Wargrave

This charming village developed as a settlement in the 10th century at the confluence of the Rivers Thames and Loddon on an area of flat land in a wooded valley. The peace that generally prevails here was disturbed in 1914 when suffragettes burnt down the church in protest at the vicar’s refusal to remove the word obey from the marriage service. In the churchyard, undisturbed by the riot or anything since, stands the Hannen Mausoleum, a splendid monument that was designed for the Hannen family by Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1906.

Another interesting sight can be found on the outskirts of the village, at Park Place. In 1788 the estate was owned by General Henry Conway, Governor of Jersey. In recognition of his services, the people of the island gave the general a complete Druids’ Temple. The massive stones were transported from St Helier to the estate and erected in a 25-foot circle in the gardens of his mansion. In 1870, Park Place was destroyed by fire and the estate broken up, but today the temple stands in the garden of Temple Combe, close to a house designed by the famed American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. The only house of his in this country, it was built in 1958 to an elaborate U-shaped design; its many unusual features include suede-panelled interior walls.