Ashmore Green is a small

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

, England. It is situated just to the west of the village of

Cold Ash Cold Ash is a village and civil parish in West Berkshire centred from Thatcham and northeast of Newbury. Geography The village of Cold Ash is situated at about above sea level, along the top of a ridge, marked by Hermitage Road and The Ridge ...

and to the north of

Thatcham Thatcham is an historic market town and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire, centred 3 miles (5 km) east of Newbury, 14 miles (24 km) west of Reading and 54 miles (87 km) west of London. Geography Thatcham straddles t ...

in the

West Berkshire West Berkshire is a local government district in Berkshire, England, administered from Newbury by West Berkshire Council. History The district of Newbury was formed on 1 April 1974, as a merger of the borough of Newbury, Bradfield Rural Distric ...

district.

Etymology

The name Ashmore Green is probably of

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

origin, meaning "Ash Tree covered Moor". The

ash tree ''Fraxinus'' (), commonly called ash, is a genus of flowering plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae. It contains 45–65 species of usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous, though a number of subtropical species are evergree ...

held significance for the Saxons due to the mythical

Yggdrasil Yggdrasil (from Old Norse ), in Norse cosmology, is an immense and central sacred tree. Around it exists all else, including the Nine Worlds. Yggdrasil is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'' compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional s ...

and the ash tree being sacred to the god

Wōden Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victory, ...

. Ash trees are common in

, as is reflected in other settlement names such as nearby Cold Ash and Ashampstead, as well as

Ashford Hill Ashford Hill is a village in Basingstoke and Deane, Hampshire, England. Governance The village of Ashford Hill is part of the civil parish of Ashford Hill with Headley, and is part of the Kingsclere ward of Basingstoke and Deane borough council. ...

and

Ashmansworth Ashmansworth is a village and civil parish in the Basingstoke and Deane district of the English county of Hampshire. Geography The village is about south west of Newbury in Berkshire, and north east from Andover in Hampshire, just south west ...

in bordering

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

and Ashbury in

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

History

Ashmore Green is first mentioned in a

deed In common law, a deed is any legal instrument in writing which passes, affirms or confirms an interest, right, or property and that is signed, attested, delivered, and in some jurisdictions, sealed. It is commonly associated with transferring ...

in 1549 from

Jack O'Newbury "Jack of Newbury" or John Winchcombe, also known as John Smallwood (c. 1489 −1557) was a leading English clothier from Newbury in Berkshire. When Tudor cloth-making was booming, and woollen cloth dominated English exports, John Winchcombe wa ...

to his son Henry. It is believed the

Parliamentary Army The New Model Army was a standing army formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians during the First English Civil War, then disbanded after the Stuart Restoration in 1660. It differed from other armies employed in the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Thr ...

stayed in fields near Ashmore Green during the

Second Battle of Newbury The Second Battle of Newbury was a battle of the First English Civil War fought on 27 October 1644, in Speen, adjoining Newbury in Berkshire. The battle was fought close to the site of the First Battle of Newbury, which took place in la ...

in 1644. Ashmore Green was first noted on a map in 1761 spelled "Ashmoor Green". The area was largely

moorland Moorland or moor is a type of habitat found in upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and montane grasslands and shrublands biomes, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils. Moorland, nowadays, generally ...

and heath until it began to be populated in the 1800s. In 1886, a

baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

was built in the centre of Ashmore Green, on Stoney Lane. It closed in the 1960s. In 1894, Ashmore Green became part of the Cold Ash

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

. The population of the Ashmore Green and Cold Ash area nearly doubled between 1900 and 1939, with a major expansion after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The local pub, The Sun in the Wood, built around 1900, closed in 2018.

Nearby Settlements

* Newbury *

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

Shaw Shaw may refer to: Places Australia *Shaw, Queensland Canada *Shaw Street, a street in Toronto England *Shaw, Berkshire, a village *Shaw, Greater Manchester, a location in the parish of Shaw and Crompton *Shaw, Swindon, a List of United Kingdom ...

Curridge Curridge is a village in the civil parish of Chieveley in the English county of Berkshire. Geography Curridge is located in the south-east of the parish, adjoining Hermitage. The chief population areas are Curridge village, Longlane and Denis ...

References

External links

Hamlets in Berkshire West Berkshire District Thatcham {{Berkshire-geo-stub