Enham Alamein 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 miles north of

Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia *Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * Andov ...

in the north 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, ...

, England. It was named Enham until 1945. There are three population areas, in order from north to south, now named Upper Enham (formerly Upper King's Enham), Enham Alamein (formerly Lower King's Enham and then Enham) and Knight's Enham. At the 2011 Census the population of the civil parish was 804. Knight's Enham is now part of the north edge of suburban spread of Andover, about a kilometre south along the A343 road from Enham Alamein. The earlier settlement is a hamlet and a church with a first recorded date of 1241. The village of Enham was one of the original "Village Centres" chosen for the rehabilitation of injured and war-disabled soldiers returning from the front line of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Originally funded by King George V in 1919, the Village Centre became a hub for the care of these soldiers where they were retrained in new trades such as basketry, upholstery, gardening services and other trades. This formed the basis of the Enham Trust charity and limited company, which continues today and owns the majority of Enham Alamein village, providing care for civilians with disabilities.

Etymology and history

Enham

The spelling

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

"Eanham" is recorded from the year 1008, pointing to ''ēan-hām'' = "lamb homestead" or ''ēan-hamm'' = "enclosure, for the raising of lambs". There is a speculation that the "raising of lambs" refers to the rebirth of England under the one Christian God, as decreed in the Enham Codes written in the year 1008 at what later became Kings Enham (Upper and Lower), the royal estate of the 1008 lawcode and known as such in the later Middle Ages. Of particular interest is the meeting of the

Witan The witan () was the king's council in the Anglo-Saxon government of England from before the 7th century until the 11th century. It comprised important noblemen, including ealdormen, thegns, and bishops. Meetings of the witan were sometimes c ...

including Bishop Wulfstan and King Aethelred II at Upper (Kings) Enham on 16 May 1008. ). This law-making council of 40 nobles and around 360 retainers put into draft a decree detailing the social ordering of England and to bring England as a whole under one Christian God, One King, and giving all men the right to law. These laws were aimed at bringing the populace together against the

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

raiders and are referred to as "the Enham Codes" The meeting was held at what later became Kings (Upper) Enham on the high ground along what is now MacCallum Road (previously Enham Lane) at Home Farm (previously Kings Enham Farm). At Home Farm there are Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman, Anglo-Saxon and medieval deposits indicating consistent habitation, with at least one

Roman villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house in the territory of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Nevertheless, the term "Roman villa" generally covers buildings with the common ...

confirmed as significant by Andover Museum, and a clear boundary ditch locally known as "the valley". Other deep earthworks can be remembered in living memory before they were filled in to make way for modern farm machinery. Early records are: * 1008: Eanham, i.e.

''ēan-hām'' = "lamb home" or ''ēan-hamm'' = "enclosure by a river or marsh, for lambs" * 1066:

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 ...

"Etham" * 1167: Enham * 1281: Separate settlement of "Knyghtesenham",

knight's fee In feudal Anglo-Norman England and Ireland, a knight's fee was a unit measure of land deemed sufficient to support a knight. It would not only provide sustenance for himself, his family, and servants, but also the means to furnish himself and h ...

held here by Matthew de Columbers in the mid 13th century. * 1316: "Enham Militis" (= "Enham of the knight": ''miles'' is Latin for "soldier", used in

Mediaeval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. It was also the administrative language in the former Roman Provinces of Mauretania, Numidia and Africa Proconsularis under the Vandals, ...

for "knight"). * 1379: Enham Regis (= "Enham of the King") and "Enham Militis" (as above) * 1595: Kings Eneham and Eneham: Knights Enham does not reappear until 1759 * 1720: Enham * 1759: Knights Inham, Upper Kings Inham, Lower Kings Inham (with given alternative of Lower Kings Enham) * 1900: (Knight's Enham, Upper Kings Enham and Lower Kings Enham were each a group of a few houses) * 1919: Knights Enham, Upper Enham, Enham * 1945 to present: Knights Enham, Upper Enham, Enham Alamein In 1919, George Hughes Earle of the Cavalry Club in

Piccadilly Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, England, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road (England), A4 road that connects central London to ...

in London inherited a

landed estate In real estate, a landed property or landed estate is a property that generates income for the owner (typically a member of the gentry) without the owner having to do the actual work of the estate. In medieval Western Europe, there were two compe ...

, and sold of it to the trustees of the Village Centres for Curative Treatment and Training Council (Incorporated). The centre was set up, using this land, with the support of

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. George was born during the reign of his pa ...

and his wife Queen Mary, and adapted to house and rehabilitate and employ soldiers returning disabled from

with "the effects of

amputation Amputation is the removal of a Limb (anatomy), limb or other body part by Physical trauma, trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as cancer, malign ...

neurasthenia Neurasthenia ( and () 'weak') is a term that was first used as early as 1829 for a mechanical weakness of the nerves. It became a major diagnosis in North America during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries after neurologist Georg ...

, shellshock or

fever Fever or pyrexia in humans is a symptom of an anti-infection defense mechanism that appears with Human body temperature, body temperature exceeding the normal range caused by an increase in the body's temperature Human body temperature#Fever, s ...

". By the end of 1919, 150 men were residing in and about Enham Place and

Littlecote House Littlecote House is a large Tudor architecture, Elizabethan country house and estate in the civil parishes of Ramsbury and Chilton Foliat, in the English county of Wiltshire, about northeast of the Berkshire town of Hungerford. The estate inclu ...

. In 1921 the trust bought 8 more acres in four parcels at Knight's Enham. The trust received from the

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for Business and Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

a licence to hold not more than 10,000 acres of land to carry out the trust's purpose. During the 1920s and 1930s, much of the land had to be sold to pay expenses; one sale of 1934 was for the Home Farm. Some of the home's patients remained there and set up in jobs such as carters,

haulier Haulage is the business of transporting goods by road or rail between suppliers and large consumer outlets, factories, warehouses, or depots. This includes everything humans might wish to move in bulk – from vegetables and other foodstuffs, to c ...

s, market gardeners and

dairy farmer Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for the long-term production of milk, which is food processing, processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for the eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy ...

WW2 and the name Alamein

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, many of the injured from the

Battle of El Alamein There were two Battles of El Alamein in World War II, both fought in 1942. The battles occurred during the North African campaign in Egypt, in and around an area named after a railway stop called El Alamein. * First Battle of El Alamein: 1–27 ...

in North Africa were brought back to the recovery centre in Lower Enham. This close association of servicemen and the village continued during and after the war. In November 1945, two public subscriptions in Egypt raised £250,000 (worth around £8 million in 2015), to thank Britain for ridding their country of the

Axis forces The Axis powers, originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis and also Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, was the military coalition which initiated World War II and fought against the Allies of World War II, Allies. Its principal members were Nazi Ge ...

. A small part went to build a new UN Forces Sports Club in Gezira in Cairo; but most was given to the Enham charity to care for disabled

ex-servicemen A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in an occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in the armed forces. A topic of interest for resea ...

. This greatly improved the charity's finances, and let them build their disabled ex-servicemen's centre. The name Alamein was added to the village’s name in thankfulness for the above, after the Egyptian village of

El Alamein El Alamein (, ) is a town in the northern Matrouh Governorate of Egypt. Located on the Mediterranean Sea, it lies west of Alexandria and northwest of Cairo. The town is located on the site of the ancient city Antiphrai which was built by th ...

, the site of the famous

battle of El Alamein There were two Battles of El Alamein in World War II, both fought in 1942. The battles occurred during the North African campaign in Egypt, in and around an area named after a railway stop called El Alamein. * First Battle of El Alamein: 1–27 ...

. The word ''El Alamein'' (العلمين) literally means ‘the two flags’.

Community

The village has a

heritage trail Heritage trails are walking trails and driving routes in urban and rural settings that are identified by signage and guidebooks as relating to cultural heritage. The heritage might be architectural, or it can be associated with a person or histor ...

and a children's treasure trail.Childrens Treasure Hunt
archived in 2016

References

External links

Enham TrustLetter from the British Egyptian SocietyEnham Alamein parish councilHistory and description and images of Enham AlameinGoogle Earth view
showing Upper Enham (at top), Enham Alamein (near middle), and Knights Enham (at bottom)
Google Earth view
ground view at north entry showing name sign

{{authority control Villages in Hampshire Test Valley