Where is Ewshot?
Ewshot Parish Council was created in 2010 and consists of approximately 700 dwellings including homes, farms, St Marys Church and The Windmill pub. The centre of the village, grouped around the church, the pub, the site of the old school and some of the older cottages lies about three miles south of Fleet in north-east Hampshire and three miles north-west of Farnham in Surrey. Part of the parish boundary coincides with the county boundary. The parish also includes the settlements of Warren Corner, Beacon Hill, part of Doras Green and Marlborough Hill. The parish is rather harshly bisected by the A287 which follows the line of the old turnpike road to Farnham
Until 1st April 2010 Ewshot formed part of the administrative parish of Crondall and it still remains part of the ecclesiastical parish of All Saints (Crondall) and St Mary’s.
Origins
The Ewshot referred to in old documents is not the village of today. It was a tithing of the Manor of Itchel, a subsidiary manor of Crondall. On old maps the Ewshot (or variations of the name) estate is shown as stretching a considerable distance to the north and west of the present day village. In fact there was no recognisable settlement until after the mid eighteen hundreds.
The village of Ewshot evolved for various reasons. In 1844/5 the opening, as a result of Parson White’s endeavours, of a school for the children of local farms and cottages; the building of St Mary’s Church in 1873 made the settlement more attractive and the breaking up of the Ewshot estate in 1876 gave the village its independence.
What’s in a name?
The name of Ewshot has had many spellings over the years: ‘Iweset’ in the 13th century, then ‘Iweshete’, ‘Iweschete’, ‘Iweshot’, ‘Ushot’, ‘Ushotte’, ‘Eweshotte’. The first record of the spelling: ‘Ewshot’ was apparently in 1621.
It has been suggested that the name originated from two Old English words: IW (yew) and SCEAT (grove). Yews were very common in the county. So it is a reasonable assumption that the name originated from a grove of yews.