Hermitage is a village and civil parish, near Newbury, in the English county of

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 ...

. The civil parish is made up of a number of settlements: Hermitage village, Little Hungerford and Wellhouse.

Location

The village is focused residentially on the B4009, north east of Newbury in the heart of the

North Wessex Downs The North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is located in the English counties of Berkshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire. The name ''North Wessex Downs'' is not a traditional one, the area covered being better kno ...

, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is thus surrounded by protected woodlands and undulating fields providing a few elevated viewpoints.

History

On Oare Common are two curvilinear ditched enclosures which are probably of

prehistoric Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...

date, although it has also been suggested that they may represent a

motte and bailey A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or Bailey (castle), bailey, surrounded by a protective Rampart (fortification ...

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

. The hill fort of Grimsbury Castle is in Grimsbury Wood. A folly stands at its centre. A 2nd and 3rd century Roman villa of some pretensions was discovered at Wellhouse in the Victorian era. Between 1917 and 1918

D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...

lived in Hermitage, at Chapel Farm Cottage in Chapel Lane. His

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts ...

''The Fox'' is set in the area, with Bailey Farm based on Grimsby Farm. Three early 21st century housing areas were completed in the north and south. These include Forest Edge and Hermitage Green.

Amenities

It has a general store and post office, a church (

Holy Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...

) and two public houses, The Fox and The White Horse of Hermitage, and a garden centre. The village primary school feeds into the Downs School. The area is predominantly agricultural and the main local employers are the village school, village pre-school, the garden centre and a small light industrial unit housing several small businesses. Holy Trinity church dates from 1839, and was funded by local donations, under the patronage of the Marquess of Downshire who had a residence at Easthampstead Park near

Bracknell Bracknell () is a large town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, the westernmost area within the Greater London Built-up Area, Greater London Urban Area and the administrative centre of the Bracknell Forest, Borough of Bracknell Forest. It l ...

, from Hermitage. The

Dowager Queen Adelaide , house = Saxe-Meiningen , father = Georg I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen , mother = Princess Louise Eleonore of Hohenlohe-Langenburg , birth_date = , birth_place = Meiningen, Saxe-Meiningen, Holy Rom ...

, widow of the late King William IV, gave the communion plate.

Transport

Access to the M4, which links London to Bristol and South Wales, is within and it passes through the edge of the parish. The A34, a major north–south road, also passes through the edge of the parish. From 1882 until the 1960s the village was served by

Hermitage railway station Hermitage railway station was a railway station on the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway which served the villages of Hermitage and Oare in Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; ab ...

, on the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway. As of July 2022, Hermitage is served by buses 6 and 6A from Newbury.

Demography

References

External links

Hermitage and Hermitage Parish Council Website
{{authority control Villages in Berkshire West Berkshire District Civil parishes in Berkshire