Hungerford

"HUNGERFORD, a parish and market town, partly in the hundred of Kintbury Eagle, county Berks, and partly in the hundred of Kinwardstone, county Wilts, 24 miles W.S.W. of Reading, and 64 from London by road, or 61½ by the Hungerford, Newbury, and Reading branch of the Great Western railway. In ancient times it was called Ingleford-Charnham Street, from British way from Silchester to Bath, which passes through the parish. It is situated on the river Kennet and the Kennet and Avon canal, and contains besides the town of Hungerford the tythings of Charnham Street, Sanden Fee, and Edington, the last identified by Prof. Beke as the Saxon Ethandune, where Alfred, disguised as a harper, spied the Danish forces, and defeated them in 878. Hungerford was visited by Charles I. in 1644, and by William III. in December, 1688, who met the agents of James II. at the old inn."

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

NB. Prior to 1895 Hungerford was a town partly in Berkshire and partly in Wiltshire. Since 1895 the parish of Hungerford has been part of Berkshire. Some records are now in Berkshire Record Office, others in Wiltshire and Swindon Archives. Please see Hungerford in Berkshire for further information.