Village Hall and Recreational Ground

Before 1920, there was no Hall and no Recreation Ground. There used to be an orchard where the Bell Piece houses are. There was a kitchen garden next to the orchard. It belonged to the Bell House, home of the village doctor. This is where the doctor's surgery is today.

In March 1920 there was a big Auction of the entire Draycot Estate. Eight acres of land from Queen’s Field was donated for a recreation ground.

The photograph shows a carnival on the Recreation Ground, probably in the 1930s.

After a fund-raising effort by the local villagers a Village Hall was opened in November 1923 by Lady Cowley. It only took Mr Gregory, the Sutton Benger wheelwright and carpenter, 3 months to build, with volunteer help, at a cost of just £300.

Throughout the years the Village Hall was well-used but by the 1990s the Old Village Hall was not big enough for the needs of the village. The New Hall was built in 2000 at a cost of over £250,000 as a ‘Millennium Project’ after a major fund-raising project in 1997-1999 by a small group of villagers.

The New Village Hall was formally opened by local MP, James Gray, on 28 October 2000.

Sutton Benger Village Hall has been used for many functions and events over the years. The photograph shows one of the many functions that was held for the local community in the village hall just before and during the Second World War.

Sutton Benger has a village layout which is typical of many medieval villages: a High Street with a parallel Back Lane (now Chestnut Road) and a crossroads beside the 13th century Parish Church. The open area around the central crossroads used to be much bigger, forming a sort of 'village square'. The Tithe Map of the village from 1839/1840 also shows that Back Lane did not quite join up with the High Street originally.

Chestnut Road was still known as Back Lane in the 1950s, when it was still a natural-surface lane. It was re-named in the 1960s when new houses were being built on the south side of the village. This re-naming became official on 12 January 1967.

Most of the older houses on the south side of the High Street used to have gardens which extended all the way to Back Lane / Chestnut Road. There were very few houses along Back Lane until 50 years ago.

In the 1920s there used to be a taxi firm run by the Barrington family, roughly where No 11 Chestnut Road (The Stone House) is now. There was also a petrol station / garage on the corner of Chestnut Road / High Street, where Chestnut Grove is now.