Berkshire

by Horace Woollaston Monckton

13. The History of Berkshire.

It has already been mentioned that Berkshire probably came into existence as a county in the time of King Egbert, who brought the long struggle between the kingdoms of the Heptarchy to a close and established the ascendancy of Wessex over much of the south of England. It is probable that there was still a population living on the chalk downs and in occupation of the old forts, and the fertile Vale of White Horse was gradually coming under cultivation. In any case there was a royal residence at Wantage, where Alfred the Great was born in 849, and a religious foundation at Abingdon. There were also at least two towns, Reading and Wallingford.

Already in the previous century the English coast had been harried by the Viking pirates, but there is no record of their having penetrated to our district. In 851 they did indeed make their way up the Thames into Surrey, but were defeated by Ethelwulf, the son of Egbert, and his son Ethelbald at Ockley. They next approached Berkshire from the south coast, and in 860 attacked and plundered Winchester, but were defeated by the united forces of Berkshire and Hampshire. Ivor the Dane is said to have reached Reading in 868, and Reading was captured and occupied by the Danes in 871.

Ethelred was at this time king and together with his brother Alfred fought the Danes near Reading, but was not successful and retreated westwards. The Danes followed and the great battle of Assandun, in which the Danes were put to flight, was fought on the chalk downs at some place to the west of Aldworth in 871. There is much doubt as to the exact site of the battle. At one time it was supposed that the White Horse was cut on the hill-side as a memorial of the victory, but it is now known that this was not so, for the horse is much older than the date of the battle. The Danes retreated to Reading, and only 14 days afterwards they got the better of the Saxons in a fight at Basing in Hampshire, and were again victorious two months later at Merton. A truce, however, followed and the Danes retired to London. All this was in the year 871, and during the same year King Ethelred died and Alfred the Great became king. How King Alfred, who ruled until 901, eventually defeated the Danes and came to terms with them is well known, and Berkshire for a time enjoyed peace.

Statue of King Alfred, Wantage

About this time there was a royal residence at Faringdon, for it is recorded that Edward the Elder died there in 925. His son Athelstan had a mint at Wallingford, and three coins struck by him at that place are in the collection at the British Museum. The monastery at Abingdon had been destroyed by the Danes, and St Ethelwold was told by King Edred to re-establish it, but the work was not accomplished until the reign of Edgar. Ethelred the Unready had a mint at Reading.

In 1006 the Danes again appeared in Berkshire and burnt Reading. They then advanced up the Thames to Wallingford and burnt that town. They did not, however, remain in the county, but carried their booty to the sea by way of Winchester. Both Reading and Wallingford were soon rebuilt. Edward the Confessor struck coins at both these towns, and there are specimens in the British Museum. The Confessor had a residence at Old Windsor, and the great Earl Godwin is said to have died there in a manner attributed to the judgment of God. The King gave Windsor to the Abbey of Westminster, but William the Conqueror exchanged it for some land in Essex, and built a castle on the chalk hill near the Thames where the present Windsor Castle stands. Ever since the time of the Conqueror Windsor has been a favourite residence of our Sovereigns.

In 1121 Reading Abbey was founded by King Henry I and the first Abbot was appointed in 1123. Henry added to the buildings at Windsor, and his marriage to his second wife Adelais, daughter of Godfrey Count of Louvain, took place there in 1121. There was at this time a castle at Wallingford, for it is recorded that Waleran, Earl of Mellent, was imprisoned there in 1126.

St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle

Henry I died in 1135 and was buried in Reading Abbey. On his death the peace of the county was disturbed by civil war, for the crown was claimed by Henry’s nephew, Stephen of Blois, though he had sworn to support the cause of Henry’s daughter Maud or Matilda. Matilda had been married twice, and as her first husband was Henry V, the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, she is known as the Empress Matilda. War between Stephen and Matilda began in 1139 and spread over most of England. Windsor and Reading were held for Stephen, whilst Brian of Wallingford, a great magnate in Berkshire, took the side of Matilda. Wallingford Castle was besieged by Stephen in 1139 and again in 1145, but without success. A castle at Faringdon built by Robert Earl of Gloucester was taken and destroyed by Stephen. In 1145 Matilda gave up the contest and retired to France, but in 1152 her son Henry renewed the war and Stephen again besieged Wallingford and again unsuccessfully. He also besieged Newbury Castle, which was held by John Marshal of Hampstead Marshall. Eventually in 1153 peace was made at Wallingford—Stephen to be king for life and to be succeeded by Henry, son of Matilda. Stephen died in the next year, 1154, and Henry was crowned as King Henry II. He possessed himself of Wallingford Castle and held a Council there in 1155. Henry added to the buildings at Windsor Castle, and the lower part of the south side of the Upper Ward dates from his time.

In 1163 a duel or wager of battle was fought between Robert de Montfort and Henry of Essex on an island in the Thames below Caversham Bridge. Essex was accused of treachery or cowardice, having thrown away the standard in a battle at Coleshill. He was defeated in the duel and was allowed to join the community of Reading Abbey.

St George’s Chapel: the Interior

On April 19th, 1164, the ceremony of hallowing the Abbey Church at Reading was performed by Thomas à Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the presence of the King. In 1175 Henry held a royal festival at Reading, and in 1185 we hear of a state ceremony at this town, when Henry received Heraclius, the Patriarch of Jerusalem. Henry died in 1189 and was succeeded by his son Richard I. Soon after his accession Richard left England on a crusade, having appointed the Bishops of Ely and Durham guardians of the kingdom during his absence. To his brother John he gave the government of some English districts and places, including the Honour of Wallingford. After Richard’s departure a quarrel arose between the Bishop of Ely, whose name was Longchamp, and Geoffrey Archbishop of York, and Longchamp caused Geoffrey to be arrested. Prince John took the part of Geoffrey and called a Council at Reading to demand justification from Longchamp, who was summoned to meet the prince at Loddon Bridge, presumably the bridge on the Reading and Wokingham road. Longchamp did not appear, and all the participators in the arrest of the Archbishop were excommunicated in Reading church. Longchamp eventually retired to the continent, and John obtained possession of Windsor Castle, but gave it up to Queen Eleanor until Richard should come back—which he did in 1194. On Richard’s death, in 1199, his brother John became King. In 1204 he obtained possession of Beckett near Shrivenham, once the property of the Earls of Evreux, and he probably lived there at times, for a mandate to the Sheriff of Oxfordshire is dated from Beckett. In 1213 John held an important ecclesiastical Council at Reading Abbey. He died in 1216 and was succeeded by his son Henry, who was in his tenth year. William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, son of John Marshal already mentioned, was appointed Regent of the kingdom, and he held the office until his death in 1219.

In the Dean’s Cloisters at Windsor may be still seen the crowned head of Henry painted during his life by William the monk of Westminster. Henry added largely to Windsor Castle, and the outer walls and towers of the Lower Ward are to a great extent his work. Disputes arose between Henry and his barons, and Berkshire was again the scene of civil war. In 1261 Parliament was summoned to meet at Windsor, and the castle was fortified by Prince Edward. It was taken in 1263 by Simon de Montfort, and the prince was captured. In time, however, he escaped and got the better of the barons.

In 1295 Berkshire sent two knights of the shire to Parliament, and Reading and Wallingford also sent representatives. In 1307 the Templars were expelled from their Preceptories at Bisham and Templeton. In the time of Edward II we hear complaints of robbers in Windsor Forest.

Edward III was born at Windsor in 1312, and his tenure of power began at a Court held at Wallingford in 1326, though his father was not deposed until the next year. King Edward wished to hold a Round Table in imitation of King Arthur, and he invited a number of knights both English and foreign to assemble at Windsor Castle in 1344. No doubt a splendid tournament took place and others followed in subsequent years. In 1347 or 1348 a garter with the motto Hony soit qui mal y pense was worn as a device at jousts at Windsor, and the institution of the Order of the Garter in all probability took place at Windsor in 1348, though some authorities give the date as 1349. At Christmas, 1346, the King was at Reading and a great jousting was held in his honour, and in 1359 John of Gaunt, afterwards Duke of Lancaster, was married at Reading, and there was a great pageant and a tournament in which the King and his sons took part.

During the reign of Edward III, William of Wykeham built, or re-built, the Round Tower and much of the castle at Windsor. The sword of the King is still preserved there.

In 1327 Abingdon had a little fight of its own. Some of the townspeople, assisted by the Mayor of Oxford and it is said by some scholars, attacked the Abbey and drove out the monks, part of the buildings being burnt and the muniments destroyed. In the end twelve of the attacking party were hanged and the monks restored.

Abingdon Abbey

In 1361 the Black Prince married Joan the Fair Maid of Kent. The marriage took place at Windsor, and after her husband’s death Joan lived a good deal at Wallingford.

The reign of Richard II, which lasted from 1377 to 1399, was marked by constant troubles between the King with his favourites on the one hand and the nobles on the other. In 1387 Radcot Bridge was the scene of a fight between the King’s party of 5000 men under De Vere, Duke of Ireland, and Henry Earl of Derby (afterwards Henry IV). De Vere was defeated, and only escaped by swimming down the Thames.

In 1399 Richard’s inglorious reign came to an end. He was deposed in favour of Henry of Bolingbroke, son of John of Gaunt, who became King as Henry IV.

14. The History of Berkshire (continued).

The reign of Henry IV lasted from 1399 to 1413. The hereditary heir to the Crown on the death of Richard II was a child, Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, and he was detained a prisoner at Windsor Castle during the whole of Henry’s reign, and only liberated by Henry V in 1413. There was at least one fight in Berkshire during the time of Henry IV. In 1400 an attempt was made by some of the nobles to fall on the King at Windsor, but he was warned in time, and retired to London, and when the insurgents reached Windsor, they entered the Castle without opposition, searched for the King, but found he had gone. Meanwhile he had raised a force in London, and came to attack the insurgent nobles, who retreated, and a sharp encounter took place at Maidenhead Bridge. The insurgents retired to Oxford and were eventually defeated.

James I, King of Scotland, was a prisoner at Windsor during most of the last ten years of his long captivity, which ended by his release in 1424. His book, The King’s Quhair, was written at Windsor, and it was at Windsor that he fell in love with Jane Beaufort, who afterwards became his Queen.

Henry VI was born at Windsor in 1421, and became King when about nine months old. He grew up weak in mind, and during his reign all England was involved in the Wars of the Roses. Berkshire was during most of the time held by the Lancastrian party, but in 1460 Newbury was taken by the Earl of Wiltshire on behalf of the Yorkists. In the next year, 1461, the Duke of York obtained the Crown under the name of Edward IV.

Henry VI held several Parliaments at Reading, and Edward IV also visited the Abbey, and it is recorded that in 1464 he made the first public announcement of his marriage with Elizabeth Woodville at a great Council of the Peers at Reading. The marriage was not popular, and it was especially disliked by the Nevilles, the most powerful of whom, Richard Earl of Warwick, subsequently defeated Edward’s forces and restored Henry VI, but Henry’s renewed reign lasted only some six months, for Edward defeated Warwick, who was killed, at the battle of Barnet in 1471. Warwick and his brother the Marquis of Montagu, also killed at Barnet, were both buried at Bisham Abbey in Berkshire.

The greater part of St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle dates from the reign of King Edward IV, and he was the first of our kings to be buried there, 1483. The body of his rival Henry VI was removed to Windsor from Chertsey Abbey in 1484. The beautiful Rutland Chapel in St George’s Chapel was built by Sir Thomas St Leger in memory of his wife Ann, sister of Edward IV. St Leger was beheaded by Richard III, but was buried in the chapel and a brass to himself and his wife still remains on the wall there.

After the Wars of the Roses peace reigned in Berkshire for many a long year, and the county no doubt increased in wealth and prospered generally. A considerable part of the land was in the possession of the Church, but in the days of King Henry VIII the whole of the monastic institutions were swept away.

Owing to the dissolution of the monasteries a large part of the land in Berkshire passed into the hands of the Crown. Some of it was granted to Oxford colleges and much to private persons.

In 1544 three persons, Testwood, Filmer, and Peerson were burnt at Windsor as heretics, and in 1556 Julius Palmer, Master of Reading Grammar School, John Gwin, and Thomas Askew were burnt at the sandpits near Newbury.

Elizabeth, before her accession in 1558, lived for some three years at Sir Thomas Hoby’s house at Bisham; indeed she was practically a prisoner under the charge of Sir Thomas and his wife’s sisters. When she came to the throne Elizabeth like her predecessors lived a good deal at Windsor, and we hear of visits by her to Reading, Englefield House (Sir F. Walsingham) and other places. It was in her days that the tragedy took place which made “Cumnor Hall” known all over the world, though its celebrity is due more to Scott’s novel Kenilworth than to history. The real facts were, however, sufficiently tragic. Amy, the daughter of Sir John Robsart, married Lord Robert Dudley, afterwards Earl of Leicester, in 1550. Ten years later she was found dead, at Cumnor Place, which had been recently purchased by Anthony Forster the steward of Lord Robert. Foul play was suspected and it was suggested that Dudley had reasons for wishing to get rid of his wife as she stood in the way of higher ambitions. There were no “haunted towers of Cumnor Hall” for Cumnor Place was not a large house. Now only a few remains of walls are left on the site.

St George’s Hall: Windsor Castle

At the beginning of the Civil War Berkshire was generally Royalist, and the county was the scene of much fighting during the whole war, an account of which can be found in any History of England. The Earl of Essex captured Reading after a siege in 1643, and on September 20th of the same year there was a hard-fought battle between Charles and Essex near Newbury. Lord Falkland, who was on the King’s side, was killed at this battle, and a granite monument to his memory stands on the high ground south of the town.

Statue of Queen Victoria at Windsor

A second battle took place near Newbury on October 27th, 1644, when the Royalists occupied a position near Shaw House between the rivers Kennet and Lambourn. Earthworks, remains of this fight, may still be seen at Shaw House. Donnington Castle, near by, held out for the King until 1646, and Wallingford Castle fell into the hands of the Parliament in the same year.

On February 8th, 1649, Charles was buried in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.

Since the Civil War there has been only one small fight in Berkshire and that was in 1688. On December 6th of that year William of Orange reached Hungerford, and a force of 250 of his men came into conflict with 600 of James’s Irish troops at Reading. Superior discipline enabled William’s men to drive the Irish in confusion through the streets into the market-place where they attempted to rally, but being vigorously attacked in front, and fired upon at the same time by the inhabitants from the windows, they fled with the loss of their colours and 50 men, the conquerors only sustaining a loss of five.

There is not much to say of the history of the county since that date, though, owing to the frequent residence of the Sovereign at Windsor, many an event of the highest importance and interest has taken place there.

15. Antiquities—(a) Prehistoric.

We have no written records of Man as he first lived in our land long ages ago. Writing was an unknown art, and records—even if they had existed—could not have survived to come down to us. We therefore speak of this period as the Prehistoric—the time when the people of the past were unable themselves to record their story. Yet, though these sources of information are closed to us, we are able from the relics they have left behind them—the implements and weapons that they used, the bones of the animals they fed upon, the structures they erected—to form a fairly clear idea of these early peoples.

But this Prehistoric period, vast in its extent, has for convenience sake been further subdivided. At first the metals were unknown, or at least unused, and this period is spoken of as the Stone Age, for it was of flints and other stones that weapons and domestic implements were mainly fashioned. Later, man learnt how to get the easily-worked ores of tin and copper from the rocks and by their admixture to form bronze. From this, beautiful weapons and other articles were made, and from the time of the discovery we date what is known as the Bronze Age. Doubtless the ores of iron had long been known, but how to smelt them was another matter. At length the method was discovered, and mankind was in possession of hard metal implements having great advantages for all purposes over those previously employed. Thus the Iron Age began, and the early inhabitants of Britain had arrived at this stage of civilisation when the Romans came to our land.

We may now turn to a consideration of these various epochs in their order. Firstly the Stone Age. This, though a convenient term as covering all the period before the advent of the Metal Ages, is too indefinite both as to time and race, and hence it is usual to speak of the Palaeolithic or Old Stone Age, and the Neolithic or New Stone Age. The people of these two Ages were very distinct, and most authorities hold that—at all events in our land—a vast gap of time separated them, though no such gap occurred between the later Ages. Palaeolithic man, from various causes, ceased to inhabit what we now call Britain, and when the country was re-peopled it was by Neolithic man. Palaeolithic man lived in the days when the mammoth, reindeer, and hyaena roamed over our country; made leaf-shaped roughly-flaked flint weapons which were never ground or polished; cultivated no plants and tamed no animals; and built no monuments, graves, or houses. Neolithic man, on the other hand, learnt how to grind and polish his implements; was both a farmer and a breeder of stock; had many industries; and built megalithic monuments, houses, and graves—the remains of which survive to the present day.

The earliest signs of the existence of man in Berkshire are, as we have said, the implements of stone, mostly flint, found in the gravels; and the implements of the Palaeolithic Period take us back to a very old time, so old that the surface features of our district were then quite different from what we see now.

There is a fine series of Palaeolithic implements in the Reading Museum, and most of them have been found in gravel-pits near the river Thames in the Reading and Twyford district, or in the Cookham and Maidenhead district. The implements occur in the gravel in such a way as to prove that they were brought into the position in which we find them at the same time and in the same manner as the other stones in the gravel, and the men who made them consequently lived at or before the date of the making of the beds of gravel. All the gravels in question were made by our rivers, and as the places where we find the implements are in some cases from 85 to 114 feet above the present level of the river, we infer that the valley has been deepened as much as from 85 to 114 feet since the time when the men who made the implements lived.

Wayland Smith’s Cave

We now come to the Neolithic Period when, as we have seen, man was a much more civilised person than the earlier man is believed to have been. Some of his burial mounds still remain, and being oval in plan are known as long barrows. Wayland Smith’s Cave, a mile to the east of Ashbury (p. 83), is composed of some 32 stones, the remains of a long barrow of Neolithic times.

Flint Implements of the Neolithic Period found in Berkshire

Neolithic implements are of stone, but in many cases they are unlike the older implements in being of polished stone. In the Reading Museum there is a fine polished flint chisel from Englefield, and also polished axes from Broadmoor, from Pangbourne, and from the beds of the Thames and Kennet. In the British Museum there is a beautiful dagger of flint from a barrow on Lambourn Down. Pretty little arrow-heads have been found at many places on the downs and in the Wallingford district.

There was in Berkshire a long interval between the Palaeolithic and the Neolithic Periods, but so far as we know there was no such break between the Neolithic Period and the Bronze Age. All we can say is that there was a time when the inhabitants of our district began to use implements of copper, or of copper alloyed with tin, i.e. bronze, for some purposes, but they still continued to use implements of stone, and it is not always possible to say whether a stone implement belongs to the Neolithic Period, to the Bronze Age, or to an even later date.

Many remains of the Bronze Age have been found in burial-mounds or barrows, and the barrows of this period are circular, with a diameter of fifty to one hundred feet, and hence termed round barrows. Many pieces of sepulchral pottery of this age from Berkshire will be found both in the British Museum and the Reading Museum. A considerable number of bronze implements were found in one place at Yattendon, and another hoard of them was discovered at Wallingford. A great many bronze swords, daggers, and spear-heads have been found in the river Thames, and are to be seen in the Museums.

A cemetery of this period was found at Sulham, and many earthenware urns from it are in the Reading Museum. There are also in the Museum some urns from Neolithic barrows at Sunningdale.

The extensive deposits of peat at and around Newbury show that it was a marsh and lake district until historical time, and remains of pile dwellings have been found in the market-place, in Bartholomew Street, and in Cheap Street. Their date cannot be fixed with certainty, but they are almost certainly prehistoric in age.

The substitution of iron for bronze indicates a considerable advance in knowledge, for, except in meteorites, pure iron is not found in nature, and no small skill is required to separate the metal from the earth or rock in which it occurs. There is, however, no definite division between the Bronze and the Iron Age, for implements and ornaments of both bronze and stone continued to be used. Nor is there any definite end to the Iron Age: it passes onwards into the period of written history.

A number of bones and various objects found in a grave on Hagbourne Hill seemed to show that a man, a horse, and possibly also a chariot had been buried there.

Ancient British coins have been found at Brightwell, Newbury, Wallingford, and at other places in Berkshire. Many of them bear on one side a rude representation of a horse, probably an imitation of the horse on the gold stater of Philip II of Macedon, who became king in B.C. 359. These gold coins, known as Philips, were current in Greece and in the East for a long period, and have been occasionally found in circulation even in modern times. The White Horse, which is cut in the turf on the chalk hill above Uffington, bears a considerable resemblance to the horse on the British coins, and may very probably be of the same date.

The White Horse

There are a great number of mounds and earthworks scattered over Berkshire, and it is exceedingly difficult to assign to them their proper dates. We have already mentioned Wayland Smith’s Cave as the remains of a long barrow of the Neolithic Period, and we have also referred to the round barrows of the Bronze Age. Some of the fortifications may date from these early times but many are probably of later date. It was for a long time needful to provide defence for the dwellings, not only against men, but also against wild animals, and the earthworks were no doubt used over and over again by successive peoples.

As we have said, the chalk district was at one time the most populous part of the county, and we consequently find the downs dotted over with mounds and earthworks of very ancient date. Perhaps the best known of these is the fine earthwork named Uffington Castle on White Horse Hill (see p. 7). Alfred’s Castle is a circular earthwork close to Ashdown Park and three miles south-west of Uffington Castle. Letcombe Castle is another fair-sized work on the Ridge Way, rather more than five miles east of White Horse Hill. There is a large earthwork called Danish Camp on Blewburton Hill to the south of Didcot.

Blewburton Hill, near Blewbury

There are a few old earthworks in the Vale of White Horse district. One crowns Badbury Hill near Faringdon. Cherbury Camp is a large oval work on low ground near Buckland. Sinodun Hill to the north of Wallingford has evidently been fortified in early times, and Wallingford itself has the remains of an old and extensive earthwork round the town.

Passing to the Forest District we find many mounds and banks on the heaths, and there is one very fine earthwork known as Caesar’s Camp near Easthampstead. It was very likely used by the Romans, but is almost certainly of still older date. Finally it is highly probable that Windsor Castle stands on the site of an old fort.

16. Antiquities—(b) Roman and Saxon.

The Reading Museum contains one of the finest Anglo-Roman collections in England. It is the result of careful and systematic excavation, carried on for a series of years, on the site of the town of Silchester, and the collection is of the greatest interest to us as illustrating the life in an English country town in the days of the Romans. The locality is however in Hampshire, the Berkshire boundary making a detour so as to leave it in the neighbouring county.

According to the ordnance map, Speen House near Newbury was the site of the Roman Spinae, but no Roman remains have been found there, though there is evidence of a settlement of some importance at Newbury itself.

The foundations of houses of the Roman period have been found at several places in Berkshire; thus at Frilford near Marcham the remains of a small Romano-British house were found; and near by, in Frilford Field, a cemetery of the same period, which had subsequently been used by the Anglo-Saxons. Remains of a house with tessellated pavements were found on the Great Western Railway at Basildon, and other remains of Romano-British buildings have been discovered near Maidenhead and Waltham St Lawrence.

The words “Roman Villa” will be found marked on the ordnance map at two places to the south of Hampstead Norris, and remains of buildings have been discovered near Letcombe Regis, and at other places. The earthworks on Lowbury Hill to the west of Streatley are usually believed to be a Roman camp, and it is probable that the Roman soldiers occupied many of the old British forts at one time or another.

Roman coins and pottery of the Romano-British period have been found almost all over the county, though they may be said to be most common along the valley of the Thames and least so near Faringdon. In the Reading Museum there are a good many objects of Roman date which were found in Reading itself. Specimens are exhibited from two small hoards of coins dating from the Emperor Valentinian A.D. 364 to the Emperor Honorius A.D. 423. The coins are in very good preservation and were probably hidden when the Roman soldiers departed from England.

There are signs of Roman settlements along the Devil’s Highway, the road from Silchester to London. Thus there was evidently a Romano-British village at Wickham Bushes close to Caesar’s Camp on Easthampstead Plain. A collection from this locality exists at Wellington College.

A number of objects of the Anglo-Saxon period found in Berkshire will be seen in the Anglo-Saxon room at the British Museum. There is a very fine sword-blade from Ashdown, and a variety of objects—shield-bosses, knives, etc.—from Long Wittenham, where a Saxon burial-place has been explored. In some cases the body had been burnt, whilst in others the skeletons remained, and were found to be of a large-sized and robust race. Another Anglo-Saxon cemetery was discovered at Arne Hill near Lockinge, and a number of Anglo-Saxon interments in the Lambourn valley near East Shefford. Two burial-places of this period have been found at Reading. One contained spear-heads, knives, and bronze ornaments, and was probably of pagan date, whilst the other is believed to have been to some extent a Christian burial-place. In it a pewter chalice was found which may have been buried with a priest. The objects from these two localities are in the Reading Museum. Numbers of Anglo-Saxon coins have been dug up in Berkshire, more especially in the Cholsey and Wallingford district. They are of silver about the diameter of a sixpence but much thinner and are called pennies.

17. Architecture—(a) Ecclesiastical. Churches.

A preliminary word on the various styles of English architecture is necessary before we consider the churches and other important buildings of our county.

Pre-Norman or, as it is usually, though with no great certainty termed, Saxon building in England, was the work of early craftsmen with an imperfect knowledge of stone construction, who commonly used rough rubble walls, no buttresses, small semi-circular or triangular arches, and square towers with what is termed “long-and-short work” at the quoins or corners. It survives almost solely in portions of small churches.

St Nicholas’s Church, Abingdon

The Norman conquest started a widespread building of massive churches and castles in the continental style called Romanesque, which in England has got the name of “Norman.” They had walls of great thickness, semi-circular vaults, round-headed doors and windows, and lofty square towers.

From 1150 to 1200 the building became lighter, the arches pointed, and there was perfected the science of vaulting, by which the weight is brought upon piers and buttresses. This method of building, the “Gothic,” originated from the endeavour to cover the widest and loftiest areas with the greatest economy of stone. The first English Gothic, called “Early English,” from about 1180 to 1250, is characterised by slender piers (commonly of marble), lofty pointed vaults, and long, narrow, lancet-headed windows. After 1250 the windows became broader, divided up, and ornamented by patterns of tracery, while in the vault the ribs were multiplied. The greatest elegance of English Gothic was reached from 1260 to 1290, at which date English sculpture was at its highest, and art in painting, coloured glass making, and general craftsmanship at its zenith.

After 1300 the structure of stone buildings began to be overlaid with ornament, the window tracery and vault ribs were of intricate patterns, the pinnacles and spires loaded with crocket and ornament. This later style is known as “Decorated,” and came to an end with the Black Death, which stopped all building for a time.

With the changed conditions of life the type of building changed. With curious uniformity and quickness the style called “Perpendicular”—which is unknown abroad—developed after 1360 in all parts of England and lasted with scarcely any change up to 1520. As its name implies, it is characterised by the perpendicular arrangement of the tracery and panels on walls and in windows, and it is also distinguished by the flattened arches and the square arrangement of the mouldings over them, by the elaborate vault-traceries (especially fan-vaulting), and by the use of flat roofs and towers without spires.

Abbey Gateway, Abingdon

The mediaeval styles in England ended with the dissolution of the monasteries (1530–1540), for the Reformation checked the building of churches. There succeeded the building of manor-houses, in which the style called “Tudor” arose—distinguished by flat-headed windows, level ceilings, and panelled rooms. The ornaments of classic style were introduced under the influences of Renaissance sculpture and distinguish the “Jacobean” style, so called after James I. About this time the professional architect arose. Hitherto, building had been entirely in the hands of the builder and the craftsman.

Much of the stone used in Berkshire is of local origin, as has already been mentioned in Chapter 12, but a great deal has also been brought from a distance. Thus it is recorded that when the Abbot of Abingdon in 1100 rebuilt the conventual buildings as well as much of the abbey church, the materials were brought from Wales, six waggons, each drawn by twelve oxen, being engaged in the work. A great deal of Bath stone will be found in Berkshire buildings and some has even been brought from Caen in Normandy. Pillars and tombstones of Purbeck marble are common in the churches. In the south wall of the Dean’s Cloisters at Windsor (temp. Henry III) there are clusters of columns and one column in each is of Purbeck marble.

The tower of the church at Wickham, north-west of Newbury, is of a very early style of architecture, showing a variety of “long and short” work. Two of the belfry windows are double with a pillar in the middle, and are characteristic of this early work. The walls are very thick. The remainder of the church has been rebuilt.

North Door, Faringdon Church

On pages 96 and 97 there are views of Norman doorways at Faringdon, both round-headed and one with an embattled moulding over the door. The church at Avington on the banks of the river Kennet a little below Hungerford is a good example of the Norman style of architecture, and there is a most interesting little church at Finchampstead near Wokingham of which a view is given on page 98. It was built in the twelfth century and the east end of the chancel is round, as was usual at that time. The original windows were probably very small, and those which we now see were cut in the wall since Norman times. The north aisle, too, is newer than the body of the church, and the brick tower only dates from the seventeenth century. In the church there is a Norman font. There is more or less Norman work remaining in many of our other churches. Thus the illustration on page 92 gives a view of the church of St Nicholas at Abingdon, and a round-headed Norman doorway will be seen under the tower, whilst the remainder of the building belongs to a later style of architecture, probably of the fifteenth century. The tower of West Shefford church is curious, the lower part is round and of Norman date, whilst the upper part is octagonal and was built subsequently.

South Door, Faringdon Church

Passing now to the Early English style of architecture there is on page 99 a view of Faringdon Church, which it will be seen is built in the form of a cross with a massive square tower in the middle. Some of the arches inside the church are round-headed like Norman arches, but the windows are of the long narrow shape usual in the Early English style of building. We have churches built mainly in this style in many places, such as Ardington, Buckland, and Uffington.

Finchampstead Church

Of the Decorated style there is a most beautiful church at Shottesbrook near White Waltham, which was built by Sir William Tressel in 1337. It is cruciform with a tall spire. The walls are of small dressed flints, with corners and window and door frames of stone. The roof is tiled and the spire of stone, the east end window large with beautiful stone tracery (p. 158), and the church is an unusually good example of the Decorated style. The Greyfriars Church at Reading was also built in the Decorated style. It was long a ruin or used for various purposes, but is now restored. We also have churches mainly in this style of architecture at Sparsholt, Warfield, and at other places.

Faringdon Parish Church

The Upper Cross: East Hagbourne Village

We have many examples of Perpendicular style in Berkshire, but by far the best is the Chapel of St George in Windsor Castle (pp. 69, 71). The greater part of this chapel was built in the time of Edward IV. The windows are large and the nave consequently very light. The stone roof of the nave was added by Henry VII, and that of the choir by Henry VIII. In the choir are the stalls of the Knights of the Garter, and installation ceremonies of the Order are performed here. St Helen’s Church, Abingdon, is our best Berkshire parish church in the Perpendicular style (the tower is Early English). It is large, with five aisles, as will be seen in the illustration here given. The church at Bray is chiefly celebrated on account of a vicar, one Simon Aleyn, who died in 1588 after holding the living under Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth and altering his views as occasion required. The church is however of itself interesting, and in it will be found examples of Early English, Decorated, and Perpendicular work. The tower belongs to the latest of these styles and is but badly joined on to the aisle of Edwardian date. It is mostly built of flints, but a broad band of chalk will be noticed about half-way up (p. 149). There is a good example of a church in this style at Newbury.

Abingdon Parish Church

Brick church towers are a feature of eastern Berkshire and many of them date from the seventeenth century. One of these, at Finchampstead, is shown in the illustration on page 98.

There are crosses or their remains in many of the churchyards and villages. At Ardington there is both a new cross and the shaft of an old one. There are crosses at Denchworth, Goosey, East Hagbourne, Inglesham, North or Ferry Hinksey, Steventon, etc.

At Harwell the rood-screen still remains; there are interesting lead fonts at Childrey and at Long Wittenham; and stands for hour-glasses still exist in the churches at Binfield, Hurst, and Inglesham.

In former times it was very common to keep books in the churches fastened to the shelf or reading-desk by chains, and a few of them still remain. There are several in St Helen’s Church, Abingdon. A chained Bible of 1611 is in Cumnor church, and until recently there were several at Denchworth, but they have been removed to the vicarage, and Caxton’s Golden Legend of 1483 which used to be chained in Denchworth Church is now in the Bodleian Library.

18. Architecture—(b) Religious Houses.

In the year A.D. 528 Benedict of Nursia drew up his celebrated rules at Monte Cassino in Italy, and founded the order of the Benedictine or Black Monks. The order rapidly spread over Europe and was established in Berkshire at an early period. The great Abbey of Abingdon dates from the days of the Saxon Kings, and at the time of Domesday survey it possessed 30 manors in Berkshire besides lands in other counties, and it continued to grow in wealth and power until its dissolution by Henry VIII. The great church of the abbey has been destroyed, but there are some interesting remains of the abbey buildings which, after having been put to varied uses, are now in the hands of the Corporation and carefully preserved. The illustration given on page 74 shows the south side of what appears to have been a dormitory divided by partitions.

Ruins of Reading Abbey

In 1121 Henry I founded a second great Benedictine abbey in Berkshire at Reading, probably upon the site of an older monastic dwelling. Cluny had been founded in 910 as an order with a reformed Benedictine rule, and Reading was founded as an abbey of that order. Its connection with Cluny did not, however, last long, and early in the thirteenth century the abbey seems to have become attached to the general Benedictine order. Reading became one of the greatest of English abbeys. Its abbot, like the Abbot of Abingdon, was entitled to wear the mitre and was summoned with the other spiritual peers to attend parliament.

Part of the Hospitium of St John, Reading Abbey

Both Reading and Abingdon were dissolved by Henry VIII, and on November 14th, 1539, Hugh Faringdon, the 31st abbot of Reading, was hanged, drawn, and quartered within sight of his own gateway. The last abbot of Abingdon had made himself more agreeable to the king, and was granted the manor of Cumnor for life, and a pension as well.

The stone from Reading Abbey was much used for buildings in Reading and the neighbourhood, and in 1556, during the reign of Philip and Mary, a great deal was removed from the abbey and taken by river to Windsor for building the Poor Knights’ Lodgings. The inner gateway of the abbey is still standing but has been partially rebuilt in modern times. There are also some remains of the abbey buildings probably belonging to the Hospice of St John.

The Refectory, Hurley Priory

In the time of William the Conqueror (about 1086) Geoffrey de Mandeville gave the church of St Mary at Hurley, together with certain lands, for a cell of Benedictine monks to be subject to the Abbey of Westminster, and the remains of the priory thus founded are exceedingly beautiful and of much interest. The chapel, built in the Norman style of architecture, is now the parish church of Hurley. The illustration above shows the refectory or dining hall of the priory. The lower part is in the Norman style and the upper part of Edwardian date. On the opposite side of this building is the river Thames.

There was a priory of the Benedictines at Wallingford, and a Benedictine nunnery at Bromhall in the parish of Sunninghill, but there are now no remains of either.

The Abbey Barn, Great Coxwell

The only establishment connected with the great order of the Cistercians in the county was a small cell at Faringdon and a grange or barn at Great Coxwell, both belonging to the Abbey of Beaulieu in Hampshire. The fine abbey barn, dating from the fourteenth century, still remains.

The Austin Canons, an order founded at Avignon about 1061, had priories at Bisham, Poughley, and Sandleford. After the dissolution of the monasteries Bisham Abbey became the seat of the Hoby family. It is beautifully situated on the Thames. Poughley Priory was situated in the chalk district one and a half miles south of Chaddleworth, and there are remains of the buildings at a farm. Sandleford Priory is about the same distance south of Newbury, and some remains are incorporated in the modern house which was built after plans by Wyatt in 1781 for Elizabeth Montague (1720–1800) the leader of the Blue-stockings.

Bisham Abbey

We have already mentioned Bisham as an abbey of the Austin Canons, founded in 1338, but it had previously been a preceptory of the Knights Templars. That great military order was however suppressed in the time of Edward II and the preceptory dissolved (cir. 1312). The Templars also had a preceptory at Brimpton which passed into the possession of the other great military order of monks, the Knights Hospitallers. Their chapel, which stands close to Brimpton Manor, still remains and is an interesting building. Shalford farm, a little to the east, was also the property of the Hospitallers. The order was suppressed in England in 1540, and was only temporarily revived under Queen Mary.

There were priories in the county belonging to foreign abbeys and hence termed Alien Priories—one at Steventon belonging to the Abbey of Bec in Normandy, and the other known as Stratfieldsaye, but in Berkshire, belonging to the Abbey of Vallemont, also in Normandy. Both were abolished in the time of Edward III and there are no remains of buildings. A farm named the Priory near Beech Hill occupies the place of the latter, which was on the site of an old hermitage.

There were colleges at Shottesbrook, Windsor, and Wallingford. They were houses of priests who performed divine service in the churches attached to the colleges. We have already mentioned Shottesbrook. There is a very curious alabaster monument to William Throckmorton, one of the later Wardens of the college, in the chancel of the church representing him lying in his coffin.

Besides these religious houses there were houses of Friars at Reading and Donnington, and a number of Hospitals in the county.

19. Architecture—(c) Military.

Attention has already been drawn to the earliest fortifications in the county. They were banks of earth and had probably wooden palisades. In Norman times fortified residences became common and were usually of stone. The history of a Norman castle was probably often as follows. In the first place a tower called a “keep” was built and was protected by a moat and probably by some earthworks. Then at a later date the earthworks were replaced by walls, which usually enclosed a larger space than the older fortification. The walls were usually strengthened by towers, but the keep still remained the citadel of the fortress.

We know that William the Conqueror built a castle on the chalk hill at Windsor before the year 1086, but we know nothing of its plan or form, for no part of the present castle can be dated before the reign of Henry II, and even of that time there are only the foundations and part of the lower story on the south side of the Upper Ward. The imposing western wall of the Lower Ward, with its three towers, belongs to the time of Henry III. The Round Tower on its high mound is the keep of the castle, and much of it is as old as the time of Henry III. The top part, however, is modern. Close to the Round Tower is an old Norman gate which was rebuilt by Henry III and again by Edward III. The gateway could be closed by doors and also by a portcullis or grille let down from above, and the portcullis is still in its place ready to be lowered.

The Round Tower, Windsor Castle

The view of Windsor Castle given on p. 2 is taken from the Buckinghamshire bank of the river Thames and shows the north side of the castle. On the left are the buildings which contain the state apartments; in the centre is the Round Tower. To the right we see St George’s Chapel with its great west end window, and still further to the right is the Clewer or Curfew Tower with the pointed roof. The main part of this tower dates from Henry III, and it has been used as a bell tower since the time of Edward III. The pointed roof is modern. St George’s Hall (p. 78) is in the part of Windsor Castle known as the State Apartments, and in it the feasts of the Knights of the Garter are held. It is an old hall, but was much altered by Sir Jeffry Wyatville, the architect employed by George IV to repair the castle. There was nearly always a well in the keep of a Norman castle, and this was the case at Windsor, the well in the Round Tower being 160 feet deep.

There is a great rectangular earthwork at Wallingford which may go back to Roman or early British times, but in any case it was adopted by the Normans and a castle was built on the site. The mound on which the keep was built still exists, but little else of these buildings survives.

No remains of the castle at Newbury exist. It stood on the south bank of the river Kennet and was built about 1140. The mound upon which the keep stood is all that we have left of the castle of the St Walerys at Hinton Waldrist, and a moated enclosure by the side of the river Loddon is all that remains to mark the site of the castle named Beaumyss, built by one of the De la Beche family in 1338.

Of Donnington Castle near Newbury we have the remains of some walls and a gateway with two round towers. The walls are mainly flint with some stones of various sorts intermingled. There are stone courses and stone door and window frames. Repairs have been made with brick. The castle was built in the time of Richard II. It stands upon a hill or spur which runs out in a southerly direction from the plateau named Snelsmore Common, and it overlooks the valley of Newbury. On the west and south there is a steep slope down towards the river Lambourn, and on the east is a deep valley in the chalk. On the north the slope up to the Common is gradual, and so the position is a very strong one. Donnington Castle played an important part in the Civil War of 1642–9, and underwent a long siege in 1644–6.

Gateway, Donnington Castle, Newbury

In former times dwelling places, even though not fortified, were at least protected by a moat. The interesting old manor house of Ashbury is still moated on three sides, and the old moat remains in a more or less perfect state round many a farm in the county.

20. Architecture—(d) Domestic.

The churches of the eleventh and succeeding centuries which remain are well adapted for their use now, but this cannot be said of the dwelling-houses of Norman or Edwardian landowners, and this is one reason why we have but few left in anything like perfect condition. The residence of the chief landowners of the twelfth century, when not a castle, consisted of a hall, usually on the ground floor, but sometimes with a lower story half below the surface level, and the hall was not only a reception and dining room, but was also the sleeping place for the greater number of the persons living in the house. In many cases there were, no doubt, subsidiary chambers, which might serve as more or less private apartments for the landowner himself, and as time went on the number of the subsidiary chambers increased and the importance of the hall diminished, but it impressed itself so firmly on the popular mind that the word still remains in use for the house of the landowner, which is often spoken of as “the Hall.”

There is a doorway belonging to a hall of the Norman period at Appleton in the northern part of the county, and we have already noticed some remains of the residential buildings of the monks of Abingdon, belonging to the thirteenth century. At Charney, about seven miles to the west of Abingdon, there are some interesting remains of a building which was occasionally the residence of the Abbots. The private chapel and much of the house are still standing. These buildings, known as the “Monks House,” date from the thirteenth century and are incorporated in a modern house.

There are two old houses at Sutton Courtney south of Abingdon. The one is opposite the tower of the church, and is of Norman and Early English style, the second is a manor house of the time of Edward III, the hall of which, with its roof and windows, has been very little altered. Cumnor Hall has vanished, excepting a fragment of wall, but some of the windows and a doorway are still to be seen in Wytham Church.

It has been mentioned that one reason why few old dwelling-houses remain is that they would not be suited to modern requirements, but another reason is that they were often built of wood. In the fifteenth century buildings of timber and brick became common, and some of them remain at the present day. Ockwells, rather more than a mile south-west of Maidenhead station, was probably built in the time of Edward IV. It was for some time the residence of the Norris family (see page 138). The house was not fortified, and is of timber and brick with a tiled roof. One may gain a good idea of the appearance of the dwellings of our ancestors in Tudor times from the Horseshoe Cloisters in Windsor Castle, though they were practically rebuilt recently by Sir Gilbert Scott. Timber and brick farmhouses and cottages may be seen all over the county, belonging to all dates from the Tudor times to the present day.

Cottage at Cookham Dean

Many of the most beautiful private houses in England were built during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and we have some examples in Berkshire. Shaw House, about a mile north-east of Newbury, was built in 1581. It is of red brick, with tall brick chimneys and a tiled roof. The corners of the house and the window and door frames are of stone, and in fact there is a good deal of stone. The house was occupied by Charles I on the day of the second battle of Newbury, October 27th, 1644, and the remains of earthworks thrown up by his troops are still to be seen in the garden. Billingbear, near Binfield, is an Elizabethan house standing in a large and beautiful park.

Ufton Court, near Aldermaston, was built in the latter part of the sixteenth century. Farmhouses of the same period are to be seen at Lyford, west of Abingdon, East Hendred, Great Coxwell and at other places.

Wayside Cottages, Bisham

Secret rooms are often to be found in old houses. There is an example at Bisham Abbey, with a fireplace, the chimney of which is said to be connected with that of the hall, so as to prevent its smoke being observed. At Ufton Court there are several hiding-places, one of which has an exit to the open air. It is said that Charles I passed the night of November 19th, 1644, in a secret room at the manor house, West Shefford.

In 1852 some houses which stood on the site of the former ditch of Windsor Castle were removed, and a passage was found cut through the chalk, with stone steps and stone arching. It had probably been a secret way from the interior of the Castle to the moat.

We have many buildings in Berkshire belonging to the seventeenth century. Coleshill House, south-west of Faringdon, was built by the celebrated architect Inigo Jones (1572–1652) at the time of the Commonwealth, and he also built most of Milton House, near Steventon, in which village are some beautiful old houses. Buscot House, in the north-west corner of Berkshire, is an example of the comfortable, though not very beautiful mansions built at the close of the eighteenth century. The residential part of Windsor Castle dates in part from the reign of Henry II, but it has been greatly altered from time to time. Its present appearance is largely due to Sir Jeffry Wyatville (1766–1840), who modified and rebuilt a great deal in the time of George IV. His object was to make the Castle a comfortable residence and at the same time to preserve the appearance of an ancient fortress.