Enham Alamein

Enham Alamein
Hampshire
St George's Church, Enham Alamein
Location
Grid reference:	SU367491
Location:	51°14’26"N, 1°28’29"W
Data
Postcode:	SP11
Local Government
Council:	Basingstoke and Deane

Enham Alamein is a village about two and a half miles north of Andover in the north of Hampshire. It was named simply 'Enham' until 1945.

There are three population areas, in order from north to south, now named Upper Enham (formerly Upper King's Enham), Enham Alamein (formerly Lower King's Enham and then Enham) and Knight's Enham. The 2011 Census the population of the whole civil parish was 804.

Knight's Enham is now part of the north edge of suburban spread of Andover, about half a mile south along the A343 road from Enham Alamein. The earlier settlement is a hamlet and a church with a first recorded date of 1241.

The village of Enham was one of the original "Village Centres" chosen for the rehabilitation of injured and war-disabled soldiers returning from the front line of First World War. Originally funded by King George V in 1919, the Village Centre became a hub for the care of these soldiers where they were retrained in new trades such as basketry, upholstery, gardening services and other trades. This formed the basis of the Enham Trust charity and limited company, which continues today and owns the majority of Enham Alamein village, providing care for civilians with disabilities.

Name

Houses, Enham Alamein

The spelling Old English "Eanham" is recorded from the year 1008, pointing to ean ham meaning 'lamb homestead' or ean hamm meaning 'Lamb enclosure'.

Alamein was added to the village’s name after the Second World War, after the crushing wartime victory over the Germans at El Alamein in Egypt. The word El Alamein (العلمين) literally means ‘the two flags’, which looks remarkably prescient for the battle of two nations, if less relevant to a Hampshire village.

History

At Home Farm there are Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman, Anglo-Saxon and mediæval deposits indicating consistent habitation, with at least one Roman villa confirmed as significant by Andover Museum, and a clear boundary ditch locally known as "the valley". Other deep earthworks can be remembered in living memory before they were filled in to make way for modern farm machinery.

In 1008, King Ethelred the Unready held a Witan at Enham, and here issued a set of laws known as the Enham Codes, recorded in a later Latin document known as the Quadripartitus. It is believed that the meeting was held in what became Kings Enham, a royal estate.

Early records of the village give its name in varying forms:

• 1008: Eanham
• 1066: Domesday Book "Etham"
• 1167: Enham
• 1281: Separate settlement of "Knyghtesenham", knight's fee held here by Matthew de Columbers in the mid 13th century.
• 1316: "Enham Militis" ('Enham of the knight').
• 1379: Enham Regis ('Enham of the King') and "Enham Militis" (as above)
• 1595: Kings Eneham and Eneham: Knights Enham does not reappear until 1759
• 1720: Enham
• 1759: Knights Inham, Upper Kings Inham, Lower Kings Inham (with given alternative of Lower Kings Enham)
• 1900: (Knight's Enham, Upper Kings Enham and Lower Kings Enham were each a group of a few houses)
• 1919: Knights Enham, Upper Enham, Enham
• 1945 to present: Knights Enham, Upper Enham, Enham Alamein

In 1919, George Hughes Earle of the Cavalry Club in Piccadilly in London inherited a landed estate, and sold 1,026 acres of it to the trustees of the Village Centres for Curative Treatment and Training Council (Incorporated). The centre was set up, using this land, with the support of King George V and his wife Queen Mary, and adapted to house and rehabilitate and employ soldiers returning disabled from First World War with "the effects of amputations, neurasthenia, shellshock or fever". By the end of 1919, 150 men were residing in and about Enham Place and Littlecote House.

In 1921 the trust bought 8 more acres in four parcels at Knight's Enham. The trust received from the Board of Trade a licence to hold not more than 10,000 acres of land to carry out the trust's purpose. During the 1920s and 1930s, much of the land had to be sold to pay expenses; one sale of 1934 was for the 232 acres of Home Farm.

Some of the home's patients remained there and set up in jobs such as carters, hauliers, market gardeners and dairy farmers. In Second World War, many of the injured from the Battle of El Alamein were brought back to Britain and to the recovery centre in Lower Enham. This close association of servicemen and the village continued during and after the war.

In November 1945, two public subscriptions in Egypt raised £250,000 (worth around £6 million as at 2010), to thank Britain for ridding their country of the Axis forces. A small part went to build a new UN Forces Sports Club in Gezira in Cairo; most was given to the Enham charity to care for disabled ex-servicemen. This greatly improved the charity's finances, and let them build their disabled ex-servicemen's centre. In thankfulness for this, the word "Alamein" was appended to the village's name.

Community

The village has a heritage trail and a children's treasure trail.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Enham Alamein)

• Enham Trust
• Enham Alamein Parish Council