Ownham is a hamlet in

Berkshire, England 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 ...

, and part of the

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 ...

of Boxford (where according to the Grid Ref at the 2011 Census the majority of the hamlet's population was included). The settlement lies south of the

M4 motorway The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is a motorway in the United Kingdom running from west London to southwest Wales. The English section to the Severn Bridge was constructed between 1961 and 1971; the Welsh element was largely ...

, and is located approximately north-west of Newbury. Located at the top of a hill above Boxford, the hamlet has views over the Lambourn Valley.

Archaeology

A Roman road

Ermin Street Ermin Street or Ermin Way was a Roman road in Britain. It linked Glevum (Gloucester) and Corinium (Cirencester) to Calleva (Silchester). At Glevum, it connected to the road to Isca (Caerleon), the legionary base in southeast Wales. At Corinium ...

that linked

Corinium Dobunnorum Corinium Dobunnorum was the Romano-British settlement at Cirencester in the present-day English county of Gloucestershire. Its 2nd-century walls enclosed the second-largest area of a city in Roman Britain. It was the tribal capital of the Dobun ...

(Cirencester) and

Calleva Atrebatum Calleva Atrebatum ("Calleva of the Atrebates") was an Iron Age oppidum, the capital of the Atrebates tribe. It then became a walled town in the Roman province of Britannia, at a major crossroads of the roads of southern Britain. The modern villa ...

(Silchester) ran from southeast to northwest through Ownham. It is no longer accessible but is visible from

aerial archaeology Aerial archaeology is the study of archaeological remains by examining them from a higher altitude. In present day, this is usually achieved by satellite images or through the use of drones. Details Aerial Archaeology involves interpretation an ...

near William's Copse. Early man was drawn to settle here because of the clear water supply and river ford in Boxford. Neolithic flints have been found in Ownham.

Social and economic history

Ownham (which has seven dwellings) is formed by a triangle of three historic farmhouses: Ownham Farm (also known as Upper Farm), Old Farm (also known as Ownham Old Farmhouse) and Lower Farm. Other notable historic buildings are a farm tenant's thatched cottage, a chapel of ease and a merchant house. All buildings are now residential. Two of the buildings in Ownham are Grade II listed. The road through Ownham does not have a name and most dwelling addresses are three digit numbers corresponding to historic farm plot numbers ("xxx Ownham"). Much of the surrounding farmland is part of Sir Richard Sutton's Settled Estates. The 6,500-acre property is given over to a variety of arable crops including wheat, barley, peas and beans, as well as a beef herd and sheep. The area around Ownham has a higher proportion of forestry than elsewhere in the Parish. On 12 June 2016 a civic street ceremony and party took place in Ownham to celebrate the Queen's 90th birthday.

Transport

Ownham lies on an unnamed road between Coombesbury Lane and Lambourn Road with a short no through road spur. The unnamed road was resurfaced in August 2013 by West Berkshire council. Before the resurfacing the unnamed road was one continuous road with the spur giving right of way. At the end of the works road markings were applied that made the spur and the lower part of the unnamed road one continuous road. The upper part of the unnamed road which runs from Coombesbury Lane now gives right of way at the spur. The change in road layout is likely to be a mistake as no record of a planned change exists. Ownham has two footpaths that historically were functional rights of way for the farming community. One footpath (Boxford Parish Path 14) links Ownham to the Wickham Heath bus stop for route 4 Newbury to Lambourn. The other footpath (Boxford Parish Path 17) runs from the heart of Ownham to an isolated section of the B4000.

References

{{West Berkshire Hamlets in Berkshire West Berkshire District