Hungerford, Berkshire - High Street - art postcard c.1980s

Postcard
• Picture / Image:  High Street, Hungerford, Berkshire - artist sketch with shops and cars
• Publisher:  none stated
• Postally used:  yes
• Stamp:  13p orange Machin
• Postmark(s):  Newbury? 1983
• Sent to:  Eastcote Road, Ruislip
• Notes / condition: 

Please ask if you need any other information and I will do the best I can to answer.

Image may be low res for illustrative purposes - if you need a higher definition image then please contact me and I may be able to send one. No cards have been trimmed (unless stated).

------------------------------------------------

Postage & Packing:

Postage and packing charge should be showing for your location (contact if not sure).

No additional charges for more than one postcard. You can buy as many postcards from me as you like and you will just pay the fee above once. Please wait for combined invoice. (If buying postcards with other things such as books, please contact or wait for invoice before paying).

Payment Methods:

UK - PayPal, Cheque (from UK bank) or postal order

Outside UK: PayPal ONLY (unless otherwise stated) please.   NO non-UK currency checks or money orders (sorry).

NOTE: All postcards are sent in brand new stiffened envelopes which I have bought for the task. These are specially made to protect postcards and you may be able to re-use them. In addition there are other costs to sending so the above charge is not just for the stamp!

I will give a full refund if you are not fully satisfied with the postcard.

----------------------------------------------

Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

*************

Hungerford is a market town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, 9 miles (14.5 km) west of Newbury. It covers an area of 5,372 acres (22 km²) and, according to the 2001 census, has a population of 5,559 (2006 estimated at 6,789).

Hungerford is on the River Dun in the Kennet Valley at grid reference SU337685. It is the westernmost town in Berkshire, situated on the border with Wiltshire, and lies within the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The highest point in the entire South East England region is the 297 m (974 ft) summit of Walbury Hill, situated only 4 miles (7 km) from the town. The Kennet and Avon Canal separates Hungerford from what might be described as the town's only suburb, the hamlet of Eddington.

The town marks the border of the South East England and South West England regions (it is situated only 3 km within South East England), being some 68 miles (109 km) west of central London and 55 miles (88 km) east of Bristol on the A4 national trunk route. It is almost equidistant from the towns of Newbury and Marlborough, and lies 2.5 miles (4 km) south of junction 14 of the M4 motorway.

The parish was formerly 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 always officially detached parts of Wiltshire until transferred to Berkshire in 1895. Leverton and Calcot were transferred to Hungerford parish from Chilton Foliat in Wiltshire in 1895. All the land south of the Kennet was formerly included in Savernake Forest.

Nearby places Towns: Newbury, Marlborough, Lambourn, Wantage, Swindon, Reading.

Villages: Chilton Foliat, Great Shefford, Kintbury, Little Bedwyn, Froxfield, Ramsbury, Shalbourne, Stockcross, Ham, Inkpen, Aldbourne, Burbage, Hungerford Newtown.

Places of interest: Crofton Pumping Station, Wilton Windmill, Littlecote House, Freeman's Marsh, Walbury Hill.

Hungerford is situated on several transport routes, of both historic and current importance, including the M4 motorway (junction 14), the Old Bath Road (A4), and the Kennet and Avon Canal (opened 1811). It also has a railway station on the Reading to Taunton line; a reasonable rail service to Newbury, Reading and London means that the 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.

Hungerford is a civil parish, covering the town of Hungerford and a surrounding rural area, including the small village of Hungerford Newtown. The parish shares boundaries with the Berkshire parishes of Lambourn, East Garston, Great Shefford, Kintbury and Inkpen, and with the Wiltshire parishes of Shalbourne, Froxfield, Ramsbury and Chilton Foliat.^[1]

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 numbers. The parish forms part of the district administered by the unitary authority of West Berkshire, and local government responsibilities are shared between the town council and unitary authority.

Hungerford is part of the Newbury parliamentary constituency. Its MP is the Conservative Richard Benyon, son of Sir William Benyon of Englefield House. He has represented the two towns since 2005.

Hungerford participates in town twinning to foster good international relations:

•  Ligueil, Indre-et-Loire, France.^[2]

Hungerford has

• a football team, Hungerford Town F.C., that plays at the Bulpit Lane ground.
• a cricket team that played against the full English professional team in 1852, 1853 and 1854.^[3]
• a rugby team, Hungerford RFC.^[4]

Hungerford also has the Hungerford Archers, a longbow archery club. Its shooting ground is the sports field of the John O'Gaunt Community Technology College.^[3]

Hungerford is a Saxon name meaning 'Hanging Wood Ford'. The town’s symbol is the six-pointed star and crescent moon.

The place does not occur in the Domesday Book of 1086, but certainly existed by 1173. By 1241, it called itself a borough. In the late 14th century, John of Gaunt was medieval lord of the manor and he granted the people the lucrative fishing rights on the River Kennet.

The noble family of Walter Hungerford, 1st Baron Hungerford originated from the town (c. 1450–1450), although after three generations the title passed to Mary, Baroness Hungerford who married Sir Edward (afterwards Lord) Hasting and the family seat moved to Heytesbury in Wiltshire.

During the English 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 also quartered in the town. Then, in the November, the King’s forces arrived in Hungerford on their way to Abingdon.

During the Glorious Revolution of 1688, William of Orange was offered the Crown of England while staying at the Bear Inn in Hungerford.

St. Lawrence's parish church stands next to the Kennet and Avon Canal. It was rebuilt in 1814–1816 by John Pinch the elder in Gothic Revival style and refurbished again in the 1850s.

In the late 19th century, two policeman were shot by poachers in Eddington. Their memorial crosses still stand where they fell.

The Hungerford massacre occurred on 19 August 1987. A 27-year-old unemployed local labourer, Michael Robert Ryan, armed with several weapons including a Type 56 assault rifle and a Beretta pistol, shot and killed 16 people including his mother, and wounded 15 others, then fatally shot himself. A report on this incident was commissioned by Home Secretary Douglas Hurd from the Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police, Colin Smith. It remains, along with the Dunblane massacre and Cumbria shootings, one of the worst criminal atrocities involving firearms in British history. The massacre led to the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1988[1], 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 had demonstrated that Ryan's collection of weapons was legally licensed.

type=printed

city/ region=hungerford

period=post-war (1945-present)

postage condition=posted

number of items=single

size=continental/ modern (150x100 mm)