Litchfield is a parish situated to the north of Whitchurch, its southern boundary being formed by the Port Way, the ancent road from Salisbury to Silchester.
At the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086, Litchfield was part of the Hundred of Kingsclere - the rest being still in the Pastrow Hundred. By 1346 the Hundreds had assumed practically the same dimensions as in 1831 and by 1905 the parish contained 1814 acres.
It was in this old Kingsclere Hundred that Geoffrey de Haviland (later Sir Geoffrey) assisted by Frank Hearle kept up his fragile machine for 25 - 30 yards at 30mph on the 10th September 1910. That first flight was the beginning of much greater things to come, notably the Gypsy Moth, the Mosquito and the first jet passenger aircraft - the Comet. A stone tablet now commemorates the momentous event.
Later, reality gave way to fiction as local author Richard Adams put the village on the map again with his first and most successful novel 'Watership Down'. The novel is a collection of tales about a group of rabbits that Adams told to his young children on trips to the countryside. The book was rejected by publishers thirteen times before finally being published - it has never been out of print since!
'God's Wonderful Railway'
The Great Western Railway from Southampton to Didcot via Winchester, Whitchurch and Newbury was one of the most scenic routes amoung the railway systems in the country with a stop at Litchfield Halt. During World War 2 it was a very busy line for military traffic and although passenger service was axed by the Beeching plan of the fifities the line was used twice daily for transporting oil from Fawley to the Midlands and the North.
There are still people who retain happy memories of this picturesque line and some can even recall the last train from Newbury on a Saturday night - the 'Boozer Special'!
Nowadays the A34 takes follows a route close to the old railway bypassing the village. Prior to the 70's all traffic heading North or South of the county would have to negotiate two dangerous bends on entering and leaving the village; giving neither the passengers or the drivers time to notice the quaint little church with its lovely churchyard.
'Our Church'
There has been a Manor of Litchfield since the 13th century along with the presence of a church for over 800 years so why is it any the less?
The name St. James the Less derives from two James who became Apostles. One was a brother of John, the other the son of Alphaeus in whose honour the Church is dedicated and hence the title 'the Less'.
During the 1641-1649 Civil War the Royalist forces stopped at Whitchurch and were billeted in and around the area. King Charles I slept the night of 19th October 1644 in the town and moved North from Litchfield in preparation for the second Battle of Newbury on 27th October 1644 - the outcome being indecisive.
It is not difficult to imagine these Cavaliers being befriended in our little village and using the Church for worship. In those days there were no pews and only straw on the floor.