Sulhamstead is a village and

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 authority ...

West Berkshire West Berkshire is a local government district in Berkshire, England, administered from Newbury by West Berkshire Council. History The district of Newbury was formed on 1 April 1974, as a merger of the borough of Newbury, Bradfield Rural Distric ...

, England. It occupies an approximate rectangle of land south of the (Old)

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

Road ( A4) between

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

, its nearest town and

Thatcham Thatcham is an historic market town and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire, centred 3 miles (5 km) east of Newbury, 14 miles (24 km) west of Reading and 54 miles (87 km) west of London. Geography Thatcham straddles t ...

. It has several small clusters of homes and

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

covering about a fifth of the land, in the centre and north beside which is

Thames Valley Police Thames Valley Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the Thames Valley, covering the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. It the largest non-metropolitan police force in England and Wales, covering a ...

's main Training Centre at Sulhamstead House. Its main amenities are its

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...

and a shop and visitor centre by the

Kennet & Avon Canal The Kennet and Avon Canal is a waterway in southern England with an overall length of , made up of two lengths of navigable river linked by a canal. The name is used to refer to the entire length of the navigation rather than solely to the cent ...

Geography

Sulhamstead's immediate neighbours toward its northern border, the A4 road, are the much more populous

Theale Theale () is a large village and civil parish in West Berkshire, England, southwest of Reading and 10 miles (16 km) east of Thatcham. The compact parish is bounded to the south and south-east by the Kennet & Avon Canal (which here incorpor ...

, which has the nearest

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

and shops, and Ufton Nervet. Across this road is Englefield which has five clusters of homes. The greatest of these is linear, on Sulhamstead Hill Road from the top of the hill by Ufton Church down to the water meadows by the River Kennet and the A4 Road. Three further developed points are Sulhamstead

Abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...

s, Whitehouse Green and Sulhamstead Bannister. Finally, Burghfield Common village is in the far south, which is in the remainder of the parish of

Burghfield Burghfield is a village and large civil parish in West Berkshire, England, with a boundary with Reading. Burghfield can trace its history back to before the Domesday book, and was once home to three manors: Burghfield Regis, Burghfield Abbas a ...

. Sulhamstead

s Church,

St Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

's, being to the south, is the active

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

. Sulhamstead Bannister forms the narrowly buffered halves: "Upper End" and "Lower End". Upper End is between

Wokefield Wokefield is a hamlet and civil parish in the West Berkshire district of Berkshire, England, south of Reading. The parish includes the hamlets of Goddard's Green and Bloomfield Hatch. It also includes part of the former parish of Sulhamstead an ...

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, ...

, although this has since been absorbed into Wokefield

. The core of its village was around the old demolished church, where the inventor Samuel Morland's father was once the

vicar A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...

.David Nash Ford's royal Berkshire History: Sulhamstead
Retrieved 16 December 2014. Before 1782, Sulhamstead consisted of two

parishes A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

, Sulhamstead Abbots and Sulhamstead Bannister, approximate to the boundaries of the

manor Manor may refer to: Land ownership *Manorialism or "manor system", the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of medieval Europe, notably England *Lord of the manor, the owner of an agreed area of land (or "manor") under manorialism *Man ...

s of the same name before the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

period.

History

Congregational church 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 in 1881 in place of an older chapel. The

inclosure 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 ...

of the two parishes of Sulhamstead

s and Sulhamstead Bannister was made by an

Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...

, which was effective in 1817.'Parishes: Sulhamstead Abbots with Grazeley', A History of the County of Berkshire: Volume 3
ed. P H Ditchfield and William Page (London, 1923), pp. 306–311

was a

tithing A tithing or tything was a historic English legal, administrative or territorial unit, originally ten hides (and hence, one tenth of a hundred). Tithings later came to be seen as subdivisions of a manor or civil parish. The tithing's leader or s ...

in the parish of Sulhamstead Abbots which contained . In 1854, when the

manorial Manorialism, also known as the manor system or manorial system, was the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of Europe, notably France and later England, during the Middle Ages. Its defining features included a large, sometimes forti ...

estate of Grazeley was advertised for sale, it was inclosed in a ring fence and apparently included the whole tithing. Between 2013 and 2015, 8 gold coins from a single treasure hoard were discovered at an undisclosed location near Sulhamstead. The coins are estimated as having been buried between 20 and 30 BC. Six of these coins are quarter staters, similar to some others found in

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

and

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 ...

. The remaining two are believed to have originated from North West France. As of 2019, the coins are on display in the

West Berkshire Museum The West Berkshire Museum, in Newbury, Berkshire, holds various artworks and collections related to Newbury and West Berkshire. Established in 1904, the museum is housed in two of Newbury's most historic buildings. The Cloth Hall was built in 16 ...

, and will continue to be displayed in the museum's 'Hoards' exhibition throughout 2019.'West Berkshire Museum 2019'
pp. 6 On 15 August 2019, Sulhamstead was the location of the murder of PC Andrew Harper, a Police Officer of the

Roads Policing Unit, who was responding to reports of a local burglary.

Landmarks

Sulhamstead House

Sulhamstead House, commonly known as the White House, was the

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

of Sulhamstead

s. It was built by Daniel May, son of the

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of Hampshire. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of The North Downs. It is located north-east of Southa ...

brewer, Charles May, in 1744, becoming the home to his sister's descendants, the Thoyts family. The house was largely rebuilt in 1800 for

William Thoyts William Thoyts (1767–1817) was High Sheriff of Berkshire. William was born in 1767 in Bishopsgate, the son of John Thoyts of Sulhamstead House in Berkshire and his wife, Mary, the daughter of Thomas Burfoot, the Treasurer of Christ's Hospita ...

, the High Sheriff of Berkshire. It was the childhood home of his great granddaughter,

historian and

palaeographer Palaeography ( UK) or paleography ( US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") is the study of historic writing systems and the deciphering and dating of historical manuscripts, including the analysi ...

, Emma Elizabeth Thoyts (1860–1949). It refurbishment was paid for in 1910 by William G Watson, who created a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

of Sulhamstead). The baronetcy is extinct. In 1949, the house became the headquarters of the Berkshire Constabulary. Since their merger into

, it has functioned as that force's training centre and houses the Thames Valley Police Museum. It is a

Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

listed building. The Sulhamstead estate is owned by the Astor family.

Folly Farm

This was built around a small timber-framed

cottage A cottage, during Feudalism in England, England's feudal period, was the holding by a cottager (known as a Cotter (farmer), cotter or ''bordar'') of a small house with enough garden to feed a family and in return for the cottage, the cottager ...

dating to around 1650, which was gradually enlarged into a

farm house FarmHouse (FH) is a social fraternity founded at the University of Missouri on April 15, 1905. It became a national organization in 1921. Today FarmHouse has 33 active chapters and four associate chapters (formerly colonies) in the United State ...

and now survives as a small wing of the house. The house was transformed in 1906 by the

Arts and Crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

architect

Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memori ...

into a

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

for H. H. Cochrane. It was extended, by Lutyens, for

Zachary Merton Zachary Merton, born Zachary Moses (1843–1915), was an Anglo-German industrialist and philanthropist. Biography Merton's family had founded Metallgesellschaft in Germany and Henry R. Merton and Co. in Britain, which were among the leading meta ...

, six years later. It is one of Lutyens' best-known house designs. Lutyens collaborated with

Gertrude Jekyll Gertrude Jekyll ( ; 29 November 1843 – 8 December 1932) was a British horticulturist, garden designer, craftswoman, photographer, writer and artist. She created over 400 gardens in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States, and wrote ...

to make the diverse, multi-level garden. Folly Farm is a

Grade I In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

listed building, as it is an exceptional example of Arts and Craft architecture.

Other buildings

The church of

's (formerly St Bartholomew's) dates from the 13th century and is a

listed building. The active village hall for Sulhamstead and Ufton Nervet is halfway down the road Sulhamstead Hill, built in 1927.

Sulhamstead Lock Sulhamstead Lock is a lock on the River Kennet to the east of Sulhamstead in the English county of Berkshire. Sulhamstead Lock was built between 1718 and 1723 under the supervision of the engineer John Hore of Newbury, and this stretch of the ri ...

Tyle Mill Tyle Mill is a mill on the River Kennet near Sulhamstead, Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berk ...

and

Tyle Mill Lock Tyle Mill Lock () is a lock situated near Tyle Mill and the village of Sulhamstead on the Kennet and Avon Canal, England. Tyle Mill Lock was built between 1718 and 1723 under the supervision of the engineer John Hore of Newbury, and this stretc ...

on the

have a

wharf A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (mooring locatio ...

, lock and swing bridge. The singer-songwriter Kate Bush lived in a large canalside home for several years until 2004.

Omer's Gully

Omer's

Gully A gully is a landform created by running water, mass movement, or commonly a combination of both eroding sharply into soil or other relatively erodible material, typically on a hillside or in river floodplains or terraces. Gullies resemble lar ...

Wood is a wood that is bordered to the north-west corner of

Common. It is mostly owned by Englefield (

Manor Manor may refer to: Land ownership *Manorialism or "manor system", the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of medieval Europe, notably England *Lord of the manor, the owner of an agreed area of land (or "manor") under manorialism *Man ...

) Estate, with the remainder owned by the West Berkshire Council. The

has historically been well coppiced for firewood. 86 different plant species and 46 different birds have been found and it is a recorded habitat for mammals including foxes,

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...

s, badgers, squirrels and rabbits.Friends of Omer's Gully Wood
Retrieved 16 December 2014. This woodland links up with other woodlands by Omers Brook, such as Clayhill

Copse Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, which is called a copse, young tree stems are repeated ...

, which lies to the north east and is part of a larger natural woodland covered habitat.

Notable people

* Florence Nagle (1894–1988), racehorse and dog breeder. * Kate Bush (b.1958), singer-songwriter, lived in Sulhamstead from the 1990s to 2004. * Keith Floyd (1943–2009), chef and restauranter, born in Sulhamstead.

Demography

Notes

References

{{authority control Villages in Berkshire West Berkshire District Civil parishes in Berkshire Wards of Berkshire