Unlike a lot of the buildings or areas we’ve looked at so far, I’ve got very little history to share about today’s subject – the road known locally as ‘Manor View’. I say known locally for a reason – despite several efforts to get signage put up to reflect the name, the local council have always refused, claiming that the name is unofficial – preferring to stick with Brimpton Road. As far as I can tell, the stretch known as…
While the recent closure of the Three Horseshoes pub might lead you to believe it was the only pub in Brimpton, there have actually been a number over the years. We’ve already covered the Pineapple in Brimpton Common, but over on Hyde End Lane they also used to have their own public house, in the shape of the Horse and Jockey. As the pub has now been converted to a residential home, it’s hard to find out much about its…
Like a number of other old buildings in the village (including the Old Post Office), Close Cottage was once the home to Brimpton’s Postal Service. In fact, it was the very first – home to the Penny Post from 1847, run by villager Stephen Stair (a local shoemaker). According to the ‘Brimpton Story’, letters arrived from Newbury at 9am and were dispatched around the area at 4pm. The Post Office continued to operate from Close Cottage for nearly 70 years…
Seemingly one of the most well-documented buildings in the village (see below for several examples), the building known now as ‘The Old Post Office’ was – as the name suggests – one of many buildings in the village that once served as the Post Office. In this case, from around the 1930s – though it also served as a village shop (called ‘The Old Post Office Stores’) in the 1960s and beyond. Before serving as the Post Office / Village…
Situated on the southern boundary of Brimpton Common, The Pineapple Inn was another of the village’s public houses for a time. Dating as far back as the seventeenth century (though possibly earlier) it remains today very much as it always has – though it is no longer in use as a pub. The name supposedly refers to the fruit of the pine tree – aka the pine cone (rather than the more tropical version), of which there are many in…
According to the writers of the ‘Brimpton Story’ book, the house known as ‘Brimpton Lodge’ (offset from Wasing Lane, on the way out of the village) is at least two hundred years old, but possibly a lot older. The oldest section of the building was originally a pair of cottages, which were merged and expanded by subsequent owners – adding on doors, windows, staircases and a number of roof alterations. Oddly, one particular ‘upgrade’ saw the addition of a large…