 The poet and satirist George Wither (1588 – 1667) was born in Bentworth. He was baptised in St Mary's Church and later, supporting Oliver Cromwell's cause during the English Civil War, sold land in the parish to raise a troop of horses for the Roundhead (anti-Royalist) cause. The Wither family lived in Bentworth until the 17th century. In his 1613 satirical poem Abuses Stript and Whipt, Wither mentions his early life in Bentworth and alludes to the "beechy shadows" of the village.
