There have been many historic buildings in Thatcham, some are still there while others have been demolished, some have been listed (nationally or locally), some are scheduled monuments, but what does it all mean and what do we have in Thatcham? What does listed building mean? Before we get to what a listed building is, […]
Listed, Lasted, Lost (part 1) Read More »
Most local history resources will tell you modern Thatcham stems from the Saxon period, and rightly so. We know from the written record Thatcham, the name at least, is Saxon in origin. Many also believe that any remains of the Saxon settlement lay underneath the modern town centre, namely the Broadway and High Street, but
Rethinking Saxon Thatcham Read More »
A few posts ago I looked at other settlements named Newbury around the World. With Thatcham it is a different story, try as I might I cannot find another settlement called Thatcham. If you know of any please do get in touch so I can add to my Thatcham history research. There are similar names,
Is Thatcham unique in the World? Read More »
I wrote a post back in 2017, “The name of Thatcham“, detailing the history of the name of Thatcham. A few updates and more details are discussed in this post. The local myth is that when the people were stood thinking how to roof their buildings a figure (some say red with horns) suddenly appeared
A history of the name Thatcham Read More »
A parochial lending library was setup in 1843 and was to see to the spiritual needs of the poor[1]. Thatcham had another library in 1849 created by Mrs Barfield of Priory House, now The Priory, and opened on 8th November 1849[2]. This was a circulating library, you paid a subscription to use the service. This
A Library in Thatcham Read More »
During my Thatcham history research a number of years ago for some articles/publications I was looking at the Whipping Post, Stocks and Cage in Thatcham. This is a brief piece on that research. Starting with the village lockup, which was known as the Cage, we have a poor woman named Elizabeth Smith who had been
Berkshire Blake and the Stocks Read More »
I have mentioned Thatcham War Memorial before but have had a number of queries since that post. A short history is given in this post. The Great War, or First World War, saw a large portion of the population of Thatcham go to war and a large number never returned. After the war ended Thatcham,
Thatcham War Memorial Read More »
Crookham is one of the 16 or so manors of Thatcham listed in Domesday. The Lord of the manor both before and after the Norman Conquest was Alwi Ceuresbert (there are variations on the spelling). The manor became the property of Reading Abbey around 1125 and was sub-let to Fitz Herbert family, one of whom
