Thatcham is an historic
market town
A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...
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 authorit ...
in the
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
county of
Berkshire, centred 3 miles (5 km) east of
Newbury, 14 miles (24 km) west 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 54 miles (87 km) west of
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
.
Geography
Thatcham straddles the
River Kennet
The Kennet is a tributary of the River Thames in Southern England. Most of the river is straddled by the North Wessex Downs AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty). The lower reaches have been made navigable as the Kennet Navigation, which â ...
, the
Kennet and Avon Canal and the
A4. The parish currently covers the town of Thatcham, with its suburbs of Henwick, Dunston Park and
Colthrop
Colthrop is a suburb of the town of Thatcham in the English county of Berkshire, England.
Geography
Colthrop is part of the civil parish of Thatcham. The settlement lies on the A4 road, and is the location of numerous industrial parks and haula ...
, and the village of
Crookham including
Crookham Common and the eastern ranges of the old
RAF Greenham Common
Royal Air Force Greenham Common or RAF Greenham Common is a former Royal Air Force station in the civil parishes of Greenham and Thatcham in the English county of Berkshire. The airfield was southeast of Newbury, about west of London.
Opened ...
airfield. The historic parish once also covered
Midgham,
Cold Ash
Cold Ash is a village and civil parish in West Berkshire centred from Thatcham and northeast of Newbury.
Geography
The village of Cold Ash is situated at about above sea level, along the top of a ridge, marked by Hermitage Road and The Ridge ...
,
Ashmore Green
Ashmore Green is a small hamlet in Berkshire, England. It is situated just to the west of the village of Cold Ash and to the north of Thatcham in the West Berkshire district.
Etymology
The name Ashmore Green is probably of Old English origin, me ...
and
Greenham.
Thatcham Reed Beds
Thatcham Reed Beds is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest east of Newbury in Berkshire. It is part of the Kennet & Lambourn Floodplain Special Area of Conservation and an area of is a Local Nature Reserve. An area of is manag ...
, just to the south of the town, is a
site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
Etymology
The name may have been derived from that of a
Saxon chief called ''Tace'' (or perhaps ''Tac'' or ''Tec''), who established a village in around 500 AD.
The settlement might have been known as ''Taceham'' - ''ham'' meaning village in Saxon. However some of the earliest written references, in c.951 and c.975,
records it as Thaecham. The Thaec comes from the Saxon ''þæc'' or ''thaec'' meaning roof-covering and the ham has been speculated to be a shortened hamm which would mean a river meadow.
History
The area has evidence of occupation dating from
prehistoric times
and was listed in the
Guinness Book of Records as the strongest claimant to being the oldest continuously inhabited place in
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
. The well-preserved remains of a
mesolithic settlement, dating from 8400 to 7700 BCE,
have been found in its vicinity. Evidence also exists of
Bronze and
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...
settlements and of
Romano-British
The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, ...
activity.
![Thatcham - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Thatcham_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1901.jpg)
In the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...
of 1086, following the
Norman Conquest
The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Con ...
, the name had altered slightly to ''Taceham'' before going through several minor changes until the current form was adopted in the 16th century. The town had a period of great prosperity around 1304, when the Chapel of
St. Thomas the Martyr on the A4, now called the
Old Bluecoat School, was granted permission to hold services. At that time the population was larger than that of Newbury.
The chapel is a Grade I
listed building
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 ...
. There is 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 ...
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, ...
of
St. Mary, which was largely reconstructed in 1857. This is believed to be built on the same site as an earlier
Anglo-Saxon church. It was previously known as
St. Luke's. The church is a Grade II* listed building.
In 1121,
Henry I Henry I may refer to:
876–1366
* Henry I the Fowler, King of Germany (876–936)
* Henry I, Duke of Bavaria (died 955)
* Henry I of Austria, Margrave of Austria (died 1018)
* Henry I of France (1008–1060)
* Henry I the Long, Margrave of the ...
founded
Reading Abbey
Reading Abbey is a large, ruined abbey in the centre of the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire. It was founded by Henry I in 1121 "for the salvation of my soul, and the souls of King William, my father, and of King William, m ...
and endowed it with many gifts of land, including the
Manor of Thatcham. At the same time Thatcham
Hundred
100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101.
In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...
ceased to exist: the western part was transferred to Faircross Hundred, and the remainder to the Hundred 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 ...
. In 1141 Thatcham church, previously the property of the
Diocese of Salisbury, was granted to Reading Abbey by the
Empress Matilda, who at the same time confirmed her father's gift of the manor to the abbey. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, Thatcham housed one of the biggest
Prisoner of War camps in the South, known as camp 1001. Thatcham's population grew rapidly in the second half of the 20th century: from 5,000 in 1951 and 7,500 in 1961 to 22,824 in 2001.
Floods
![ThatchamFloods2007](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/ThatchamFloods2007.JPG)
On 20 July 2007 parts of Thatcham were flooded during a period of sustained heavy rain, during which three times the average July monthly rainfall hit the town in just 24 hours. While the rivers did not flood, the quantity of water flowing down the hills from Cold Ash and
Bucklebury made many roads impassable and stranded hundreds of pupils at
Kennet School
Kennet School is an academy secondary school in Thatcham, Berkshire, England. In 2011, Kennet was the highest achieving state school in West Berkshire using contextual value added results and third-highest using five good GCSEs.
The school ope ...
who tried to wade with rope across Stoney Lane. About 1,100 properties were affected; many residents moved out into mobile homes.
Institutions
Schools
Although there are many
primary schools
A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...
in the area, the only
secondary school in Thatcham is the Kennet School.
Motor Insurers' Automotive Research Centre
The motor insurers' automotive research centre is located at Colthrop.
The 'Thatcham categories' issued there are the industry standard for vehicle immobilisers and alarms
Transport
railway station is on the
Reading to Taunton line
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 (spellin ...
, with regular services between and and between and , operated by
Great Western Railway. The main east-west road through the town is the A4 Bath Road, which runs between
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
and
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
. This road has been superseded as a long-distance route by the
M4 motorway which runs almost parallel to the A4, about to the north. The closest junction to the town is the
Chieveley
Chieveley is a village and large civil parish centred north of Newbury in Berkshire, close to the M4 motorway and A34 road. Chieveley services are within the parish.
Geography
A map of 1877 gave the area as . The landscape is of gently ro ...
interchange at Junction 13.
Sports and leisure
![ThatchamGround](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/ThatchamGround.jpg)
Thatcham is home to non-league football club
Thatcham Town, who play their matches at Waterside Park, south of the Thatcham railway station. The club reached the final of the
FA Vase in the
2017–18 season, becoming the first Berkshire side to reach a national cup final. Thatcham Town Cricket Club is based at a ground on Brownsfield Road, next to the council offices. The Henwick Worthy Sports Ground is the home of the Newbury and Thatcham Hockey Club and the Thatcham Rugby Union Football Club, and plays host to a number of amateur and youth sports.
Governance
The town is divided into four
ward
Ward may refer to:
Division or unit
* Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward
* Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...
s for
West Berkshire Council
West Berkshire Council is the local authority of West Berkshire in Berkshire, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. West Berkshire is divided into 30 wards, electing 52 c ...
elections: Thatcham Central, Thatcham North, Thatcham South & Crookham and Thatcham West. Seven councillors represent Thatcham on the West Berkshire Council with the
Liberal Democrats having five, and the
Conservatives
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
having two. These wards are used in town council elections, with fourteen Liberal Democrats, three Conservatives, and one
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...
member sitting on the town council.
At national level it is represented by the
MP for
Newbury.
Town twinning
Thatcham is
twinned with:
*
Nideggen
Nideggen () is a town in the district of DĂĽren in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the river Rur, in the Eifel hills, approx. 15 km south of DĂĽren.
Nideggen is known for its ruined, but partly restored ...
,
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
Demography
Local employment is chiefly in light industrial premises, sales and distribution, retail and public sectors.
See also
*
HMS ''Thatcham'', a
Ham class minesweeper
The Ham class was a class of inshore minesweepers (IMS), known as the Type 1, of the British Royal Navy. The class was designed to operate in the shallow water of rivers and estuaries. All of the ships in the class are named for British place nam ...
References
External links
Thatcham Town CouncilThatcham Historical SocietyA History of RAF Greenham Common and RAF Welford the former partly in the
parish
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 o ...
of Thatcham.
{{Authority control
Towns in Berkshire
Civil parishes in Berkshire
West Berkshire District