Crazies Hill & Cockpole Green
A Year in our Hamlets
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January
The hamlet of Crazies Hill, is a small conservation area of its own, enclosing a mix of interesting old buildings. Amongst them Crazies Hall (formerly called The Crazies) which bears the facade of the old Henley Town Hall. It was dismantled and rebuilt in Crazies Hill during the period 1897 to 1900 when the present town hall was erected. The house is in elegant Georgian style with two tiers of bath stone ionic pillars on the facade.
Rebecca's Well and The Horns timber framed pub are on many a rambler's route with the landscape commanding views over the Thames to the west. The name of the hamlet, according to some, is said to have come from the old English word for buttercups "cragies" or "crazies" that probably grew in abundance in the leafy lanes. One other explanation put forward is the name is derived from an old dialect 'CRAY-WY-ZEATH' hill, which means 'the fresh clean water of the waterless place', referring to Rebecca's Well.
Cockpole Green ajoins Crazies Hill and both hamlets are in the Parish of Wargrave. The name of this hamlet is probably derived from an old Celtic dialect 'COG-PABELL GREEYN'', meaning the little green at the crossroads. The Green, which now belongs to the Residents' Association, is but a fraction of the original extent of the EYN, 'the uncultivated land', over which the 'GRE', 'the flocks and herds' of the surrounding villages grazed during Summer time. The inn in Cockpole Green was 'The Old Hatchgate', but this is now private dwelling.