WANTAGE, Description and History from 1868 Gazetteer

WANTAGE, a parish and ancient market town in the hundred of Wantage, county Berks, 22 miles N.W. of Reading, and 60 W. of London. Wantage Road is a station on the Great Western railway. It is situated near the Vale of the White Horse, on the Wilts and Berks canal, and a branch of the river Ock. The parish includes the hamlets of Charlton, Grove, and West Lockinge. Alfred the Great is said to have been born here. After the Conquest it was held by Roger Bigod, who gave it to the noble family of Fitzwarrens, who held it for a considerable period, and obtained for it a grant of a market from Henry III. In 1849 a millenary festival was held here in commemoration of the birth of King Alfred, when funds were subscribed for the rebuilding of the grammar-school, and a medal was struck in honour of the jubilee.

The town is governed by a board of commissioners appointed under an Act of Parliament in 1828. Petty sessions are held fortnightly on Wednesday. A county court is also held monthly, and the Poor-law guardians sit weekly on Tuesday at the union workhouse, which is situated nearly 11/2 mile from the town. The union comprises 34 parishes or townships.

The population of the parish in 1861 was 3,925, and of the town, 3,064. The chief trade is in corn, malt, and other agricultural produce, the manufacture of sacking, twine, and hempen goods having declined; there is also a brass and iron foundry, known by the name of the Vale of White Horse Foundry. There are a savings-bank, a branch of the London and County bank, and a reading room. The soil of the surrounding district is particularly adapted to the growth of wheat. An annual meeting for coursing, called the "Letcombe Bowers' Meeting," is held on the downs.

The living is a vicarage,* with the chapelry of Charlton annexed, in the diocese of Oxford, value £503, in the patronage of the Dean and Canons of Windsor. The church, dedicated to SS. Peter and Paul, contains 18 carved stalls with miserere seats, a wooden screen, and two brasses--one of a priest and the other of a knight, both Fitzwarrens--besides other monuments of the Fitzwarren and Wilmot families, and double piscina and old altar stone. There is also the district church of Grove, the living of which is a perpetual curacy,* value £83. The Wesleyans and Baptists have chapels. The parochial charities produce about £650 per annum, of which £450 are from the town lands.

Roman coins and a bath have been found in the vicinity, and near the Ridge way leading over the downs, is a large tumulus called the "Wayland Smith," supposed to be of Druidical origin. Butler, Bishop of Durham, was born here in 1692. Market-days are Wednesday and Saturday, the former for corn and the latter for meat and provisions. Fairs are held on the first Saturdays in March and May for cattle and cheese, 18th July for cherries, and 17th and 18th October for pleasure and hiring servants.

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