Shaw House is an important example of an early symmetrical H-plan Elizabethan mansion, located at Shaw, a village on the north-eastern outskirts of Newbury in Berkshire. The house is Grade I listed and the park and gardens are Grade II. [1]
Shaw House is an important example of an early symmetrical H-plan Elizabethan mansion, located at Shaw, a village on the north-eastern outskirts of Newbury in Berkshire. The house is Grade I listed and the park and gardens are Grade II. [1]
The manor house of Shaw, Shaw House was built by the wealthy cloth merchant, Thomas Dolman, and completed in 1581.[ citation needed ] 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.[ citation needed ] Other royals have visited, most notably Elizabeth I.[ citation needed ] In the 1720s, it was acquired by the flamboyant James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos.[ citation needed ] 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. It was the childhood home of the historian James Pettit Andrews. [2] For many years it was also a school.[ citation needed ]
The house is currently owned and managed by West Berkshire Council as a conference venue and public attraction.
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.[ citation needed ] Work began in 2005[ citation needed ] 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.
Berkshire, officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London to the east, Surrey to the south-east, Hampshire to the south, and Wiltshire to the west. Reading is the largest settlement and the county town.
Addington Palace is an 18th-century mansion in Addington located within the London Borough of Croydon. It was built close to the site of an earlier manor house belonging to the Leigh family. It is particularly known for having been, between 1807 and 1897, the summer residence of the Archbishops of Canterbury. Since the 1930s most of the grounds have been occupied by Addington Palace Golf Club. Between 1953 and 1996 the mansion was occupied by the Royal School of Church Music, which has since moved to Salisbury. It was later used as a wedding and events venue.
Hungerford is a historic market town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, 8 miles (13 km) west of Newbury, 9 miles (14 km) east of Marlborough, 27 miles (43 km) north-east of Salisbury and 60 miles (97 km) west of London. The Kennet and Avon Canal passes through the town alongside the River Dun, a major tributary of the River Kennet. The confluence with the Kennet is to the north of the centre whence canal and river both continue east. Amenities include schools, shops, cafés, restaurants, and facilities for the main national sports. Hungerford railway station is a minor stop on the Reading to Taunton Line.
Shaw is a 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.
Chieveley is a village and large civil parish centred 3.5 miles (5.6 km) north of Newbury in Berkshire, close to the M4 motorway and A34 road. Chieveley services are within the parish.
Aldermaston is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. In the 2011 census, the parish had a population of 1,015. The village is in the Kennet Valley and bounds Hampshire to the south. It is approximately 8 miles (13 km) from Newbury, Basingstoke, and Reading and is 46 miles (74 km) from London.
Donnington is a village in the civil parish of Shaw-cum-Donnington in West Berkshire, England. It is located north of the town of Newbury. It contains a ruined medieval castle and a Strawberry Hill Gothic mansion.
Aldworth is a village and mainly farmland civil parish in the English county of Berkshire, near the boundary with Oxfordshire.
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.
Bagnor is a village 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 was included in the civil parish of Speen. It is best known as the home of the Watermill Theatre.
Theale is a village and civil parish in West Berkshire, England. It is 5 miles (8 km) southwest of Reading and 10 miles (16 km) east of Thatcham. The compact parish is bounded to the south and south-east by the Kennet & Avon Canal, to the north by a golf course, to the east by the M4 motorway and to the west by the A340 road.
Greenham is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. Greenham commences immediately south-east of Newbury and is in West Berkshire. It was recorded in the Domesday Book as Greneham. The parish includes the hamlet of Sandleford.
Burghfield is a village and large civil parish in West Berkshire, England, with a boundary with Reading. Burghfield can trace its history back to before the Domesday Book, and was once home to three manors: Burghfield Regis, Burghfield Abbas, and Sheffield. Since the 1980s the population of Burghfield has nearly doubled with the construction of housing estates, making it a dormitory for Reading, Newbury, Basingstoke and the M4 corridor.
Valentines Park is a 52-hectare (130-acre) park, south of Gants Hill, it is the largest green space in the London Borough of Redbridge. The park was originally the grounds of Valentines Mansion, a residence built in 1696. Valentines Park holds a Green Flag Award and was voted one of the ten best parks in Britain in 2019.
Lydiard Park is a 260-acre (110-hectare) country park at Lydiard Tregoze, which was its former name, about 3 miles (5 km) west of central Swindon, Wiltshire, England, in West Swindon parish, near Junction 16 of the M4 motorway.
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.
Benham Park is a mansion in the English ceremonial county of Berkshire and district of West Berkshire. It is 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Newbury within 500m of a junction of the A34 trunk road Newbury bypass outside the town side, in the Marsh Benham locality of Speen, a village within and outside the Newbury bypass. The house is a Grade II* listed building and park is Grade II.
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.