Berkshire is a county in south-East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by the Queen as the Royal County of Berkshire in 1957 because of the presence of Windsor Castle, and letters patent were issued in 1974. Berkshire is a county of historic origin, a ceremonial county and a non-metropolitan county without a county council. The county town is Reading.
William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, also called William the Marshal, was an Anglo-Norman soldier and statesman. He served five English kings – Henry II, his sons the "Young King" Henry, Richard I, John, and John's son Henry III.
Wallingford is a historic market town and civil parish located to the south of Oxford on the River Thames in England.
Pembroke Castle is a medieval castle in the town of Pembroke, Pembrokeshire in Wales. The castle was the original family seat of the Earldom of Pembroke. A Grade I listed building since 1951, it underwent major restoration during the early 20th century.
Newbury is a market town in the county of Berkshire, England, which is home to the administrative headquarters of West Berkshire Council.
Donnington is an English village in the civil parish of Shaw-cum-Donnington, just north of the town of Newbury in Berkshire. It contains a ruined medieval castle and a Strawberry Hill Gothic mansion.
Aldworth is a mainly farmland village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire, near the boundary with Oxfordshire, in a rural area between Reading, Newbury and Streatley. It includes the hamlet of Westridge Green. It lies on the high ground of the Berkshire Downs, just off the B4009 road between Newbury and Streatley. The north of it is crossed by The Ridgeway, an 87-mile pre-Roman footpath. The parish church has large medieval figures in white stone, seemingly life-size, though some knights have an unlikely height of over seven feet. The Battle of Ashdown, where King Alfred defeated the Danes in January AD 871, is said by some to have been fought near The Ridgeway and Lowbury Hill.
Donnington Castle is a ruined medieval castle, situated in the small village of Donnington, just north of the town of Newbury in the English county of Berkshire. It was founded by Sir Richard Abberbury the Elder in 1386 and was bought by Thomas Chaucer before the castle was taken under royal control during the Tudor period. During the First English Civil War the castle was held by the royalist Sir John Boys and withstood an 18-month siege; after the garrison eventually surrendered, Parliament voted to demolish Donnington Castle in 1646. Only the gatehouse survives. The site is under the care of English Heritage and is protected from unauthorised change as a scheduled ancient monument.
Sir John Boys is best known as the Royalist Governor of Donnington Castle in Berkshire during the English Civil War.
Bagnor is a hamlet close to the town of Newbury in the English county of Berkshire and situated on the banks of the River Lambourn. At the 2011 census the population of the hamlet was included in the civil parish of Speen. It is best known as the home of the nationally famous Watermill Theatre. It was recorded in the Domesday Book as Bagenore.
"Humphrey the Chamberlain holds Bagenore from the King. Wulfeva held it freehold from King Edward. Then it answered for 4 hides; now 1 hide. Land for 3 ploughs: In hardship 1 (plough) 3 villagers and 3 smallholders with 2 ploughs. 1 slave: a mill at 20s meadow 22 acres: woodland at 4 pigs".
Cold Ash is a village and civil parish in West Berkshire centred 1 mile (1.6 km) from Thatcham and 2.5 miles (4 km) northeast of Newbury, England.
Midgham is a village and civil parish occupying slopes and the alluvial plain on the north side of the Kennet. It is centred 6 miles (10 km) east of Newbury, Berkshire and 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Thatcham. The north of the parish is 4.5 miles (7 km) south of the M4 motorway. Midgham Lock is on the Kennet and Avon canal which in summer months draws much of the water from the valley. It has smaller watercourses alongside. Its elevations range from 60 to 121 metres above sea level. Midgham Wood covers most of the north-west and Channel Wood covers most of the north-east eighth of the parish. The vast majority of the other green space is cultivated land, pasture or hay meadows. The lowland area of lakes, river and canal is greater than that covered by roads across the whole parish, as at the 2005 Office for National Statistics survey.
Thomas Chaucer was an English courtier and politician. The son of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer and his wife Philippa Roet, Thomas was linked socially and by family to senior members of the English nobility, though he was himself a commoner. Elected fifteen times to the Parliament of England, he was Speaker of the House of Commons for five parliaments in the early 15th century.
Wallingford Castle was a major medieval castle situated in Wallingford in the English county of Oxfordshire, adjacent to the River Thames. Established in the 11th century as a motte-and-bailey design within an Anglo-Saxon burgh, it grew to become what historian Nicholas Brooks has described as "one of the most powerful royal castles of the 12th and 13th centuries". Held for the Empress Matilda during the civil war years of the Anarchy, it survived multiple sieges and was never taken. Over the next two centuries it became a luxurious castle, used by royalty and their immediate family. After being abandoned as a royal residence by Henry VIII, the castle fell into decline. Refortified during the English Civil War, it was eventually slighted, i.e. deliberately destroyed, after being captured by Parliamentary forces after a long siege. The site was subsequently left relatively undeveloped, and the limited remains of the castle walls and the considerable earthworks are now open to the public.
John FitzGilbert the Marshal of the Horses was a minor Anglo-Norman nobleman during the reign of King Stephen, and fought in the 12th century civil war on the side of Empress Matilda.
Marlborough Castle, locally known and recorded in historical documents as The Mound, was an 11th-century royal castle located in the civil parish of Marlborough, a market town in the English county of Wiltshire, on the Old Bath Road, the old main road from London to Bath. The barrow on which the fortification was built, perhaps the "barrow of Maerla", seems to be a prehistoric earthwork which formed the motte of the Norman Marlborough Castle. It survives as a tree-covered mound known as Marlborough Mound, within the site of Marlborough College.
Sandleford is a hamlet and former parish in the English county of Berkshire. Since at least 1924, the settlement has been within the civil parish of Greenham, and is located approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south of the town of Newbury.
Josce de Dinan was an Anglo-Norman nobleman who lived during and after the civil war between King Stephen of England and his cousin Matilda over the throne of England. He was a landholder in the Welsh Marches when he was married by Stephen to the widow of Pain fitzJohn, a union that gave Josce control of Ludlow Castle. Control of the castle was contested by other noblemen, and the resulting warfare between the nobles forms the background to a late medieval romance known as Fouke le Fitz Waryn, which is mainly concerned with the actions of Josce's grandson, but also includes some material on Josce's lifetime. Josce eventually lost control of Ludlow and was granted lands in compensation by Matilda and her son, King Henry II of England, who succeeded Stephen in 1154.
The following is a timeline of the history of Reading, the county town of Berkshire in England.
Sandleford Priory was a small Augustinian Priory, the remains of which now stand at Sandleford in the civil parish of Greenham in the English county of Berkshire.
