Harpsden is a rural and semi-rural 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 ...

immediately south of

Henley-on-Thames Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town status in the United Kingdom, town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Thames, in the South Oxfordshire district, in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, Berkshire, Reading, west of M ...

South Oxfordshire South Oxfordshire is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Oxfordshire, England. Its council is temporarily based outside the district at Abingdon-on-Thames pending a p ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

, England. Its scattered centre is set from the east border which is the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

, marking a short boundary with

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 ...

. The parish extends inland and borders

Rotherfield Peppard Rotherfield Peppard (often referred to simply as Peppard by locals) is a village and civil parish in the Chiltern Hills in South Oxfordshire. It is centred west of Henley-on-Thames, north of Reading, Berkshire and southwest of Rotherfield Gr ...

to the west, that is, next to its main sections of woodland in the southern extreme of the

Chiltern Hills The Chiltern Hills or the Chilterns are a chalk escarpment in southern England, located to the north-west of London, covering across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire; they stretch from Goring-on-Thames in the south- ...

including an

SSSI 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 ...

area of ancient woodland. The village has neither a railway station nor shops, but has the main road from

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 ...

to Henley, both of which have grown substantially since

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 ...

into centres of trade, education and general meeting places, such as by their increased number of cafés and restaurants.

History

Remains of a

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 ...

have been found about southwest of the village.Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 635 In the 11th century during the reign of King

Edward the Confessor Edward the Confessor ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was King of England from 1042 until his death in 1066. He was the last reigning monarch of the House of Wessex. Edward was the son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy. He succeede ...

the manor of Harpsden belonged to

Wigod Wigod (also spelt Wigot) was the eleventh-century Saxon thegn or lord of the English town of Wallingford, and a kinsman of Edward the Confessor. After the Battle of Hastings, during the 1066 Norman invasion of England, William the Conqueror m ...

, the

thegn In later Anglo-Saxon England, a thegn or thane (Latin minister) was an aristocrat who ranked at the third level in lay society, below the king and ealdormen. He had to be a substantial landowner. Thanage refers to the tenure by which lands were ...

Wallingford Wallingford may refer to: People Surname * Darcy Wallingford (fl. 1980s), Canadian swimmer * Jesse Wallingford (1872–1944), British sport shooter and New Zealand army officer * Sidney Wallingford (1898–1978), British-born aviator and New Zeal ...

. After the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

of England, Harpsden became part of the

Honour of Wallingford The Honour of Wallingford (or feudal barony of Wallingford) was a medieval English feudal barony which existed between 1066 and 1540 with its ''caput'' at Wallingford Castle in present-day Oxfordshire. The Honour of Wallingford was established a ...

. 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 Margaret was originally late

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

, as evidenced by the

piscina A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Lutherans and Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a pisci ...

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

and a blocked doorway that survive from this period.Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 634 The current windows in the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

were inserted in the 14th century, and a stone effigy of a knight dates from the same period. In 1848–54 the

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

architect

Benjamin Ferrey Benjamin Ferrey List of Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London, FSA Royal Institute of British Architects, FRIBA (1 April 1810 – 22 August 1880) was an English architect who worked mostly in the Gothic revival architecture, Gothic Re ...

lengthened the nave and added the north

aisle An aisle is a linear space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, in buildings such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parliaments, courtrooms, ...

and

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

. In 1879 the architect

Henry Woodyer Henry Woodyer (1816–1896) was an English architect, a pupil of William Butterfield and a disciple of A. W. N. Pugin and the Ecclesiologists. Life Woodyer was born in Guildford, Surrey, England, in 1816, the son of a successful, highly resp ...

restored the chancel. Other notable buildings in the village include the

Grade II* listed 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, H ...

Harpsden Court: the current house largely dates back to the 17th century, and incorporates elements of the medieval manor house. It was the home of the Hall family until 1855. A weatherboarded barn near the church bears the date 1689. Bellehatch Park, about southwest of the village, was built early in the 19th century. It is a Georgian neoclassical

country house image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...

of five

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

with a Doric porch and summerhouse. It was the seat of the

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

politician

Cecil Norton Cecil William Norton, 1st Baron Rathcreedan (23 June 1850 – 7 December 1930) was a British Liberal Party politician. Norton was the son of William Norton, Rector of Baltinglass, Ireland. He was elected to the House of Commons for Newington Wes ...

, who was created first Baron Rathcreedan in 1916.

Amenities

Harpsden Wood is an ancient woodland dating from at least 1600. It 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 ...

covering . Henley

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

Club is in Harpsden. Harpsden

Cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

Club was founded in 1887 and thus celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2012.

In media

Harpsden was used as a location in the ''

Agatha Christie's Marple ''Agatha Christie's Marple'' (or simply ''Marple'') is a British ITV television programme loosely based on books and short stories by British crime novelist Agatha Christie. The title character was played by Geraldine McEwan from the first t ...

'' episodes "Nemesis" and "By the Pricking of My Thumbs". Harpsden Court has also been used as the set for many films, including ''

Quantum of Solace ''Quantum of Solace'' is a 2008 spy thriller film and the twenty-second in the List of James Bond films, ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions. Directed by Marc Forster and written by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, Neal Purvis, Robe ...

''. House Beautiful
/ref>

Nearest places

References

Sources

External links

{{authority control Villages in Oxfordshire Civil parishes in Oxfordshire South Oxfordshire District