Beedon 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

about north of Newbury in

West Berkshire West Berkshire is a unitary authority in the ceremonial county of Berkshire, England. It is administered from Newbury by West Berkshire Council. History The district of Newbury was formed on 1 April 1974, as a merger of the borough of Newbur ...

, England.

Geography

The village has outlying farmhouses, surrounded by farmland and hedgerows, and is otherwise clustered around the old A34 Oxford Road, now unclassified, which runs through the village, parallel to the modern A34, with the latter acting as a bypass. The other village street, Stanmore Road, heads north west from Oxford Road, and has the parish church and village school.

Beedon Common

Beedon Common is a hamlet and former

common Common may refer to: As an Irish surname, it is anglicised from Irish Gaelic surname Ó Comáin. Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Com ...

in Beedon. The settlement lies close to the A34 road, and is located approximately north of Newbury.

History

Beedon is listed in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086 as a property of

Abingdon Abbey Abingdon Abbey (formally Abbey of Saint Mary) was a Order of St. Benedict, Benedictine monastery in Abingdon-on-Thames in the modern county of Oxfordshire in the United Kingdom. Situated near to the River Thames, it was founded in 675 AD and was ...

, with Walter de Rivers as the tenant. It passed by inheritance to the de Lisle and later the Roos family. After the manor reverted to the Crown, it was awarded to the Reade family in 1615. In 1857 Sir John Chandos Reade sold the manor to Lewis Loyd, whose son Samuel became Baron Overstone. The manor was then inherited by Overstone's daughter, Harriet Loyd-Lindsay, Baroness Wantage.

Natural conservation areas

Ashridge Wood, just to the north-east of the village, is a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

Demography

Amenities

Transport

Beedon is served by Newbury and District bus services 6 and 6A from Newbury.

Notable buildings

Beedon manor house was built in 1553 but mostly dates from the early in the 18th century. Now listed as Manor Farm house, it is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. 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 Nicholas is a Grade I listed building built in about 1220. Beedon Hill House, on the old A34, dates back to the 18th century. It is a Grade II listed building.

References

External links

Villages in Berkshire West Berkshire District Civil parishes in Berkshire {{Berkshire-geo-stub