Ramsbury

Ramsbury is an attractive large village in the south of the Downs on the River Kennet. It is mainly a "residential" village with the through roads lined with houses of all types and ages, from converted barns, thatched timber framed houses, 18th and 19th century cottages and terraces and modern infilling. Elsewhere in the village there are modern housing estates. In the centre of the village is a small triangle of roads called The Square, and in this area there are a few shops, post office, etc. Before the A4 was built on the other side of the river, and by-passing Ramsbury, the village was the most important centre for the area.

The parish church is the Church of the Holy Cross. The church building is of flint and limestone and the oldest part is the long 13th century chancel. Within the church fabric there is evidence for a large and elaborate church on this site before 900 A.D. The church has a ghost story: according to local legend, if you count the hundred studs on the north door at midnight, it will open, and the ghost of 'Wild' William Darrell of Littlecote House will come out. Littlecote House is a large Elizabethan country house and estate, now a hotel, on the other side of the river. In its grounds is Littlecote Roman Villa and associated religious complex.

For centuries, Ramsbury was famous for its Tree – a large wych-elm which stood in the Square at the heart of the village. The Tree was first mentioned in a report in 1751, by which time it must have already been well established. In its prime, its spread was said to have touched the buildings on all sides of the Square. Photographs from the early 20th century show the Tree in apparently fine health, although perhaps reduced from its former size. But, by the 1920s, the Tree was in noticeable decline. It gradually succumbed to old age, eventually dying in 1983 by which time it would have been well over 230 years old.

To the west of the village is Ramsbury Manor a 17th century country house.

Ramsbury is in the Kennet valley on an unclassified road half way between Marlborough and Hungerford.