Curridge is a village in the
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...
of
Chieveley in the
English county of
Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Be ...
.
Geography
Curridge is located in the south-east of the parish, adjoining
Hermitage. The chief population areas are Curridge village, Longlane and
Denison Barracks, home of the
42 Engineer Regiment (Geographic)
42 Engineer Regiment (Geographic) is a Royal Engineers regiment of the British Army. The regiment, formed originally in 1947, provides field deployable geographic services, including geodetic survey, terrain analysis, information management and di ...
,
77th Brigade, and the
Royal School of Military Survey. Curridge is administered by the
unitary authority
A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governme ...
of
West Berkshire. Much of the local area is deciduous woodland and Faircross Plantation remembers the fact that the
hundred
100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101.
In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...
court for Faircross Hundred once met there.
History
King Edred's annals of 953 record the village of ''Custeridge'' as being given to Alfric, a deed witnessed by the
Bishop of Ramsbury. The village's name is said to be derived from 'Cusa's Ridge'. It was a
tithing
A tithing or tything was a historic English legal, administrative or territorial unit, originally ten hides (and hence, one tenth of a hundred). Tithings later came to be seen as subdivisions of a manor or civil parish. The tithing's leader or sp ...
of Chieveley. The manor of Curridge is known as ''Prior's Court'' because it was owned by
Poughley Priory in
Chaddleworth
Chaddleworth is a village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire.
Geography
The village of Chaddleworth lies below the southern slopes of the Berkshire Downs, just east of the A338 road, which runs between Hungerford and Wantage to ...
and the
prior held his court there. In August 1207,
King John King John may refer to:
Rulers
* John, King of England (1166–1216)
* John I of Jerusalem (c. 1170–1237)
* John Balliol, King of Scotland (c. 1249–1314)
* John I of France (15–20 November 1316)
* John II of France (1319–1364)
* John I o ...
seems to have had a few days' hunting in West Berkshire. He is reported in Curridge on the 3rd and Chieveley on the 5th. The Curridge Mission Church served as a chapel until 1965, when the last service was held. The ecclesiastical links with Chieveley were severed and Curridge is now linked with
Hermitage. The 20th century poet, printer and artist,
Ralph Chubb, lived at Curridge.
References
*Parts of the text for this page was originally taken, with permission, fro
www.chieveley.info
External links
{{authority control
Villages in Berkshire
Chieveley