Continuing from the recent post about my family connection to Englefield village and church I've found some photos in my archive sent to me Daughter some time ago of a walk she and her friends took in aid of the Sue Ryder Hospice at Nettlebed, near to Henley-on-Thames (now the South Oxfordshire Palliative Care Hub). The Benyon family who live in Englefield House are benefactors and supporters of many local organisations and they had opened up the grounds for this event. On a day in May it was raining just as when we went there last weekend, but daughter D managed to take some photos whilst walking through the estate with the group. There were glimpses of the house and gardens as they passed by them. The photos give an idea of the parkland although they are somewhat dark because of the bad light.
in the distance there was a herd of deer
magnificent mature trees
Englefield House
Englefield means Fields of the Angles due to the fact that a battle was fought here on the land in 871 AD between the Saxons and the Danes. The Englefield family were sheriffs and knights of the shire throughout the Middle Ages. Sir Thomas Englefield was the Speaker in Parliament during the reign of Henry VIII whilst Sir Edward spent his time enlarging the house and making a garden. He entertained Queen Elizabeth to dinner in his house. The first Benyon to live there was Richard Benyon in the 18th century and Richard Fellowes Benyon restored both the house and the village as a model estate village where he modernised the cottages and farm buildings. He worked with the architect Gilbert Scott to improve the village church. (Some notes taken from the Englefield Estate website and a chapter on local history in 'And So To Bath' by Cecil Roberts).
As an estate worker my great grandfather lived with his family for many years in the small village and I found the cottage where they lived. I was told that he was a gardener although in later life records show that he was a dairyman so he may have worked in this area of farming life at Englefield.
a large kitchen garden area in the village - opposite is a garden centre within a walled garden
St Mark's Church
Next time I really will post about the church interior.