East Hendred

East Hendred is an attractive picturesque village lying at the foot of the Berkshire Downs to the south of the A417 west of Harwell. Its name is derived from the Anglo-Saxon ‘Hennerithe’ or ‘rill of the waterhens’.

East Hendred has many old cruck cottages dating from the 14th or 15th century and the house which is now shop and post office is considered to be one of the finest examples of early Tudor architecture. It also has many attractive 16th and 17th century buildings and some remaining thatched cob walls.

Unusually it has two parish churches - the CoE parish church of St. Augustine of Canterbury, and the Roman Catholic parish church of St. Mary's.

St Augustine's Church has an unusal faceless and handless clock which is housed in an impressive tower dating from 1450. The clock is believed to date from 1525 as that is the date stamped on its iron frame together with the inscription 'John Seymour Wantage', who is assumed to be its maker. The clock uses the church bells to call out the time every quarter of an hour and every third hour the village is treated to the hymn tune 'Angel's Song' played by the clock on the church's six bells. Inside the church there is the C13 nave and a Crusader lectern thought to be unique.

The Victorian-Gothic Roman Catholic church of St Mary's was built in 1858.

In what would have been the centre of the medieval village stands the chapel of Jesus of Bethlehem. This was built in C15 by the Carthusian monks of Sheen. It is considered to be an unusual design and attached is the priest’s cottage. It now houses a small museum. Another interesting medieval feature is the little Saxon chapel of St Amand which is incorporated into Hendred House .

On the northern edge of the village are two other relatively unusual gastronomic features - a fish farm and a vineyard. To the south of the village on Cuckhamsley Hill adjacent to a convenient carpark on the Ridgeway national trail is Scutchamer Knob which is identified on the Ordnance Survey map as a tumulus. Cuckhamsley Hill is reached by a metalled road from the village called, at least at the village end, Newbury Road.

For many years East Hendred has been associated with racing stables and racehorses going to and from the gallops on the downs are a common sight.