Since 2011 when the group was formed we have presented  a range of papers, in no particular historical sequence, which reflected the interests of our researching members. The papers currently available on this website are listed at Past Local Research.

The list of subjets currently under research is held  here: Current Research.

The old parish of Kempshott, first referred to in Domesday briefly, had a chequered history and somewhat fluid boundaries over the 13th to 18th centuries. This has been very ably recorded in the publication Dummer and Kempshott, Two Chalkland Parishes by Jennie Butler and Sue Lane in the Victoria County History series published in 2022 ( available from the Willis Museum).

Kempshott Park,  a small country estate befitting a gentleman in retirement, had for a long time been the only remaining manifestation of the old parish. The highpoint of its fortunes was perhaps the period 1790 – 1935 with the rebuilding of the old house, briefly to be occupied by The Prince of Wales, later George IV in the 1790s. This has been very ably researched and recorded by Christopher Golding in papers available on the website:  Kempshott Park

In the 19th century the estate passed through a number of hands but was in serious decline by 1939 and the beginning of WW2 when it was used as a weapons research  centre. It would not recover. Kempshott Park, the house, now lies beneath the M3, leaving only the estate farm buildings and the stable block to be seen, both repurposed,  in Dummer parish.

But the name Kempshott lives on. In 1908 the name was ‘borrowed’ for a new community established immediately to the north of the A30 around the existing farming communities of Down Grange and Old Down Farm created in  1786 with the enclosure of the  Basingstoke Down and the  surrounding common field system.

The History of  Down Grange in the period  1810 to 1960, which has been extensively researched by the group, is our  alternative suggestion for a hidden and little known  gem with all the components of a 19th century novel of love, wealth, intrigue and  finally demise.