THATCHAM, Description and History from 1868 Gazetteer

THATCHAM, a parish in the hundreds of Faircross and Reading, county Berks, 3 miles E. of Newbury, its post town, and 14 W. of Reading. It is a station on the Reading and Bath section of the Great Western railway, near the navigable river Kennet and the Kennet and Avon canal, and includes the chapelries of Greenham and Midgham. It was a place of importance at the time of the Norman survey, and was formerly a market town, under charter of Henry II. to the Abbot of Reading, to whom the manor then belonged. Many of the inhabitants are employed in the silk trade, and some in a paper-mill at Colthrop. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Oxford, value £460. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, contains several monuments, including one to Lord Chief Justice Danvers.

There are also the district churches of Greenham and Midgham, the livings of which are both perpetual curacies. The parochial charities produce about £441 per annum, of which £208 go to Lady Winchcombe's school, and £95 to Loundy's almshouses. A National school was erected in 1845, on the site called Clapper's Green, which was presented by W. Mount, Esq., of Waning, who is lord of the manor. The Independents, Wesleyans, and Primitive Methodists have chapels, and the first has a school adjoining. Fairs for cattle are held on the second Tuesday after Easter week, and on the first Tuesday after the 29th September.

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]