Leckhampstead, Berkshire
Historical Description
Leckhampstead, a village and an ecclesiastical parish formed in 1882 out of the civil parish of Chieveley, Berkshire. The village is 3 miles NW of Chieveley village, and 7½ NNW of Newbury station on the G.W.R. Post town and money order office, Chieveley; telegraph office, East Ilsey. Population of parish, 302. The manor was given by Edward II. to Piers Gaveston. The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of Oxford; net value, £83. Patron, the Vicar of Chieveley. The old church stood about a mile from the village. The new church stands in the centre of the village, is a building of flint and brick in the Gothic style, consists of nave, S aisle, and chancel, with a bell-turret, and contains wood-work and an ancient font taken from the old church. Hill Green and Thicket are places within this parish.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Berkshire | |
| Civil parish | Chieveley | |
| Hundred | Faircross | |
| Poor Law union | Newbury |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Churches
Church of England
St. James (parish church)
The church of St. James, built in 1860 by the Rev. J. E. Robinson M.A. vicar of Chieveley, 1837-72, a former incumbent, at a cost of £1,745, and situated in the centre of the village, is an edifice of brick and flint, with stone mullioned windows, in the Gothic style, from designs by Mr. S. S. Teulon, architect, of London, consisting of chancel, nave of four bays, south aisle, south porch and a central turret containing one bell: the east window is stained: some wood work at the east end of the nave and the south porch are mainly composed of portions of the ancient oak screen of the former church, which stood a mile from the village, and the pulpit is Jacobean; the ancient font has been retained: there are 250 sittings: attached to the church is a burial ground.
Methodist
Primitive Methodist Chapel, Thicket
There is a Primitive Methodist chapel at Thicket, erected about 1830 and rebuilt in 1874.
Wesleyan Chapel
There is a Wesleyan chapel here, built in 1860.
Civil Registration
Leckhampstead was in Hungerford Registration District from 1837 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Leckhampstead from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Leckhampstead)
- Kelly's Directory of Berkshire, 1915
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Berkshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Leckhampstead are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Berkshire papers online:
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitations of Berkshire 1532, 1566, and 1665-6 is available online.