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Swallowfield
Swallowfield is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England, about south of Reading, and north of the county boundary with Hampshire. Geography The civil parish of Swallowfield also includes the nearby villages of Riseley and Farley Hill, and is, in turn, within the Borough of Wokingham. Swallowfield has a site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on the south western edge of the village, called Stanford End Mill and River Loddon The village has a local nature reserve called Swallowfield Meadow. Swallowfield Park is a stately home situated in an estate half a mile north east of the village. The current mansion has been converted into exclusive apartments. Notable residents Swallowfield has been the home of a number of famous persons including Thomas 'Diamond' Pitt, the Governor of Fort St. George; William Backhouse, the Rosicrucian philosopher; Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl of Clarendon; and, in his childhood, Edward Hyde, 3rd Earl of Clarendon. The 19th century author Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swallowfield Park
Swallowfield Park is a Grade II* listed stately home and estate in the English county of Berkshire. The house is near the village of Swallowfield, some 4 miles south of the town of Reading. The House Swallowfield Park was the home of the Backhouse family from the late 16th century, who had lived in a now demolished Tudor mansion. The most famous member of this family was of William Backhouse, the Rosicrucian philosopher. The present house at Swallowfield Park was erected in 1689 by Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl of Clarendon, when he acquired the estate on his marriage to William Backhouse's daughter Flower. The architect was William Talman, "comptroller of the works" to William III.From: 'Parishes: Swallowfield', A History of the County of Berkshire: Volume 3 (1923), pp. 267-274. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=43215. Date accessed: 10 October 2008. Talman built an H-shaped house with short projections to the front and more extended ones to the rear. The hou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swallowfield
Swallowfield is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England, about south of Reading, and north of the county boundary with Hampshire. Geography The civil parish of Swallowfield also includes the nearby villages of Riseley and Farley Hill, and is, in turn, within the Borough of Wokingham. Swallowfield has a site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on the south western edge of the village, called Stanford End Mill and River Loddon The village has a local nature reserve called Swallowfield Meadow. Swallowfield Park is a stately home situated in an estate half a mile north east of the village. The current mansion has been converted into exclusive apartments. Notable residents Swallowfield has been the home of a number of famous persons including Thomas 'Diamond' Pitt, the Governor of Fort St. George; William Backhouse, the Rosicrucian philosopher; Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl of Clarendon; and, in his childhood, Edward Hyde, 3rd Earl of Clarendon. The 19th century author Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Backhouse
William Backhouse (17 January 1593 – 30 May 1662) was an English philosopher, alchemist, astrologer, translator, and the esoteric mentor of Elias Ashmole. Born into the wealthy Backhouse family, Backhouse enjoyed an education at Oxford, and was likely exposed to alchemical teachings and the Rosicrucian manifestos of the 1610s. He married Anne Richards in 1637/8, and had three children. By 1651, he had become the mentor of Elias Ashmole, taking him as his "spiritual son and heir", the role for which his is best remembered. The following exchange of alchemical knowledge and manuscripts has been described as having an effect on Ashmole that "cannot be overstated". This relationship flourished in an intense exchange of alchemical documents and information, unaffected by Backhouse's poor health and fear of identification in Ashmole's publications. Backhouse, predeceased by all his siblings and children, but one, died in 1662, leaving all his possessions to his daughter, Flower Back ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swallowfield Meadow
Swallowfield Meadow is a Local Nature Reserve in Swallowfield, south of Reading in Berkshire. It is owned and managed by Swallowfield Parish Council. Geography and site The reserve features meadows, native hedgerows, a small copse, ditches, and seasonal ponds as well as the meadows themselves. History The area that is now the meadow was transferred to the Parish Council in the mid-1990s when houses were being built in the village. Before then the area had been a coal yard. On 15 July 2003, the area was officially designated as a Local Nature Reserve. Fauna The site has the following fauna: Mammals *European water vole Flora The site has the following flora: Trees *''Betula pendula'' *''Acer campestre'' *''Corylus avellana'' Plants *''Leucanthemum vulgare'' *''Knautia arvensis ''Knautia arvensis'', commonly known as field scabious, is a herbaceous perennial species of flowering plant in the honeysuckle family Caprifoliaceae. Description It is a perennial p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Pitt
Thomas Pitt (5 July 1653 – 28 April 1726) of Blandford St Mary in Dorset, later of Stratford in Wiltshire and of Boconnoc in Cornwall, known during life commonly as ''Governor Pitt'', as ''Captain Pitt'', or posthumously, as ''"Diamond" Pitt'' was an English merchant involved in trade with India who served as President of Madras and six times as a Member of Parliament. He was the grandfather of William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham ("Pitt the Elder") and was great-grandfather of Pitt the Younger, both prime ministers of Great Britain. Origins Pitt was born at Blandford Forum, Dorset, the second son of Rev. John Pitt (1610-1672), Rector of Blandford St Mary (whose mural monument survives in that church), by his wife Sarah Jay. His second cousin was the poet Rev. Christopher Pitt (1699-1748) whose mural monument survives in the church of St Peter and St Paul, Blandford Forum, displaying the arms of Pitt: ''Sable, a fesse chequy argent and azure between three bezants''. The ear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wokingham (UK Parliament Constituency)
Wokingham is a constituency in Berkshire represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom since 1987 by John Redwood, a Conservative. Constituency profile The seat covers the prosperous town of Wokingham, the southern suburbs of Reading, and a rural area to the west. Residents are significantly wealthier than the UK average, reflected in high property prices. History Originally, Wokingham was part of a larger constituency of Berkshire, which returned two Members of Parliament (MPs), increased to three in the Reform Act of 1832. In the Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885 Berkshire was divided into three county constituencies, Northern (Abingdon), Southern (Newbury), and Eastern (Wokingham), and two borough constituencies, Reading and New Windsor, each returning one member. The constituency was abolished under the Representation of the People Act 1918 being largely replaced by the new Windsor Division of Berkshire, with Wokingham itself being ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl Of Clarendon
Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl of Clarendon, PC (2 June 163831 October 1709) was an English aristocrat and politician. He held high office at the beginning of the reign of his brother-in-law, King James II. Early life He was the eldest son of Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, and his second wife, Frances Aylesbury. He was thus a brother of Anne Hyde, and maternal uncle to both Queen Mary II and Queen Anne. Both he and his brother Laurence Hyde were brought up partly at Antwerp and Breda, by their mother. Clarendon before 1660 made use of Henry as copyist, decipherer, and confidential secretary, in his correspondence with distant royalists. Under Charles II Soon after the return of his family to England, in 1660, Hyde married Theodosia Capell, daughter of Arthur Capell, 1st Baron Capell of Hadham, and Elizabeth Morrison, and sister of Mary Capell, Duchess of Beaufort. She died in 1661, and in 1670, he married secondly to Flower Backhouse, daughter of William Backhouse and Anne Rich ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Farley Hill, Berkshire
Farley Hill is a village in the county of Berkshire, England. For local government purposes, the village is within the civil parish of Swallowfield, which in turn is within the unitary authority of Wokingham. Notable buildings The village has three fine country houses: Farley Court, Farley Hall and Farley Castle. Amenities Farley Hill has a King George's Field in memorial to King George V. Farley Hill also has a village hall A village hall is a public building in a village used for various things such as: United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, a village hall is usually a building which contains at least one large room (plus kitchen and toilets), is owned by a local ...The Victory Hall donated to the inhabitants in 1919 by William Bishop of Farley Court. References External links Villages in Berkshire Swallowfield {{Berkshire-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Riseley, Berkshire
Riseley is a village in the English county of Berkshire, adjacent to the border with Hampshire. It is located around south of Reading and north-east of Basingstoke, and is bypassed to the west by the A33 road. For local government purposes, the village is today within the civil parish of Swallowfield, which in turn is within the unitary authority of Wokingham. Before 1844, Riseley was part of a detached portion, or exclave, of the county of Wiltshire, some 30 miles to the west. The Counties Act of that year resulted in its transfer to Berkshire.''Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844'', 7 & 8 Vict. c. 61, London Riseley lies on the line of the Roman Road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ..., Devil's Highway Hampshire Field Club and Archeological Society, Papers and Pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary Russell Mitford
Mary Russell Mitford (16 December 1787 – 10 January 1855) was an English author and dramatist. She was born at New Alresford, Alresford in Hampshire. She is best known for ''Our Village'', a series of sketches of village scenes and vividly drawn characters based upon her life in Three Mile Cross near Reading, Berkshire, Reading in Berkshire. Childhood She was the only daughter of George Mitford (or Midford), who apparently trained as a medical doctor, and Mary Russell, a descendant of the Duke of Bedford#Dukes of Bedford, sixth Creation (1694), aristocratic Russell family. She grew up near Jane Austen and was an acquaintance of hers when young. At ten years old in 1797, young Mary Russell Mitford won her father a lottery ticket worth £20,000, but by the 1810s the small family suffered financial difficulties. In the 1800s and 1810s they lived in large properties in Reading, Berkshire, Reading and then Grazeley (in Sulhamstead Abbots parish), but, when the money was all gone af ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Civil Parishes In Berkshire
A civil parish is a country subdivision, forming the lowest unit of local government in England. There are 104 civil parishes in the ceremonial county of Berkshire, most of the county being parished; Reading is completely unparished; Bracknell Forest, West Berkshire and Wokingham are entirely parished. At the 2001 census, there were 483,882 people living in the 104 parishes, accounting for 60.5 per cent of the county's population. History Parishes arose from Church of England divisions, and were originally purely ecclesiastical divisions. Over time they acquired civil administration powers.Angus Winchester, 2000, ''Discovering Parish Boundaries''. Shire Publications. Princes Risborough, 96 pages The Highways Act 1555 made parishes responsible for the upkeep of roads. Every adult inhabitant of the parish was obliged to work four days a year on the roads, providing their own tools, carts and horses; the work was overseen by an unpaid local appointee, the ''Surveyor of Highways ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stanford End Mill And River Loddon
Stanford End Mill and River Loddon is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest south of Reading in Berkshire. It covers Stanford End Mill meadows and a stretch of the River Loddon between Stanford End and Sheep Bridge north-west of Swallowfield. The mill was built in early Victorian times on the Stratfield Saye estate. Fauna The site has the following animals Mammals *European water vole Birds *Little grebe *Moorhen *Coot *Mute swan *Common kingfisher Invertebrates *Pisidium moitessierianum * Pisidium tenuilineatum *Vertigo antivertigo *Vertigo moulinsiana Flora The site has the following Flora: Trees *Alder *Salix alba *Fraxinus *Quercus robur Plants *Fritillaria meleagris *Potamogeton nodosus *Alopecurus pratensis *Holcus lanatus *Ranunculus acris *Rumex acetosa *Plantago lanceolata *Centaurea nigra * Rhinanthus minor *Silaum silaus *Ophioglossum vulgatum *Carex disticha *Carex panicea *Cardamine pratensis *Lychnis flos-cuculi *Oenanthe fistulosa *Potamogeton ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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