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A'Bear Extracts: 'The Hill'

Wargrave's houses are somewhat difficult of description, not that any particular house is, but when describing all those that have interest of tenure or ownership, period or style, one is reduced to two or three most horribly inadequate adjectives. Old they mainly must be before they acquire interest, and ”old” must suggest .4 mellow brick and tile,” ” hoary oak,” or ”typical of the so and so period.”

How then may I describe ”The Hill? It is, without, a charming house of mellow bricks mainly hidden with creepers, partly Georgian, partly Queen Anne, and partly all sorts of periods, and, the sum just the charming outcome one should expect in the home of a long line of prosperous yeomen, for The Hill was for generations the home of the A'Bears, and for this reason it is the one house more than any other in Wargrave where the interest is more in the owners than in the house.

I do not deal with the A'Bear family here as they must needs “top the bill” in my chapter on the “Old Families,” and I will, therefore, only say of them that they are almost unique in that for at least 600 years they have occupied a middle space in society; most families rise or fall in the social scale, but A'Bears seem to remain the sturdy yeomen through all time. The coat of arms printed on this page is copied from an old parchment in the possession of Mr. A'Bear, and the family legend is that they were allowed to use the feathers in their crest as their ancestor was standard-bearer at Crécy. I can find no confirmation of the arms or any arms to A'Bear unless “Bere of Oakingham” (Wokingham) is of the same family, which is very probable, as Billingbear originally ended  “bere” and was “At Oakingham.”

The Hill was tenanted for many years after the A'Bear family left it by Mr. Shepherd, and a few years back was purchased by Mr. Bernard Crisp, who sold it to the present owner and occupier, Mr. A. H. Becker. Mr. Wade-Palmer, of the old family of Holme Park, Sonning, occupied the house for a time, and altered it somewhat.

It has changed hands again within the last few weeks. Miss Karslake being the new owner.