Ashampstead 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 rural area between
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...
,
Newbury and
Streatley in
Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...
, England. The parish population is about 400, occupying some 150 dwellings.
History
The village was called ''Esshamstede'' in the 13th and 14th centuries. The
Church of England parish church
A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...
of Saint Clement dates from the 12th century. It has 13th century
fresco
Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...
es and a 15th-century wooden bell turret. It is believed the frescoes may have been painted by monks from the nearby
Reading Abbey. The only remaining bell dates from 1662.
Notable People
* The composer
Henry Balfour Gardiner bought Field House, Ashampstead Green in 1909, moved in after alterations in 1911, and stayed until 1930. Many musicians, including
Bax,
Delius,
Percy Grainger
Percy Aldridge Grainger (born George Percy Grainger; 8 July 188220 February 1961) was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist who moved to the United States in 1914 and became an American citizen in 1918. In the course of a long and ...
,
Holst and
Peter Warlock visited him there. The orchestral piece ''A Berkshire Idyll'' was completed there on 28 July, 1913.
British Tone Poems, Volume One
', Chandos CD 10939 (2017), notes by Lewis Foreman
See also
*
List of places in Berkshire
*
List of civil parishes in England
References
Sources
*
*
External links
Villages in Berkshire
West Berkshire District
Civil parishes in Berkshire
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