Kellys_1917_0421.jpg

406

k id m O r e e n d .

V ILLA G E S D IR E C T O R Y — 1917.

Taylor W illiam , bricklayer
Thom as Edward, farm er, Tanners farm
W aino Arthur, farm er, Cross farm

W bichelo Charles, fruiterer, Sonning com
W hite C. dairym an, Orchard Dairy farm
Sonning com m on

M APLEDURHAM

St. John Thackeray M .A ., F.S.A . late
Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford. Here
is a hospital for six aged men and women.
Smallwood and Benwell’s charity of 12s]
a year is distributed in m oney. The river
hereabouts affords excellent fishing for
both pike and perch and for trout in the
weir pool. Mapledurham House, the pro­
perty of Edward F. Riddell Blount esq. of
Cheeseburn Grange, Newcastle-on-Tyne,
and occupied by the Hon. Algernon Henrv
Mills, is a fine Elizabethan mansion of red
brick, situated near the Thames, and
approached through a stately avenue of
ancient elms nearly a m ile in len gth ; the
house contains an interesting collection
of pictures, am ong w hich is a portrait of
Martha Blount, youngest daughter of
Lister Blount esq. the “ Pnrthenia” of
P ope; she died in 1763; during the Civil
War this house was fortified in support
of the Royal cause by Sir Charles Blount
kt. governor of Reading, who was slain at
Oxford, r June, 1644; Sir Arthur Aston
kt. governor of Oxford, superintended in
person the work of fortifica tion ; being at
length subjected to an assault, it was
courageously defended, bu t eventually
had to surrender, and was then plundered
by the victors. Attached to the mansion
is a dom estic (Catholic) chapel, dedicated
to St. Michael, which the p ublic are per­
m itted to attend.
Edward F. Riddell
Blount esq. is lord of the manors of
Mapledurham Gurney and Mapledurham
Chawsey. The soil is chalk and g ra v el;
subsoil, chalk. The chief crops are wheat,
barley, oats and peas. The area is 2,913
acres of land and 78 of w a ter; rateable
value ¿ 5 ,0 2 0 ; the population in 1911 was
547Assistant Overseer and Collector of
Rates, Ernest C. Cooke, Oak villa, 5 Gosbrook street, Caversham.
C ollector of K ing's Taxes, J. W T.
Baylis, 69 W estfield road, Caversham.
Post, Telegraph & Express Delivery Office.
— Richard Henry Burden, sub-post­
m aster. Letters arrive through Reading
at 7.35 a.m . & 6.55 p .m . ; S u n d a y s . 7.35
a .m .; dispatched at 8.35 a.m. & 7 p .m .:
Sundays, 12.30 p .m . Caversham is the
nearest m oney order office
Pillar Letter Box, Upper W arren avenue,
cleared at 6.45 & n a.m. & 7.40 p .m .;
S u n d a y s , 1,5 p .m

is a parish and
secluded village 2J m iles north-w est from
Tilehurst station and 2£ south-by-west
from Pangbourne station, both on the
R eading and Oxford section of the Great
W estern railway, 4 north-w est from Read­
ing, in the Southern division of the
county, hundred o f Langtree, union of
B iadfield, petty sessional division of
Henley, county court district of Reading,
rural deanery of Henley, archdeaconry and
diocese of Oxford, bounded on the south
b y the river Thames and sheltered by a
ridge of hills on the north.
The road
from Caversham to M apledurham, shaded
by a row of pines nearly the whole d is­
tance, form s a picturesque and agreeable
p rom enade: the nearest bridge up the
river is at W hitchurch, about 2^ m ile s ;
and down, at Caversham, 4 m ile s ; there
is a tow-path ferry across the river from
the Roebuck Hotel, about a m ile below
the lock. The church of St. M argaret is
a building o f flint and stone, of late Per­
pendicular date, consisting of chancel,
nave, north porch, south chapel and a
western tower of brick, raised 24 feet in
1863 and containing 6 bells and a clock
presented by W illiam IV . and bearing the
Royal in itia ls : the chapel of the Blount
fam ily, on the south side, is railed off
from the rest of the church, but its style,
though late, i s ' superior to that of the
church p ro p e r: between the chapel and
the nave is a m onum ent, with recumbent
figures, to Sir R ichard Blount k t. d. 22
Nov. 1619, and Elizabeth (M oore) his wife,
also surrounded by iron r a ilin g s: here is
also a brass to Sir R obert Bardolf, 139' :
the font is N orm a n : the nave and south
isle were entirely restored in 1863, an
gan chamber form ed, the gallery reoved and the tower chamber thrown into
to church, three windows were filled with
stained glass, and a stone porch and two
new windows b u ilt : the organ was pre­
sented in 1889 by Sir Charles Day Rose
bart. M .P ., J.P . of Hardwick H ouse, W hit­
church, who also gave in 1909 a stained
glass window in m em ory of three of his
so n s; the interior, including the chancel,
is decorated in polychrom e, and affords
130 sittings. The register dates from the
year 1627. The living is a vicarage, net
yearly value ¿3 7 7 - with 52^ acres of glebe
and residence, in the gift of E ton College,
and held since 1883 by the R ev. Francis