20 May 2011
To aid the children in the hard times of 1886, some 250 children were fed at a special children’s dinner party with cold boiled beef, hot potatoes, hot carrots and bread at the Infant School-room. They devoured 130 lbs. of beef, four bushels of potatoes, a bushel of carrots and twelve gallons of bread.
19 May 2011
The winter months of 1886 not only being harsh with the weather but also economy created problems for the people of Thatcham. One extract from the NWN (28th January 1886) shows to what extent: “A man, his wife and four children were last week endeavouring by singing in Chapel Street to induce the villagers to …
18 May 2011
William Northway, in his will dated 25th November, 1820, left to the churchwardens and overseers of the parish of Thatcham a large the sum of money. The income from this, he directed this should be divided in two halves and paid out annually; one half was to be distributed equally between the three oldest single …
17 May 2011
By 1851 Thatcham had a population of 2,861, and although many of its inhabitants still worked on the land, others were now employed in such industries as wood-turning (carried on by firms like Brown’s and Pinnocks in the Broadway) and paper-making (carried on at Colthrop Mills).
16 May 2011
In 1540 a lease on Colthrop Mill was granted to Thomas White and his wife, Agnes. By this time the premises were described as “… a fulling (cloth) mill, lately new built, together with a tenement (house) adjoining”; there was also some land mentioned in the lease. In 1541 the annual rent of the mill, …
