Crookham is a dispersed

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

in the English 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 Berk ...

, and part of 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 authority ...

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 ...

Geography

The settlement lies near the A339 and A4 roads, and is located approximately south-east of Thatcham (where, according to the grid reference, the majority of the 2011 census population was included). Crookham - like the adjoining Crookham Common - is situated at the end of the former runway of

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 ...

History

Immediately before 1066, Crookham was owned by Alwi Ceuresbert, a King's

thane Thane (; also known as Thana, the official name until 1996) is a metropolitan city in Maharashtra, India. It is situated in the north-eastern portion of the Salsette Island. Thane city is entirely within Thane taluka, one of the seven talukas ...

. Crookham appears 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 ...

under 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 de ...

. It was later, about 1125, granted to

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 ...

. There was only one manor and this was sublet to various families, some of whom hosted Royal visits, including that of Henry III who visited the hamlet in 1229, most probably to engage in hunting in the rural areas. By 1299, Crookham Manor House had a

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 ...

attached to it. On 29 and 30 August 1320,

Edward II Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir apparent to t ...

stayed there. In 1445 the sub-manor of Chamberhouse was formed. Chamberhouse was the childhood home of the distinguished soldier and statesman

Henry Docwra, 1st Baron Docwra of Culmore Henry Docwra, 1st Baron Docwra of Culmore (1564 – 18 April 1631) was a leading English-born soldier and statesman in early seventeenth-century Ireland. He is often called "the founder of Derry", due to his role in establishing the city. Bac ...

, who was born there in 1564.

Anne of Denmark Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I; as such, she was Queen of Scotland The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional fo ...

came to Chamberhouse for dinner with

Nicholas Fuller Nicholas Fuller (c. 1557 – 1626) was an English Hebraist and philologist. Life The son of Robert Fuller by his wife Catharine Cresset, he was a native of Hampshire, and was born about 1557. He was sent to schools at Southampton, kept by Joh ...

on 4 September 1613. The original Crookham Manor and chapel appear to have been abandoned around 1542, and by about 1748, the estate had been purchased by

George Amyand Sir George Amyand, 1st Baronet (26 September 1720 – 16 August 1766) was a British Whig politician, physician and merchant. Origins He was the second son of Claudius Amyand, Surgeon-in-Ordinary to King George II, by his wife Mary Rabache, a ...

, a merchant and subsequently Member of Parliament for

Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town in North Devon, England, at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool and won great wealth. Later it imported Irish wool, bu ...

. A new manor house was built around 1850, Crookham House, which was occupied by Crookham Court School from 1961 until it was closed down in 1989 after a child sex abuse scandal at the school. The building is known today as Pinchington Hall.

References

External links

Thatcham Town Council

Thatcham Historical Society

A History of RAF Greenham Common and RAF Welford
{{Authority control Thatcham Hamlets in Berkshire West Berkshire District