VILLAGE & PEOPLE

[back to Main History]

 

Burghild, an Anglo-Saxon princess, possibly gave her name to a small village on the banks of the river Pang. Recorded as 'Borchedeberie' in the Domesday Book, there were several variations in the spelling before Bucklebury became the accepted form in the 18th century.

The earliest recorded reference to Bucklebury seems to be in a charter of 956 AD, by which the Anglo-Saxon King Eadwy (or Edwig) "the fair" (who reigned 955-959) granted wood from Hawkridge forest for use by Abingdon Abbey for the rebuilding of Abingdon Church (in Oxfordshire).

When the Normans arrived, Bucklebury was part of the vast royal hunting ground, and is recorded in the Doomesday Book in some detail, including the Church. Some parts of this 11th century church can still be seen in the present Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin on the same site today. Roman dwellings have been found within the Parish and near the North West boundary there is a bronze age fort.

The village itself remained small as the river frequently overflowed and most of the villagers preferred to build their houses on higher ground, leaving the church of St Mary the Virgin to watch over the few who remained in the valley.

 

 

Early in the 12th century, Henry I ("Beauclerc", who reigned 1100 -1135), granted the Manor of Bucklebury to his new Abbey at nearby Reading and St Mary's Church subsequently became the possession of the Abbey about 1153. The Abbot of Reading had a manor house built in the village. The fishponds, constructed to ensure a fresh supply of fish for his table, remain intact today. A dovecote housed birds to supplement the sparse supply of meat in winter, augmented no doubt by the King's deer. Several small watermills on the local River Pang ground the corn.

The monks must have found Bucklebury a pleasant place in which to rest from the duties of the Abbey - until a plague struck the village, bringing death to man and beast. It is at this time that the Miracles of the Hand of St. James are recorded, the following dated between 1158 and 1165.

'But when it [the plague] was getting a very strong hold and spreading without check, Roger, abbot of Reading, who had taken the hand of the blessed James to the king and had now brought it back with him, came to Bucklebury. And at the request of Peter, dean of Bucklebury, he celebrated mass there in honour of blessed James and after mass, he blessed some water and dipped in it the reliquary containing the sacred hand. And with the apostle's hand held aloft he went out and came to a particular high spot and blessed the area suffering from the awful disaster, and gave instructions for the aforesaid water which had been blessed to be sprinkled on the homes and households. And this was done. On the same day and at that very hour the plague ceased and the cruel pestilence disappeared both among men and beasts.'

It seems possible that the stories of the miracles could explain the origin of the Chapel of St Mary Magdalen, which is known to have stood, long ago, at the top of Chapel Row Hill.

 

 

Additions to the early Norman church included the beautifully carved south doorway in the 12th century. A grandly picturesque medieval muniments chest, apparently carved out of one tree, was brought from Reading Abbey and still remains in the church today. Its iron chamferings and three locks are all operated by one key. In this chest would be kept the church plate, vestments, service books, and documents of value such as the parish records. This fine old oak chest was made for all time and is significant of the thoroughness of the work done by these medieval craftsmen.

Between 1536 and 1540 Henry VIII procured the dissolution of all the monasteries of England. Abbot Hugh, of Reading, would not surrender his abbey to the king, and, after imprisonment in the Tower of London, he was executed outside his own Abbey on 15th November, 1539. The King thereafter sold the Manor of Bucklebury to John Winchcombe, son of the well known local wool merchant Jack o' Newbury. John Winchcombe was rich and influential - serving as a special agent under the orders of Thomas Cromwell, and as a member of Parliament from 1544. He replaced the Abbot's house with a fine Elizabethan mansion but died before it was completed. His son, another John, finished the house in which he is thought to have entertained Queen Elizabeth I.

The Winchcombes left their mark on the church. An oak beam above the chancel records '1591 Francis Winchcom Esquire Build This'. In 1701 Sir Henry Winchcombe extended the chancel and added the manor pew above which can be seen the famous 'fly' window dated 1649. This is a square panel painted with a sundial having in the centre a shield in enamel colours showing the coats of arms of the families of Stephens and Stone, whose descendants married into the Winchcombe family. The sundial and realistic fly (a pictorial substitute for the usual sundial motto) remind us that 'Time flies'. The magnificent portrayal of the crucifixion in the east window, and the nativity window in the north aisle are the work of Sir Frank Brangwyn (1930). It is rare indeed to find a crucified Christ looking up to heaven and not bowed deeply down with pain and utter exhaustion. The most striking features are the vivid colours of the various garments worn by the people gathered at the foot of the cross, and the rough, dramatic, and expressive faces of all those people watching the Christ dying above them. The east window colouring is rich and splendid indeed when the sunlight pours through it.

The latest renovation in this ancient church was the full restoration of the peal of eight bells in February 1984.

Bucklebury acquired notoriety in the early 18th century when Frances Winchcombe, the eldest daughter of Sir Henry, married Henry St John (later Lord Bolingbroke) in 1701. Two years afterwards she inherited the manor and the rising politician and his beautiful wife entertained lavishly. Dean Swift, Alexander Pope, John Gay, John Arbuthnot and, probably, Queen Anne were among their guests. This happy period was shortlived. By 1713 Lord Bolingbroke had deserted his wife and he fled to France in 1715 to escape impeachment. Lady Bolingbroke died, broken hearted, three years afterwards.

Unfortunately the Elizabethan manor house was extensively damaged by fire in 1830 and was later demolished, apart from one wing.

On the Eastern approach road there is the famous avenue of two rows of oaks, the first of which are thought to have been planted when Queen Elizabeth I visited the Lord of the Manor in the 1560's. Others were planted to celebrate the victories of Marlborough, and, a century later, the Battle of Waterloo. In 1972 young trees replaced old when Queen Elizabeth II visited Bucklebury and eight years later Princess Anne planted a tree to commemorate the eightieth birthday of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.

At the end of the avenue stands the Blade Bone Inn so called because its copper sign encases the bladebone of a mammoth found in the Kennet valley in the 17th century.

The Manor and its surrounding farms and hamlets (there are some 17 within the Parish) with its large area of common land prospered over the next centuries. In 1835 at the the time of the Enclosures Act, the parishioners under the leadership of John Morton, a local tenant farmer and lay preacher, defended their commoners' rights at Westminster and preserved the Common for future generations.

Throughout the early 1800s the Chapel Row Revels occurred. This popular fair was held on the first Monday following St Anne's Day (July 26th) and it attracted the champion Backsworders of the day, Blackford of Swindon, Tom Black of Inkpen, Mike Preston of Reading, and, until his untimely death at Waterloo, the gallant Corporal Shaw. These and many other would-be champions went from fair to fair to try their skill at the sport which troubled the Reverend W.H.H. Hartley and other humane persons so much. It was indeed a dangerous past-time. Two contestants would mount the platform, or butt as it was called. Their left arms were strapped to their sides so that they could not ward off the blows from the heavy cudgel wielded by their opponent. When the umpire's call of 'Blood' was heard the excited onlookers would know that a hit on top of a head had been scored, and that the blood was running one inch! A hit on the face was deemed a foul, the top of the head being the fair target. Blackford of Swindon was said to have broken fourteen heads in succession on one occasion. The man who had scored the most hits during the day was acclaimed the winner, and received the coveted purse. Backswording continued for many years before fatalities and public opinion caused it to be banned.

A traditional iron foundry, with its waterwheel on the river Pang, operated in Bucklebury Village for over three hundred years, owned by the same family until 1904. It finally ceased in the 1950's and the last owner is still living in the village.

In 1922, the major part of the Manor was put up for sale and many of the local tenants were able to buy their properties, some of which had been in the hands of their forbears for generations. On the 1st May 1928, the last Court Leet of the Manor of Bucklebury (the ancient Manorial Law Court) was held and the management and control of the Common was placed in the hands of the local Council, as it remains today. In 1935 the family of the present Lord of the Manor, descended on the female side from the original Winchcombes, inherited the Manor. The Tudor dovecote still stands in the courtyard and the ancient fishponds are still stocked.

In 1990 the Hartley Russell family celebrated four hundred and fifty years of continuous ownership of the Bucklebury estates and they continue to play an active part in the Manor. The old manor kitchen at Bucklebury House has been renovated, and now houses family portraits and records, while the open fireplace and spit on which meals were prepared for the guests of Lord and Lady Bolingbroke has been restored to full working order.

In 1992 the family started a new venture in the village. The Bucklebury Farm Park attracts visitors, young and old, to see a variety of farm animals. The highlight of a visit to the Park is a tractor-ride to see the herd of red deer which grazes on the hillside, or to wander along the nature trail through woodland, commonland, over fields, and around the lakeside to watch the dragon flies skim the water and dart between the reeds and wild flowers.

At such times Bucklebury seems changeless, but time marches on and changes have taken place over the last few years. The village Post Office closed in 1990, new houses stand on the site of the old foundry although the River Pang does not change its habits. It can still flood the village unexpectedly after periods of draught.

While Bucklebury has attracted many notable people (including Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader and the composer Dr Robert Still), others can claim long associations with the village as they live in the homes handed down to them by their ancestors, some of whom gave their names to farm and copse, lane and green: Cole's Farm, Wootten's Farm, Bushnell's Green, Carbin's Wood, Fanny's Road, Osgood's Gully and Workhouse Pightle. In the midst of the Common we come to Scotland - the land of a tax or payment, and, at the edge of the parish there is a place called The Forty - a spur of land between two streams, and by tradition the scene of a battle between two bands of warriors, long, long ago. Some places were given names of a higher realm, Paradise, Angel's Corner, Mount Pleasant, signifying that our ancestors found them especially pleasing corners of the Manor.

The parish of Bucklebury-cum-Marlston lies in some of Royal Berkshire's most beautiful wooded countryside. It has an abundance of bridleways and footpaths, some leading to remote thatched cottages built in bygone centuries, often surrounded by Common Land; others were probably used by men trudging to work at the village foundry and manor timber yard, once the two principal places of employment. In those days, parishioners would have grazed horses, cattle, sheep and pigs throughout the Common and in the surrounding hamlets. Farm animals, other than horses, are rarely seen on the Common nowadays, but foxes, badgers, rabbits, hares, deer and abundant bird life are still to be found throughout the woodlands and secluded pathways.

 

With acknowledgments to:
'The New Berkshire Village Book',
Berkshire Federation of Women's Institutes 1985. Published by Countryside Books Newbury, Price £6.95.

'Bucklebury's Heritage',
Cecilia Millson, Revised ed. 1994, Price £4.95.