Wickham, Berkshire
Wickham is a village about 5.5 miles (8.9 km) north-west of Newbury, Berkshire, England. The M4 motorway passes just north of it. It is in the civil parish of Welford.
History
Wickham is on the course of a
elementary school at Wickham.[1]
Parish church
The
Benedictine Abingdon Abbey seems to have held the parish church at Welford and its chapel at Wickham. During the reign of Henry I, between 1100 and 1135, St. Swithin's had to provide 40 pounds (18 kg) of candle-wax per year for the altar at Abingdon Abbey. In 1396 St. Swithin's paid 50 shillings per year to the Abbey in lieu of 100 pounds (45 kg) of candle-wax.[1]
A
papier maché elephants' heads appearing to support the aisle roof.[1] The pipe organ built in 1851 was by Henry Bevington. The church is a Grade II* listed building.[3]
Wickham House
A
Gothic Revival bay windows.[2] The Jacobean pulpit from St Swithin's was dismantled and its panels used to make a cupboard in the servants' hall of the house.[1] In 1852 St. Gregory's parish church at Welford was also demolished and a new Gothic Revival church built in its place.[1]
Extensive carved stonework was salvaged from St. Gregory's and re-used to decorate the rectory garden at Wickham.
A
vinery was built using six Perpendicular Gothic windows, five being 15th-century originals and the sixth a modern copy. A 15th-century doorway and some 13th-century windows were also included in the vinery. Elsewhere in the garden, two 15th-century piers from the south aisle and many other fragments from St. Gregory's were set up.[1] The remains of St. Gregory's were still in the rectory garden in 1924[1] but all had been demolished before 1966, along with the tall spire on the house.[2] The building is no longer a rectory and is now called Wickham House and is a Grade II listed building.[4]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Page & Ditchfield, 1924, pages 116–125
- ^ a b c d Pevsner, 1966, page 266
- ^ Historic England (6 April 1967). "Church of St Swithin (Grade II*) (1319533)". National Heritage List for England.
- ^ Historic England (6 March 1985). "Wickham House (Grade II) (1312940)". National Heritage List for England.
Sources
- Page, William; Ditchfield, P.H., eds. (1924). Victoria County History: A History of the County of Berkshire, Volume 4. pp. 116–125.
- Pevsner, Nikolaus (1966). The Buildings of England: Berkshire. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 266.
External links
Media related to Wickham, Berkshire at Wikimedia Commons
