East Ilsley
East Ilsley is a village and civil parish in the Berkshire Downs northern part of West Berkshire, north of Newbury centred immediately east of the A34 road dual carriageway which passes through the length of the village from north to south. It is in the ceremonial county of Berkshire and has the vast majority of its buildings in a traditional clustered centre. Amenities. The village has a highest grade listed church that is mostly made from medieval stone, a minority of other buildings close by which are listed and pubs. East Ilsley has an area to picnic by  the pond, feeding the ducks and spend a few moments. Football is made available by local subscription on the recreation playground. History. Sheep market. In 1620 East Ilsley was granted a charter to hold a sheep market in the village, however informally held from the reign of Henry II. This became the second largest sheep market, after Smithfields throughout the 19th century. Hildersley. The parish was anciently called Hildersley, as in a medieval inscription in the church. West Ilsley was a hamlet in Ilsley. Ilsley has been attributed by antiquaries as a leading contender for the uncertain site of the  Battle of Ashdown (Alfred the Great's victory against the Danes). "Hilde-Laege" a strong plausible root of Hildersley means "Battle place". Economy in the 1870s. Its real property (farms and homes) were worth £4,490 () and its population in the United Kingdom Census 1871 was 746. It had 130 houses. This capital was remarked in a contemporary description as owned by a few. The manor belonged to Capt. Woodley, and great part of the land to Col. Robert Loyd-Lindsay. The benefice remained in the default form of a rectory (rather than a vicarage) in the diocese of Oxford , worth £722 (). Patron, Magdalen College, Oxford. There was by this time a National School. Church. The church is partly Norman; has an early English style chancel, and an embattled tower; it was enlarged and repaired in 1845 and contains an old monument of one of the Hildesleys, ancient lords of the manor. East Ilsley's nearest station is Didcot Parkway, providing direct services to the West, West Midlands and London. The South Coast and East Anglia can be reached by changes at /twice in London respectively. Historically, the village was served by Compton railway station, open from 1882 to  1962, on the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway. East Ilsley is served by buses 6 and 6A from Newbury. The Ridgeway long-distance footpath passes through a subway below the A34 road approximately one mile north of the village. Racehorse training. Racehorses have been trained at East Ilsley for about 200 years, as an offshoot from the economic centre of training in the United Kingdom and Ireland, ten miles west at Lambourn. Demography. Of its 216 homes in 2011, the majority in this parish were owner-occupied; just over 10% were socially rented. Further context is as follows: East Ilsley