Shaw House is an important example of an early symmetrical H-plan Elizabethan mansion, located at Shaw, on the north-eastern outskirts of Newbury in Berkshire.
Shaw House is an important example of an early symmetrical H-plan Elizabethan mansion, located at Shaw, on the north-eastern outskirts of Newbury in Berkshire.
The manor house of Shaw, Shaw House was built by the wealthy cloth merchant, Thomas Dolman, and completed in 1581. [1] It is famous for its reputation as King Charles I's headquarters during the Second Battle of Newbury. However recent research has proved that, despite being at the centre of the fighting, the King never went to the house. [1] Other royals have visited, most notably Elizabeth I. [1] In the 1720s, it was acquired by the flamboyant James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos. [1] Although it was not the principal residence of the Duke, the family evidently spent some time in the area and the second Duke bought a wife at a sale in Newbury.
After the first Duke's death in 1744 the dowager duchess lived at Shaw House till her death in 1750. Her step-son sold the property soon afterwards to the Andrews family. [1] It was the childhood home of the historian James Pettit Andrews. [1] [2] For many years it was also a school. [1]
The house is currently owned and managed by West Berkshire Council as a conference venue and public attraction. [1]
Following a major restoration Shaw House opened to the public in 2008. It is also a conference venue and home to West Berkshire's Registration Service for Births, Deaths and Ceremonies. [1] Work began in 2005 [1] after the mansion was awarded more than £4m from the Heritage Lottery Fund. English Heritage and Vodafone also contributed to the £6m project.
Visitors can now enjoy a programme of events and activities whilst wandering the house and spending time in the exhibitions and family corner. The House is open most weekends and some school holidays.
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, my brother, and Queen Maud, my wife, and all my ancestors and successors." In its heyday the abbey was one of Europe's largest royal monasteries. The traditions of the Abbey are continued today by the neighbouring St James's Church, which is partly built using stones of the Abbey ruins.
Wokingham is a market town in Berkshire, England, 37 miles (60 km) west of London, 7 miles (11 km) southeast of Reading, 8 miles (13 km) north of Camberley and 4 miles (6 km) west of Bracknell.
Wantage is a historic market town and civil parish in Oxfordshire, England. Although within the boundaries of the historic county of Berkshire, it has been administered as part of the Vale of White Horse district of Oxfordshire since 1974. The town is on Letcombe Brook, 8 miles (13 km) south-west of Abingdon, 24 miles (39 km) north-west of Reading, 15 miles (24 km) south-west of Oxford and 14 miles (23 km) north-west of Newbury.
Earley is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Wokingham, Berkshire, England. Along with the neighbouring town of Woodley, the Office for National Statistics places Earley within the Reading/Wokingham Urban Area; for the purposes of local government it falls within the Borough of Wokingham, outside the area of Reading Borough Council. Its name is sometimes spelt Erleigh or Erlegh and consists of a number of smaller areas, including Maiden Erlegh and Lower Earley, and lies some 3 miles (5 km) south and east of the centre of Reading, and some 4 miles (6 km) northwest of Wokingham. It had a population of 32,036 at the 2011 Census.
Tilehurst is a suburb of the town of Reading in the county of Berkshire, England. It lies to the west of the centre of Reading, and extends from the River Thames in the north to the A4 road in the south.
Shaw is a suburban village in Berkshire, England. It is located to the north of Newbury, near the village of Donnington. It is in the parish of Shaw-cum-Donnington.
Donnington is an English suburban village in the civil parish of Shaw-cum-Donnington, just north of the town of Newbury, Berkshire. It contains a ruined medieval castle and a Strawberry Hill Gothic mansion.
Aldermaston Court is a country house and private park built in the Victorian era for Daniel Higford Davall Burr with incorporations from a Stuart house. It is south-east of the village nucleus of Aldermaston in the English county of Berkshire. The predecessor manor house became a mansion from the wealth of its land and from assistance to Charles I during the English Civil War under ownership of the Forster baronets of Aldermaston after which the estate has alternated between the names Aldermaston Park and Aldermaston Manor.
Wokefield Park is an 18th-century country house, situated in the parish of Wokefield, near Mortimer, in the English county of Berkshire. It is currently run as an events venue.
Finchampstead is a village and civil parish in the Wokingham Borough in the shire of Berkshire, England. Its northern extremity is 2 miles (3 km) south of Wokingham, 5 miles (8 km) west of Bracknell, 8 miles (13 km) south-east of Reading, and 34 miles (55 km) west of Central London. It is an affluent area, with the village ranking as Britain's 31st wealthiest. It has a high standard of living and is rated as one of the most desirable places to live in the United Kingdom.
Billingbear House was situated in the parish of Waltham St. Lawrence in Berkshire, England, about six miles from Windsor.
Easthampstead Park is a Victorian mansion in the civil parish of Bracknell in the English county of Berkshire. It is now a conference centre.
Beckett Hall is a country house at Shrivenham in the English county of Oxfordshire. The present house dates from 1831.
Trinity School is a co-educational secondary school with academy status in Newbury, Berkshire, England. The school opened in September 1999 when two existing schools and one new school combined - hence the name Trinity. Trinity School caters for pupils between the ages of 11 and 19 and currently has approximately 1025 students on roll, including 108 in the Sixth Form.
Welford Park is a country house and estate in the village of Welford in the English county of Berkshire, situated 5.2 miles northwest of Newbury and 10.9 miles south of Wantage. It is a Grade I-listed building.
Donnington Grove is a Strawberry Hill Gothic mansion, now a hotel and country club, and associated Golf Course at Donnington in the civil parish of Shaw-cum-Donnington, near Newbury, in the English county of Berkshire. It is overlooked by Donnington Castle.
The Black Boys Bridge is a road bridge in Newbury, Berkshire, England. At the western end of Newbury railway station, the bridge spans the Reading to Taunton line. The bridge has been described as the "southern gateway to Newbury Town Centre".
The Church of St Mary the Virgin, Aldermaston, is the Church of England parish church of Aldermaston in Berkshire. The church, which is dedicated to St Mary, dates from the mid-12th century and has examples of Norman and Jacobean architecture. The building has had a number of extensions, particularly in the 13th, 14th, 15th and 17th centuries.
Occupation at the site of Reading may date back to the Roman period, possibly as either a trading port on the River Thames, or as an intersection on the Roman road connecting London with Calleva Atrebatum near Silchester.
The following is a timeline of the history of Reading, the county town of Berkshire in England.