History

Newnham

Newnham’s name is derived from the Anglo-Saxon meaning ‘new settlement’ or ‘new estate’ implying establishment of a new community to meet population pressures in mid-Saxon times, perhaps around 800 AD.  It was part of Mapledurwell when the Domesday Book (1086) was prepared and only became a separate entity in 1198.  Much of present day Hook was included within Newnham Parish until 1932.  However, as Hook was rapidly growing a new Civil Parish of Hook was created (the Ecclesiastical Parish was established in 1955).  Newnham became much reduced in size and Nately Scures was added to form the existing Civil Parish.

Historically the ‘King’s Highway’ from London to Basingstoke passed through present-day Hook and on to Newnham, then across the River Lyde at Water End and westward. This road became more important from about 1350 when a route from Salisbury direct to Basingstoke, by-passing Winchester, became increasingly used. We may be certain that kings and queens, noblemen, ambassadors, merchants, soldiers, beggars, everyone, used this road to travel.  Queen Mary and Phillip of Spain were at Basing House in 1554 en route to Windsor and surely came through the village, as did her sister Queen Elizabeth I in 1560, and again in 1601 when visiting Basing House. The poet John Gay passed through in 1720 on his way from Hartley Row to Popham. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, went to Basingstoke from Brentford in September 1759 and is likely to have used this route. This illustrates that distinguished people came our way, and there is evidence of vagrants receiving small charitable donations to keep moving on, so clearly they too were ‘on the road’.

Then about 1786 the road was straightened, going over Hook Common, down Scures Hill to Water End. This was done, according to tradition, to speed the movement of soldiers from London to defend the South Coast from dangers posed by the Napoleonic French. From that time Newnham Green ceased to be on the Great West Road, but Nately Scures found itself firmly on the main road.

During the last century the village has changed slowly from being a place of farm workers, railwaymen and brick makers (there used to be two brickfields) all working locally, into a more mixed community with people of many skills, some employed very locally and others commuting further a field.

Nately Scures

‘Nataleie’ is first mentioned in the Domesday Book (1086), but the name seems older and in Anglo-Saxon meant the ‘wet clearing in the woodland’, harking back to the days when the English took over the area from the previously resident British. ‘Ly’ or ‘ley’ names are thought to have been used as place-names early in the Saxon occupation, so the community may have ancient antecedents. Interestingly, farmers still say the land is relatively wet to work.  The de Scures family were Normans and lords of the manor probably from about 1130 until 1381 when the manor passed to a kinsman, John Uvedale. His family held the title until about 1651 when it passed to Sir Edward Griffin who had married Frances, a daughter of Sir William Uvedale (died 1652).

It is clear that for many centuries the village, which until 1879 included The Holt on the eastern flank of Hook and also most of Hook Common, was almost exclusively a farming community. There is an interesting Survey of the Manor, made in 1561 for an earlier Sir William Uvedale, that tells who all the tenants were and how much land they farmed. In those distant days the ‘Baredown’ was exactly that with small hedged fields on both sides of the track, which was later upgraded to the main road. Today treed gardens shield houses where once wheat and barley grew or cattle and sheep were pastured.  

Then, about 1786 the ‘kings highway’ that had passed through Newnham (see above) was straightened to follow the route of the A30 over Scures Hill. It is unclear that this helped the village’s economy but must have led to a considerable increase in traffic. The Dorchester Arms was built about 1830 to cater for the new users of this more direct route, after all it was thirsty work to bring a laden cart, or drive a bunch of cattle, up Scures Hill!

Although the railway was constructed in 1834 it was not until 1883 that Hook station opened, thereafter a slow but steady increase in dwellings was evident. It is clear there were several houses along the A30 in the early years of the 20^th Century, but in the 1920s and 1930s more were constructed, including the Baredown Hotel, which stood where the houses that comprise the ‘Baredown’ are now. The hotel burnt down some 30 years ago. Pressure to build along the A30 has increased and more houses have been constructed; whether there should be additional development is probably a matter for individual opinion.

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