Before I decided to make this website, my original aim was to publish a collection of old photos from around the village, accompanied by a modern update taken recently. Whilst that plan got put to one side for various reasons (most notably: the complexity of copyright!) I came up with the idea of this website, as a way to share some of these photos and some accompanying history that I had collected. Many of the buildings and properties I’ve featured…
Most of what I’ve been able to find out about Brimpton Mill has been thanks to the village’s millenium celebrationg book, ‘The Brimpton Story’ – so if you want more detail on the mill, that’s probably the best place to start your research. There has been a mill on or near the site of the current building since 1086, though very few records of this incarnation remain. What we do know is that even in these early days, the mill…
Situated at the top of Hyde End Lane, in the western-most part of the Parish, Little Park House is a building with a colourful history. Built back in 1869 by the Shuter family, it sits on land that was originally a part of the massive Crookham Manor Estate. According to the Brimpton Story, it is an unremarkable house from an architectural point of view, built in a fairly common Victorian style. The house originally had its own farm and a…
While it’s far from the oldest building in the village, having been built in 1909, the Brimpton Village Hall is still an important fixture of village life. It plays host to various events, classes, parties and more, and with the closure of all the pubs near the village it’s even more important today than it ever has been. At just 113 years old, there’s not a huge amount of history to share about the hall. We know that it was…
Undoubtedly one of the oldest and most historically-significant buildings in the parish, St Leonard’s Chapel dates back to at least the 12th century. According to Heritage Gateway, the chapel (both a Scheduled Monument and a Grade II* listed building) is constructed of coursed flint with stone dressings and has a tiled roof. There are differing accounts of it’s origin, but many historians believe it to be the church of Shalford Manor, as mentioned by the Domesday Survey – despite Shalford…
One of the most prominent and impressive buildings along Hyde End Lane, Hyde End House was build in 1807 and has a long and chequered history. It has been a Grade II listed building since 1952, and was built by a builder from Newbury named Mr Edge. According to research collected by David Hyde (including from our own ‘Brimpton Story’), the existing building replaced an old one that was destroyed in a fire – though some original parts remain, including…
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…