Ashampstead

Ashampstead
Berkshire
St Clement's, Ashampstead
Location
Grid reference:	SU5676
Location:	51°29’24"N, 1°11’24"W
Data
Population:	398  (2001)
Post town:	Newbury
Postcode:	RG8
Dialling code:	01635
Local Government
Council:	West Berkshire

Ashampstead is a small village in Berkshire, in the rural wilds between Reading, Newbury and Streatley. The parish has only about 150 houses, and 400 souls within.

The parish church of St Clement dates from the 12th century. It has 13th century frescoes and a 15th-century wooden bell turret. It is believed the frescoes may have been commissioned from Lyre Abbey in Normandy. The only remaining bell dates from 1662.

The village was recorded as Esshamstede in the 13th and 14th centuries. The name is Old English; æsc hamstede means "Ash(tree) Homestead".

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Ashampstead)

References

Books

• Page, William; Ditchfield, P.H., eds (1923). Victoria County History: A History of the County of Berkshire, Volume 3. pp. 449–452. 
• Pevsner, Nikolaus (1966). The Buildings of England: Berkshire. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 70. 

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