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Coordinates: 51°22′58″N 1°09′01″W / 51.3827°N 1.1502°W
| Aldermaston | |
 Viewing Aldermaston's main street from the south. The top photograph was taken in c.1959, and the bottom photograph in 2006 |
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  Aldermaston
Aldermaston shown within Berkshire |
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| Population | 927 (Civil Parish, 2001) |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | |
| - London | 45 miles (72 km) |
| Parish | Aldermaston |
| Unitary authority | West Berkshire |
| Ceremonial county | Berkshire |
| Region | South East |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | READING |
| Postcode district | RG7 |
| Dialling code | 0118 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Royal Berkshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | Newbury |
| List of places: UK • England • Berkshire | |
Aldermaston is a rural village and civil parish in Berkshire, South East England, with a population of 927. Located 45 miles (72 km) west of London, the village is sited on the southern edge of the River Kennet flood plain, near the Hampshire border. It is located equidistant from Newbury, Basingstoke and Reading. In 2006, the village won Calor's Berkshire Village of the Year.[1]
The parish is home to the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), which designs and maintains Britain's nuclear deterrent. Built on the site of the former RAF Aldermaston, the plant was for four decades, on and off, focus of the Aldermaston Marches. The development of the nuclear plant has barely affected Aldermaston itself, which, apart from increased traffic, has remained a small country village.
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The village of Aldermaston derives its name from "Aeldremanestone", the Old English for "Ealdorman's Homestead".[2] The Ealdorman – or Alderman – was a person of extreme importance, equating to the modern-day Lord-Lieutenant of the County. Although his country estate was in Aldermaston, he would have spent most of the time in the original county town of Wallingford.[3] The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that the first known Ealdorman of Berkshire, Aethelwulf, fought the Danes with Ethelred of Wessex at nearby Englefield in 871.
Prior to the Norman Conquest in 1066, the land and properties of Aldermaston had formed part of the estates of England's foremost magnate, Harold Godwinson, the Earl of Wessex – who would later become King Harold II of England.
In the Domesday Survey of 1086, the Aldermaston estate included a mill, worth twenty shillings, and two fisheries, worth five shillings, and was held by William the Conqueror.[2] William and his army are believed to have camped on the estate on their way north from their victory at Hastings to cross the River Thames at Wallingford before advancing on London. During the remainder of the reign of William, and later his son William Rufus, Aldermaston was owned by the Crown. There is no evidence of there being a large house at that time.
The history of the Lords of the Manor of Aldermaston can be traced to Achard D'Aldermaston, who was born in 1036.[4]
Achard D'Aldermaston's successor, Robert FitzArchard (1070-1161[4]) was granted the estate in 1100 by Henry I of England. FitzAchard was a distinguished Norman soldier whose son built the north transept in the parish church. According to the Pipe Rolls of 1168, the name had become Aldermannestun. The Achard family hosted Henry III at the manor in 1227,[3] but later gave the parish church away to Monk Sherborne Priory in Hampshire; the family are all buried at their secondary manor of Sparsholt.[3] The estate remained in the family for over 250 years until Peter Achard died in 1361 without a male heir, when the estate was inherited by Thomas de la Mare, Achard's son-in-law.[4]
In 1490, Sir Thomas died. John, his son, had died before his father, so his daughter Elizabeth inherited the estate. She married Sir George Forster, son of Sir Humphrey Forster. St Mary's Church contains their alabaster effigial monument, built in 1530. Part of George's effigy was damaged when part of the church's roof collapsed; his face remained undamaged.[5] The Hind's Head Inn gets its name from the Forster family crest,[5] which may also be seen in the parish church. The family's name was adopted for one of the farms in the village.[6]
Elizabeth I visited Aldermaston twice, in 1566 and 1592. The fifth Forster – also called Sir Humphrey – and his wife Anne built the mansion, known as Aldermaston House, in 1636.[3] Aldermaston saw a lot of activity during the English Civil War. In 1643, after the First Battle of Newbury, Robert Devereux's Roundheads were attacked by Prince Rupert of the Rhine in Padworth Lane. The road is now known as Red Lane, having taken its name from the bloodshed.[7]
The following year, Parliamentary troops camped in the park while defending the River Kennet due to Forster's Royalist sympathies.[3] After the war, all the estates were sequestered because of these affiliations, and were not returned until 1660.[3]
In 1752 the Forster male line died out and the estate passed by marriage to the Congreve family. Many changes to their estate occurred during the family's ownership. The lake by the house was created by damming the stream. The wrought-iron Eagle Gates, at the north-east of the estate, were won at a game of cards and moved to their present location from Midgham.[5] In order to install them, the estate's north-east lodge (a dower house[7]) was dissected (removing the 60 square metres (650 sq ft) centre section). On 13 January 1843, a serious fire destroyed more than a third of the manor house.[2] William Congreve never recovered from the fire and died the same year.[8] The Congreve name is retained in the name of a cul-de-sac in the village.[9]
During the Congreves' ownership of the manor, the River Kennet (along the north side of the estate) was made navigable between Reading and Newbury.[10]
In 1830, the Swing Rioters marched across Aldermaston, wrecking twenty-three agricultural machines. Workers were so frightened by the riots that they left their machinery in the open in an attempt to limit additional damage.[3]
The property passed into the Court of Chancery, eventually being purchased in 1849 by Daniel Higford Davall Burr.[2] Philip Hardwick was commissioned to build a new manor house in a Neoclassical style. Aldermaston Court was built using as much of the old material as possible that had been saved from the fire. Burr died in 1885 and the estate passed to his son, who only lived there for a few years before putting it up for sale.
In 1893, the estate was bought for £160,000 by Charles Edward Keyser, a stockbroker.[2][11] Keyser had previously established a successful career in the City of London, having gained a Master's Degree in Law at Cambridge University. His accumulated wealth allowed him to specialise in his chosen area, and became a distinguished figure in English Church Architecture – specialising in mediæval churches.[12]
Keyser's attention was drawn to Aldermaston by his sister Agnes, who said that the court reminded her of her stay at Sandringham House. Keyser seized the opportunity to buy the estate when it was put up for sale at the Hind's Head.[12]
Keyser was obsessed with the idea of keeping the village unchanged, which in his definition meant "unspoilt". He forbade advertisements, opposed all modernisation and refused to allow any expansion by the building of houses. He did, however, commission the building of a parish hall and provided the village with a water supply.[2]
On his death in 1929, estate duties were high. Keyser's estate was valued at £770,000, resulting in a death duty of £150,000. The income from the estate would not have equalled the cost to maintain its day-to-day running.[11] After the death of Keyser's wife in 1938, their son – Charles Norman Keyser – had no interest in the estate and moved to Adderbury near Banbury.[11] He sold whole estate to a syndicate, Messrs Cribble, Booth and Shepherd, for £100,000.[11]. The syndicate auctioned the estate off in separate lots at Reading Town Hall, beginning on 20 September 1939.[11] Many of the lots were bought by their occupants. The house and its immediate grounds were bought by Associated Electrical Industries (AEI) for £16,000.[11]
After AEI's purchase of the manor, it was requisitioned by the government. The extensive parkland was also sold, but very soon afterwards was chosen by the government as a site for an airfield, RAF Aldermaston.[11] After the war, Aldermaston Court was acquired by BOAC, who operated it as a pilot training academy and – from 1947 to 1950 – a civilian airport. Air use subsequently transferred to Blackbushe and Luton Airports.[11] In 1949, the Ministry of Supply outlined plans to base the AWRE at RAF Aldermaston; the site was purchased by the Ministry of Works in 1950.[11] Towards the end of the 1960s (reported dates vary[13]), Collier MacMillan Schools took over the manor house. With expenses proving too high, the company reluctantly sold the estate. The 137-acre (55 ha) estate was bought in 1983 by Blue Circle, who restored the Manor House and gardens by the end of the 1980s. Since 1997, part of the estate has been leased from its private owner by Compass Group, who operate the Manor House as a hotel. The remainder is now leased by AWE.
Over 100 men from Aldermaston served in The Great War, 22 of which were killed – the highest percentage of town population in the country.[7] The west wall of the village church features an oak tablet that bears the names of all the men who were killed. The cost was defrayed by Charles Keyser.[7]
Maria Hale was born in 1791,[14] and lived in Park Cottage on the edge of the court's parkland.[3] It was rumoured that she was a witch,[2] and would turn herself into a hare and sit outside the Falcon pub in Tadley to learn gossip. The hare was shot in the leg by the gamekeeper, and Hale reportedly had a limp thereafter. Other rumours suggest that she cursed villagers' gardens when they refused her request for flowers, and that she bestowed illness upon her son when he left home for Windsor so that he would return.[3]
The United Kingdom Census 1871 listed Hale as living in Mortimer.[14] However, the census divided the county into subdivisions – Aldermaston being within the Mortimer division.[15]
When she died in 1879, she was buried by a yew tree in the churchyard at St Mary's Church. The coffin was supposedly weighed down with stones and bricks, and the gravediggers jumped on the grave to ensure that she would never rise.[3] It became tradition for villagers to place extra stones on her grave for years after her death.[16] It is rumoured that placing a pin in the church door and running around the church three times will summon her ghost.[3][16]
Aldermaston is a civil parish with an elected parish council. It falls within the area of the unitary authority of West Berkshire. Both the parish council and the unitary authority are responsible for different aspects of local government.
The 2001 United Kingdom Census shows that the parish had a population of 927. In 2005, 30% of all parish residents lived in the village:[17]
| Location | Percentage of residents |
|---|---|
| Aldermaston Village | 30% |
| Aldermaston Wharf | 10% |
| Falcon Fields | 10% |
| Ravenswing/Pinelands | 30% |
| Raghill and other outlying areas | 20% |
Falcon Fields is a housing development on the southern border of the parish, completed in the early 2000s. Ravenswing and Pinelands are mobile home parks near the Hampshire border.[18][19]
The average age of residents in the parish is approximately 50. The average age of residents of Aldermaston Wharf is 30.7, and in the mobile home parks the average age is 53.9.[17]
In the 2005 parish survey, 53.3% of residents were female.[17] This is in contrast to the 2001 census data, which showed that 49.8% were female.[20]
In 2005, 3% of the parish population were unemployed and 25% were retired. The retirement figure increased in the Pinelands and Ravenswing areas, with a statistic of 42%.[17] Residents' places of work are primarily in the surrounding towns, with their location in the parish largely dictating where to look for work – the 2005 survey identified that residents in the south of the parish (Falcon Fields and Ravenswing/Pinelands) travel towards Tadley and Basingstoke whereas those further north in the parish tend to find work in Reading, Newbury and London.[17]
Aldermaston is located in West Berkshire, approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) from the Hampshire border. The village is located 1 mile (1.6 km) south of the A4 road that links the parish to Newbury (to the west) and Reading (to the east). The main street of Aldermaston, The Street, is formed by the A340 road and links the village to Pangbourne (north-east) and Basingstoke (south). Ermin Street, the roman road connecting Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester) to Glevum (Gloucester) via Corinium Dobunnorum (Cirencester) ran to the south of the village, though none of the road survives in the area.[21]
At the southern end of The Street is a small triangular village green known as The Loosey. The Loosey is the location of a Roman well, discovered in 1940 by a cow that almost fell down it.[13] The Loosey was previously home to the village maypole (which was routinely climbed by Daniel Burr's monkey) and a drinking fountain erected by Charles Keyser to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. Although no longer in use, the drinking fountain remains intact on the Loosey.
The parish of Aldermaston forms a trinity with the local parishes of Wasing and Brimpton. The three parishes are covered by the monthly Parish Magazine, featuring stories from churches, organisations, schools, businesses and various miscellany.[22] Other nearby settlements include Tadley, Mortimer and Silchester.
Sections of Grim's Bank lie within the parish. Part of the earthwork in the AWE complex survives at a height of 3.3 metres (11 ft) and with a ditch 0.9 metres (3.0 ft) deep.[23]
The landscape of Aldermaston is influenced by Paices Hill and Rag Hill – extremities of the chalk formation the North Wessex Downs. The gradient of the land rises gently to the south of the village (to a height of roughly 100 metres), and the northern end of The Street effectively marks the foot of the hill (at 58 meters AMSL).
The geology and location of Aldermaston has proved consequential on two occasions.
In July 1989, thunderstorms and torrential rain deposited 6 inches (150 mm) of rain on the village in two hours. The balancing ponds at the Atomic Weapons Establishment were unable to cope with the rainfall and five feet of water broke through a brick wall, flooding the village. The destroyed wall was rebuilt with 17 grilles to avoid another build-up of water.[7]
In July 2007, torrential rain flooded the village and local primary school, with the event making national news.[24] The storm coincided with the annual Glade music festival, and jeopardised the event.[25] The festival gates were temporarily closed while organisers assessed the flooding, which submerged one of the stages.[26] The festival's car park was incapacitated, with thousands of revellers stranded in the village and surrounding lanes.[27]
The floods also hit the Church of England primary school, with the Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service evacuating pupils and staff from within the school in life rafts.[28][29] The evacuation used four rafts, rescuing pupils and teachers from the school through windows.[30] The 165 people (140 pupils and 25 members of staff) were taken uphill to the parish hall, where blankets and sleeping bags had been provided.[30]
Ian Henderson, a police constable at Thames Valley Police stated that the emergency services "have been really stretched because of what's happened over the county and the Glade event" and that "the whole junction is two or three foot under water, a lot of householders are going to be homeless."[30]
There have been numerous farms in Aldermaston parish. The two remaining farms, Church Farm and Forster's Farm, are both within the village.
In the late 1760s, a schoolmaster living in the village cultivated the Williams pear. Various sources cite the schoolmaster as a Mr Stair or Mr Wheeler, but the pear (a cultivar of the European Pear) was named after Richard Williams who grew several grafts of the original tree. A commemorative plaque is visible on the wall of the Cedars school.
Old Village Farm (on Fishermans Lane) is now the location of a sawmill, used since the 1930s to prepare local willow for the production of cricket bats.[17] 70 trees are felled annually for this purpose, with approximately 1000 trees growing at any given time.[31] The wood yard was featured on A Question of Sport, when cricketer Graham Gooch took part in the programme's "Mystery Guest" round.[7] Gooch continued to endorse the bats, which were sold by Surridge. When he scored 333 runs against India at Lord's in the 1990 test season, the Turbo 333 bat was launched in his honour.[7][32]
In 1955, the world-famous Aldermaston Pottery was established on the main street[33] by studio potters Alan Caiger-Smith and Geoffrey Eastop.[33] The pottery was renowned for tin-glazed and porcelain wares,[33] and closed in 2006.[34] It had previously closed as a result of the early 1990s recession.[7]
The local pub is named The Hind's Head in honour of the Forster family crest. Built in the 17th century and originally operating as a coaching inn,[5] the establishment has previously been named The Congreve Arms and The Pack Horse.[2]
The building has a large black and gold clock set into the gable, and a small bellturret upon which is a gilt fox-shaped weather vane.[5][35] In the early 19th century, the pub's signboard carried the Congreve arms, as well as branding for a company named "Adams". In the British Parliamentary Papers of 1817, the Committee on the State of the Police in the Metropolis reported evidence of a John Adams – a Reading-based distiller and hop merchant, who competed for business against Simonds' Brewery.[36]
In the mid-1990s the pub was taken over by Gales Brewery (having previously been a free house) upon which it was assumed by Fuller's Brewery on their acquisition of Gales in 2006.[37][38] The pub has its own gaol-house, the lock-up, located to the rear. Last used in 1865, its drunk inhabitant burnt himself to death trying to keep warm.[2][7] The lock-up was designated as a Grade II listed building in April 1967.[39] Another pub in the parish, The Butt Inn, is located approximately 1.25 miles (2.01 km) north-east of the village.[40]
The Aldermaston Brewery was established at Aldermaston Wharf in 1770.[41] It was bought by Thomas Strange in 1833. William Jeffreys Strange operated the brewery until 1902, after whom it was managed by John J Strange. In 1910, W.J. Strange & Sons was registered as a limited liability company. The business maintained operations until 1945, when it was bought out by Scrace's Brewery in Southampton and stopped production.[42] The company was acquired by Strong's of Romsey in 1950[43] and the site was demolished.[41] In 1995, the site of the brewery was built upon in the expansion of Aldermaston Wharf.[17]
A number of small businesses are based in the village, and include a hairdressing salon, a software development company and the village shop.[44] In the 1970s, the hairdressers was a music shop, which was opened by Terry Wogan.[7]
Two business parks are located within the parish – Calleva Business Park (on the Berkshire/Hampshire border)[45] and Youngs Industrial Estate (on Paices Hill).[46] The latter opened in the early 1980s, and is the location of Paices Wood Country Parkland, an English Nature-sponsored wildlife project.[47]
In 2007, Aldermaston won the Business Category Award in the regional final of the Calor Village of the Year competition. The judges stated that the village "has a very successful business community" and that "local businesses are well-supported by villagers and in return these businesses support village activities".[48] In addition to the business award, the village was announced as the Overall Winner of the Calor "Berkshire Village of the Year" competition in 2006, as well as category winners in the "Building Community Life", "Business", "Young People" and "ICT" categories.[49][50][51]
The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) is located less than 1 mile (1.6 km) south of the village. In April 1958, the first Aldermaston March was held.[52] The march saw around 3,000 protesters march from London to Aldermaston over four days, with a total attendance of 12,000 at the establishment's gates.[52] The 50th anniversary of the event was marked on 24 March 2008 with the "Bomb Stops Here" protest, attended by Vivienne Westwood and CND president Walter Wolfgang.[53][54] The 2008 demonstration was the biggest protest staged by CND in ten years.[55]
Aldermaston parish is home to various sites owned by Lafarge Aggregates. In 1974, the village won an appeal against Pioneer Concrete's application for gravel extraction near the village.[7] Similar events took place in March 2003 when hundreds of local residents protested against an application of gravel extraction by Lafarge.[7] Larfarge's initial appeal, in April 2003, was turned down by West Berkshire Council. A further application to extract aggregate at the Wasing Estate is due to be decided in 2010.[56]
Aldermaston railway station is located in Aldermaston Wharf,[57] 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from the village itself. Managed by National Rail,[57] the station serves First Great Western services between Reading, Newbury and Bedwyn. The nearest stations to Aldermaston station are Midgham to the west and Theale to the east. Journey times approximate 17 minutes to either Reading or Newbury.
The village is located on the A340 road, and has nearby access to the A4 road and the M4 motorway.
Aldermaston is served by Newbury Buses route 104, with services terminating in Newbury, Calcot and Reading.[58]
The nearest operating airstrip, Brimpton Airfield, is located less than 1 mile (1.6 km) west of the village, within AWE's restricted airspace.[59] RAF Aldermaston ceased to operate as a civilian airport in 1950.[11]
Aldermaston village is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south east of the Reading Marine Company's headquarters on the Kennet and Avon Canal.[60] The canal provides links to London (via the Thames) and Bristol (via the River Avon).[61]
Aldermaston is the site of two primary schools. Aldermaston Primary School is a state-run Church of England school located in Wasing Lane and has approximately 150 pupils enrolled.[62] The school was established in 1830 and originally located in Church Road, moving to the present location in 1988.[63] The school uses the names of the manor's squires in their house system.[63]
The Cedars opened in the 1990s and is a private school located in the buildings formerly occupied by the Church of England school. The school has approximately 40 pupils enrolled.[64]
Every three years, the village holds a candle auction. The auction, which sees a horseshoe nail driven through a tallow candle an inch below the wick, is held in the parish hall.[2] The lot is the three-year lease of Church Acre,[3] a plot 2 acres (0.81 ha) in area that was granted to the church after the Inclosures Act.[5] The proceedings are overseen by the vicar and churchwardens, who smoke clay pipes and drink rum punch throughout the auction.[2][5]
Since 1957 there has been an annual performance of the York Nativity Play from the 15th century 15th-century York Mystery Cycle. The performances are at the Church of St Mary the Virgin in early December. The performers are local people and many have appeared in the play for many years.[65]
Aldermaston was the original location of the The Glade festival. The 2007 event was jeopardised by torrential rains and flooding but cautiously went ahead.[66] Since 2009, the festival has been held near Winchester.[67][68]
The village has its own amateur dramatics society, The Aldermaston Players, who since 1966 have staged annual fundraising events in the Village Hall since 1966.[69]
Aldermaston is home to a number of sports teams. The village cricket team, Aldermaston Village CC, play at nearby Wasing Park.[70] Aldermaston RFC and A.F.C. Aldermaston both play their home games at the Recreational Society at AWE.[71] Tadley RFC is located within the parish,[72] approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from the village.
The cricket club originally played at a pitch at Aldermaston Court, which was lost when the airfield was established. Sir William Mount, 1st Baronet allowed a portion of the Wasing estate to be used for cricket. The original football club played adjacent to the cricket pitch. The club's strip was sponsored by Mr G L Heighton – the proprietor of the village shop.[7]
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