English Heritage sites near Ashmansworth Parish
DONNINGTON CASTLE
8 miles from Ashmansworth Parish
The striking twin-towered 14th-century gatehouse of this castle, later the focus of a Civil War siege and battle, survives amid impressive earthworks.
CHISBURY CHAPEL
10 miles from Ashmansworth Parish
This pretty thatched and flintwalled 13th century chapel survived after the Reformation in 1547 by being used as a barn as part of Chisbury Farm.
LUDGERSHALL CASTLE AND CROSS
10 miles from Ashmansworth Parish
The ruins and earthworks of a royal castle dating mainly from the 12th and 13th centuries, frequently used as a hunting lodge. The remains of the medieval cross stand in the centre of the village.
SILCHESTER ROMAN CITY WALLS AND AMPHITHEATRE
14 miles from Ashmansworth Parish
Originally a tribal centre of the Iron Age Atrebates, Silchester became the large and important Roman town of Calleva Atrebatum.
FLOWERDOWN BARROWS
16 miles from Ashmansworth Parish
Three Bronze Age burial mounds, once part of a much larger 'barrow cemetery', including two bowl barrows, and the largest and finest disc barrow in Hampshire.
THE GRANGE AT NORTHINGTON
16 miles from Ashmansworth Parish
Set like a lakeside temple in a landscaped park, The Grange at Northington is the foremost example of the Greek Revival style in England.
Churches in Ashmansworth Parish
St James
Church Lane
Ashmansworth
Newbury
RG20 9SP
http://www.ashmansworth-pc.org.uk
A warm welcome to St James’ Church which is the oldest surviving building in Ashmansworth, with much of the church dating from the 12th century, with a brick porch added in 1694 and the east wall rebuilt in 1745.
It is Grade I listed.
The walls show the remains of medieval wall paintings thought to date from the 12th century onwards and the turret houses three bells dating from 1588 to 1780.
St James' church window: The church is the last resting place of Gerald Finzi the composer, who lived in the adjacent house from 1939 to 1956. The porch features an unusual etched window that displays the initials of fifty English composers with their dates of birth, all radiating from a tree’s roots. It was created by the artist Laurence Whistler, a friend of the Finzi family.
St James' church window detail:
So, they are not underground,
But as nerves and veins abound
In the growths of upper air,
And they feel the sun and rain,
And the energy again
That made them what they were!
Thomas Hardy ‘Transformations’
The North West Hampshire Benefice comprises Ashmansworth, Crux Easton, East Woodhay, Highclere and Woolton Hill Parishes.
St Michael & All Angels
Church Lane
Crux Easton
Newbury
RG20 9QF
(01635) 254559
http://www.ashmansworth-pc.org.uk
St Michael and All Angels
The Domesday Book records a church in Crux Easton and a Norman church existed on the current site during the 12th century but the present St Michael & All Angels church in Crux Easton was erected in 1775, replacing the structure as it then existed. The only record offering an explanation for the church’s replacement is a parish register describing it as a “hideous structure”!
Various works of restoration have been undertaken over the years. Electric light and heating were installed in 1953 and carpets made in the 1980/90's and the altar frontal (a Millennium project) were all worked by members of the congregation.
For more details about services and events visit www.ashmansworth-pc.gov.uk and for more information about the church's history visit www.southernlife.org.uk
The North West Hampshire Benefice comprises Ashmansworth, Crux Easton, East Woodhay, Highclere and Woolton Hill Parishes:
Rector: Revd Christine Dale, tel: 01635 253323, [email protected]
Churchwardens:
Mrs W Draper 01635 253189
Mr K Draper 01635 253189
Pubs in Ashmansworth Parish
Plough
200 year old pub in Hampshire's highest village, after years of campaigning to save the last pub in the village the Plough is now a private residence.