Waltham St Lawrence

Coordinates: 51°29′00″N 0°48′18″W / 51.483333°N 0.805°W / 51.483333; -0.805
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Waltham St Lawrence
Village
Neville Hall and the Bell Inn
Waltham St Lawrence is located in Berkshire
Waltham St Lawrence
Waltham St Lawrence
Location within Berkshire
Population1,232 (2001)
1,215 (2011 Census)[1]
OS grid referenceSU8276
Civil parish
  • Waltham St Lawrence
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townReading
Postcode districtRG10
Dialling code0118
PoliceThames Valley
FireRoyal Berkshire
AmbulanceSouth Central
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Berkshire
51°29′00″N 0°48′18″W / 51.483333°N 0.805°W / 51.483333; -0.805

Waltham St Lawrence is a village and

civil parish in the English county of Berkshire
.

Toponymy

The name 'Waltham' is believed to be derived from the

St. Lawrence
and thus gives the village its distinguishing affix.

History

A Roman copper-alloy figurine of a child, found in Waltham St. Lawrence and dated to c. 43 – c. 410[3]

There is evidence of the existence of a

coins found from the site are of the lower empire (except for a silver one of Amyntas, the grandfather of Alexander the Great) and the area was occupied until 270. The high-road to London formerly left the London to Reading main-road at the 29th milestone and ran across Weycock Field (often referred to as Weycock Highrood). The Priory of Hurley maintained a grange in the village on the site of what is now Church Farm (to the north-west of the present Church) and this is why the great tithes of the parish were formerly appropriated to the Prior
of Hurley.

Until quite recent times a large lake separated Waltham St. Lawrence from Ruscombe (the name 'Stanlake' would seem to be a survival of this) and so the southern end of the parish was known as South Lake. The

Godfrey de Luci, Bishop of Winchester, purchased it from the Crown. It was retained by the bishops of Winchester until the Reformation
.

Sir Henry Neville, junior. The parish register
records that:

"September 17th, 1667,

King Charles 2nd, with his brother James Duke of Yorke, Prince Rupert Duke of Cumberland, James Duke of Monmouth and many more of the nobles dined at Bellingbear House in the great Parlour".[4]

At that time,

Richard Aldworth of Stanlake, whose father had married the daughter and heir of Colonel Richard Neville. Mr. Aldworth, on his accession to this property, took the name of Neville. The village school—now a County Primary School—was originally a National School with an endowment of £35 by Lord Braybrooke, a Neville descendant. The first Dame School held in the parish was held at 'Honeys'. The village war memorial is at Paradise Corner, which takes its name from the nearby Georgian manor house, Paradise House, on The Street.[5]

In 1920 Hal Taylor founded The Golden Cockerel Press, privately printing books from a surplus army hut he had erected in the village. The press continued to operate there under the later ownership of Robert Gibbings until, in 1933, economic circumstances forced its sale and production was relocated to London.[6]

Location and amenities

Waltham St Lawrence is located in a rural setting in East

public house, the Bell, while Shurlock Row, in the parish, has another, the Shurlock Inn.[7]
West End, between the two villages, is a residential area, where the local village school is located.

Transport

The nearest rail stations are at Twyford 4 mi (6.4 km), Maidenhead 5 mi (8.0 km), Wokingham 6 mi (9.7 km) and Bracknell 7 mi (11 km). There is a local bus service to Maidenhead and Bracknell.

Parish church

Architecture

church with graveyard
St Lawrence, Waltham St Lawrence

The parish church of

Decorated style was thrown out on the north side, and the Norman work was broken down, thus opening the new aisle to the nave. Later the chancel, with its side aisles was begun from the east end and the north and south walls of the nave were extended to join up with the new work in the 13th century. At the end of the 14th century, the south aisle of the chancel was enlarged and a square-headed window with trifoliated lights was inserted. Between this side-chapel and the south aisle of the nave is an Early English pointed arch. The window in the north chapel has a 14th-century window and on the south wall may be seen the remains of the ancient piscina. The porch
on the south side of the church hides the old south door which is Norman work, set in a section of 11th-century walling.

The

Descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost; and on the left, Saint Paul preaching in Athens
.

Bells

The tower of St Lawrence church

At the west end of the church is a square embattled tower, with a small turret at the south-west angle containing a staircase leading to the belfry and the top of the tower. The ringing chamber is open to the church and contains a beautiful window which is the only good glass in the building. This window, and the square-headed doorway below it, is of the Perpendicular period in English architecture. The tower was built in two sections. The lower part dates from the 14th century and the upper from the 16th. Some of the bells date back to the time of Charles II, but the peal only from 1808, when the bells were recast and rehung.

The

Gillett and Johnston of Croydon. Extracts from the registers make it plain that the tenor and treble, together with the second bell, were broken in 1659, and these – together with the sacring bell – were recast into five bells, and a peal rung for them for the first time on Tuesday, 23 April: "the day which King Charles the 2nd was crowned at Westminster". The sacring bell – which hangs in its own turret at the top of the tower – bears the following inscription: "The gift of John A. Beere of the Hill Henbolt. Pray for the welfare of Robert Conisbe 1681". The A'Bear family lived at Hill Farm at Hare Hatch in the adjoining parish of Wargrave
.

Registers

The parish registers its date from 25 November 1558. The originals are lodged for safekeeping with the county archivist in Reading, but the parish priest possesses a transcript (1558 to 1812) by Edmund Newbery. Apart from the usual entries of births, marriages and deaths, there are interesting memoranda, such as the following:

"Memorandum that the yewe tree at the churchyard gate on the right hand as one goeth into the churchyard up to the churchpond was planted by Thos. Wilkinson vicar of Waltham in February 1655"[4]

"Mabel modwyn widowe abact 68 years old arraigned for witch craft at Redding 29th Feb: and condemned on the 5th of March, 1655. Shee lived at ye south-wist cornr. of lower Innings in ye cornr. next to Binfield".[4]

Notable people

Film and television

In the 1990s

Rosemary and Thyme" and "Midsomer Murders".[citation needed
]

References

  1. ^ "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  2. ^ "Mills, A. D., 2011, A Dictionary of British Place Names".
  3. ^ Broomfield, Margaret (11 August 2016) [31 March 2016]. "Finds record for: SUR-CE0231". The Portable Antiquities Scheme. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  4. ^ a b c Waltham St Lawrence Parish Registers
  5. ^ "Waltham St Lawrence". BBC Domesday Reloaded.
  6. ISBN 1-58456-093-2
    OCLC 50478453.
  7. ^ "Welcome to The Shurlock Inn".
  8. ^ Historic England. "Church of St Lawrence (1117515)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 21 March 2020.

External links

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