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, …
15 May 2011
Beau Nash in 1754 organises water pumps on the Bath Road to keep the dust down from passing traffic. There are still the remains of or replacements for five of them today, at intervals along the side of the Bath Road (A4) in Thatcham. The pump at the head of the Broadway is, however, believed …
14 May 2011
A written survey lists the properties of Thatcham church which include the vicarage house with two little gardens and an acre of ground, 2 ½ acres in a close, an acre of arable land, tithes from several smaller areas of arable land and pasture for cows.
13 May 2011
In 1398 Thomas Sare of Thatcham, the miller at Colthrop, is fined six shillings (a large sum in those days) because he and his family, with force and arms, tore up trees and shrubs belonging to John Shilford, lord of the manor of Colthrop.
12 May 2011
The estate of Chamberhouse seems to have been so called from its owner, Roger de la Chambre, who was living there in the year 1250. Additional evidence of the identity of the locality may be found in the fact that the road leading from it to Thatcham, being one of the boundaries of the estate, …