Church Crookham
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Church Crookham is a suburb and former village on the southern edge of the town of Fleet, in northeast Hampshire, England, located 39 miles south west of London. Formerly a separate village, the area comprises two of the 18 wards of the Hart District.
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[edit] History
Crookham (formerly Crokeham) dates back at least as far as the Domesday Book, though Church Crookham and Crookham Village did not become distinct entities until the founding of the Christ Church in 1840.[1] It is this church for which Church Crookham is named.
The region had few inhabitants at this time, with the 1831 edition of Samuel Lewis's "Topographical Dictionary of England" claiming Crookham had 623 inhabitants and not even mentioning the (at the time) much smaller Fleet.[2] The settlements in area, particularly Fleet, experienced a minor population bloom in 1840 when a railway station was built at nearby Fleet Pond; while this was primarily for the benefit of day trippers, many Londoners enjoyed the area so much that they decided to settle there.
[edit] World War Two
Church Crookham lies on GHQ Line - the most important of a number of fortified stop lines constructed as a part of British anti-invasion preparations of World War II - and was at one of the most heavily fortified sections of that line.[3][4]
[edit] Notes of Interest
Although now completely enveloped by its formerly-separate and larger neighbour, local residents of Church Crookham still consider the area to be a village in its own right. Motorists entering "Greater Fleet" from the south and west are met with signs welcoming them to Church Crookham, whereas those entering the town from the north and east are welcomed to Fleet instead.
The Queen Elizabeth Barracks were established in Church Crookham in 1971, as the headquarters for the 1st Battalion of the Gurkha Rifles.[5] The Battalion vacated the barracks in August 2000, and the abandoned site is still present. Bryant Homes bought the site in 2002,[6] and planning permission has been sought for a housing estate which will include a medical centre, school, and shops.
Another well known site is Tweseldown race course, a point-to-point horse racing track. This race track was used for the eventing steeplechase in the 1948 London Olympics.[7] Famously, Churchill raced here while at Sandhurst, with scandal attending him in one race, in which he was accused of bullying a fellow rider, an incident he glossed over in his account of his early life.
Church Crookham has been used as a filming location for several movies. These include the 2002 James Bond movie Die Another Day, which used woodland and flat ground in between Church Crookham and Aldershot to represent the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea.[8] Church Crookham was also one of several English towns and villages (others including nearby Aldershot, Farnham, and Chobham) that served as filming locations for the 2006 movie Children of Men.
John Keble was a regular visitor to Church Crookham's Christ Church.[9]
Church Crookham is also the location for the only commercially successful tobacco plantation in Britain which produced among other brands "Blue Prior" cigarettes and pipe tobacco. Production finished in 1938 and the plantation site is now occupied by Redfields garden center but Redfields House is part of the buildings that now encompass St Nicholas' School.
The Basingstoke Canal passes through Church Crookham.
[edit] Education
For a list of local schools see the list of Hampshire schools.
[edit] References
[edit] Notes
- ^ Church Crookham.co.uk. Church Crookham: A pleasant village in Hampshire, England. Retrieved on November 28, 2006.
- ^ Hantsweb. A Little Local History. Retrieved on November 28, 2006.
- ^ Foot, 2006, p335-341
- ^ Defending Chequers Bridge. Pillbox study group. Retrieved on 2007-02-02.
- ^ Fletel Business Services. Queen Elizabeth Barracks - Plans and protests. Retrieved on November 28, 2006.
- ^ Tailor Woodrow (2002). Bryant Acquires Major Brownfield Development Site. Retrieved on November 28, 2006.
- ^ House and Hound (2006). BEF says Greenwich will work in 2012. Retrieved on November 28, 2006.
- ^ News.com.au. Licence to thrill. Retrieved on November 28, 2006.
- ^ Guildford Diocese. Aldershot Deanery > Crookham. Retrieved on November 28, 2006.
[edit] General references
- Foot, William (2006). Beaches, fields, streets, and hills ... the anti-invasion landscapes of England, 1940. Council for British Archaeology. ISBN 1-902771-53-2.
