page_title: Bentworth
section_title: Post-war
hierarchical_section_title: Bentworth / History / Post-war
caption_attribution_description: English: The Berens Family crest included a bear, and when Major Berens acquired the Bentworth Hall estate, carvings of bears were put up in various places. These are at the entrance to the Bentworth Hall drive, between the two lodge houses.
context_page_description: Bentworth is an historic village and large civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. The nearest town is Alton, which lies about 3 miles east of the village. The parish covers an area of 3,763 acres and at its highest point is King's Hill, 716 feet above sea level. According to the 2011 census, Bentworth had a population of 553. It lies on the edge of the East Hampshire Hangers.
  Bronze Age and Roman remains have been found in the area and there is evidence of an Anglo-Saxon church in the village. The manor of Bentworth was not named in the Domesday Survey of 1086, but it was part of the Odiham Hundred. Land ownership of the village was passed by several English kings until the late Elizabethan era. During the Second World War, Bentworth Hall was requisitioned as an outstation for the Royal Navy and nearby Thedden Grange was used as a prisoner of war camp.
  The parish contains several manors including Bentworth Hall, Hall Place, Burkham House, Wivelrod Manor, Gaston Grange and Thedden Grange. The 500-acre estate of Bentworth Hall was split up as a result of various sales from the 1950s.
context_section_description: In 1947 the Bentworth Hall estate was bought by Major Herbert Cecil Benyon Berens, who was a director of Hambros Bank in London from 1968. In 1950 Berens built two new lodge houses at the junction of the drive to Bentworth Hall towards the main road through the village. The Berens family arms included a bear, and when Berens acquired the Bentworth Hall estate, carvings of bears were put up in various places. Two of which can be seen at the entrance to the Bentworth Hall drive, between the two lodge houses. Herbert Berens died on 27 October 1981, and the remaining estate was put up for sale. Initially Bentworth Hall was offered as a single property, but its outbuildings were divided into a number of separate dwelling units and other parts were sold to local farms. In June 1982, the Bentworth Conservation Area was established, incorporating many of the local buildings of note, extending along the main lane and around the church.
  Bentworth was awarded a gold postbox in 2012 after Peter Charles, a resident of the village, won a gold medal in the equestrian event of the 2012 Summer Olympics. A postbox in Alton was incorrectly painted gold in Charles' honour, until the Royal Mail later painted the correct postbox in Bentworth.
caption: Two Berens bears at the entrance to Bentworth Hall, the symbol of the Berens family arms
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