Kellys_1919_0433.jpg

VILLAGES DIRECTORY—1919.

THEALE.

419

D u ck e tt A lfred W illia m , su b -p ostm aster
PRIVATE RESIDENTS.
& p a rish clerk
Palmer M rs. M. H. N unhide farm (postal
H arm s E . (M iss), schoolm istress
address, Theale)
P a lm e r M arth a H . (M rs.), fa rm er, N u n ­
Vaughan S tanley, Hom e farm
h id e farm (postal address, Theale)
W ilder B ev. H enry Chas. M .A . R ectory
Bose
T h o s. P e te r, fa rm er, Sulh am farm
Wilder Mrs. John, S u lh am house
Saunders
R obert,
farm er & b u tch er.
COMMERCIAL.
H om e farm
Burtenshaw Mrs. laundress
T H E A X iE ,
an
ecclesiastical
parish ,
formed in 1832 out of th e parish of T ilehurst, is now also a c iv il parish since
April 18, 1894, w ith a station on the
Great W estern railw ay, 4 1 ! m iles from
London and 5 w e st from B eading, in the
Newbury division o f the cou n ty, hundred
of Theale, union of Bradfield, p e tty ses­
sional division and county cou rt d istrict
of Beading, ru ra l d eanery of Bradfield,
archdeaconry of B erks and diocese of
Oxford; the m ain portion of the v illage
forms one street along the Toad from
Beading to N ew bu ry, and is ligh te d by
gas. T h e river K en n et bounds th e parish
on the south. Under the provisions of
the “ R eading (E xten sion ) O rder, 19 11,”
which came into force on the 9th
November, 19 11, a portion of th is parish
was added to the Borough of Beading.
The church of th e H oly T rin ity , erected
in 1832, at th e sole expense of thé late
Mrs. Sheppard, of A m port, H ants, under
the direction of h er broth er, D r. B ou th ,
the late venerable president of Magdalen
College, Oxford, is a b u ild in g of free­
stone in the**Early E n glish sty le , from
the designs of the late M r. E . W . G arb ett,
and consists of apsidal chancel, nave and
a fine w estern tow er, w ith pinnacles,
containing a clock and 6 hells : th e chan­
cel was added in 1892, at a cost of nearly
^2,000, by M rs. B u tler, in m em ory of
her husband, the B e v. Thom as B u tler
B.D. rector 1845-87 ; th e w est fron t is
a much reduced copy of th at of S alisb ury
cathedral, and th e tow er is to some
extent reproduced from th e old bell
tower form erly in S alisb u ry C lose : the
interior is lo fty , th e roof b ein g groined,
and delicately
coloured :
an
ancient
chantry of Perpen dicular date, rem oved
•from M agdalen C o llege chapel, O xford,
has been re-erected on th e north side of
the chancel, and tw o doorw ays from the
same bu ild ing h ave also been inserted
in the walls ; on th e south side of the
chancel is a low canopied tom b, in
memory of Dr. M artin Joseph B ou th , a
modern copy of an abbot’s tom b of the
13th century in T ew kesb ury A b b e y : m any
rm in

of the windows in th e nave are sta in e d ;
those in the apse are good exam ples of
th e w ork of the la te M r. J. E . K e m p e :
there are 300 sittin gs. T h e re g is te r dates
from the year 1832.
T h e liv in g is a
recto ry, net y e a rly valu e, in clu d in g 15
acres of glebe, £ 4 77, w ith resid en ce, in
th e g if t of M agdalen C o llege, O xford,
and held sin ce 1887 by the B ev. S tu a rt
C ecil F rank A n g e l-S m ith M .A . of H e rt­
ford C o llege, O xford, who is also ru ra l
dean of Bradfield, and su rro gate. H ere
is a C o ngregation al ch u rch , erected in
1913, a b u ild in g in red b rick and stone,
also a P rim itiv e M ethodist chapel, r e ­
novated in 1Q13. A considerable find o f
R om an -B ritish Temains w as m ade d u rin g
1896-7-8. T h e field w here the d iscovery
was m ade is at the w e st end of the
village, and known as th e ballast-hole.
Finds had been p reviou sly m ade th ere,
b u t, w ith th e exception of an early
B ritish ja r of very coarse clay, now in
the possession of a M r. H aw ley, th ey have
been dispersed or lost. T h e later finds
include a large q uan tity of pottery o f all
g r id e s , from the coarsest up to th e fine
Sam aian w are, querns, bone im plem en ts,
a few brass Rom an coins, all in a poor
condition, Rom an spoon of bronze, bronze
pin w ith green enam el ornam entation,
tw o hum an skulls and bones, ' and a
variety of other articles. T h e north road
from S ilch ester is supposed to have
crossed a field adjoining th e one w here
these finds w ere m ade. T h e finds e x ­
tended over an area of n early 30 acres,
a n d , the ch ief of th em cam e from th e
w ell-know n Tubbish, p its or m id d e n s;
the settlem en t m u st have been a large
one.
B om an Temains have also been
found a t Pincent’s farm , at th e east end
of T h eale. T h e farm house is an old
one, and th e farm takes its nam e from
an owner (John Pinsyon), tem p. E d w ard
III. Th eale, fo rm e rly La th ele or L e th e l,
is so m entioned in all docum ents from
the T e sta de N evil and the Hundred ro lls,
down to the tim e of E liz a b e th ; it then
becomes T h e th ol, afterw ards D heal, and
finally Th eale. I t w as form erly in th e
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