Bere Court

Last updated
Bere Court
Bere Court Pangbourne Berkshire Beard And Co 1866.jpg
Bere Court in 1866
Berkshire UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location within Berkshire
General information
Architectural styleGeorgian
Town or city Pangbourne, Berkshire
CountryEngland
Coordinates 51°28′15″N1°06′51″W / 51.470762°N 1.1140995°W / 51.470762; -1.1140995
Designations
Listed Building – Grade I
Official nameBere Court and Bere House
Designated24 October 1951;72 years ago (1951-10-24)
Reference no. 1213565

Bere Court is an English country house. It is a historic Grade I listed building. The house is located southwest of Pangbourne, Berkshire where it was once the manor house.

Contents

History

The house was originally built in the 13th century as the manor house for Pangbourne. The only remaining parts of the original house are the medieval cellars. [1]

Pangbourne came under the control of the Abbots of Reading and the house became one of their main manors. [2]

In his role as Abbot of Reading, Hugh Faringdon was residing at Bere Court in 1539 when he was arrested for high treason during the dissolution of the monasteries, ostensibly for providing funds to rebels. While he was taken to the Tower of London, apparently his death sentence was passed without a formal trial, and he was hanged in Reading on 14 November 1539. [3]

In 1613 the house was acquired by Sir John Davis, who had been part of the Duke of Essex's Rebellion in 1601, had been convicted, and sentenced to death, but then pardoned. [4]

The estate was purchased in 1671 by John Breedon, onetime High Sheriff of Berkshire. The current form of the house is his family's work. It was remodeled over the course of the 18th century into its current red brick Georgian design. [1]

During the time the Breedons owned the house they occasionally rented it out. One of the renters was George Spencer-Churchill, 6th Duke of Marlborough who had been born at nearby Bill Hill. [2]

The Breedons finally sold the house in the 1890s. As of 2024 it is a private residence.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reading Abbey</span> Ruined Cluniac abbey in Reading, Berkshire, England

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earley</span> Human settlement in England

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tilehurst</span> Suburb of Reading, Berkshire, England

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; it extends from the River Thames in the north to the A4 road in the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hugh Faringdon</span>

Hugh Faringdon,, earlier known as Hugh Cook, later as Hugh Cook alias Faringdon and Hugh Cook of Faringdon, was a Benedictine monk who presided as the last Abbot of Reading Abbey in the English town of Reading. At the dissolution of the monasteries under King Henry VIII of England, Faringdon was accused of high treason and executed. He was declared a martyr and beatified by the Catholic Church in 1895.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pangbourne</span> Village in Berkshire, England

Pangbourne is a village and civil parish on the River Thames in Berkshire, England. Pangbourne has its own shops, schools, a railway station on the Great Western main line and a village hall. Outside its grouped developed area is an independent school, Pangbourne College.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Windsor</span> Human settlement in England

Old Windsor is a large village and civil parish, in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, in Berkshire, England. It is bounded by the River Thames to the east and the Windsor Great Park to the west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buckland, Oxfordshire</span> Human settlement in England

Buckland is a village and large civil parish about 4 miles (6.4 km) northeast of Faringdon in the Vale of White Horse District. Buckland was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 588. Outside the village the civil parish includes the small settlements of Carswell and Barcote to the west, Buckland Marsh to the north, and the modern development of Gainfield on the southern boundary.

The High Sheriff of Berkshire, in common with other counties, was originally the King's representative on taxation upholding the law in Saxon times. The word Sheriff evolved from 'shire-reeve'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wittenham Clumps</span> Pair of hills in Berkshire, England

Wittenham Clumps are a pair of wooded chalk hills in the Thames Valley, in the civil parish of Little Wittenham, in the historic county of Berkshire, although since 1974 administered as part of South Oxfordshire district.

Sir John Cheyne, Baron Cheyne, was Master of the Horse to King Edward IV of England and personal bodyguard to King Henry VII of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Giles' Church, Reading</span> Church in Reading, England

St Giles' Church is a Church of England parish church in the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crookham, Berkshire</span> Hamlet in England

Crookham is a dispersed hamlet in the English county of Berkshire, and part of the civil parish of Thatcham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Odney</span> Human settlement in England

Odney is a common in the Thames, part of the civil parish of Cookham, in the English county of Berkshire, and occupies most of the Formosa Island eyot. The island may have been sacred to the main Saxon god, Woden, as "Wodenes-Eye".

Sir Edward Unton KB was an English politician, high sheriff and Knight of the Bath.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Williams, 1st Baron Williams of Thame</span>

John Williams, 1st Baron Williams of Thame was Master of the Jewels and Lord President of the Council of the Welsh Marches. He was summoned to parliament as Lord Williams of Thame on 17 February 1554.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abbey Gateway, Reading</span> Gateway in Berkshire, UK

The Abbey Gateway was originally the inner gateway of Reading Abbey, which today is a large, mostly ruined abbey in the center of the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire. The gateway adjoins Reading Crown Court and Forbury Gardens and is one of only two abbey buildings that have survived intact, the other being the Hospitium of St John the Baptist. It is a grade I listed building, and includes a porters lodge on the ground floor and a large open room above the gate.

Thomas Blagrave was Acting Master of the Revels (1573–79) and Surveyor of the Queen's Works (1578–90) under Queen Elizabeth I of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blessed Hugh Faringdon Catholic School</span> School in Reading, Berkshire, England

Blessed Hugh Faringdon is a Catholic state secondary school in Reading in Berkshire, England. The school has approximately 850 pupils on roll and around 100 teaching and non teaching staff. The school specialises in Mathematics and the Performing Arts. Blessed Hugh Faringdon is one of the many Catholic schools in and around Reading but the only secondary and is under the Trusteeship of the Diocese of Portsmouth. The school is a member of the Partners in Excellence group of schools.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of Reading, Berkshire</span> Timeline of notable events

The following is a timeline of the history of Reading, the county town of Berkshire in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culham Court, Berkshire</span> House in Berkshire, England

Culham Court is a Grade II* listed house at Remenham in the English county of Berkshire.

References

  1. 1 2 Tyack, Geoffrey; Bradley, Simon; Pevsner, Nikolaus; Brindle, Steven (2010). Berkshire (New, rev. ed.). New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press. p. 425. ISBN   9780300126624.
  2. 1 2 Ford, David Nash. "RBH: History of Bere Court, Pangbourne, Berkshire". berkshirehistory.com. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
  3. ↑ Wainewright, John. "Blessed Hugh Faringdon." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910.
  4. ↑ Ford, David Nash. "RBH Biography: Sir John Davis Senior (1560-1625)". berkshirehistory.com.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.