The Hendreds Society was formed in September, 1968, and, at the first general meeting, held in January 1969, the possibility of some kind of museum or exhibition was mooted. In February, Mr. Whiskard, the Chairman of the Society, was asked by the Committee to convene a group to discuss prospects. At a committee meeting held on 30th April, he reported that the amount of material available justified going forward, and it was decided to hold an exhibition in September this year.

As I thought the matter over, it occurred to me that we should not merely attract people to come to the exhibition: we should also attract them to look at the Hendreds. Some sort of descriptive account of the villages was necessary.

I began by consulting the Victoria County History but soon decided that what was needed was for the village to speak for itself. On 4th June I made my first call and, in the following weeks, visited scores of people in their own homes, and had the most interesting conversations, during the course of which I used up three 200 page notebooks.

The problem became one of selection. By the end of July, an account of East Hendred had virtually written itself and, had time permitted, it would have been possible to include West Hendred as well.

So many people co-operated that it would take too much space to provide a list. I must, however, make specific reference to Mr. T.M. Eyston, who allowed me to use court rolls of the Manor of Arches, enclosure maps and awards, and an account book of William Harris for 1769-1772; Mr. Bernard Stibbs who lent me the accounts of his grandfather and great grandfather; Mr. Baden Stone, who I hope will publish his collection of photographs; and Dr. Fletcher, who allowed me to use material he had collected about the wool industry in Berkshire and also about cruck building. I must also acknowledge two quotations drawn from material now in the Bodleian Library.

I am myself a very recent newcomer to East Hendred and it is probable that there may be some errors of detail in this descriptive account. I am very grateful to those members of the Society who have read the script and made many useful comments; but any responsibility for inaccuracies must be my own. I have done a good deal of cross checking: indeed the striking fact is the pattern of village life that so soon emerges: it, so to speak, cross checks itself. But there are matters in which no check is possible other than one's own impression of the reliability of the source.

I must hope that readers will accept this "Descriptive Account" for what it is: a contribution made in good faith towards the success of the exhibition which opens on 19th September, 1969. Any profit will go towards the receipts of the Exhibition; but my main aim in fixing the selling price has been to ensure no one should be excluded from the chance of buying it.


Sources: The prime source has been the houses and the people of East Hendred and court rolls, accounts, leases, and other documents here in the village.

I used the Victoria County History and Clarke’s Parochial Topography of the Hundred of Wanting for the bare minimum of historical information; but A.I. Humphreys’ East Hendred, a Berkshire Village, is a mine of information about sources, and about individuals down to the end of the nineteenth century. After work on the "Account" had already been planned and started, Mr. W.H. Sowdon’s MSS about East Hendred came into my hands for a few days. They are very interesting, but the only use I made of them was to take two very brief quotations from extracts he made from a volume of the overseers’ accounts which is not in the record office with the others. Mr. Sowdon was well known by some of the older people: I have referred to a few of his comments, which are much in character with what they told me of him. Some of his material is absolutely first class: an edited version of his MSS. should be printed.

The material quoted with reference to the Old Rectory on pp. 50, 51 and 52, and to the Parish Church on page 35 comes from the Diocesan Parish Box, East Hendred; Oxford Diocesan Papers C 1089 in the Bodleian Library.

Chapter 1. Introductory

Chapter 2. White Road

Chapter 3. High Street

Chapter 4. Church and Churchyard

Chapter 5. Newbury Road

Chapter 6. Church Street

Chapter 7. Horn Lane

Chapter 8. St Mary's Road

Chapter 9. Cat Street

Chapter 10. Mill Lane; Orchard Lane

Chapter 11. To the North