covers an area of ; the soil is clay and loam, the subsoil chalk. In 1911 about of the parish were woodland, and the most prominent crops were wheat, oats, and turnips. The lower ground to the south-east of Bentworth and to the south of the nearby villages of Lasham and Shalden drains towards the River Wey which rises to the surface near Alton. Near Hall Place is the village duckpond, with cottages opposite it dated to 1733. Such names as Colliers Wood and Nancole Copse in the parish point to the early operations of the charcoal burners, the colliers of the Middle Ages. Other woods in the area include Gaston Wood, Childer Hill Copse, Miller's Wood, Thedden Copse, Well Copse, North Wood, Wadgett's Copse, Bylander's Copse, Nancole Copse, Widgell Copse, South Lease Copse, Stubbins Copse and Mayhew's Wood. The names of Windmill Field and Mill Piece indicate the site of one or more ancient mills. Parish background The civil parish of Bentworth, starting to the north and working clockwise, extends from north of Burkham House, then runs south east along the A339, turns south to Thedden Grange and the hamlet of Wivelrod, then west to north of Medstead and north again to Ashley Farm and back to the Burkham area. Originally (i.e. the ancient parish) is much larger, incorporating nearby settlements like Bradley, Beech, Moundsmere, Medstead and Lower Wield which lacked their own churches. The parish gained a in 1991 by regaining the Home Farm country park from the parish of Bradley. Bentworth was the largest parish in the Hundred of Odiham, after Odiham itself. At the time of the Domesday Survey the Hundred was included in two separate hundreds, Odiham and Hefedele (also known as Edefele and Efedele). The former comprised Lasham and Shalden and half a hide which had been taken from the nearby village of Preston Candover, and the latter included Odiham, Winchfield, Elvetham, Dogmersfield, and a former parish named Berchelei. For the manors of Bentworth, Greywell, Hartley Wintney, Liss, Sherfield-upon-Loddon, and Weston Patrick, there are no entries in the Survey, but they were believed to have been included in the large manor of Odiham. Villages and hamlets Within the Bentworth parish are several hamlets, the largest of which is Burkham to the north of the village. Other hamlets include Wivelrod to the southeast, Holt End and New Copse to the south, Thedden to the east,