Thatcham, Berkshire

Description
Thatcham, a village and a parish in Berks. The village stands 1 mile SE from the G.W.R., on which it has a station, and 3 miles E from Newbury. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Newbury. The parish is bounded on the S by the river Auburn, which here separates Berks from Hants, and is intersected by the river Kennet and the Kennet and Avon Canal. Acreage, 7865; population of the civil parish, 2900; of the ecclesiastical, 2108. Thatcham was anciently a market-town, but the market has long been discontinued. Crookham House and Little Park House are chief residences. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford; net value, £306 with residence. The church is a fine building in mixed styles, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, S porch, and an embattled pinnacled western tower. It has a fine Norman doorway, several ancient tombs and memorials, and some good stained windows. There are Congregational and Wesleyan chapels, an endowed school, and several valuable charities. Cold Ash, Greenham, and Midg-ham are noticed under separate headings.