Stratfield Saye is a small 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the Borough of Basingstoke and Deane and the English county of

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

. The parish includes the hamlets of West End Green, Fair Oak Green and Fair Cross. In 2021 the parish had a population of 285.

Etymology

The name means 'Street-Field of the Saye family'. The street was the Devil's Highway, the

Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

to Calleva Atrebatum (

Silchester Silchester is a village and civil parish about north of Basingstoke in Hampshire. It is adjacent to the county boundary with Berkshire and about south-west of Reading. Silchester is most notable for the archaeological site and Roman town of ...

) which forms the northern parish boundary. Some older sources use the alternative spelling Strathfieldsaye, Stratford Saye, and Stratford Sea. Stratfield Saye House was built around 1630 as the Pitt family home, from fortunes made by Thomas "Diamond" Pitt. In the late 18th century the family were closely related to the Prime Ministers,

William Pitt the Elder William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham (15 November 170811 May 1778) was a British Whig statesman who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1766 to 1768. Historians call him "Chatham" or "Pitt the Elder" to distinguish him from his son ...

and

William Pitt the Younger William Pitt (28 May 1759 – 23 January 1806) was a British statesman who served as the last prime minister of Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain from 1783 until the Acts of Union 1800, and then first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, p ...

. It has been the home of the Dukes of Wellington since 1817.

The church

The

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

, near the house, is an unusual domed Georgian building with the plan of a

Greek Cross The Christian cross, with or without a figure of Jesus, Christ included, is the main religious symbol of Christianity. A cross with a figure of Christ affixed to it is termed a crucifix and the figure is often referred to as the ''corpus'' (La ...

. It contains

memorials A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, Tragedy (event), tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objec ...

to the Barons Rivers and to most of the Dukes of Wellington, except the famous first duke. His

funerary hatchment A funerary hatchment is a depiction within a black lozenge-shaped frame, generally on a black (''sable'') background, of a deceased's heraldic achievement, that is to say the escutcheon showing the arms, together with the crest and supporters ...

may, however, be seen. James Gerald Joyce (1819-78) was rector here from 1855 until his death. His interests were in archaeology and he led excavations at Calleva Atrebatum where he discovered the Silchester eagle in 1866. His wife Ellen Joyce was notable for her support of women emigrating to the empire.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Hampshire Civil parishes in Hampshire Basingstoke and Deane