Crondall
| Crondall | |
| Hampshire | |
|---|---|
 A house in Crondall | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SU795488 |
| Location: | 51°13’59"N, -0°51’47"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 1,770 (2011) |
| Post town: | Farnham |
| Postcode: | GU10 |
| Dialling code: | 01252 / 01276 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Hart |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Aldershot |
Crondall is a village in the north-east of Hampshire, and which gives its name to the county's Crondall Hundred.
The village is on the gentle slopes of the low western end of the North Downs, and has the remains of a Roman villa. Even after the Reformation, the Dean and Chapter of Winchester Cathedral held the chief manors representing much of its land from 975 until 1861.
A large collection of Anglo-Saxon and Merovingian coins found in the parish has become known as the Crondall Hoard.
Name
Various earlier spellings have the intuitive, post-Norman spelling of "u" instead of "o" and the village is still pronounced as it has been for centuries by rooted residents or by those who correctly abstract the sound from 'front': in the 10th century 'Crundelas' was recorded; throughout the 14th century it was 'Crundale'.[1]
In Old English a 'crundel' was a chalk-pit or lime quarry, and the word has survived in the name of Crondall. The remains of one quarry can still be seen as a large depression on the golf course.
History
Pre-Norman
Crondall's southern boundary is the North Downs along which ran an apparemt ancient trackway known as the Harrow Way. A modern route with ancient pretensions, the Pilgrims' Way, follows the line of it hereabouts. Nearby is evidence for neolithic settlements: an Iron Age earthworks at Caesar's Camp.
Remains of Roman settlements have been found close beside the Harrow Way near Barley Pound. Evidence for Roman occupation can be found in the fields as broken tiles and artefacts. In 1817 an intact Roman mosaic pavement was found by a ploughman, 200 yards north of Barley Pound Farm and which is commemorated by a tapestry in the parish church. Coins from the third century were found in 1869.[1]
King Alfred the Great bequeathed the Hundred of Crondall to his nephew Æthelhelm in 885. In 975 it was handed over by King Edgar to the monks at Winchester and remained in their hands until 1539. At this time Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries and within two years Crondall was controlled by the new Dean and Chapter of Winchester Cathedral. Crondall remained in their hands until 1861, when it was taken over by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.
Crondall Hoard
The Crondall Hoard of one hundred and one old French and Anglo-Saxon coins, two jewelled ornaments, and a chain was found in 1828. Some of these date to the fifth century and ninety seven of the coins are now in the possession of the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford.[2] The hoard was deposited after c. 630; of its 101 gold coins, 69 were Anglo-Saxon and 24 were Merovingian or Frankish.[3][4]
Modern Age
All Saints' Church in Crondall was a minor parliamentary outpost for much of the Civil War]], guarding the western approaches to Farnham.
Crondall has for centuries been rich farming land. There are many natural springs in the area that were used as watercress beds and for growing osier trees for basket weaving. Some of the baskets were incorporated into the balloon baskets and airship gondolas used by S.F. Cody in his early aviation experiments at Farnborough.
For two centuries up to the Second World War, the area was also renowned for hops. For many years Crondall had a brickworks that supplied tiles and brick to local towns.
Parish church
The 12th-century Norman parish church, All Saints, which operates as part of the Parish of Crondall and Ewshot, has been called 'The Cathedral of North Hampshire'.[5] It replaced a Saxon church on the same site and the Saxon font remains from that period.
The east end of the Nave dates to 1170. The original bell tower was poorly designed for the weight of the bells it housed and by 1657 the whole tower had to be dismantled to prevent its total collapse. In 1659 a new brick tower was built.
About the village
Barley Pound is a large ring-motte with four baileys and is one of the best examples of a ring and bailey fortress in Hampshire. The fortification may be the "Lidelea Castle" which was mentioned in the Gesta Stephani for 1147, when it was besieged and captured by King Stephen. After its return to Henry of Blois, Bishop of Wincheter it was abandoned in favour of Farnham Castle. Archaeological work has uncovered evidence of an 8-inch thick wall along with a masonry keep.[6]
To the east is Powderham Castle, which was a siege-castle to Barley Pound. It too was founded by the Bishop of Winchester and built during The Anarchy in the reign of King Stephen. It was originally an earth and timber ringwork fortress, encased by a ditch and with a counterscarp bank. Due to the demolition of its encasing rampart, the ringwork now resembles a low flat-topped motte. It now also has a dense cover of trees. Excavations on the mound have uncovered post-holes and large flints which may indicate former buildings.
Amongst other fine, historical houses of the village is The Plume of Feathers, a pub and an example of Tudor architecture. It was a resting stop on the turnpike to Portsmouth.
A wide view over this part of Hampshire may be gained from 'Queen's View' looking from east to west across Crondall. It is so named because Queen Victoria admired this view whilst inspecting troops garrisoned at nearby Aldershot.
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Crondall) |
- Information on Crondall from GENUKI
- All Saints and St Mary’s, The Parish of Crondall and Ewshot
- Stained Glass Windows at All Saints Crondall, Hampshire
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 A History of the County of Hampshire - Volume 4 pp 5-14: Parishes: Crondall (Victoria County History)
- ↑ "Hampshire Treasures Volume 3 (Hart and Rushmoor) Page 7 – Crondall". http://www.hants.gov.uk/hampshiretreasures/vol03/page007.html.
- ↑ Grierson, Philip; Blackburn, Mark (2 July 2007). Mediæval European Coinage: Volume 1, The Early Middle Ages (5th–10th Centuries). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-03177-6. https://books.google.com/books?id=WpQiZ8BX2q8C., p. 161
- ↑ Skingley, Philip, ed (2014). Coins of England & the United Kingdom: Standard Catalogue of British Coins 2015. Spink & Sons Ltd. ISBN 978-1-907427-43-5. https://books.google.com/books?id=0w8xrgEACAAJ., p. 84
- ↑ Stooks, C.D. (1905). A History of Crondall and Yateley in the County of Hants, chiefly taken from the churchwardens' accounts and other records in the parish chests.. Warren & Son Publishing.
- ↑ Barron, William (1985). The Castles of Hampshire & Isle of Wight. Paul Cave Publications. p. 6. ISBN 0-86146-048-0.
- Taylor, Arnold: The Seventeenth-Century Church Towers of Battersea (1639) Staines (1631), Crondall (1659) and Leighton Bromswold (?c. 1640), Architectural History Vol. 27, Design and Practice in British Architecture: Studies in Architectural History Presented to Howard Colvin (1984), pp. 281–296 (article consists of 16 pages) Published by: SAHGB Publications Limited
- Butterfield, Roland P:
- 'Monastery and Manor. The History of Crondall' (EW Langham, 1948)
- 'Ordained in Powder: The Life and Times of Parson White of Crondall' (Herald P, 1966)