West Hendred, Berkshire
Historical Description
Hendred, West or Little, a parish in Berks, on a small affluent of the river Thames, which falls into the river near Monkey Island, 8 miles SW by S from Steventon station on the G.W.R., and 8½ E from Wantage. It includes the tith-ings of East Ginge and Sparshold Court, and it has a post office under Steventon (R.S.O.); money order and telegraph office. East Hendred. Acreage, 2002; population, 344. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford; net yearly value, £300. Patron, Corpus Christi College, Oxford. The church is a very ancient building, consisting of chancel, nave of three bays, aisles, S porch, and western tower.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Berkshire | |
| Ecclesiastical parish | West Hendred Holy Trinity | |
| Hundred | Wantage | |
| Poor Law union | Wantage |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The Phillimore transcript of Marriages at West Hendred 1558-1837, Berkshire is available to browse online.
The registers date from the year 1578, and contain several instances of collections made for the Protestants in Poland and elsewhere, for the redemption of captives taken by the Turks, and for the sufferers by the Great Fire of London in 1666.
Churches
Church of England
Holy Trinity (parish church)
The church of Holy Trinity is a very ancient building, some portions of which are of Norman date; it consists of chancel, restored in 1881, nave of three bays, aisles, south porch and a western tower containing 6 bells; the font is octagonal and bears date 1630; there are two stained windows to the Reeves family and some fine and ancient oak fittings: the church has 150 sittings.
Methodist
Wesleyan Chapel
There is a small Wesleyan chapel.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
West Hendred was in Wantage Registration District from 1837 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for West Hendred from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Hendred, West (Holy Trinity))
- Kelly's Directory of Berkshire, 1899
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Berkshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of West Hendred 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.