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Long before the Norman Conquest, here, in this small village, Saxon families
lived and worked, establishing a settlement at the foot of the Berkshire Downs,
close to the lede in the combe the brook in the valley, so that in the
Domesday survey the name became Ledecumbe. In 1158 came the addition of Bassett,
from the name of Richard Basset, who by that time held the manor.
In Saxon days the population was possibly 150. It is now 174. Although most
people today work outside the parish, there are still three farms which recall
those early cultivators of ridge and furrow. Sheep are kept and most arable land
is used to grow grain. Footpaths and bridle-ways surround the fields. The old
names such as Apple Pie and Pitchpole are still used. The houses are of
various ages and designs. Many are thatched and of interesting construction.
On the east side of the village is Whites Farm House, which has Norman
associations the lovely gardens here slope away to the watercress beds. The
marketing of the cress was once a thriving industry, the springs rising from the
hills providing the necessary pure water for cultivation. Bassett Cress was
one of the cries of old Covent Garden market in London.
The Old Rectory, of 17th century origins, with its large thatched barn dating
from around 1400, has in its garden the mulberry tree under which Dean Swift sat
while writing some of his famous satires.
Another literary association with Letcombe Bassett was made by Thomas Hardy when
he wrote Jude the Obscure. The cottage where Jude first saw Arabella can still
be found down by the brook.
No description of the village would be complete without mention of Capt Tim
Fosters racehorse training establishment, which creates employment for many
people and has reached fame on three occasions when Grand National winners
returned home to a tumultuous welcome.
The little church of St Michael and All Angels stands, as it has done for some
850 years, on high ground near to Gramps Hill, which rises to the ancient
Ridgeway. It has two features of special interest: the ornamentation on the
Norman chancel arch and the Norman doorway on the north side of the chancel. The
bells are Elizabethan, cast in 1576. They were made by William Knight II of
Reading and are the only known dated examples by him in existence.
In 1774 land was set aside for the cutting of furze, to be divided amongst the
poor as fire wood. In 1977 the land was sold and the money invested. The
interest still provides pensioners with vouchers for electricity every winter.
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