Part 6

Much of the stone used in Berkshire is of local origin, as has already been mentioned in Chapter 12, but a great deal has also been brought from a distance. Thus it is recorded that when the Abbot of Abingdon in 1100 rebuilt the conventual buildings as well as much of the abbey church, the materials were brought from Wales, six waggons, each drawn by twelve oxen, being engaged in the work. A great deal of Bath stone will be found in Berkshire buildings and some has even been brought from Caen in Normandy. Pillars and tombstones of Purbeck marble are common in the churches. In the south wall of the Dean's Cloisters at Windsor (temp. Henry III) there are clusters of columns and one column in each is of Purbeck marble.

The tower of the church at Wickham, north-west of Newbury, is of a very early style of architecture, showing a variety of "long and short" work. Two of the belfry windows are double with a pillar in the middle, and are characteristic of this early work. The walls are very thick. The remainder of the church has been rebuilt.

On pages 96 and 97 there are views of Norman doorways at Faringdon, both round-headed and one with an embattled moulding over the door. The church at Avington on the banks of the river Kennet a little below Hungerford is a good example of the Norman style of architecture, and there is a most interesting little church at Finchampstead near Wokingham of which a view is given on page 98. It was built in the twelfth century and the east end of the chancel is round, as was usual at that time. The original windows were probably very small, and those which we now see were cut in the wall since Norman times. The north aisle, too, is newer than the body of the church, and the brick tower only dates from the seventeenth century. In the church there is a Norman font. There is more or less Norman work remaining in many of our other churches. Thus the illustration on page 92 gives a view of the church of St Nicholas at Abingdon, and a round-headed Norman doorway will be seen under the tower, whilst the remainder of the building belongs to a later style of architecture, probably of the fifteenth century. The tower of West Shefford church is curious, the lower part is round and of Norman date, whilst the upper part is octagonal and was built subsequently.

Passing now to the Early English style of architecture there is on page 99 a view of Faringdon Church, which it will be seen is built in the form of a cross with a massive square tower in the middle. Some of the arches inside the church are round-headed like Norman arches, but the windows are of the long narrow shape usual in the Early English style of building. We have churches built mainly in this style in many places, such as Ardington, Buckland, and Uffington.

Of the Decorated style there is a most beautiful church at Shottesbrook near White Waltham, which was built by Sir William Tressel in 1337. It is cruciform with a tall spire. The walls are of small dressed flints, with corners and window and door frames of stone. The roof is tiled and the spire of stone, the east end window large with beautiful stone tracery (p. 158), and the church is an unusually good example of the Decorated style. The Greyfriars Church at Reading was also built in the Decorated style. It was long a ruin or used for various purposes, but is now restored. We also have churches mainly in this style of architecture at Sparsholt, Warfield, and at other places.

We have many examples of Perpendicular style in Berkshire, but by far the best is the Chapel of St George in Windsor Castle (pp. 69, 71). The greater part of this chapel was built in the time of Edward IV. The windows are large and the nave consequently very light. The stone roof of the nave was added by Henry VII, and that of the choir by Henry VIII. In the choir are the stalls of the Knights of the Garter, and installation ceremonies of the Order are performed here. St Helen's Church, Abingdon, is our best Berkshire parish church in the Perpendicular style (the tower is Early English). It is large, with five aisles, as will be seen in the illustration here given. The church at Bray is chiefly celebrated on account of a vicar, one Simon Aleyn, who died in 1588 after holding the living under Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth and altering his views as occasion required. The church is however of itself interesting, and in it will be found examples of Early English, Decorated, and Perpendicular work. The tower belongs to the latest of these styles and is but badly joined on to the aisle of Edwardian date. It is mostly built of flints, but a broad band of chalk will be noticed about half-way up (p. 149). There is a good example of a church in this style at Newbury.

Brick church towers are a feature of eastern Berkshire and many of them date from the seventeenth century. One of these, at Finchampstead, is shown in the illustration on page 98.

There are crosses or their remains in many of the churchyards and villages. At Ardington there is both a new cross and the shaft of an old one. There are crosses at Denchworth, Goosey, East Hagbourne, Inglesham, North or Ferry Hinksey, Steventon, etc.

At Harwell the rood-screen still remains; there are interesting lead fonts at Childrey and at Long Wittenham; and stands for hour-glasses still exist in the churches at Binfield, Hurst, and Inglesham.

In former times it was very common to keep books in the churches fastened to the shelf or reading-desk by chains, and a few of them still remain. There are several in St Helen's Church, Abingdon. A chained Bible of 1611 is in Cumnor church, and until recently there were several at Denchworth, but they have been removed to the vicarage, and Caxton's Golden Legend of 1483 which used to be chained in Denchworth Church is now in the Bodleian Library.

18. ARCHITECTURE--(B) RELIGIOUS HOUSES.

In the year A.D. 528 Benedict of Nursia drew up his celebrated rules at Monte Cassino in Italy, and founded the order of the Benedictine or Black Monks. The order rapidly spread over Europe and was established in Berkshire at an early period. The great Abbey of Abingdon dates from the days of the Saxon Kings, and at the time of Domesday survey it possessed 30 manors in Berkshire besides lands in other counties, and it continued to grow in wealth and power until its dissolution by Henry VIII. The great church of the abbey has been destroyed, but there are some interesting remains of the abbey buildings which, after having been put to varied uses, are now in the hands of the Corporation and carefully preserved. The illustration given on page 74 shows the south side of what appears to have been a dormitory divided by partitions.

In 1121 Henry I founded a second great Benedictine abbey in Berkshire at Reading, probably upon the site of an older monastic dwelling. Cluny had been founded in 910 as an order with a reformed Benedictine rule, and Reading was founded as an abbey of that order. Its connection with Cluny did not, however, last long, and early in the thirteenth century the abbey seems to have become attached to the general Benedictine order. Reading became one of the greatest of English abbeys. Its abbot, like the Abbot of Abingdon, was entitled to wear the mitre and was summoned with the other spiritual peers to attend parliament.

Both Reading and Abingdon were dissolved by Henry VIII, and on November 14th, 1539, Hugh Faringdon, the 31st abbot of Reading, was hanged, drawn, and quartered within sight of his own gateway. The last abbot of Abingdon had made himself more agreeable to the king, and was granted the manor of Cumnor for life, and a pension as well.

The stone from Reading Abbey was much used for buildings in Reading and the neighbourhood, and in 1556, during the reign of Philip and Mary, a great deal was removed from the abbey and taken by river to Windsor for building the Poor Knights' Lodgings. The inner gateway of the abbey is still standing but has been partially rebuilt in modern times. There are also some remains of the abbey buildings probably belonging to the Hospice of St John.

In the time of William the Conqueror (about 1086) Geoffrey de Mandeville gave the church of St Mary at Hurley, together with certain lands, for a cell of Benedictine monks to be subject to the Abbey of Westminster, and the remains of the priory thus founded are exceedingly beautiful and of much interest. The chapel, built in the Norman style of architecture, is now the parish church of Hurley. The illustration above shows the refectory or dining hall of the priory. The lower part is in the Norman style and the upper part of Edwardian date. On the opposite side of this building is the river Thames.

There was a priory of the Benedictines at Wallingford, and a Benedictine nunnery at Bromhall in the parish of Sunninghill, but there are now no remains of either.

The only establishment connected with the great order of the Cistercians in the county was a small cell at Faringdon and a grange or barn at Great Coxwell, both belonging to the Abbey of Beaulieu in Hampshire. The fine abbey barn, dating from the fourteenth century, still remains.

The Austin Canons, an order founded at Avignon about 1061, had priories at Bisham, Poughley, and Sandleford. After the dissolution of the monasteries Bisham Abbey became the seat of the Hoby family. It is beautifully situated on the Thames. Poughley Priory was situated in the chalk district one and a half miles south of Chaddleworth, and there are remains of the buildings at a farm. Sandleford Priory is about the same distance south of Newbury, and some remains are incorporated in the modern house which was built after plans by Wyatt in 1781 for Elizabeth Montague (1720-1800) the leader of the Blue-stockings.

We have already mentioned Bisham as an abbey of the Austin Canons, founded in 1338, but it had previously been a preceptory of the Knights Templars. That great military order was however suppressed in the time of Edward II and the preceptory dissolved (cir. 1312). The Templars also had a preceptory at Brimpton which passed into the possession of the other great military order of monks, the Knights Hospitallers. Their chapel, which stands close to Brimpton Manor, still remains and is an interesting building. Shalford farm, a little to the east, was also the property of the Hospitallers. The order was suppressed in England in 1540, and was only temporarily revived under Queen Mary.

There were priories in the county belonging to foreign abbeys and hence termed Alien Priories--one at Steventon belonging to the Abbey of Bec in Normandy, and the other known as Stratfieldsaye, but in Berkshire, belonging to the Abbey of Vallemont, also in Normandy. Both were abolished in the time of Edward III and there are no remains of buildings. A farm named the Priory near Beech Hill occupies the place of the latter, which was on the site of an old hermitage.

There were colleges at Shottesbrook, Windsor, and Wallingford. They were houses of priests who performed divine service in the churches attached to the colleges. We have already mentioned Shottesbrook. There is a very curious alabaster monument to William Throckmorton, one of the later Wardens of the college, in the chancel of the church representing him lying in his coffin.

Besides these religious houses there were houses of Friars at Reading and Donnington, and a number of Hospitals in the county.

19. ARCHITECTURE--(C) MILITARY.

Attention has already been drawn to the earliest fortifications in the county. They were banks of earth and had probably wooden palisades. In Norman times fortified residences became common and were usually of stone. The history of a Norman castle was probably often as follows. In the first place a tower called a "keep" was built and was protected by a moat and probably by some earthworks. Then at a later date the earthworks were replaced by walls, which usually enclosed a larger space than the older fortification. The walls were usually strengthened by towers, but the keep still remained the citadel of the fortress.

We know that William the Conqueror built a castle on the chalk hill at Windsor before the year 1086, but we know nothing of its plan or form, for no part of the present castle can be dated before the reign of Henry II, and even of that time there are only the foundations and part of the lower story on the south side of the Upper Ward. The imposing western wall of the Lower Ward, with its three towers, belongs to the time of Henry III. The Round Tower on its high mound is the keep of the castle, and much of it is as old as the time of Henry III. The top part, however, is modern. Close to the Round Tower is an old Norman gate which was rebuilt by Henry III and again by Edward III. The gateway could be closed by doors and also by a portcullis or grille let down from above, and the portcullis is still in its place ready to be lowered.

The view of Windsor Castle given on p. 2 is taken from the Buckinghamshire bank of the river Thames and shows the north side of the castle. On the left are the buildings which contain the state apartments; in the centre is the Round Tower. To the right we see St George's Chapel with its great west end window, and still further to the right is the Clewer or Curfew Tower with the pointed roof. The main part of this tower dates from Henry III, and it has been used as a bell tower since the time of Edward III. The pointed roof is modern. St George's Hall (p. 78) is in the part of Windsor Castle known as the State Apartments, and in it the feasts of the Knights of the Garter are held. It is an old hall, but was much altered by Sir Jeffry Wyatville, the architect employed by George IV to repair the castle. There was nearly always a well in the keep of a Norman castle, and this was the case at Windsor, the well in the Round Tower being 160 feet deep.

There is a great rectangular earthwork at Wallingford which may go back to Roman or early British times, but in any case it was adopted by the Normans and a castle was built on the site. The mound on which the keep was built still exists, but little else of these buildings survives.

No remains of the castle at Newbury exist. It stood on the south bank of the river Kennet and was built about 1140. The mound upon which the keep stood is all that we have left of the castle of the St Walerys at Hinton Waldrist, and a moated enclosure by the side of the river Loddon is all that remains to mark the site of the castle named Beaumyss, built by one of the De la Beche family in 1338.

Of Donnington Castle near Newbury we have the remains of some walls and a gateway with two round towers. The walls are mainly flint with some stones of various sorts intermingled. There are stone courses and stone door and window frames. Repairs have been made with brick. The castle was built in the time of Richard II. It stands upon a hill or spur which runs out in a southerly direction from the plateau named Snelsmore Common, and it overlooks the valley of Newbury. On the west and south there is a steep slope down towards the river Lambourn, and on the east is a deep valley in the chalk. On the north the slope up to the Common is gradual, and so the position is a very strong one. Donnington Castle played an important part in the Civil War of 1642-9, and underwent a long siege in 1644-6.

In former times dwelling places, even though not fortified, were at least protected by a moat. The interesting old manor house of Ashbury is still moated on three sides, and the old moat remains in a more or less perfect state round many a farm in the county.

20. ARCHITECTURE--(D) DOMESTIC.

The churches of the eleventh and succeeding centuries which remain are well adapted for their use now, but this cannot be said of the dwelling-houses of Norman or Edwardian landowners, and this is one reason why we have but few left in anything like perfect condition. The residence of the chief landowners of the twelfth century, when not a castle, consisted of a hall, usually on the ground floor, but sometimes with a lower story half below the surface level, and the hall was not only a reception and dining room, but was also the sleeping place for the greater number of the persons living in the house. In many cases there were, no doubt, subsidiary chambers, which might serve as more or less private apartments for the landowner himself, and as time went on the number of the subsidiary chambers increased and the importance of the hall diminished, but it impressed itself so firmly on the popular mind that the word still remains in use for the house of the landowner, which is often spoken of as "the Hall."

There is a doorway belonging to a hall of the Norman period at Appleton in the northern part of the county, and we have already noticed some remains of the residential buildings of the monks of Abingdon, belonging to the thirteenth century. At Charney, about seven miles to the west of Abingdon, there are some interesting remains of a building which was occasionally the residence of the Abbots. The private chapel and much of the house are still standing. These buildings, known as the "Monks House," date from the thirteenth century and are incorporated in a modern house.

There are two old houses at Sutton Courtney south of Abingdon. The one is opposite the tower of the church, and is of Norman and Early English style, the second is a manor house of the time of Edward III, the hall of which, with its roof and windows, has been very little altered. Cumnor Hall has vanished, excepting a fragment of wall, but some of the windows and a doorway are still to be seen in Wytham Church.

It has been mentioned that one reason why few old dwelling-houses remain is that they would not be suited to modern requirements, but another reason is that they were often built of wood. In the fifteenth century buildings of timber and brick became common, and some of them remain at the present day. Ockwells, rather more than a mile south-west of Maidenhead station, was probably built in the time of Edward IV. It was for some time the residence of the Norris family (see page 138). The house was not fortified, and is of timber and brick with a tiled roof. One may gain a good idea of the appearance of the dwellings of our ancestors in Tudor times from the Horseshoe Cloisters in Windsor Castle, though they were practically rebuilt recently by Sir Gilbert Scott. Timber and brick farmhouses and cottages may be seen all over the county, belonging to all dates from the Tudor times to the present day.

Many of the most beautiful private houses in England were built during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and we have some examples in Berkshire. Shaw House, about a mile north-east of Newbury, was built in 1581. It is of red brick, with tall brick chimneys and a tiled roof. The corners of the house and the window and door frames are of stone, and in fact there is a good deal of stone. The house was occupied by Charles I on the day of the second battle of Newbury, October 27th, 1644, and the remains of earthworks thrown up by his troops are still to be seen in the garden. Billingbear, near Binfield, is an Elizabethan house standing in a large and beautiful park.

Ufton Court, near Aldermaston, was built in the latter part of the sixteenth century. Farmhouses of the same period are to be seen at Lyford, west of Abingdon, East Hendred, Great Coxwell and at other places.

Secret rooms are often to be found in old houses. There is an example at Bisham Abbey, with a fireplace, the chimney of which is said to be connected with that of the hall, so as to prevent its smoke being observed. At Ufton Court there are several hiding-places, one of which has an exit to the open air. It is said that Charles I passed the night of November 19th, 1644, in a secret room at the manor house, West Shefford.

In 1852 some houses which stood on the site of the former ditch of Windsor Castle were removed, and a passage was found cut through the chalk, with stone steps and stone arching. It had probably been a secret way from the interior of the Castle to the moat.

We have many buildings in Berkshire belonging to the seventeenth century. Coleshill House, south-west of Faringdon, was built by the celebrated architect Inigo Jones (1572-1652) at the time of the Commonwealth, and he also built most of Milton House, near Steventon, in which village are some beautiful old houses. Buscot House, in the north-west corner of Berkshire, is an example of the comfortable, though not very beautiful mansions built at the close of the eighteenth century. The residential part of Windsor Castle dates in part from the reign of Henry II, but it has been greatly altered from time to time. Its present appearance is largely due to Sir Jeffry Wyatville (1766-1840), who modified and rebuilt a great deal in the time of George IV. His object was to make the Castle a comfortable residence and at the same time to preserve the appearance of an ancient fortress.

21. COMMUNICATIONS--ANCIENT AND MODERN.

The Ridge Way is one of the oldest roads in England. It enters Berkshire on the chalk downs above Ashbury at a level of 600 feet above the sea, and runs in an easterly direction by Wayland Smith's Cave and Uffington Castle; thence by Hackpen Hill to Letcombe Castle, along the top of the ridge north of West and East Ilsley. From here, turning to the right across the little valley on Compton Downs, the road probably reached the river Thames at Streatley. This old road is also known as the Icknield Way, and there is another old road named the Port Way, which follows the valley north of the chalk downs, running through Ashbury and Wantage. It is marked on the maps as a Roman road, and probably both roads were in use in Roman times, though the Ridge Way at least is almost certainly of much older date.

The Roman road from Marlborough to Silchester followed much the same line as the modern road from Hungerford to Speen near Newbury, but there does not seem to be any trace of the road from that place to Silchester. The Roman road from Cirencester to Silchester ran by way of Baydon and Wickham, joining the Marlborough road at Speen. There is but little trace of the Roman road from Silchester to Dorchester in Oxfordshire, but the Silchester and London road is fairly well marked, and part of it, as we said in a former chapter, is known as the "Devil's Highway."

In the middle ages the roads were exceedingly bad, and even in the seventeenth century they were far from satisfactory. Pepys mentions, in his Diary, June 16th, 1668, that he lost his way driving from Newbury to Reading. This, it will be observed, was in the summer, and one would think on a well-known road.

In the eighteenth century the roads were gradually improved, and towards the end of the century began to be kept in good order for the coaches, which were also rapidly improving.

In the early part of the nineteenth century two mail coach routes ran through Berkshire.

The road from London to Gloucester entered Berkshire at Maidenhead and left the county at Henley. After passing through Oxford it again entered Berkshire, and ran by Cumnor and Fyfield to Faringdon. From that place it ran by Buscot Park and crossed the river Isis at St John's Bridge near Lechlade.

The London and Bath mail route ran through the county by Maidenhead, Reading, Newbury, and Hungerford.