Beech Hill, Berkshire

Beech Hill
St.Mary the Virgin Church
Beech Hill Location within Berkshire
Area	4.70 km2 (1.81 sq mi)
Population	294 (2011 census)
• Density	63/km2 (160/sq mi)
OS grid reference	SU696644
Civil parish	Beech Hill
Unitary authority	West Berkshire
Ceremonial county	Berkshire
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	READING
Postcode district	RG7
Dialling code	0118
Police	Thames Valley
Fire	Royal Berkshire
Ambulance	South Central

Beech Hill is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. It is in the south east of the West Berkshire district (a unitary authority) and bounds Hampshire and Wokingham district. The Foudry Brook, a tributary of the Kennet, and the Reading to Basingstoke Line, run through the north of the parish.

Local government

Beech Hill was originally part of the parish of Stratfield Saye, a cross-county-border parish, most of which was in Hampshire. The Berkshire part became a civil parish in its own right in 1894. In the 16th century, it was part of the hundred of Theale, but was later transferred to the hundred of Reading which effectively ceased to function after 1886. By 1875, Beech Hill had become part of the Bradfield rural sanitary district which, in 1894, became the Bradfield Rural District. Since 1974, it has been part of the district of Newbury, now called West Berkshire.

Geography

Beech Hill has a site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) just to the south east of the village, called Stanford End Mill and River Loddon

History

The Camlet Way - the Roman Road which runs south-west from Verulamium (St. Albans) - joins the Devil's Highway at Fair Cross on Beech Hill's southern border and continues on westward to Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester). Beech Hill is a Norman name derived from the family of De La Beche, usually resident at Aldworth, but who also had a home at Beaumys Castle, just over the parish boundary in Swallowfield. On the Beech Hill side is 'The Priory', a 17th-century house on the site of Stratfield Saye Priory founded on the site of an old hermitage in 1170. It only lasted 200 years. Beech Hill House, of 1720, stands on the eastern side of the village and Trunkwell House on the west. Originally the Tudor home of the Noyes family, the current country house at Trunkwell was built in 1878 for a successful local business family and is now a well-known restaurant and conference venue. It is associated with the local pub, The Elm Tree Inn. The parish church (CofE) was built in 1867.

Demography

2011 Published Statistics: Population, home ownership and extracts from Physical Environment, surveyed in 2005

Output area	Homes owned outright	Owned with a loan	Socially rented	Privately rented	Other	km² roads	km² water	km² domestic gardens	Usual residents	km²
Civil parish	48	41	15	22	1	0.1	0.02	0.1	294	4.70

See also

• Nearby towns: Reading
• Nearby villages: Stratfield Mortimer, Spencers Wood, Swallowfield
• List of civil parishes in Berkshire

External links

• Beech Hill Village Web Site
• Royal Berkshire History: Beech Hill
• Beech Hill Memorial Hall Web Site
• The Elm Tree Web Site