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Leonard Ambrose Cundell (1879 Liddington, Wiltshire - 15, December 1939 Blewburton Hall, Aston Tirrold, Berkshire (now Oxfordshire)) was a well known English racehorse trainer in the 1930s. [1]
Len was the second son of farmer and butcher, Matthew Henry Cundell, and his wife, Emma Willis, of Coley Park Farm, near Reading in Berkshire, where he grew up.
Len had stables at Chilton in Oxfordshire which were taken over, by compulsory purchase, by the British government about 1937 in order to build RAF Harwell.
A stone marking the end of the runway records that aircraft of No 38 Group RAF took off on the night of 5 June 1944 with troops of the 6th Airborne Division who were the first British soldiers to land in Normandy in the main assault for the liberation of Europe. After World War II RAF Harwell was taken over by the UK Atomic Energy Authority.
Len Cundell moved from the Bungalow stables at Chilton to Blewburton Hall stables at Aston Tirrold. His best horse was Noble Star who, as a four-year-old, won the Cesarewitch in 1931.
The racehorses could not be kept following the outbreak of World War II. Some were given away to local farmers to ride while others had to be shot. Len died suddenly just before Christmas 1939.
His cousins Ken Cundell and Frank Cundell, and his nephew Jack Waugh, the son of Len's sister Letitia, also became successful racehorse trainers and gained experience in his yard. Ken Cundell was one of the first to recognise Lester Piggot's outstanding talents [2]
Didcot is a railway town and civil parish in the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire and the historic county of Berkshire. Didcot is 15 miles (24 km) south of Oxford, 10 miles (16 km) east of Wantage and 15 miles (24 km) north west of Reading. The town is noted for its railway heritage, Didcot station opening as a junction station on the Great Western Main Line in 1844. Today the town is known for the railway museum and power stations, and is the gateway town to the Science Vale: three large science and technology centres in the surrounding villages of Milton, Culham and Harwell.
Harwell is a village and civil parish in the Vale of White Horse about 2 miles (3 km) west of Didcot, 6 miles (10 km) east of Wantage and 13 miles (21 km) south of Oxford. The parish measures about 3.5 miles (6 km) north – south, and almost 2 miles (3 km) east – west at its widest point. In 1923 its area was 2,521 acres (1,020 ha). Historically in Berkshire, it has been administered as part of Oxfordshire, England, since the 1974 boundary changes. The parish includes part of Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in the southwest. The 2011 census recorded the parish's population as 2,349.
Goring-on-Thames is a village and civil parish on the River Thames in South Oxfordshire, Oxfordshire, England. It is located about 5+1⁄2 mi (9 km) south of Wallingford and 8 mi (13 km) north-west of Reading. It had a population of 3,187 in the 2011 census and was estimated to have increased to 3,335 by 2019.
Woodley is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Wokingham, Berkshire, England, four miles (6.4 km) east of Reading and joined to the neighbouring town of Earley, two miles (3.2 km) to the west, and five miles (8 km) from Wokingham. Nearby are the villages of Sonning, Twyford, Winnersh, Hurst and Charvil.
Lambourn is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. 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. In 2004 the Crow Down Hoard was found close to the village.
Aldermaston Court is a country house and private park built in the Victorian era for Daniel Higford Davall Burr with incorporations from a Stuart house. It is south-east of the village nucleus of Aldermaston in the English county of Berkshire. The predecessor manor house became a mansion from the wealth of its land and from assistance to Charles I during the English Civil War under ownership of the Forster baronets of Aldermaston after which the estate has alternated between the names Aldermaston Park and Aldermaston Manor.
Blewbury is a village and civil parish at the foot of the Berkshire Downs section of the North Wessex Downs about 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Didcot, 14 miles (23 km) south of Oxford and 50 miles (80 km) west of London. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,581. A number of springs rise at the foot of the escarpment of the downs. Some springs feed a small lake called the Watercress Beds, where watercress used to be grown. From here and elsewhere tributaries feed the Mill Brook which carries the water to the river Thames at Wallingford. The A417 road runs along below the escarpment above the springs and through the south of the village. The Blewbury citizens are often called Blewbarians.
Beedon is a village and civil parish about 6+1⁄2 miles (10.5 km) north of Newbury in West Berkshire, England.
Royal Air Force Harwell or more simply RAF Harwell is a former Royal Air Force station, near the village of Harwell, located 4.8 miles (7.7 km) south east of Wantage, Oxfordshire and 17 miles (27 km) north west of Reading, Berkshire, England.
Aston Tirrold is a village and civil parish at the foot of the Berkshire Downs about 3 miles (5 km) southeast of Didcot. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 373.
Abingdon was a parliamentary constituency in England, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of England until 1707, then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1885. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) from 1558 until 1983.
Royal Air Force Grove or RAF Grove is a former Royal Air Force station near Grove, Oxfordshire. The airfield is located approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) northwest of Wantage; about 55 miles (89 km) west-northwest of London
Chilton Aircraft Ltd was a British aircraft design and manufacturing company of the late 1930s and 1940s.
Blewburton Hill is the site of an Iron Age hillfort located in Oxfordshire, in the southeast of England. It was a univallate hillfort. The area is mostly farmland with some small areas of wooded copse to the south and the northeast. The hill fort may have been occupied from the 4th century BC to the 1st century BC, and replaced a small settlement surrounded by a stockade, which is estimated to have been built in the 5th or 6th century BC.
Charles William Reginald Spares, also commonly known as Chuck Spares, was a British jockey. Although predominantly a National Hunt jockey, his biggest victory came on the flat, when he won the 1951 Epsom Derby on Arctic Prince.
John Duckworth FREng was a British physicist known for his involvement in the development of Britain's radar defence network during World War II. He also served as the director of the National Research Development Corporation (NRDC), and helped supervise Britain's efforts to develop nuclear technology in the 1950s. Duckworth worked as an industrial consultant in his later life.
Helen Marjorie Johnson Houghton was a British racehorse trainer. She was the first woman to train a Classic flat races winner. Her horse Gilles de Retz won the 2,000 Guineas in 1956, but her name did not appear in the record books as the Jockey Club did not recognise women trainers at that time and the horse ran under the name of her assistant, Charles Jerdein, instead. She was one of the first three women to be elected as a member of the Jockey Club in December 1977, alongside Priscilla Hastings and Ruth Wood, Countess of Halifax.
Captain Timothy Arthur Forster, OBE commonly known as Tim Forster, was an English racehorse trainer and previously an amateur jockey. As a trainer he had 1,346 winners, including 3 Grand Nationals at Aintree in Liverpool. Forster's last runner as a Licensed Trainer came on 30 May 1998, when he won with Albermarle in a novice chase at Market Rasen.
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