Hendred, East (St. Augustine)

HENDRED, EAST (St. Augustine), a parish, in the union, and partly in the hundred, of Wantage, and partly in the hundred of Reading, county of Berks, 7 miles (S. W. by S.) from Abingdon; containing 858 inhabitants. The parish comprises 2900 acres, the soil of which is generally a calcareous marl, varying in different parts in its proportions of chalk and clay; the surface is chiefly level, and the low lands are watered by a brook that flows into the river Isis, near Appleford. There are several manors in the parish; one of them belongs to the crown, and the stewardship of it constitutes one of the nominal offices given for the purpose of vacating a seat in the house of commons. The village contains some good houses. A fair is held on the 11th of October. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £15. 5. 2½., and in the gift of the Bishop of Salisbury: certain impropriate tithes have been commuted for £136. 8. 4., and the incumbent's for £64. 6.; the glebe comprises 53 acres. There is a place of worship for Roman Catholics. Part of an ancient chapel belonging to the monks of Sheen has been converted into a dovecote. Here are vestiges of a Roman road; and a barrow on the ridgeway was opened in 1838, but nothing found of any consequence. Archbishop Chicheley was rector of the parish.