Crookham Village is located south-west of

Fleet Fleet may refer to: Vehicles *Fishing fleet *Naval fleet *Fleet vehicles, a pool of motor vehicles *Fleet Aircraft, the aircraft manufacturing company Places Canada *Fleet, Alberta, Canada, a hamlet England * The Fleet Lagoon, at Chesil Beach, ...

, in northeast

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 ...

, England and lies within the

Hart District Hart is a local government district in Hampshire, England, named after the River Hart. Its council is based in Fleet. It was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, as a merger of the urban district of Fleet, and the Hartley ...

History

Crookham (formerly Crokeham) dates back at least as far as the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

, although Crookham Village and

Church Crookham Church Crookham is a large suburban village and civil parish, contiguous with the town of Fleet, in northeast Hampshire, England. It is west-southwest of London. Formerly a separate village, it figures as a southern suburb of Fleet. History ...

did not become separate entities until the founding of the Christ Church in 1840. It is this church for which Church Crookham is named. Whilst Church Crookham has become largely subsumed in the urban

dormitory town A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

of Fleet, Crookham Village lies across the

Basingstoke Canal The Basingstoke Canal is an English canal, completed in 1794, built to connect Basingstoke with the River Thames at Weybridge via the Wey Navigation. From Basingstoke, the canal passes through or near Greywell, North Warnborough, Odiham, Dogm ...

from its neighbour, in a more rural setting. The village centre has evolved around scattered ancient cottages, many of which are timber-framed. Agriculture and horticulture are important industries, and

hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whi ...

were grown and kiln-dried in the parish until 1974. Crookham was formerly noted for brick making and potteries which produced coarse red ware of the flower-pot-type. A traditional

Mummers play Mummers' plays are folk plays performed by troupes of amateur actors, traditionally all male, known as mummers or guisers (also by local names such as ''rhymers'', ''pace-eggers'', ''soulers'', ''tipteerers'', ''wrenboys'', and ''galoshins''). ...

is performed outside two of the public houses and on the

village green A village green is a commons, common open area within a village or other settlement. Historically, a village green was common pasture, grassland with a pond for watering cattle and other stock, often at the edge of a rural settlement, used for ...

each

Boxing Day Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide (26 December). Though it originated as a holiday to give gifts to the poor, today Boxing Day is primarily known as a shopping holiday. It ...

Notes of Interest

The

passes through Crookham Village, and a wharf once existed at the historic former Chequers

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

, now rebuilt and renamed The Exchequer. Here, timber was loaded and coal unloaded. A picnic area is now at the site, and the

towpath A towpath is a road or trail on the bank of a river, canal, or other inland waterway. The purpose of a towpath is to allow a land vehicle, beasts of burden, or a team of human pullers to tow a boat, often a barge. This mode of transport ...

provides is used by walkers. Another local pub, the Fox and Hounds (now reckoned to be in Church Crookham or Fleet), was host to the Fleet

Folk club A folk club is a regular event, permanent venue, or section of a venue devoted to folk music and traditional music. Folk clubs were primarily an urban phenomenon of 1960s and 1970s Great Britain and Ireland, and vital to the second British folk r ...

from the 1960s until 2001 when redevelopment work at the pub removed the venue. The club was run independently of the pub management in a separate function room and gained a reputation for featuring high quality musicians in the tiny room, often early appearances by artists later to become famous. The Spice Merchant (formerly the Black Horse) is the village's other pub. One of the old houses to the south-west of the village is claimed to have been formerly King Henry VIII's holiday home, where he stayed during the hunting season to hunt deer (the namesake of the district of Hart). Between 1963 and 1965, Crookham was home to future US astronaut

Al Worden Alfred Merrill Worden (February 7, 1932 – March 18, 2020) was an American test pilot, engineer and NASA astronaut who was the command module pilot for the Apollo 15 lunar mission in 1971. One of only 24 people to have flown to the ...

while he served on secondment to the Empire Test Pilot School at nearby

Farnborough Farnborough may refer to: Australia * Farnborough, Queensland, a locality in the Shire of Livingstone United Kingdom * Farnborough, Hampshire, a town in the Rushmoor district of Hampshire, England ** Farnborough (Main) railway station, a railw ...

. In 1971 he became one of only 24 men to have flown to the moon when he served as Command Module Pilot of

Apollo 15 Apollo 15 (July 26August 7, 1971) was the ninth crewed mission in the United States' Apollo program and the fourth to Moon landing, land on the Moon. It was the first List of Apollo missions#Alphabetical mission types, J mission, with a ...

Twin towns

Crookham Village is twinned with Lévignen, France.Hart District Council's guide to Hart
Groups of families from one town cross the Channel for weekend stays with families from the other, alternating between visiting and hosting each year.

References

External links

Crookham Village Parish Council

The Exchequer Public House

Fleet & Crookham Environment Is Threatened
{{authority control Villages in Hampshire

Hart Hart often refers to: * Hart (deer) Hart may also refer to: Organizations * Hart Racing Engines, a former Formula One engine manufacturer * Hart Skis, US ski manufacturer * Hart Stores, a Canadian chain of department stores * Hart's Reptile W ...

History

Notes of Interest

Twin towns

References

Further reading

External links