Lambourn: Horse Racing, History and Landscape

If you’re looking for a hotel in Lambourn, you can choose your reason for visiting based on the themes that define the town: horse breeding and racehorse training, historic buildings, and the landscape of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Lambourn is also at the source of the River Lambourn. These themes complement one another, but appeal to different interests. A stay for the Lambourn Open Day has a specific event focus; those more interested in history will find several points of interest in the church, almshouses and Seven Barrows. When choosing a destination, it may therefore be helpful to first decide which aspect of Lambourn you want to shape your stay.

Racehorses and the Lambourn Open Day

Breeding and training racehorses are an important part of life in Lambourn and the surrounding villages. If you want to make this aspect the focus of your trip, you can consider the Lambourn Open Day as a specific reason to visit. At the event, visitors can tour the training yards in the Lambourn Valley and see horses, trainers, staff and jockeys up close. The Open Day has been organised since 1990; exact opening times may vary from one edition to another. If you want to plan your trip around it, check the details for the relevant edition in advance. Visits to the training yards take place as part of the Open Day.

Landscape at the source of the River Lambourn

Lambourn’s location in the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty places the town within a named landscape area; it is also at the source of the River Lambourn. These are two distinct geographical features: the wider landscape area and the source of a specifically named river. For travellers who also consider nature and scenery when choosing a destination, this perspective complements the racehorse culture and local history. It can help you decide whether the landscape is as important to your trip as an interest in an event or historic buildings.

Building history and Seven Barrows

The Church of St Michael and All Angels was originally a cruciform church dating from the late Norman period. Chapels were added on both sides of the chancel during the 14th, 15th and early 16th centuries. This sequence distinguishes the original building from later additions and makes the different building phases easy to follow.

Almshouses 1–8 at Market Place were founded by John Estbury in 1502 and rebuilt by Henry Hippisley in 1852. Their foundation and rebuilding mark two clearly dated stages. Together with the church’s building phases, they offer an opportunity to explore Lambourn’s history through both the origins of individual buildings and their later alterations.

The Seven Barrows round barrow cemetery near Lambourn is particularly significant because it is well preserved and features a considerable variety of barrow types. This makes Seven Barrows a different historical focus from the buildings: the church and almshouses are notable for their building phases and dates, while Seven Barrows is notable for its preservation and variety of barrow types.

Discover more destinations: Crockham Heath, Pangbourne, Inkpen, Newbury, Theale, Winnersh, Streatley, Reading.

For the main travel overview: Berkshire.