West Hendred (England)

West Hendred is a village and civil parish about 3 miles (5 km) east of Wantage. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. West Hendred is downland village, its parish stretching from the Ridgeway in the south through the spring line and meadows to the former marshland of the Oxfordshire plain in the north. The parish is about 2,000 acres (810 ha) in area and 6 miles (10 km) long, but only being about 1⁄2 mile (800 m) wide at the widest point. This is an example of a downland linear parish encompassing a wide variety of land types – chalk downland, greensand on the spring line and clay to the north. The Great Western Main Line crosses the northern part of the parish. The Icknield Way and The Ridgeway cross the parish in the south. The parish includes the hamlet of East Ginge, which is immediately below the Downs and includes Ginge Manor, home of Annabel Astor, Viscountess Astor, mother of Samantha Cameron. Neighbouring hamlet West Ginge, however, is in the parish of Lockinge. Both of the hamlets have populations less than 30, although records from the 1881 and 1901 censuses show that they were more extensive with several occupied farms up to the Downs. The parish has good examples of post-medieval drovers' roads, a Roman road, a buried Roman villa and well-preserved medieval watercress beds.