Thatcham Historical Society

Due to various events in April, Thatcham Historical Society was unable to hold their normal Monday evening speaker meeting. Instead we held a special Civil War event on Saturday 16th April.

The first of the two part event saw author Chris Scott present "The First Battle of Newbury." Chris noted that Newbury was the crossroads of Southern England. It is know that the royalists were camped in Victoria Park, however the town supported the Parliamentarians and did not want the Royalists camped nearby.

The Newbury Society is dedicated to improving the environment of the attractive and historic town of Newbury, Berkshire, UK.

The Club was founded in 1870 to promote the study and understanding of the natural and local history of Newbury and the surrounding area. It continues to pursue these aims through lecture series and outings to locations of historic or natural history interest. Newbury is located in the historic county of Berkshire in central southern England. Today it is the hub of the Unitary Authority area of West Berkshire. The southern boundary of Newbury is also the county border with Hampshire; thus the interests of the Club stray out of Berkshire and into the nearby parts of North Hampshire.

The February 2007 meeting of Thatcham Historical Society listened to Sarah Hammond talk about Shaw House, a grand Tudor house near Newbury, and the recent years of restoration work.

A packed house at Kennet School listened to her talk about the history of the house, the progress of the restoration project and the future use of the house. She was introduced by this year’s chairman of the Historical Society Sue Broughton.