Barkham, Berkshire
Historical Description
Barkham, a village and a parish in Berks, on a small affluent of the Loddon, 2½ miles SW of Wokingham railway station. Post town, Wokingham; money order and telegraph office, Arborfield. Acreage, 1388; population, 284. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford, and was held in conjunction with Arborfield in the 17th century; net yearly value, £247 with residence. The church was rebuilt in 1862. Amongst its learned rectors may be mentioned Dr John Gabriel (1768-82) and David Davies (1782-1819), the author of an important work, "The Agricultural Labourers Question." The manor house is a pleasantly situated mansion of red brick.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Berkshire | |
| Ecclesiastical parish | Barkham St. James | |
| Hundred | Charlton | |
| Poor Law union | Wokingham |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register dates from the year 1538, and is in a good state of preservation.
Churches
Church of England
St. James (parish church)
The church of St. James, rebuilt between 1861 and 1864 on the foundations of the old church, is an edifice of flint with Bath stone dressings, in the Early English style, and consists of chancel, nave of four bays, transepts and a south-west tower with spire, containing 4 bells: the chancel and transepts were added in 1887 by the late John Walter esq.: there is an interesting monument of the 14th century: the church plate includes a chalice bearing the date 1561: the church was restored in 1887, and the chancel rebuilt, at a cost of £4,800, and has now 200 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Barkham was in Wokingham Registration District from 1837 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Barkham from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Barkham (St. James))
- Kelly's Directory of Berkshire, 1915
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Berkshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Barkham are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Berkshire papers online:
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitations of Berkshire 1532, 1566, and 1665-6 is available online.