Straight to the point, Thatcham is today a town. But why the confusion when we have Thatcham Town Council, Thatcham Town Football Club, and so on?
At the time of Domesday, 1086, Thatcham was the centre of a Hundred, an administrative area. By the 12th century, if not before, Thatcham had a market and by c.1300 Thatcham had became a Borough. The exact details and charters have long since been lost to time. There are glimpses though for example in 1445 there is the record of “Ralph Castell, Constable of the town of Thatcham.” There are many other records of too such as court proceedings from 1502 that note the “Towne of Thatcham.”
The market appears to have died out in the 16th Century and it seems that the use of both Borough and Town started to decrease by the time of the English Civil War in the 17th century. Having said that Thatcham Borough and town are still noted in the 1800s, although most note village by that time. There was a population of c.2,500 in 1900. This rose post war from c.5,000 residents in 1951 to over 10,000 in 1971. A new act was brought in in the 1970s which allowed Thatcham parish council to apply to become a town and did so, officially, in 1974.
Summary
Thatcham was a town in ancient times, by the 1800s most documents refer to Thatcham as a village, exactly when this happened is still a topic for further research. It became a town again, officially in 1974. However there may still be some confusion cause as many locals, myself included, still refer to the town centre as “The Village” and it does still have that feel about it, a community, local shops and traders and a weekly market.
