URPoint Details
South of the Kennet, this small and curiously named village lies close to the Sulhamsteads. The parish is long, stretching from the Hampshire boundary across the Kennet to the River Bourne.
The village centres upon St Peter's Church which was built in 1862 in the 14th century style, with a neat shingled spire and some quite good stained glass. Half a mile away, at Ufton Green, is an ivy?clad ruin of a single wall, all that is left of the old church of St John the Baptist.
A mile to the west alongside the thickly wooded Ufton Park is Ufton Court, a large, many gabled timber?framed mansion built in about 1580 for the Perkyns. The family held the estate from the 15th century until 1782. Altar tombs of several members of the family are to be seen in St Peter's Church. Later the house was a refuge for recusants, the Perkyns being a staunch Catholic family.
The Court was partly rebuilt in 1715 for Arabella Fermor who came here to marry Francis Perkyns. Arabella was the original for Belinda, the heroine in Pope's `Rape of the Lock'. Pope often came to the house as a guest, as did such other notable figures as Bolingbroke and Bonnie Prince Charlie.
- Type:
- Landmark