STRATFIELD MORTIMER
(MORTIMER WEST END)
Mortimer West End, once a tithing of the parish
of Stratfield Mortimer (county Berks), was constituted an ecclesiastical parish in 1870, and a civil
parish in 1894. It is situated 3 miles west from
Mortimer station, on the Reading and Basingstoke
branch of the Great Western Railway. The parish
of Silchester bounds it on the south, and the county
of Berkshire forms its northern, eastern, and western
boundaries. The village is grouped round the church
of St. Saviour and the vicarage, immediately to the
north of a ford across the West End Brook, which
rises in Kiln Pond, and runs due east. The Roman
road running north from Silchester can still be traced
in its course through this parish. In the east of
Mortimer West End are many detached copses, and
the north and west are composed wholly of woods
and plantations, which altogether cover an area of
948 acres. The total area of the parish is 2,191
acres, including 710½ acres of arable land, and
395 acres of permanent grass. (fn. 1) The soil is gravelly
and clay, and the subsoil clay. The chief crops are
wheat, barley, and turnips.
Manor
Mortimer West End has always
formed part of the manor of Stratfield
Mortimer (co. Berks), the descent of
which is given under that county. Mr. James Herbert Benyon of Englefield House, Reading, as lord of
the manor of Stratfield Mortimer, is the principal
landowner in the parish.
Church
The church of ST. SAVIOUR is a small
building, which was erected in 1856.
It consists of a chancel and a nave with
a south organ chamber, west vestries, and a south
porch. The walls are of flint with stone dressings,
and the roofs are tiled. Over the west gable is a
stone bell-cot containing one bell.
The plate is modern.
The registers date from 1860.
Advowson
Since the building of the church
the advowson has belonged to the
Benyon family. At the present day
the living is a vicarage of the yearly value of £183 with
residence, in the gift of Mr. James Herbert Benyon.
A Nonconformist chapel, known locally as the
Mortimer Meeting-house, is situated in the extreme
west of the parish near the Berkshire boundary