Lambourn is a large village and civil parish in West Berkshire. It lies just north of the M4 Motorway between Swindon and Newbury, and borders Wiltshire to the west and Oxfordshire to the north. After Newmarket it is the largest centre of racehorse training in England, and is home to a rehabilitation centre for injured jockeys, an equine hospital, and several leading jockeys and trainers. To the north of the village are the prehistoric Seven Barrows and the nearby Long Barrow, and in 2004 the Crow Down Hoard was found close to the village.
Lambourn covers most of the upper valley of the River Lambourn, a bourne in the chalk upland area of the Berkshire Downs. It is 13 miles (21 km) northwest of Newbury, 11 miles (18 km) southeast of Swindon, 7 miles (11 km) southwest of Wantage,7 miles (11 km) north of Hungerford and 71 miles (114 km) west of London (via B4000 and M4). It is the westernmost place with more than 1000 residents in Berkshire and borders northeastern Wiltshire and southwestern Oxfordshire. Since the 1974 boundary changes, Lambourn has been the westernmost parish in Berkshire. Membury Service Station (previously RAF Membury), Membury transmitting station and the northeastern quarter of Membury iron age fort are in the southwest corner of the parish.
The Lambourn Downs (an area of the Berkshire Downs) are part of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and cover an area of 231 square miles (600 km2), from the Ridgeway in the north to the River Kennet in the south. Originally they were entirely in Berkshire, but northern third of the downs were transferred to Oxfordshire when the county border was reorganised in 1974. Due to the poor, chalky soil, the downs could not be used for growing crops until the advent of modern fertilisers. Consequently, the high ground was only used for breeding sheep - hence the name of Lambourn - and horses. The Oxford Don and author J. R. R. Tolkien lived nearby and travelled to the downs with his family and friends. He was impressed by the downs with their sarsen stones, barrows and hill forts and painted pictures of Lambourn in 1912.
The racing connection began in the 18th century, when the Earl of Craven held racing meetings on Weathercock Hill near Ashdown House. There were regular race meetings on the Lambourn Downs and private race meetings can be held on Mandown between Upper Lambourn and Seven Barrows. In the 1840s some owners moved their racehorses to Lambourn as the ground at Newmarket was too firm and caused many horses to break down.
The first trainers were Edwin Parr, Joseph Saxon, John Prince, Luke Snowden (one of the few trainers to be buried at St Michaels graveyard) and John Drinkald, who went insane when his horse was disqualified after winning a race in which he stood to win £28,000.
The first stables were at the Red Lion Inn on the crossroads opposite the church, which has since been converted into flats, and at Lambourn Stables, now called Kingswood House Stables. The well drained, spongy grass, open downs and long flats made Lambourn ideal for training racehorses and it became a fashionable training centre. Lord Rothschild has his stables at Russley Park in Wiltshire and like Lord Craven his horses practised on the gallops at Lambourn.
However, it was not until the Lambourn Valley Railway was built in 1898 that Lambourn grew into its present size. Until then horses could only attend local meets, or had to walk the 10–15 miles to the railway at Newbury. Horses could now be transported to Newbury and from there to meetings all over the country and many new stables were opened in the area. Over 1,500 horses are now stabled in and around Lambourn - second only to Newmarket - there are many major stables, varied turf and all-weather gallops in and around the village. It even has the luxury of two fully licensed equine swimming pools and the Ridgeway Veterinary Group Valley Equine Hospital. As a result, it has been dubbed the "Valley of the Racehorse", and this is displayed on the road signs leading into the village.
In 2006 the Jockey Club Estates Ltd bought 500 acres (2.0 km²) of land in the valley, its first investment outside Newmarket, including Mandown and many other gallops and training grounds[18] The Oaksey House rehabilitation centre for injured jockeys was built in Lambourn in 2008, named after Lord Oaksey, the President of the Injured Jockeys Fund.
In 2013, Mehmet Kurt, the owner of the Kingwood Stud in Lambourn, received permission to build a 1.5 km (0.93 mi) long horse training monorail, the first in the country.
