Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for EASTHAMPSTEAD

EASTHAMPSTEAD, a village, a parish, and a district in Berks. The village stands adjacent to the London, Wokingham, and Reading railway, near Bracknell station, 3¾ miles E by S of Wokingham; and is rural and pretty. The parish contains also the village of Bracknell, which has a head post office, ‡ designated Bracknell, Berkshire. Acres, 5, 186. Real property, £4, 579. Pop., 789. Houses, 133. The property is divided among a few. Easthampstead Park was a hunting seat of Richard II. and some other kings; was the residence of Catherine of Arragon, when Henry VIII. proposed to her a divorce; was a residence of James I. in 1622 and 1628: and is now the property of the Marquis of Downshire. Easthampstead Plains are part of Bagshot Heath. An irregular ancient fortiflcation, on an eminence with a double ditch, 1 mile S of Easthampstead Park, is known as Cæsar's Camp; and traces of a Roman road, going southward thence across Bagshot Heath, are known as the Devil's Highway. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford. Value, £588. Patron, Christ Church, Oxford. The church was rebuilt in 1867; and is in the first pointed style, with mixture of Byzantine. A very large yew-tree is in the churchyard. There are a Wesleyan chapel, and charities £74. The district comprehends the sub-district of Sandhurst, conterminate with Sandhurst parish; and the sub-district of Bracknell, containing the parishes of Easthampstead, Binfield, Warfield, and Winkfield-with-Ascot. Acres, 25, 176. Poor-rates, in 1862, £4, 429. Pop. in 1851, 6, 352; in 1861, 7, 436. Houses, 1, 375. Marriages in 1860, 42; births, 199, -of which 10 were illegitimate; deaths, 109, -of which 37 were at ages under 5 years, and 3 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 348; births, 1, 677; deaths, 1, 109. The places of worship in 1851 were 8 of the Church of England, with 2, 630 sittings; 1 of Independents, with 150 s.; and 2 of Primitive Methodists, with 172 s. The schools were 5 public day schools, with 308 scholars; 14 private day schools, with 268 s.; and 4 Sunday schools, with 256 s. The workhouse is in East-hampstead.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village, a parish, and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Easthampstead AP/CP       Easthampstead RegD/PLU       Berkshire AncC
Place: Easthampstead

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