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B E R K S H IR E .

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H U N G 1> \l F O it L>
HUNGERFORD is a m arket and union town and head of
a county court district, with a station on the Reading
and Bath section of the Great Western railway, 23 miles
west-by-south from Reading arid 64 from London (by
rail 61), 27 north-east from Salisbury, 26 south-west
from Oxford, 24 east from Devizes, 16 south from Wantage, 8£ west from Newbury, 18 south-east from Swindon,
and is in the Southern division of the county, KintburyEagle hundred, Hungerford petty sessional division, rural
deanery of Newbury, archdeaconry of Berks and diocese
of Oxford. Hungerford is situated on the western
border of the county and a part of the town (Charnham
Street) was formerly in W ilts, but under the provisions
of the “ Local Government Act, 1894” (56 & 57 Viet. c.
73), by Local Government Board Provisional Orders
Confirmation (No. 12) Act, 1895, it has been transferred
to Berks. A t the same time the Berks portion of Chil­
ton Foliatt parish was added to Hungerford. Tho
Kennet and Avon canal affords communication by water
with different parts of the country. The river Kennet
and the small stream Dun, which pass through the
town, are celebrated for the fineness of their trout ; the
fishery extends for some miles, and is strictly preserved.
The town has had very important rights conferred upon
it at various p erio d s; and such inhabitants as are
occupiers of certain ancient tenements have the right
of depasturing cattle on some valuable marsh and down
land. The government is vested in a constable who is
elected annually, and trustees who (with some excep­
tions) have borne the office of constable; the constable
for the time being is coroner by charter for the liberty
of Hungerford. The towrn is lighted with gas by a
company formed in October, 1845.
The parish church of St. Lawrence, erected in 18x4,
on the site of the old church, is a building of stone in
a Debased Perpendicular style, and consists of apsidal
chancel, clerestoried nave of four bays, aisles, south
porch and an em battled western tower with pinnacles
and containing 6 bells : there are eight stained windows :
the pulpit, presented by Elizabeth Pearce Lidderdale and
Eleanora Lidderdale, in 1891, to the memory of their
parents, is of stone, with an alabaster cornice and other
enrichments : affixed to the east wall of the nave is a
small tablet of yellow m arble, formerly a portion of the
tomb of Sir Robert de Hungerford kt. who died in 1354
and was buried in a chapel on the south side of the
old church : the effigy, in stone, of an armed knight,
cross-legged, and supposed to represent him, is now
placed on the floor im m ediately beneath : there are also
monuments to Henry Hungerford, of Standen (ob. 1673),
third son of Sir Anthony Hungerford, of Blackborton,
Oxon ; to Mrs. Helina Morgan (ob. 1716) and to Char­
lotte, wife of John W illes, of Hungerford Park (ob.
1807) ; there are also many mural tablets to the Willes,
Michell and W hitelock fam ilies: in 1880-1 the church
was thoroughly renovated, reseated and a new organ
added at a total cost of ¿3,300: there are 700 sittings,
370 being free. The register dates from the year 1559.
The living is a vicarage, net yearly value ¿368, with
residence, in the gift of th e Dean and Canons of
Windsor, and held since 1909 by the Rev. William
Edward Thomas Seccombe G ray M.A. of Brasenose
College, Oxford.
St. Saviour’s church, at EDDINGTON, erected on a
site given by W illiam Honywood esq. late of Chilton
Lodge, at a cost of about ¿2,000, is an edifice of red
and white brick, with stone dressings, in the Early
English style, from designs by the late Sir A. TV.
Blomfield M.A. (d. 1899), architect, and consists of
chancel, nave of four bays, north aisle, south porch and
a western turret, containing one b e ll: the stained east
window is a memorial to the Rev. Thomas Hungerford
Mitchell, a former vicar of Hisfcon, C a m b s; the gained
windows in the chancel were also gifts, and there are
also two large and twelve small stained windows in the
nave: the pulpit, of carved stone, was given by Jesse
Hillier esq. : there are sittings for 250 persons.
The church of St. Mary the V irgin, at Newtown, in
connection with the parish church, is a small and plain
building consisting of quasi-apsidal chancel, nave, south
porch and a hell turret containing one b e ll: in the apse
are five lancets, the gent.re one being stained: there are
also three stained w indo v s : the building will seat about
100 persons.
The Church Hou ■' . 1 by th e lat? Sir William
G. Pearce bart. and
pened in 1900, is used as a
library and club and . .m d;v school.
St. John’s Mission Hall was erected in 1898, the cost
being defrayed by La ly Pearce

The W esleyan chapel, in Gharnham Street, erected in
1869, at a cost, including site, of upwards of ¿3,000, is
of grey local brick, with red bands and arches and Bath
stone dressings in the G othic style, and consists of a
nave with shallow transepts and an apse at one en d ;
from the roof rises a belfry containing one b e ll: there
are seven stained w indow s: including the gallery there
are sittings for about 360 persons. Th e Congregational
chapel, erected in 1840, is of brick, and will seat 30c
persons. The Prim itive Methodist chapel was erected
in 1866, and has 250 sittings.
Th e Town H all and Corn Exchange, situated in the
High street, and erected in 1870, at a cost of about
¿4,000, is a building of red and grey brick, with Bath
stone dressings, and comprises a m agistrates’ room, an
upper hall and a large and convenient exchange hall,
which is also available for concerts and other entertain­
ments, and will hold about 300 persons ; in front is a
colonnade, above which rises a square tower, with a
four-dial illuminated clock.
ih e Police Station for the Hungerford division is in
Park street, near the railway station.
A Savings Bank was established in 1818; the trustees
meet every Wednesday.
The Bear hotel, Charnham Street, is a good oldfashioned brick hostelry of the 18th cent, with a pro­
jecting bay rising to the eaves, clustered chimneys,
gabled dormers and a portico carried on pillars.
The Market day is Wednesday, and a pitched market
is established in the Corn Exchange.
1 Two statute or hiring fairs are annually held in the
Market place, one on the W ednesday before and the
1 other on the Wednesday after old Michaelmas day ;
there are also fairs held the last Wednesday in April
for cattle, the last week in June for wool and August 17th
for sheep.
The charities include John Hamblin's gift, viz. the
rent of a close land called Chantry Mead, now ¿ 1 5 .
which is applied as follows— ¿ 4 to th e m aster of the
Fr e School for teaching four boys, and ¿ 4 to buy
clothing for the four boys the week before Easter, the
surplus to be spent in clothing and education: the rent
of a close of ground of about 3 acres in E ast Field, pro­
; ducing ¿ 3 3s. applied as follows— vicar 10s., singers 6s.
; each, clerk 2s. and sexton 2s. : Lawrence’s bequest,
being a rent-charge payable from a copyhold estate at
Medstead, Hants, given by the will of Ezekiel Lawrenoe,
producing a net rental of ¿ 4 4s. for apprenticing one
poor boy : Hobbe’s gift (1625), a m oiety of a rent-charge
of ¿ 5 4s. payable from land at Enborne, distributed in
clo th in g: Sir Vincent Sm ith’s charity (1626), ¿ 2
annually for apprenticing two b o y s : Field’s gift (1626),
¿ 1 annually for apprenticing one boy: Mrs. Cum min’s
c h a rity : the dividends arising from the sum of
¿699 14s. 6d. Three per Cent. Annuities (formerly Old
South Sea Annuities), net amount, after deducting
expenses of receiving, ¿ 1 7 19s. 6d. two-thirds of the
amount for educating an equal number of boys and
girls and the other third in bread or clothes.
Under the provisions of the “ Local Government Act,
1894,” some of the above charities were declared to be
non-ecclesiastical and are now adm inistered by the
parish council.
The hunting in the neighbourhood is good and well
supported; the kennels of the Craven hounds are af
W alcot; W. J. Yorke Scarlett esq. J.P. of Walcote
House, Kintburv, is the m aster. The pack hunts
three times a week and alternately on Thursdays and
Saturdays. Newbury and Marlborough are convenient
places for hunting visitors.
The Eddington flour mills, on the river Kennet, ca r­
ried on by Mr. R. N. Hofland, are driven by two power­
ful turbines, and a complete roller system very success­
fully treats, on the Hungarian principle, the fine
qualities of wheat grown in the d is tr ic t: Mr. Robert
Cole also has flour mills here.
The Berkshire trout farm , constructed in 1907, has
one of the largest stocks of artificially-bred trou t in the
country. The Kennet V °lley Fisheries (Old Spring) is
another high-class trout f°rm
Chilton, the property and seat of the Hon. John
H ubert Ward C V 0 . was held for about 700 years by
the Whitelooke fam ily, one of whom, Bulstrode Whitelocke, a distinguished character of the C ivil war and
Commonwealth period, died here, 28 Jen. 1676. The
estate was afterwards sold to John Zephaniah Holwell,
one of the sufferers in the “ Black Hole ” of Calcutta,
and subsequently governor, and, at the beginning of
this century, became the property of John Pearse esq.
B E R K S .

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