Hungerford

File:Hungerford, Kennet and Avon Canal - geograph.org.uk - 6289.jpg]]

File:Hungerford Common - geograph.org.uk - 6294.jpg

File:Johnofgaunt.jpg]]

Hungerford is derived from an Anglo-Saxon name meaning "ford leading to poor land".{{cite book|last=Mills|first=A.D.|title=Dictionary of English Place-Names|location=Oxford|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1991|isbn= 0-19-869156-4}} The town's symbol is the estoile and crescent moon.{{cite web|url=https://www.hungerfordvirtualmuseum.co.uk/index.php/10-themes/272-crescent-and-star|title=Crescent and Star|publisher=Hungerford Virtual Museum|access-date=26 December 2020}} The place is not described in the Domesday Book of 1086 because four ancient manors each owned some property within Hungerford, a possession located at the extreme western edge of the royal manor of Kintbury,[https://www.hungerfordvirtualmuseum.co.uk/?view=article&id=716:manorial-history&catid=10:themes Manorial History]. Hungerford Virtual Museum. Accessed 5 April 2023. in the ancient hundred of Kintbury.[https://opendomesday.org/hundred/kintbury/ Open Domesday: Hundred of Kintbury]. Accessed 5 April 2023. The manor of Standen Hussey, described as Standen in Wiltshire in Domesday,[https://opendomesday.org/place/SU3053/standen/ Open Domesday: Standen (Land of Arnulf of Hesdin)]. Accessed 5 April 2023. was later in Hungerford parish.[https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol16/pp3-7 Kinwardstone Hundred]. British History Online. Accessed 5 April 2023. The land was granted to Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester. When he died in 1118, he passed his English estates, including Hungerford, to his son Robert and his heirs who encouraged the town's growth over the next 70 years.

By 1241, Hungerford called itself a borough.{{cite web|title='Parishes: Hungerford', in A History of the County of Berkshire|volume=4|first1=William |last1=Page |first2= P. H. |last2=Ditchfield |location=London|year= 1924|pages=183–200|publisher=British History Online |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/berks/vol4/pp183-200 |access-date= 26 December 2020}} In the late 14th century, John of Gaunt was lord of the manor and he granted the people the lucrative fishing rights on the River Kennet.{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/property/advice/propertymarket/3337926/Live-like-common-people.html|title=Live Like Common People|publisher=The Telegraph|date=22 December 2004|access-date=26 December 2020}} The family of Walter Hungerford, 1st Baron Hungerford originated in the town (c. 1450), although after three generations the title passed to Baroness Hungerford who married Sir Edward Hastings who became a Baron,{{Cite book |title = Testamenta Vetusta|last = Nicolas|first = Nicholas Harris|location = London|publisher = Nicholas and Son|year = 1826|volume = II|pages= 372, 431}} and the family seat moved to Heytesbury, Wiltshire.{{cite web|url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/Community/Index/115|title=Heytesbury|website=Wiltshire Community History|publisher=Wiltshire Council|access-date=24 March 2017}} In the 16th century, the parish of Hungerford was included in the formation of the hundred of Kintbury Eagle.[https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/berks/vol4/pp156-157 Kintbury Eagle hundred]. British History Online. Accessed 5 April 2023.

During the Civil War, the Earl of Essex and his army spent the night here in June 1644. In October of the same year, the Earl of Manchester’s cavalry were quartered in the town. Then, in the November, Charles I’s forces arrived in Hungerford on their way to Abingdon.{{cite web|url=https://www.hungerfordvirtualmuseum.co.uk/index.php/links/9-events/21-1642-51-civil-war|title=1642-51 Civil War|publisher=Hungerford Virtual Museum|access-date=26 December 2020}} During the Glorious Revolution of 1688, William of Orange was offered the Crown of England while staying at the Bear Inn in Hungerford.{{cite web|url=http://www.berkshirehistory.com/articles/reading_broadst.html|title=The Battle of Broad Street|publisher=Berkshire History|access-date=26 December 2020}} The Hungerford land south of the river Kennet was for centuries, until a widespread growth in cultivation in the area in the 18th century, in Savernake Forest.{{cite web|url=https://pennypost.org.uk/2020/05/a-brief-history-of-hungerford-park/|title=A Brief History of Hungerford Park|publisher=Penny Post|access-date=26 December 2020}}

{{main|Hungerford massacre}}

The Hungerford massacre occurred on 19 August 1987. A 27-year-old unemployed local labourer, Michael Robert Ryan, armed with three weapons, a Type 56 assault rifle, a Beretta pistol and an M1 carbine, shot and killed 16 people in and around the town – including his mother – and wounded 15 others, then killed himself in a local school after being surrounded by armed police. All his victims were shot in the town or in nearby Savernake Forest.Mass Murderers {{ISBN|0-7835-0004-1}} p. 169

Home Secretary Douglas Hurd commissioned a report on the massacre from the Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police, Colin Smith. The massacre was one of three significant firearms atrocities in the United Kingdom after the invention of rapid fire weapons such as the one involved, the other two being the Dunblane massacre and the Cumbria shootings. It led to the passing of the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1988, which banned the ownership of semi-automatic centre-fire rifles, and restricted the use of shotguns with a magazine capacity of more than two rounds. The Hungerford Report confirmed that Ryan's collection of weapons was legally licensed.[http://members.aol.com/gunbancon/Frames/Hungerford.html The Hungerford Report – Shooting Incidents At Hungerford On 19 August 1987, Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police Colin Smith to Home Secretary Douglas Hurd]. Retrieved 24 August 2007. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050122075928/http://members.aol.com/gunbancon/Frames/Hungerford.html |date=22 January 2005 }}

Hungerford is a civil parish, covering the town of Hungerford and a surrounding rural area. Anciently, the parish was divided into four tithings: Hungerford or Town, Sanden Fee, Eddington with Hidden and Newtown, and Charnham Street. North and South Standen and Charnham Street were detached parts of Wiltshire until transferred to Berkshire in 1895. Leverton and Calcot were transferred to Hungerford parish from Chilton Foliat in Wiltshire in 1894.

Parish council responsibilities are undertaken by Hungerford Town Council, which consists of fifteen volunteer councillors and committee members, supported by a full-time clerk; the mayor is elected from amongst their number.{{Cite web |title=Home - Hungerford Town Council |url=https://www.hungerford-tc.gov.uk/ |access-date=2025-02-07 |website=www.hungerford-tc.gov.uk}} Hungerford & Kintbury electoral ward, which includes eight rural parishes to the east,{{Cite web |title=Election Maps: Great Britain |url=https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/election-maps/gb/ |access-date=7 February 2025 |website= |publisher=Ordnance Survey}} elects three members of West Berkshire Council (a unitary authority).{{Cite web |date= |title=Your Councillors |url=https://decisionmaking.westberks.gov.uk/mgMemberIndex.aspx?VW=TABLE&PIC=1&FN=ALPHA |access-date=2025-02-07 |website=West Berkshire Council}}

Hungerford is part of the Newbury parliamentary constituency. Hungerford participates in town twinning to foster good international relations:

• {{flagicon|FRA}} Ligueil, Indre-et-Loire, France.{{cite web|url=http://www.completefrance.com/language-culture/twin-towns |title=British towns twinned with French towns |access-date=11 July 2013 |work=Archant Community Media Ltd |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130705094933/http://www.completefrance.com/language-culture/twin-towns |archive-date=5 July 2013 }}

Hungerford is on the River Dun. It is the westernmost town in Berkshire, on the border with Wiltshire. It is in the North Wessex Downs. The highest point in the entire South East England region is the {{cvt|297|m}} summit of Walbury Hill, {{cvt|4|miles}} from the town centre.

The Kennet and Avon Canal separates Hungerford from what might be described as the town's only suburb, the village of Eddington. Other settlements in the parish include Upper Eddington, Leverton and Hungerford Newtown.

The town has, as its western border, a county divide which also marks the border of the South East and South West England regions; it is {{cvt|60|miles}} west of London and {{cvt|55|miles}} east of Bristol on the A4. It is almost equidistant from the towns of Newbury and Marlborough. Freeman's Marsh, on the western edge of the town, is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.{{cite web|url=http://magic.defra.gov.uk/MagicMap.aspx?startTopic=Designations&activelayer=sssiIndex&query=HYPERLINK%3D%271001426%27 |title=Magic Map Application |publisher=Magic.defra.gov.uk |access-date=19 March 2017}}

File:Trains at Hungerford Station - geograph.org.uk - 1353108.jpg]]

Hungerford is situated on several transport routes, including the M4 motorway with access at Junction 14, the Old Bath Road (A4), and the Kennet and Avon Canal, the latter opened in 1811. {{rws|Hungerford}} railway station is on the Reading to Taunton line; a reasonable rail service to {{rws|Newbury}}, {{rws|Reading}} and {{rws|Paddington}} means that Hungerford has developed into something of a dormitory town which has been slowly expanding since the 1980s. Many residents commute to nearby towns such as Newbury, Swindon, Marlborough, Thatcham and Reading.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}

File:St Lawrence's Church, Hungerford.jpg

The parish church of St. Lawrence stands next to the Kennet and Avon Canal. It was rebuilt in 1814–1816 by John Pinch the elder in the Gothic Revival style.{{cite web|url=https://www.stlawrenceshungerford.org.uk/pdfs/buildings/Hungerford%20St%20Lawrence%20SoS%20v.1.2%20FINAL.pdf|title=Statement of Significance: Hungerford St Lawrence|date=1 May 2019|access-date=26 December 2020}} The east window contains stained glass by Lavers and Westlake. The church is a Grade II* listed building.{{NHLE|grade=II*|desc=Church of St. Lawrence|num=1289541|date=6 February 1962}}

Hungerford has a cricket team,[http://www.hungerford.uk.net/sports.php Hungerford in West Berkshire – Sports]. Hungerford.uk.net. Retrieved on 17 July 2013. a football team, Hungerford Town F.C., that plays at the Bulpit Lane ground, a rugby team, Hungerford RFC.Boulton, Bob. (29 April 2013) [http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/hungerfordrfc/ Hungerford RFC]. Pitchero.com. Retrieved on 17 July 2013. and a netball club. Hungerford Archers, an archery club, uses the sports field of the John O'Gaunt School as its shooting ground. Hungerford Hares Running Club was established in 2007.{{cite web|url=http://www.hungerfordhares.co.uk|title=Hungerford Hares|access-date=8 September 2017}}

{{main|Hocktide}}

Hungerford is the only place in the country to have continuously celebrated Hocktide or Tutti Day (the second Tuesday after Easter).{{Citation needed|date=January 2022}} Today it marks the end of the town council's financial and administrative year, but in the past it was a more general celebration associated with the town's great patron, John of Gaunt. Its origins are thought to lie in celebrations following King Alfred's expulsion of the Vikings. The "Bellman" (or town crier) summons the Commoners of the town to the Hocktide Court held at Hungerford Town Hall, while two florally decorated "Tutti Men" and the "Orange Man" visit every house with commoners' rights (almost a hundred properties), accompanied by six Tutti Girls, drawn from the local school. Originally they collected "head pennies" to ensure fishing and grazing rights. Today, they largely collect kisses from each lady of the house. In the court, the town's officers are elected for the coming year and the accounts examined. The court manages the town hall, the John of Gaunt Inn, the Common, Freeman's Marsh, and fishing rights in the River Kennet and river Dun.{{Clarify|date=January 2022}}

There is an old legend that "Hingwar the Dane", better known as Ivarr the Boneless, was drowned accidentally while crossing the Kennet here, and that the town was named after him. This stems from the, probably mistaken, belief that the Battle of Ethandun took place at Eddington in Berkshire rather than Edington, Wiltshire, or Edington, Somerset.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}

Hungerford is one of two places which arguably meet the criteria for Kennetbridge in Thomas Hardy's novel Jude the Obscure, being "a thriving town not more than a dozen miles south of Marygreen"{{cite web|title=Paragraph 4, Chapter VII, Part Fifth, Jude the Obscure|author= Thomas Hardy|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/153/153-h/153-h.htm#5-7}} (Fawley) and is between Melchester (Salisbury) and Christminster (Oxford).{{cite web|title=Paragraph 6, Chapter X, Part Third, Jude the Obscure |author=Thomas Hardy |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/153/153-h/153-h.htm#5-7}} The main road (A338) from Oxford to Salisbury runs through Hungerford. The other contender is the larger town of Newbury.

• Charlie Austin, footballer
• Adam Brown, actor, comedian and pantomime performer
• Samuel Chandler, Nonconformist theologian and preacher
• Christopher Derrick, author
• Edward Duke (1779–1852), antiquary
• Ralph Evans (1915–1996), footballer
• John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, son of King Edward III
• William Greatrakes, connected with the authorship of the Letters of Junius
• Nicholas Monro (b. 1936), artist, had a studio at HungerfordRadio Birmingham interview with Munro, 11 May 1972, transcribed in part in {{cite journal|last=Towers|first=Alan|date=July–August 1972|title=Birmingham: Nicholas Munro|journal=Studio International|volume=184|issue=946|page=18}}
• George Pocock (1774–1843), the founder of the Tent Methodist Society and inventor of the Charvolant
• Charles Portal, 1st Viscount Portal of Hungerford, Chief of the Air Staff during most of World War II and Marshal of the Royal Air Force
• Reginald Portal, admiral
• Henry "Harry" Quelch (1858–1913), one of the first British Marxists
• Edmund Roche, 5th Baron Fermoy, maternal uncle of Diana, Princess of Wales, died in Hungerford in 1984
• Robert Snooks, last highwayman to be hanged in England, born in Hungerford in 1761
• James E. Talmage, (1862–1933) LDS Church leader, writer and theologian. Author of Jesus the Christ
• Jethro Tull (agriculturist), died in the town
• Will Young, singer

The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the Town of Hungerford.

{{Incomplete list|date=September 2022}}

• Jennifer Bartter: 3 September 2022.
• Martin Crane: 3 September 2022.{{cite web |url=https://www.newburytoday.co.uk/news/getting-the-freedom-of-hungerford-9272088/ |title=Revealed: This year's winners of the Freedom of the Town of Hungerford awards |last=Garvey |first=John |date=3 September 2022 |website=The Newbury Weekly News |access-date=5 September 2022 }}
• Penny Locke: 3 September 2022.

• List of places in Berkshire
• List of towns in England

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category}}

• [https://www.hungerford-tc.gov.uk/ Hungerford Town Council]
• [https://www.hungerfordvirtualmuseum.co.uk/ Hungerford Virtual Museum]
• [https://www.hungerfordhistorical.org.uk/ Hungerford Historical Association]
• [https://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=3737277 Photos of Hungerford and surrounding area on geograph]

{{Berkshire}}

{{West Berkshire}}

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Category:Towns in Berkshire

Category:Market towns in Berkshire

Category:Civil parishes in Berkshire

Category:West Berkshire District

Category:Kennet and Avon Canal