Aldermaston
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Aldermaston | |
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| Population | 927 (Civil Parish, 2001) |
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| OS grid reference | |
| Parish | Aldermaston |
| Unitary authority | West Berkshire |
| Ceremonial county | Berkshire |
| Region | South East |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | READING |
| Postcode district | RG7 |
| Dial code | 0118 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Royal Berkshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| UK Parliament | Newbury |
| European Parliament | South East England |
| List of places: UK • England • Berkshire | |
Aldermaston is a village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire.
During the 1950s and 1960s the name Aldermaston became synonymous with the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment (AWRE), located in the south of the parish. However, the housing development that accompanied AWRE occurred mainly in the town of Tadley, about two miles to the south. The village of Aldermaston was almost untouched by the development of the research site and has remained a small country village.
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[edit] Geography
Aldermaston, at grid reference SU590652, is situated at the southern edge of the flood-plain of the River Kennet which flows through the north of the parish. The northern parish boundary follows the Kennet and Avon Canal and the River Enborne which joins the Kennet at Aldermaston Mill. Nearby are Aldermaston Gravel Pits, a site of Special Scientific Interest. The village sits at the crossing of the A340 and Church Road/Wasing Lane, just where the land begins to rise southward onto the higher ground around the largely wooded Aldermaston Park. There are lakes in the park and adjoining Broom Close. Still further south is the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) with the hamlet of Old Warren to the east. The eastern parish boundary is formed by Padworth Gulley and the edge of Padworth Common, and the southern boundary by the A340 (before it turns north) and the B3051. A very small corner of Pamber Heath is within the bounds of Aldermaston. Aldermaston Wharf and Aldermaston Soke are not in Aldermaston parish. The former is part of Padworth and the latter part of Mortimer West End in Hampshire.
[edit] Transport
Aldermaston parish is crossed, from north to south, by the A340 which runs from the A4 Bath Road at Aldermaston Wharf to Tadley. The old Roman road known as the Ermin Way once crossed the parish from east to west. Aldermaston railway station is on the local railway service from Reading to Newbury, although the station is over a mile away in Aldermaston Wharf. There are moorings at Aldermaston Lock.
[edit] Economy
There are a few small businesses within the village, notably the Aldermaston Pottery,[1] established in 1955 by studio potter Alan Caiger-Smith and sold in 2006. However, many business within the parish are in one of several business parks, e.g. Calleva Park.[2]
[edit] Culture
Aldermaston periodically holds an unusual type of auction, a candle auction. It takes place in the Parish Hall, and the lot is a three-year lease of Church Acre field.[3]
Since 1957 there has been an annual performance of the York Nativity Play from the 15th-century York Mystery Cycle. The performances are at the Church of St Mary the Virgin in early December. The performers are local people and many have appeared in the play for years.[4]
[edit] Administration
Aldermaston is a civil parish with an elected parish council. It falls within the area of the unitary authority of West Berkshire. Both the parish council and the unitary authority are responsible for different aspects of local government.
[edit] History
The name 'Aeldremanestone' came from Old English for 'Ealdorman's homestead'. The Ealdorman — or Alderman — was a person of extreme importance. His equivalent today would be the Lord-Lieutenant of the County. Although his country estate was here, he would have spent much time at his town-house in the county town of Wallingford. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Aethelwulf, the first known Ealdorman of Berkshire, fought the Danes with the King at nearby Englefield in 871.
Prior to the Norman Conquest in 1066, the land and properties of Aldermaston had formed part of the estates of England's foremost magnate, Harold Godwinson, the Earl of Wessex — who would later become King Harold II of England. In the Domesday Survey of 1086, the Aldermaston estate included a mill, worth twenty shillings, and two fisheries, worth five shillings, and was held by William the Conqueror. William and his army are believed to have camped on the estate on their way north from their victory at Hastings to cross the Thames at Wallingford before advancing on London. During the remainder of the reign of William, and later his son William Rufus, Aldermaston was owned by the Crown. There is no evidence of there being a large house at that time.
In 1100, Henry I granted the estate to Sir Robert Achard, a distinguished Norman soldier whose son built the north transept in the parish church. According to the Pipe Rolls (a type of census) of 1167, the name had become Aldermannestun. The medieval Achard family, who entertained Henry III at the manor in 1227, gave the parish church away to Monk Sherborne Priory in Hampshire and consequently are all buried at their secondary manor of Sparsholt. The estate remained in the family for over 250 years until Peter Achard died in 1361 without a male heir, when the estate was inherited by Thomas de la Mare.
In 1490, Sir Thomas died. John, his son, had died before his father, so his daughter Elizabeth inherited the estate. She married Sir George Forster, son of Sir Humphrey Forster. St Mary's Church contains their beautiful alabaster effigial monument (1530). The Hind's Head Inn gets its name from Forster family crest which may also be seen in the parish church. The pub has its own gaol-house round the back. Last used in the 1860s, its unfortunate inhabitant apparently burnt to death.
Elizabeth I visited Aldermaston twice, in 1566 and 1592. The fifth Forster, also called Sir Humphrey, and his wife Anne built the mansion, known as Aldermaston House, in 1636. Aldermaston saw a lot of activity during the English Civil War. In 1644, Parliamentary troops camped in the park. After the war all the estates were sequestered because of suspected Royalist sympathies and were not returned until 1660.
In 1752 the Forster male line died out and the estate passed by marriage to the Congreve family. Many changes to their estate occurred during the family's ownership. The lake by the house was created by damming the stream. The wrought-iron Eagle Gates, at the north-east of the estate, were won at a game of cards and moved to their present location from Midgham. The Kennet and Avon Canal was built along the northern edge of the estate. In 1830, the Swing rioters of Western Berkshire marched across Aldermaston, wrecking some twenty-three agricultural machines. Farmers were so frightened, it is said they placed their machinery out in the open to prevent any additional damage. On 13 January 1843, a serious fire destroyed more than a third of the house. William Congreve never recovered from the fire and died within three months.
The property passed into Chancery, eventually being purchased in 1849 by Daniel Higford Davall Burr. Architect, Philip Hardwick, was commissioned to build a new manor house, Aldermaston Court, using as much of the old material as possible that had been saved from the fire. Daniel Higford Davall Burr died in 1885 and the estate passed to his son who only lived there for a few years before putting it up for sale. It was bought, for £16,000 in 1893, by Charles Edward Keyser, a stockbroker. Keyser was obsessed with the idea of keeping the village unchanged, which in his definition meant 'unspoilt'. He forbade advertisements, opposed all modernisation and refused to allow any expansion by the building of houses.
On his death in 1929, estate duties were high and the estate was put on a 'care and maintenance' basis. After the death of Mrs Charles Keyser in 1938, the whole estate was sold by her son, Norman, to a syndicate, Messers Cribble, Booth and Shepherd, who auctioned it off in separate lots at Reading Town Hall, beginning on 20 September 1939. Many of the lots were bought by their occupants. The house and its immediate grounds were bought by Associated Electrical Industries Ltd but subsequently requisitioned by the government. The extensive parkland was also sold, but very soon afterwards was chosen by the government as a site for an airfield, RAF Aldermaston. After the war the airfield had several occupants before being taken over by AWRE, which has since been renamed the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE).
[edit] See also
[edit] Sources
- ^ Aldermaston Pottery. Pottery Studio. Retrieved on 2006-11-04.
- ^ Calleva Park. Country Estates Business Parks. Retrieved on 2006-11-04.
- ^ Ford, David Nash. Aldermaston. Royal Berkshire History. Retrieved on 2006-11-04.
- ^ Newbury Theatre (2006), Aldermaston - The York Nativity Play
[edit] Further reading
- Royal Berkshire History: Aldermaston
- Timmins, Gordon (2000). Aldermaston: a village history. Winchester: Hampshire County Council.
- Aldermaston Parish Council
- Atomic Weapons Establishment
- Aldermaston Village Cricket Club
- Aldermaston Rugby Football Club
