrooms being used as wards. Later it was occupied by officers from the airfield at Lasham; one commander kept an aircraft in a field towards Medstead and using it as transport to Lasham Airfield. In 1942 Thedden Grange was used as a prisoner of war camp until 1944, and was known as "Fisher's Camp".[31] Before the Invasion of Normandy (D-Day), Nissen huts were built in the woods to the south-west of Bentworth Hall and troops were accommodated there before being taken south to embark for the invasion.[32]

Post-war

To facilitate the growing population in the post-war period, the council estates of Glebe Fields and Glebe Close were built in early 1946. The name "Glebe", meaning "land belonging to the church", was chosen because the land was originally owned by the church.[33][34] In 1951 the Moon Inn in Drury Lane was destroyed by a fire along with the children's home.[35]

Statues of two bears at the entrance to Bentworth Hall
Two Berens bears at the entrance to Bentworth Hall, the symbol of the Berens family arms

In 1947 the Bentworth Hall estate was bought by Major Herbert Cecil Benyon Berens, who was a director of Hambros Bank in London from 1968.[36] In 1950 Berens built two new lodge houses at the junction of the drive to Bentworth Hall towards the main road through the village. The Berens family arms included a bear, and when Berens acquired the Bentworth Hall estate, carvings of bears were put up in various places. Two can be seen at the entrance to the Bentworth Hall drive, between the two lodge houses. Herbert Berens died at Bentworth Hall on 27 October 1981, and consequently the remaining estate was put up for sale.[37] Initially, Bentworth Hall was offered as a single property, then into several, with Bentworth Hall and its outbuildings being divided into a number of separate dwelling units and other parts being sold to local farms, which is the arrangement today.[26]

Bentworth was awarded a gold postbox in 2012 after Peter Charles, a resident of the village, won a gold medal in the equestrian event of the 2012 Summer Olympics. A postbox in Alton was incorrectly painted gold in Charles' honour, until the Royal Mail painted Bentworth's postbox after complaints from locals.[38] Bentworth won the Hampshire Village of the Year in 2013.[39] Contributing factors to this included Bentworth's two public houses, dedicated First World War cemetery, the annual Bentworth Blues Festival, various bus stops and "outstanding examples" of wildlife.[40]

Geography and climate

Map of Bentworth in relation to other major towns and cities in southern England
Map showing location in relation to major towns in southern England

Bentworth village and parish lies on high downland about 4 miles (6.4 km) northwest of the town of Alton and about 8 miles south of Basingstoke, the largest town in Hampshire. By road, Bentworth is situated 9.4 miles (15.1 km) south of Basingstoke, 16.7 miles (26.9 km) northeast of Winchester and 32 miles (51 km) north of Portsmouth, its nearest city.[41] The parish covers an area of 3,763 acres (15.23 km2), of which about 280 acres (1.1 km2) are woodland.[15] The elevation of the ground at St Mary's Church is 574 feet (175 m) and the highest point is in the southern boundary of the parish, south of the hamlet of Wivelrod is a height of 712 feet (217 m), one of the highest points in South East England.[42] The soil is clay and loam, the subsoil chalk; the chief crops are wheat, oats, and turnips.[15]

The lower ground to the south-east of Bentworth and to the south of the nearby villages of Lasham and Shalden drains towards the River Wey which rises to the surface on the west side of Alton.[43] Near Hall Place is the village duckpond, with cottages opposite it dated to 1733. Such names as Colliers Wood and Nancole Copse in the parish point to the early operations of the charcoal burners, the colliers of the Middle Ages.[15] Other woods in the area include Gaston Wood, Childer Hill Copse, Miller's Wood, Thedden Copse, Well Copse, North Wood, Wadgett's Copse, Bylander's Copse, Nancole Copse, Widgell Copse, South Lease Copse, Stubbins Copse and Mayhew's Wood.[41] The names of Windmill Field and Mill Piece indicate the site of one or more ancient mills.[15]

Wheat and rape-seed fields near Powells Farm

Because Bentworth lies on higher ground, its temperatures are lower than in the valleys and on the coast. Due to its proximity to the sea, in winds with a southerly component, humidity is higher and cloud bases are lower than further inland. In summer when cumulus cloud is present, in the late afternoon the sea breeze occasionally reaches the area with a consequent change of wind to south and an increase in humidity. The annual average (mean) temperature is approximately 19 °C (66.2 °F) and shows the usual seasonal and diurnal variation. January is the coldest month with mean minimum temperatures between 0.5 °C (32.9 °F) and 2 °C (35.6 °F). June and July are the warmest months with average daily maxima around 25.5 °C (77.9 °F).[44][45]

Nearby locations

Administration

The civil parish of Bentworth has an overall area of 3,763 acres (1,523 ha). Starting to the north and working clockwise, it extends from north of Burkham House, then runs south east along the A339, turns south to Thedden Grange and the hamlet of Wivelrod, then west to north of Medstead and north again to Ashley Farm and back to the Burkham area. Historically, Bentworth's parish was considerably larger than it is today, incorporating nearby settlements like Bradley, Beech, Moundsmere, Medstead and Lower Wield. The parish has lost large amounts of land over the years, but gained a further 95 acres (38 ha) in 1991 by regaining the Home Farm country park from the parish of Bradley.[46]

Bentworth was the largest parish within the Hundred of Odiham, after Odiham itself. At the time of the Domesday Survey the area of the Hundred of Odiham were included in two separate hundreds, Odiham and Hefedele (also known as Edefele and Efedele). The former comprised Lasham and Shalden and half a hide which had been taken from the nearby village of Preston Candover,[47] and the latter included Odiham, Winchfield, Elvetham, Dogmersfield, and a former parish named Berchelei.[48] For the manors of Bentworth, Greywell, Hartley Wintney, Liss, Sherfield-upon-Loddon, and Weston Patrick, there are no entries in the Survey, but they were all probably included in the large manor of Odiham.[49]

Villages and hamlets

Within the Bentworth parish are several hamlets, the largest of which is Burkham to the north of the village. Other hamlets include Wivelrod to the southeast, Holt End and New Copse to the south, Thedden to the east, Ashley to the west[50] and Tickley to the north.

Burkham

Cottages in Burkham
Cottages in Burkham

Burkham (also known as Brocham (14th century); Barkham (16th century); Berkham (18th century)) is a larger hamlet on the north side of the parish of Bentworth that lies about 2.4 miles (3.9 km) northwest of the village. It was first mentioned as part of the Manor of Bentworth in documents of the Archbishop of Rouen around 1115, in which it is described as a "berewite" (an outlying estate) of the Bentworth Manor. Tickley is a smaller hamlet that lies approximately 1.1 miles (1.8 km) south of Burkham, which includes a manor house named Tickley House.[51]

At the north end of the hamlet is the Georgian building of Burkham House.[52] This was first recorded in a document dated 1784 in which there was a reference to a "Manor or Mansion House of Burkham", owned by Thomas Coulthard (1756–1811). Burkham House was acquired in 1882 by Arthur Frederick Jeffreys, later Member of Parliament for Basingstoke.[15] Ownership was retained by the Jeffreys family until 1965 when the estate was put up for sale.[53]

The Home Farm area consists of 336 acres (136 ha) of farmland, copse and uncultivated land. Part of this area between Burkham and Bentworth was bought by the Woodland Trust and opened to the public in 1991.[54] The Trust planted new trees between Wigdell Copse and Nancole Copse, and the area is well used by walkers and explorers.[51]

Holt End and New Copse

Holt End and New Copse are two areas of Bentworth that lie to the south of the village. The word Holt means "a small grove of trees, copse, or wood",[55] and Holt End thus means the end of a wooded area. Further down the road to Medstead is New Copse, which is named after the large wood between the two villages.[56] Here, a long road called Jennie Green Lane branches off the main road in Bentworth and runs west from Upper Wield towards the east end of Alton Abbey.[57]

Thedden

A view of the Thedden Grange manor
Thedden Grange

Thedden is a hamlet and part of the parish of Bentworth between the villages of Bentworth and Beech. Thedden Grange is about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south-east of St Mary's Church and is a country house that was formerly part of the Bentworth Manor estate. During the Second World War, Thedden Grange was used as a prisoner of war camp that was known as "Fisher's Camp".[31] Thedden Grange is just outside the civil parish of Beech but the rest of the hamlet of Thedden is within the civil parish of Bentworth.[58]

Wivelrod

Wivelrod is a hamlet in the south-east corner of the parish of Bentworth. Standing 712 feet (217 m) above sea level, it is among the highest settlements in Hampshire.[42] Wivelrod was mentioned in documents dating 1259 and there are tumuli and burial mounds around Wivelrod Hill, near the present-day Alton Abbey.[59] In the 18th century Wivelrod Manor was part of the Bentworth Manor estate and a part was sold in 1832 when the estate was bought by Roger Staples Horman Fisher.[60]

Demographics

At the time of the 2011 UK census, Bentworth had a total population of 533. For every 100 females, there were 94.2 males. The average household size was 2.50.[61] Of those aged 16–74 in Bentworth, 33.6% had no academic qualifications or one GCSE, lower than the figures for all of East Hampshire (37.1%) and England (45.5%).[62][63] According to the census, 29.9% were economically inactive and of the economically active people 1.3% were unemployed.[62] Of Bentworth's 466 residents, 18.5% were under the age of 16 and 14.2% were aged 65 and over; the mean age was 42.05. 78.8% of residents described their health as "good".[64]

The Domesday Book entry for the Hundred of Odiham surmised that the hundred in 1066 was very large with 248 households and recorded 138 villagers. 60 smallholders and 50 slaves.[65] Tax was assessed to be very large at 78.5 exemption units.[65] 56 ploughlands, 16.5 lord's plough teams and 41 men's plough teams were recorded.[65] The Lord of the hundred in 1066 was Earl Harold.[65] In 1789 the population of Bentworth was 425.[66] Bentworth had reached its population peak in 1951, with 614 people living in the village.

Population growth in the Parish of Bentworth since 1801
Year 1801 1811 1821 1831 1841 1851 1881 1891 1901 1911 1921 1931 1951 1961 2001 2011
Population 425 406 548 592 609 610 558 604 571 586 522 570 614 596 466 533
% change  – −4.5 +35.0 +8.0 +2.9 +0.2 −8.5 +8.2 −5.5 +2.6 −10.9 +9.2 +7.7 −2.9 −21.8 +14.3
Source: A Vision of Britain through Time, and statistics.gov.uk

Education and activities

Bentworth's Primary School with the church spire directly behind
St Mary's School, Bentworth, with the church spire behind

St Mary's Bentworth Primary School is immediately west of the church together with a school hall and playing field that are also used for events such as the annual summer village fete. The school was originally built in 1848 with a single classroom.[67] In 2012, the school had 101 pupils, not only from Bentworth but also from surrounding villages.[68] St Mary's school has a refurbished library, IT and interactive whiteboard facilities, and recently an adventure playground was installed in the school grounds and the pond and wildlife area redeveloped for educational purposes.[67]

The school hall is used for other village activities such as the Bentworth Garden Club,[69] performances by the Bentworth Mummers (the local amateur theatrical group), other meetings, and as the local polling station during elections. In November 2010, the Bentworth Mummers put on a performance of Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen.[70] Bentworth Cricket Club is just south of the village. The village has five tennis courts, one just to the south of the church and school, one just further to the southeast along the main village street, another at Hall Farm, and two more either side of the Sun Inn along Well Lane approaching the village.[41]

Notable landmarks

Listed buildings in the Parish of Bentworth

The following are the listed buildings in the Parish of Bentworth. The listings are graded:[71][c]

  • Barn 20 Metres South East of Parsonage Farmhouse (II)
  • Barn 45 Metres North East of Weller's Place Farmhouse (II)
  • Barn 55 Metres South West of Summerley (II)
  • Bentworth Blackmeadow (II)
  • Cartshed 35 Metres North of Hall Farmhouse (DL)
  • Chapel Immediately West of Hall Farmhouse (II*)
  • Church of St Mary (II*)
  • Granary 20 Metres North West of Manor Lodge (II)
  • Greensleeves (II)
  • Half Barn 30 Metres North of Weller's Place Farmhouse (II)
  • Hall Farmhouse (II*)
  • Hankin Family Tomb in Churchyard of St Mary's Church (II)
  • Holt Cottage (II)
  • Hooker's Place (II)
  • Hunt's Cottage (II)
  • Ivall's (II)
  • Ivall's Cottage (II)
  • Ivall's Farmhouse (II)
  • Linzey Cottage (II)
  • Manor Lodge (II)
  • Mulberry House (II)
  • Penton Cottage (II)
  • Service Block Attached to Manor Lodge (II)
  • Stable Block 40 Metres North of Weller's Place Farmhouse (II)
  • Strawtop (II)
  • War Memorial in Churchyard of St Mary's Church (II)
  • Wardies (II)
  • Wivelrod Farmhouse (DL)

St Mary's Church and war memorial

Main article: St Mary's Church, Bentworth
North-east view of St Mary's Church
St Mary's Church, from the north-east
The interior of St Mary's Church, showing the stained glass windows and various plaques on the walls
Church interior

The church of St Mary lies at the centre of the village immediately east of the Primary school, located about 150 metres (490 ft) north-east of the Star Inn. There is evidence to suggest that an Anglo-Saxon church was located here and was rebuilt.[15] The present church has a chancel (the space around the altar for the clergy and choir) that is 27 feet (8.2 m) by 17 feet 4 inches (5.28 m), with a north vestry measuring 48 feet 7 inches (14.81 m) by 17 feet (5.2 m).[15] The nave roof and chancel arch date from the late 1100s and the chancel itself was built in about 1260 together with the lower part of the tower.[15][73] In 1608 the church suffered what historian Georgia Smith describes as a "fire happening by lightening from heaven", and some of the earlier structure was damaged.[20]

The present church has flint walls with stone dressings and stepped buttresses, a plinth, and corbelled tracer lights in the nave.[15] The west tower was rebuilt in 1890 and has diagonal buttresses with an elaborate arrangement of steps (some with gabled ornamentation), and at the top is a timber turret, surmounted by a broach spire.[15] A small mural monument at the south-east of the chancel is to Nicholas Holdip, "pastor of the parish" in 1606, and his wife Alicia (Gilbert).[15] The north aisle wall contains another mural tablet dedicated to "Robert Hunt of Hall Place in this Parish", 1671, with the arms, Azure a bend between two water bougets or with three leopards' heads gules on the bend.[15] The crest is a talbot sitting chained to a halberd. There are four bells; the treble and second by Joseph Carter, 1601, the third by Henry Knight, 1615, and the tenor by Joseph Carter, 1607.[15] The church became a Grade II* listed building on 31 July 1963.[73]

Memorials

Ives plaque displayed on a wall in St Mary's Church
Ives plaque inside the church on the north wall

In Elizabethan times, the poet and writer George Wither (1588–1667) was born in Bentworth and baptised in St Mary's church.[9]

In Victorian times, the author George Cecil Ives lived at the post-1832 Bentworth Hall with his mother Emma Gordon-Ives. A memorial to the Ives family is in the churchyard close to the school and has a stone slab for George Ives that reads "George Cecil Ives MA, Author, 1867–1950, Late of Bentworth Hall." The stone slab for his mother reads "The Honourable Emma, wife of J.R. Ives, Daughter of Viscount Maynard Lord Lieutenant of Essex, died March 14, 1896 aged 84." There is also a plaque for members of the Ives family inside the church on the north wall.

The Hankin Family Tomb in the churchyard, was Grade II listed in 2005.[74] It was made in 1816 of Portland stone and is a "rectangular chest tomb on a moulded base, with a two-part cover consisting of a low hipped top slab and lower moulded cornice."[74] The panels at the sides contain various inscriptions including the one on the south panel which reads: "Sacred to the memory of John Hankin who departed this life January 12, 1816, aged 55 years", and the one on the north side which reads: "Sacred to the memory of Elizabeth, widow of John Hankin, who departed this life September 13, 1831, aged 67 years."[74]

War Memorial

The War Memorial in Churchyard of St Mary's Church, made of Doulting limestone, was erected by Messrs. Noon and Company of Guildford in 1920 to commemorate the local men who had lost their lives in the First World War.[75] The decision to build a memorial at the church was decided during a parish meeting on 7 February 1920 and it was formally dedicated on 28 November 1920 by the Reverend A.G. Bather and unveiled by Major General Jeffreys of Burkham, officer in command of the London District.[75] The war memorial has a four-step base, with a "tapering octagonal shaft on a small square plinth block" placed upon it and a Latin cross at the top of the shaft.[75]

The dedication inscription on the top west facing step of the base reads: "Sacred to the men of Bentworth who fell in the Great War 1914–1918 leaving to us who pass where they passed an undying example of faithfulness and willing service."[75] There are also four names inscribed on the top step panel facing south including the name of Lieutenant Colonel Neville Elliot-Cooper of the Royal Fusiliers (whose father lived in Bentworth) and several names on other steps.[75] On the third step facing west, is the inscription: "1939–1945. And in second dedication to the memory of those others who passing later also fell leaving no less glorious name."[75] The memorial was Grade II listed on 8 December 2005.[75]

Manor and Hall

Main article: Bentworth Hall
A view of Hall Place manor in 2012
Hall Place in 2012, a 14th-century medieval hall-house

Hall Place, formerly Bentworth Hall or Manor, is a Grade II* listed medieval hall-house, located south of the road to Medstead just south-west of Tinker's Lane. It was built in the early 14th century with additions in the 17th and 19th centuries.[76] The hall is believed to have been constructed by either the constable of Farnham Castle, William de Aula, or 'John of Bynteworth'.[16][76] The de Aula family are documented as being the first owners, followed by the de Melton family.[16]

The hall has thick flint walls, gabled cross wings,[77] with a Gothic stone arch and 20th century boarded door and two-storey porch.[76] The west wing of the house has a stone-framed upper window and large attached tapered stack.[76] The east wing has sashes dated to the early 19th century.[76] The old fireplace remains in the north, facing room with it roll moulding and steeply pitched head.[16] A chapel in the grounds was part of the house complex and was added soon after building in 1330 under the request of Matilda de Aula.[16] The later history of Bentworth Hall or Manor and its estate cannot be detached from the main history of the manor and parish of Bentworth, and is documented in a section above.

The south side of Bentworth Hall as it appeared in 1905
The south side of Bentworth Hall in 1905

In 1832, the Bentworth Hall estate was sold to Roger Staples Horman Fisher. Almost immediately he started building the present Bentworth Hall.[20] The post-1832 Bentworth Hall is located approximately one mile south of the old hall at, some 500 metres (1,600 ft) east of hamlet of Holt End at the end of a 800 metres (870 yd) private drive. Bentworth Hall is now split into five private dwellings, the house itself into three and the old stable block into two.[78]

Gaston Grange

Gaston Grange is west of the Bentworth-Medstead road towards Upper Wield, south of Gaston Wood. This area was part of the Bentworth Hall estate and is now privately owned. In the late 19th century, Emma Gordon-Ives owned Bentworth Hall and in 1890[79] her son Colonel Gordon Maynard Gordon-Ives built Gaston Grange 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) to the east of Bentworth Hall. In 1914, his son Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Gordon lived in Gaston Grange. He served in the First World War and was also a politician dealing with Northern Ireland matters, dying in July 1923.[80] After his death, the Bentworth Hall Estate was offered for sale by Messrs John D Wood & Co. and at this time consisted of 479 acres (194 ha). The house once had a grand ballroom which was removed in the 1920s.[79] The white painted house has masonry walls, a timber pitched roof with what is likely Welsh blue grey slate, and a wooden staircase made by the Devon-based firm Dart & Francis.[79] Gaston Grange has been extensively renovated in recent times.[79]

Mulberry House

A south-side view of the former rectory, Mulberry House
Mulberry House, the former rectory

Mulberry House is a late Georgian building, dated to 1818. It served as Bentworth's former rectory and became a Grade II listed building on 31 July 1985.[81] The house has stucco walls, with painted brickwork and slate roof.[81] It is a square two-storey building, with a symmetrical front consisting of three windows, a doric columned porch, half-glazed doors and a low-pitched hipped roof, with a raised lead flat in the centre.[81] The present rectory is a more modern house on the other side of the main road through the village, opposite Mulberry House.

Ivalls and Holt Cottages

Ivall's Cottage in circa 1900

Ivall's Cottage, a Grade II listed building since 1985, is located opposite the post box near the village green. The cottage was originally built during the 16th century, with late 18th century and early 19th century additions and 20th century extensions at the sides.[82] The cottage is built from red brick and flint in Flemish bond, with cambered openings on the ground floor with a part-thatched, part-tiled roof.[82] The roof is hipped at the west end, with lower eaves at the rear intercepted by eyebrow dormers.[82]

Ivall's Farm House is on the south side of the road to Medstead near the Star Inn. It is a timber framed and cruck-built (A-frame) tiled roof building with a lobby entrance, previously a farmhouse, originally built around 1600.[83] The south end dates to the 18th century.[83] The tiled roof, with four small gabled dormers, half-hipped at the north west angle, was restored in the late 20th century.[83] It became a Grade II listed building on 31 July 1963.[83]

Holt Cottage is a small thatched cottage on the road to Medstead and was built in 1503. A Grade II listed building since 31 May 1985, much of the current building dates to the 17th and early 19th centuries.[84] The roof is half-hipped at the south end and hipped at the north, with painted brickwork in monk bond.[84]

Public houses

Near the centre of the village are two public houses: the Star Inn, opposite the village green,[85] and the Sun Inn, which sits at the top of Sun Hill, on the road to Alton.[14][86] The Star Inn was built by Giles Willis in 1841 and is just south of the church close to the road to Medstead. It is the venue for the annual Bentworth Blues Festival, held every August.[87] The Sun Inn was first licensed in 1838, the building previously being part of the Bentworth Manor estate.[88]

There was also a third pub in the village called the Moon Inn (also known as the Half Moon)[20] just north of the church on Drury Lane. The Moon Inn was first licensed in 1841, with the value being listed as £19.[89] The Moon Inn was destroyed in a fire in 1951 along with the children's home that housed children who were evacuated from London during the Second World War. No fatalities were recorded as a result of the fire.[35]

Transport

Bentworth's railway station as it appeared in 1963, on the crossroads of the A339 between Bentworth and Lasham
Bentworth's railway station as it appeared in 1963
Main article: Bentworth and Lasham railway station

The nearest railway station is 3.6 miles (5.8 km) east of the village, at Alton. Between 1901 and 1932 Bentworth and Lasham station was available to passenger traffic on the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway. It was located just north of the present A339 Alton-Basingstoke road between Bentworth and Lasham and was designed by John Wallis Titt.[90] The station opened on 1 June 1901 and closed during the First World War on 1 January 1917 because it was a minor line and difficult to keep running at the peak of the war.[91] It was reopened on 18 August 1924, and stayed open until 1932 when the station was closed to passengers, being used for goods until its final closure in June 1936.[91] The main criticism of the Basingstoke & Alton Light Railway was that it was a small rail link between the two towns, with both having better rail connections elsewhere. Alton was on the line from London Waterloo to Winchester, and Basingstoke is on the main line from Waterloo to Salisbury.[92]

In the 1960s, the connection between Alton and Winchester was broken because of railway closures and the construction of the M3 motorway east of Winchester.[93] As of 2015, the rail line continues west of Alton to Alresford as the "Watercress Line" or Mid Hants Railway, running historic steam engines.[94] The level crossing on Lasham Hill north of the station appeared in the 1929 film The Wrecker and the line was also used in the 1937 film Oh, Mr Porter!.[95] The small station waiting room was demolished in 2003.

Notable people

A portrait of gay rights campaigner George Cecil Ives in circa 1900
George Cecil Ives, c. 1900

In the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, the poet and satirist George Wither (1588–1667) was born in Bentworth.[96] He was baptised in the church of St Mary and later, supporting Oliver Cromwell's cause during the English Civil War, sold land in the parish to raise a troop of horses for the Roundhead (anti-Royalist) cause.[1][97] The Wither family lived in Bentworth until the 17th century.

In his earlier life, George Cecil Ives (1867–1950), an author, criminologist and gay rights campaigner, lived at the post-1832 Bentworth Hall with his mother, Emma Gordon-Ives. The Ives family are buried in Bentworth churchyard.[22]

Notes

  1. ^ A third, the Moon Inn, was destroyed in 1952.
  2. ^ See the section on "Memorials" for a photo of the Gordon-Ives family plaque inside Bentworth Church on the north wall).
  3. ^ There are three types of listed status for buildings in England and Wales:
    • Grade I: buildings of exceptional interest.
    • Grade II*: particularly important buildings of more than special interest.
    • Grade II: buildings that are of special interest, warranting every effort to preserve them.[72]

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