Spencers Wood is a village in the
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...
of
Shinfield,
Berkshire,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, south of
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...
. The village of
Three Mile Cross adjoins it to the north. To the west lies the village of
Grazeley
Grazeley is an area covering the small villages of Grazeley in the civil parish of Shinfield and Grazeley Green in the civil parish of Wokefield, south of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. To the east is the village of Spencers Wood, ...
.
History
250px, The A33, to the West of Spencers Wood
250px, The Farriers Arms
250px, St. Michael & All Angels, Spencers Wood
The earliest confirmed reference to the name 'Spencers Wood' dates from 1500, when a man named John Blunt left 3s 4d for the repair of a road through the wood called Spencers Wood. The name of the wood may derive from the
le Despencer family — a
Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
family – who held half a
knight's fee
In feudal Anglo-Norman England and Ireland, a knight's fee was a unit measure of land deemed sufficient to support a knight. Of necessity, it would not only provide sustenance for himself, his family, and servants, but also the means to furnish h ...
in
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 H ...
in the 13th century, but there is no confirmed documentary evidence for this. Before that, the area was probably part of the
Royal Forest
A royal forest, occasionally known as a kingswood (), is an area of land with different definitions in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The term ''forest'' in the ordinary modern understanding refers to an area of wooded land; however, the ...
(
Windsor Great Park
Windsor Great Park is a Royal Park of , including a deer park, to the south of the town of Windsor on the border of Berkshire and Surrey in England. It is adjacent to the private Home Park, which is nearer the castle. The park was, for man ...
). By 1761 when
John Roque published his map of
Berkshire, there was no wood as such.
There was instead a
common – one of a series of commons and greens south of
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...
– and on the
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was a ...
maps of the later nineteenth century, the area is referred to as 'Spencerswood Common', even though the common had by then been enclosed. The area from
Three Mile Cross to the boundary with
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...
beyond
Riseley, including part of
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 H ...
– ''Part Lane'' in Swallowfield marks the partition – was until 1844 a detached portion of
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
. (In the 13th century, Spencers Wood was administered by
William Longespée,
Earl of Salisbury
Earl of Salisbury is a title that has been created several times in English and British history. It has a complex history, and is now a subsidiary title to the marquessate of Salisbury.
Background
The title was first created for Patrick de S ...
and his court in
Amesbury.) On 20 October 1844 in the
Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844
The Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844 (7 & 8 Vict. c. 61), which came into effect on 20 October 1844, was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which eliminated many outliers or exclaves of counties in England and Wales for civil purposes. ...
the area became part of
Berkshire.
Around 1816 a non-conformist
chapel
A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...
(
Congregational
Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...
) was built near the corner of Hyde End Road and
Basingstoke Road, set back from the road near the fourth mile post from
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...
on the Reading to Basingstoke
turnpike
Turnpike often refers to:
* A type of gate, another word for a turnstile
* In the United States, a toll road
Turnpike may also refer to:
Roads United Kingdom
* A turnpike road, a principal road maintained by a turnpike trust, a body with powers ...
. In 1905 it was replaced by a new larger church (nearer the road), which, due to falling attendances, closed in 1999 and was subsequently converted into apartments. In the late nineteenth century this was the only church in the village and, with its Institute serving as 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 ...
,
tennis courts
A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles matches. A variety of surfaces can be u ...
etc., provided a focus for social activity in the village.
After the common was enclosed
By 1864 all of the
common land
Common land is land owned by a person or collectively by a number of persons, over which other persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel.
A person who has a ...
had been
enclosed
Enclosure or Inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or "common land" enclosing it and by doing so depriving commoners of their rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...
. On the west side of
Basingstoke Road, north of
Beech Hill Road, two gentlemen established country estates: the local
philanthropist Frederick Allfrey, who built Stanbury (where Wellington Court now is) and William Merry, who was a County
magistrate
The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judic ...
and a visiting magistrate to
Reading Gaol
HM Prison Reading, popularly known as Reading Gaol, is a former prison located in Reading, Berkshire, England. The prison was operated by His Majesty's Prison Service until its closure at the start of 2014. It is a Grade II listed building and ...
, as well as
Secretary at War
The Secretary at War was a political position in the English and later British government, with some responsibility over the administration and organization of the Army, but not over military policy. The Secretary at War ran the War Office. Afte ...
Lord Palmerston's private secretary from 1812 to 1828. The open area in front of Merry's house, Highlands, is still known as 'the Common'. The east side of Basingstoke Road was divided among many owners, who progressively sold off the land for development.
By 1880, Spencers Wood had become a thriving village with a population of 600, of whom 200 were children. Most of the adults worked in the fields or were in domestic service.
Victorian and
Edwardian
The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...
style houses were built along the
Basingstoke Road using bricks baked at the local Swain family
kiln
A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, a type of oven, that produces temperatures sufficient to complete some process, such as hardening, drying, or chemical changes. Kilns have been used for millennia to turn objects made from clay int ...
. The Square became the heart of the village during this building period, and many of these houses still stand. In 1890 Frederick Allfrey built an Infants' School opposite the end of Hyde End Road. It closed as a school in 1915, as both Lambs Lane and Ryeish Green schools were open by then. The building continued to be used for educational purposes, but since the 1970s has been used as a library.
In spite of its growth, Spencers Wood was still split between the ecclesiastical
parishes of
Shinfield,
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 H ...
and
Grazeley
Grazeley is an area covering the small villages of Grazeley in the civil parish of Shinfield and Grazeley Green in the civil parish of Wokefield, south of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. To the east is the village of Spencers Wood, ...
. This changed in 1908 when the Church of
St Michael
Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), also ...
and All Angels was
consecrated. The ecclesiastical parish of Spencers Wood was created five years later, although some parts of the village remained in the parish of Grazeley. In 2004 the parishes of Spencers Wood and Grazeley with
Beech Hill were united under a single PCC, and the same year became part of the United
Benefice of
Loddon Reach. Also in 1908, Lambs Lane school opened, ending the need for older children to walk to Swallowfield's Russell Hall, Shinfield or Grazeley School. The
Arts and Crafts-style
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 ...
was opened in 1911 and is run by a board of trustees on behalf of the village inhabitants.
World War Two
Spencers Wood, being a rural community, was unaffected by
the Blitz
The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'.
The Germa ...
. Few German bombs fell in the area, which was just as well as the village had no
air-raid shelters. One German plane was shot down locally. Rationing also had little effect on the village since a majority of villagers were too poor to notice a real reduction in goods. Food was grown and caught locally as part of the
dig for victory programme and the
black-market
A black market, underground economy, or shadow economy is a clandestine market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality or is characterized by noncompliance with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the ...
was able to supply all excess demand. The main impact of the war was the influx of people.
Two coaches of
evacuees arrived in the village in September 1939. Evacuee children and local children were educated separately until Christmas 1939. Canadian forces were stationed at Stanbury (where Wellington Court now is) for a while, and a small
POW camp
A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war.
There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military prisons. ...
was opened there after the Canadians relocated. Some POWs helped on the local farms. The
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 ...
served as the
Local Defence Volunteers headquarters.
Basingstoke Road was the main road to
Aldershot
Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alder ...
, and frequent troop
convoys
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...
ran through the village. After the war, many soldiers, evacuees and
prisoners of war decided to settle in the village.
Recent history
The first
street lighting in the village was installed after the war. In 1954, Spencers Wood
Women's Institute
The Women's Institute (WI) is a community-based organisation for women in the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand. The movement was founded in Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada, by Erland and Janet Lee with Adelaide Hoodless being the ...
was formed. It closed in the mid-1980s. In the 1960s, the
M4 Motorway was built and became a man-made barrier between the village and
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...
. In the 1980s, the
A33 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 H ...
Bypass severed roads to the village of
Grazeley
Grazeley is an area covering the small villages of Grazeley in the civil parish of Shinfield and Grazeley Green in the civil parish of Wokefield, south of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. To the east is the village of Spencers Wood, ...
lying to the East.
Village services
* The local library is part of
Wokingham Borough Council's Libraries. The building was originally an infants' school (opened in 1890).
[''More from Our Village of Spencers Wood'']
* The village
post office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...
is on the
Basingstoke Road. It has been a post office since 1885, and was a manual
telephone exchange until 1934. The oldest surviving postbox in the village dates from
King George V's reign.
References
External links
{{authority control
Villages in Berkshire
Borough of Wokingham