Blog entries for March 2017

St Luke's or St Mary's?

St Luke’s or St Mary’s?

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Most towns have a place of religious worship, a church or chapel for example. Thatcham is no different and Kemp1 suggested that Thatcham might have been a Minster Church. That is the main church for the whole area. In c.1304 a chapel, St Thomas’, was built at the east end of the town, what today is […]

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Newbury, a worldwide phenomenon

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The name of a settlement can reveal so much about the history of a place. Newbury for example comes from “New Burgh”, a new market town created in the 11th century, which over the centuries became Newbury. Thatcham on the other hand has a few possible sources. Local legend says it was named after a

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The Castle & The Spotted Dog

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There are two pubs today up at Cold Ash, The Castle and the Spotted Dog. I am ignoring the Sun-in-the-Wood in Ashmore Green and will come to that in a future post. Before we start Cold Ash was part of Thatcham. It became a separate ecclesiastical parish in the 1860s (1864 if I remember correctly)

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