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 ...
county of
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 Ber ...
, 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 (spell ...
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 and 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 cen ...
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 airfield. The historic parish once also covered
Midgham
Midgham is a village and civil parish occupying slopes and the flood plain on the north side of the River Kennet. It is centred east of Newbury and east of Thatcham. The north of the parish is south of the M4 motorway. Midgham Lock is on ...
,
Cold Ash,
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, mea ...
and
Greenham.
Thatcham Reed Beds, 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
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
*
*
*
*
peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
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
Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The us ...
times
and was listed in the
Guinness Book of Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing worl ...
as the strongest claimant to being the oldest continuously inhabited place in
Britain. The well-preserved remains of a
mesolithic
The Mesolithic ( Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymo ...
settlement, dating from 8400 to 7700 BCE,
have been found in its vicinity. Evidence also exists of
Bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids suc ...
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 mostly ...
settlements and of
Romano-British activity.
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 manusc ...
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 Conq ...
, 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 I ...
. There is a
Norman 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
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 ...
, which was largely reconstructed in 1857. This is believed to be built on the same site as an earlier
Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...
church. It was previously known as
St. Luke
Luke the Evangelist (Latin: '' Lucas''; grc, Λουκᾶς, '' Loukâs''; he, לוקאס, ''Lūqās''; arc, /ܠܘܩܐ לוקא, ''Lūqā’; Ge'ez: ሉቃስ'') is one of the Four Evangelists—the four traditionally ascribed authors of t ...
'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 N ...
founded
Reading Abbey and endowed it with many gifts of land, including the
Manor of Thatcham. At the same time Thatcham
Hundred 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 (spell ...
. 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, Thatcham housed one of the biggest
Prisoner of War 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. ...
s 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
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 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 in the area, the only
secondary school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
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, with regular services between and and between and , operated by
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
. 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 status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...
. This road has been superseded as a long-distance route by the
M4 motorway
The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is a motorway in the United Kingdom running from west London to southwest Wales. The English section to the Severn Bridge was constructed between 1961 and 1971; the Welsh element was largely ...
which runs almost parallel to the A4, about to the north. The closest junction to the town is the
Chieveley interchange at Junction 13.
Sports and leisure
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
The Football Association Challenge Vase, usually referred to as the FA Vase, is an annual football competition for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English National League System (or equivalently, tier 9 or 10 of the overall English footb ...
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
wards for
West Berkshire Council 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 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,
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 betwee ...
Demography
Local employment is chiefly in light industrial premises, sales and distribution, retail and public sectors.
See also
*
HMS ''Thatcham'', a
Ham class minesweeper
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 or ...
of Thatcham.
{{Authority control
Towns in Berkshire
Civil parishes in Berkshire
West Berkshire District