> Marshalls Home
Hatford is a small parish of some 1,000 acres lying within the Vale of the White
Horse. It was formerly part of Berkshire before the reorganisation of the county
boundaries in 1974.
Its history goes back long before the Norman period. The earliest evidence of
occupation so far is a bronze spearhead found near the river Hat, dating back to
the Bronze Age. Signs of an early Iron Age settlement have also been found and
there is thought to have been at least one Roman villa in the fields adjoining
the present village. The manor of Hatford has changed hands many times since
1086, when the Domesday survey recorded that it was held by Payn under Gilbert
de Bretevile.
Hatford was in the public eye in 1628, when the second recorded meteor to fall
in the country landed in the vicinity at Bawlkin Green. It also featured in the
Civil War, when the church register records the burials in 1634 of two soldiers
killed in action. Hatford has also appeared in literature, since the Wiltshire
thresher turned poet, Stephen Duck, who worked here in the early 19th century,
commemorated life on a Hatford farm in one of his last poems.
Perhaps the most striking feature of Hatford is that it has two churches,
although one is now a private residence. St Georges stands on the site of the
Saxon church mentioned in Domesday. It is basically Early English with a Norman
south doorway to nave and chancel arch and a Norman font and one Saxon window
still visible. There is a sundial carved in the stone near the doorway. One tomb
in the church is believed by some to be that of Sir Robert de Hatford, reputed
founder of the church and lord of the manor in the reign of Henry III, while
others think it is that of Thomas Chaucer, son of Geoffrey, the author of the
Canterbury Tales. Thomas held the manor in the later 14th century and became
Speaker of the House of Commons in 1414. But whose body actually lies inside the
tomb still remains a mystery.
The church also houses a mausoleum containing the remains of Rev Samuel Paynter,
a former rector of the parish, and his wife and daughter. When St Georges fell
into disrepair, it was Samuel Paynter who had Hatfords second church, Holy
Trinity, erected in 18734 at a cost of around 4,000. It was built in the Early
English style and is particularly notable for some fine, random-coursed
stonework. After serving the village for almost a century. Holy Trinity itself
became dilapidated and was finally sold in 1972 for use as a private dwelling.
St Georges was reopened in the same year, reroofed in 1973 and reglazed in 1974
to once again assume its role as the place of worship for the village.
Apart from the two churches, there are some interesting secular buildings.
Hatford manor house, adjacent to St Georges church, has an 18th century
frontage, but parts of the house are much older, dating from the 15th century
and possibly even earlier. It stands in a commanding position at the approach to
the village and enjoys an uninterrupted view of the distant Berkshire Downs and
the famous White Horse. On the other side of St Georges stands the rectory. The
present building was put up in 1869, slightly behind the site where the previous
300 year old rectory stood. Next to the rectory and fronting the road through
the village is Hatford Cottage, which was converted into a delightful single
dwelling from a row of very early cottages, originally occupied by the workmen
involved in building the manor house. The little green in front of the entrance
to the church was where Hatford Feast used to be held until well on into the
20th century. This always took place on the Monday following the 13th of August
and several old photographs show the villagers enjoying the roundabouts,
swingboats and other fairground attractions.
Despite its long history, the population has not changed much in size since the
time of the Domesday survey, when it had some 120 residents. Being so small,
there are virtually no amenities, but the Community Bus Service from
Stanford-in-the-Vale does provide a means of transport into the nearby market
towns of Faringdon and Wantage on certain days of the week. There is no shop in
the village and no pub, although there was an off-licence, until this received a
direct hit from a German bomb in September 1940. One Hatford girl was killed
and, ironically enough, two little boys from London, who had been sent to stay
with their grandparents, in order to get away from the Blitz! Behind the site,
now occupied by the aptly named Phoenix House, is a bakehouse, which has its
shop in Faringdon but still supplies the villagers with bread and cakes to
order.
Because Hatford lies mainly on sandstone soil, it is a rich source of sand and
gravel. Sand has been extracted here for many years and it was during sand
digging between 1937 and 1958 that an early Iron Age settlement was discovered.
When the sand ran out in 1958 on that particular site, another pit was opened on
the other side of the appropriately named Sandy Lane.
Agriculture features very much in Hatford and has probably done so since
Neolithic times. There are ample springs of good clear water, even in times of
drought, and the soil is rich. Hatford was one of the earliest places in the
country to be enclosed, supposedly in 1577. The land is now farmed by one man,
assisted by just three farm workers. Instead of a landscape divided up into
strips or small fields, there are vast rolling plains, somewhat reminiscent of
the prairies of the American Mid West.
Click here
for a quote and to instruct your survey online
> Marshalls Home