Hermitage is a village and

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 authorit ...

, near Newbury, in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

county of Berkshire. 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, an

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of ...

. 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 date, although it has also been suggested that they may represent a motte and bailey castle. The

hill fort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...

Grimsbury Castle Grimsbury Castle is an Iron Age "multiple enclosure" Hill Fort comprising a large circular encampment situated on a high hill. It is situated within ''Grimsbury Wood'', between Cold Ash and Hermitage, in the county of Berkshire. History The s ...

is in Grimsbury Wood. A

folly In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings. Eighteenth-cent ...

stands at its centre. A 2nd and 3rd century

Roman villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Typology and distribution Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) distinguished two kinds of villas n ...

of some pretensions was discovered at Wellhouse in the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

. 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 ''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 Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

( Holy Trinity) and two public houses, The Fox and The White Horse of Hermitage, and a garden centre. The village

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

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 Marquess of Downshire is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1789 for Wills Hill, 1st Earl of Hillsborough, a former Secretary of State. Hill had already been created Earl of Hillsborough and Viscount Kilwarlin of County Down ...

who had a residence at

Easthampstead Park Easthampstead Park is a Victorian mansion in the civil parish of Bracknell in the English county of Berkshire. It is now a conference centre. Location Since the demise of Easthampstead parish, the house has been located in the western extreme ...

near Bracknell, 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 R ...

, widow of the late King

William IV William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded h ...

, gave the communion plate.

Transport

Access to the M4, which links London to

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

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, on the

Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway The Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway (DN&SR) was a cross-country railway running north–south between Didcot, Newbury and Winchester. Its promoters intended an independent route to Southampton and envisaged heavy traffic from the Midl ...

. 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