Ecchinswell

Human settlement in England

Ecchinswell, Sydmonton and Bishops Green

District

Basingstoke and Deane

Hampshire

Region

South East

CountryEnglandSovereign stateUnited KingdomPost townNewburyPostcode districtRG20Police Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire Hampshire and Isle of Wight Ambulance South Central

List of places: UK; England; Hampshire

51°20′01″N 1°17′02″W / 51.333615°N 1.284027°W / 51.333615; -1.284027

Ecchinswell is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Ecchinswell, Sydmonton and Bishops Green,^[1] in the Basingstoke and Deane district of Hampshire, England. In 1931 the parish had a population of 295.^[2]

Geography

Watership Down, location of Richard Adams' novel of the same name, is just south of Ecchinswell. Ladle Hill on Great Litchfield Down, also lies to the south. Part of the hill is a 10.37 hectares (25.6 acres) biological SSSI, first notified in 1978. The hill has a partially completed Iron Age hill fort on its summit, and the surrounding area is rich in Iron Age tumuli, enclosures, lynchets and field systems. Ladle Hill and Watership Down are easily accessed from the Wayfarer's Walk cross-county footpath that passes through the parish.

Governance

The village of Ecchinswell is part of the Burghclere, Highclere and St Mary Bourne ward of Basingstoke and Deane borough council.^[3] The borough council is a Non-metropolitan district of Hampshire County Council. On 1 April 1932 the parish was abolished to form "Ecchinswell and Sydmonton".^[4]

Literature

Nuthanger Farm at Ecchinswell features extensively in Richard Adams' Watership Down.

Notable people

The potter, Geoffrey Eastop (1921–2014), lived in the village
Lord Turner of Ecchinswell, former Chairman of the Financial Services Authority and the Committee on Climate Change, has a cottage in Ecchinswell

References

^ "Hampshire County Council's legal record of public rights of way in Hampshire" (PDF). 2008. Retrieved 29 October 2010.
^ "Population statistics Ecchinswell CP/Ch through time". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
^ "Basingstoke and Deane Wards info". 2010. Archived from the original on 24 October 2010. Retrieved 29 October 2010.
^ "Relationships and changes Ecchinswell CP/Ch through time". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 18 May 2023.