Thatcham

Thatcham
The Broadway, Thatcham
Thatcham Location within Berkshire
Area	21.76 km2 (8.40 sq mi)
Population	26,217 (2017 est.)
• Density	1,205/km2 (3,120/sq mi)
OS grid reference	SU5167
Civil parish	Thatcham
Unitary authority	West Berkshire
Ceremonial county	Berkshire
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	THATCHAM
Postcode district	RG18, RG19
Dialling code	01635
Police	Thames Valley
Fire	Royal Berkshire
Ambulance	South Central
UK Parliament	Newbury
List of places UK England Berkshire 51°24′18″N 1°15′50″W / 51.405°N 1.264°W / 51.405; -1.264Coordinates: 51°24′18″N 1°15′50″W / 51.405°N 1.264°W / 51.405; -1.264

Thatcham is an historic market town and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire, centred 3 miles (5 km) east of Newbury, 14 miles (24 km) west of Reading and 54 miles (87 km) west of London.

Geography[]

Thatcham straddles the River Kennet, the Kennet and Avon Canal, the A4. The parish currently covers the town of Thatcham, with its suburbs of , and Colthrop, and the village of Crookham including Crookham Common and the eastern ranges of the old RAF Greenham Common.^[1] The historic parish once also covered Midgham, Cold Ash, Ashmore Green and Greenham.^[1]

Thatcham has a site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) just to the south of the town, called Thatcham Reed Beds.^[2]

Flood risk[]

On 20 July 2007 parts of Thatcham were flooded during a period of sustained heavy rain, during which three times the average July monthly rainfall hit the town in just 24 hours. While the rivers did not overtop, the quantity of water flowing down the hills from Cold Ash and Bucklebury made many roads impassable and stranded hundreds of pupils at Kennet School who tried to wade with rope across Stoney Lane. About 1,100 properties were affected; many residents moved out into mobile homes.^[3]

Governance[]

The town is divided into four wards for West Berkshire Council elections: Thatcham Central, Thatcham North, Thatcham South & Crookham and Thatcham West. Seven Councillors represent Thatcham on the West Berkshire Council with the Liberal Democrats having five, and the Conservatives having two.^[4] These wards are used in town council elections, also, with fourteen Liberal Democrats, three Conservatives, and one Green Party member sitting on the town council.^[5]

Town twinning[]

Thatcham is twinned with:

• Nideggen, Germany

Demography[]

2011 Published Statistics: Population, home ownership and extracts from Physical Environment, surveyed in 2005^[6]

Output area	Homes owned outright	Owned with a loan	Socially rented	Privately rented	Other	km2 roads	km2 water	km2 domestic gardens	Usual residents	km2
Civil parish	2,640	4,629	1,439	1,160	65	0.871	0.676	2.323	25,267	21.78

Local employment is chiefly in light industrial premises, sales and distribution, retail and public sectors; see also West Berkshire, its district.^{[citation needed]}

History[]

The area has evidence of occupation dating from prehistoric times^[7] and was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the strongest claimant to being the oldest continuously inhabited place in Britain.^[1] The well-preserved remains of a Mesolithic settlements dating from 8400 to 7700 BC^[7] have been found in its vicinity. Evidence also exists of Bronze and Iron Age settlements and of Romano-British activity.^[1]

The name may have been derived from that of a Saxon chief called Tace (or perhaps Tac or Tec), who established a village in around AD 500.^[8][9] The settlement might have been known as Taceham - ham meaning hamlet in Saxon. However one of the earliest written references in c.951 and c.975^[8][10] records it as Thaecham. The Thaec comes from the Saxon þæc or thaec meaning roof-covering. By the time of Domesday Norman Conquest in 1086 the name had altered slightly to Taceham before going through several minor changes until the current form was adopted in the 16th century.

The town had a period of great prosperity around 1304^[11] when the Chapel of St. Thomas the Martyr on the A4, now called the Old Bluecoat School, was granted permission to hold services.^[1] At that time the population was larger than Newbury's.^[8] There is a Norman parish church of St. Mary, which was largely reconstructed in 1857. This is believed to be built on the same site as an earlier Saxon church. It was also previously known as St. Luke's.

In 1121 King Henry I founded the great Abbey of Reading and endowed it with many gifts of land, including the Manor of Thatcham.^[1] At the same time Thatcham Hundred ceased to exist: the western part was transferred to Faircross Hundred, and the remainder to the Hundred of Reading.^{[citation needed]}

In 1141 Thatcham Church, previously the property of the Diocese of Salisbury, was granted to Reading Abbey by the Empress Matilda, who at the same time confirmed her father's gift of the manor to the Abbey.^{[citation needed]}

During World War II, Thatcham housed one of the biggest Prisoner of War camps in the South, known as camp 1001.^{[citation needed]} Thatcham's population grew rapidly in the second half of the 20th century: from 5,000 in 1951 and 7,500 in 1961 to 22,824 in 2001.^{[citation needed]}

Institutions[]

Schools[]

Although there are many primary schools in the area, the only secondary school in Thatcham is the Kennet School.

Motor Insurers' Automotive Research Centre[]

The motor insurers' automotive research centre is located at Colthrop in Thatcham.^[12] The 'Thatcham categories' issued there are the industry standard for vehicle immobilisers and alarms^[13]

Transport[]

Rail[]

Thatcham railway station is the only railway station within the town. The station falls on the Reading to Taunton line, with regular services between Reading and Newbury are operated by Great Western Railway, as well as between London Paddington and Bedwyn. The station saw 581,000 passengers in the 2016–17 period.

Road[]

The town is split in the middle by the A4, which runs between London and Bristol, in an east–west direction. This road has been superseded as a long-distance route by the M4 motorway which runs almost parallel to the A4, located 3 miles (4.8 km) north. The closest junction to the town is the Chieveley interchange at Junction 13.

Sports and leisure[]

Thatcham is home to non-league football club Thatcham Town, who play their matches at Waterside Park located 300 metres (330 yd) south of the town's railway station. The club reached the final of the FA Vase in the 2017–18 season, becoming the first Berkshire side to reach a national cup final. Their highest league finish is fifth in the Southern League Division One South & West, the eighth tier of English football, set in the 2010–11 season. The club won the Berks & Bucks Senior Cup in 1975.

Thatcham Town Cricket Club are based in the town, playing their matches 500 metres (550 yd) west of the Broadway – the town centre – on Brownsfield Road, next to the Town Council offices.

The Henwick Worthy Sports Ground is the home of the Newbury and Thatcham Hockey Club and the Thatcham Rugby Union Football Club. The ground is approximately 37 acres (15 hectares) in size, located in the west of the town. Henwick plays host to a number of amateur and youth sports, such as football and rugby.

See also[]

• HMS Thatcham, a Ham class minesweeper

References[]

External links[]

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Newbury and Thatcham.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Thatcham.

• Thatcham Town Council
• Thatcham Historical Society
• A History of RAF Greenham Common and RAF Welford, the former partly in the parish of Thatcham.