Chieveley, Berkshire
Historical Description
Chieveley, a village, a township, and a parish in Berks. The village stands 4¼ miles N by E from Newbury, and 2 NE from Hermitage station on the G.W.R. It has a post and money order office under Newbury; telegraph office, Hermitage station. The parish includes the chapelries of Oare and Winterbourne, and the hamlets of Curridge and Snelsmore. Acreage of Chieveley township, 5328; population, 1020; acreage of Winterbourne, 2112; population, 270. The living is a vicarage, united with the perpetual curacies of Curridge, Oare, and Winterbourne, in the diocese of Oxford; gross yearly value, £1235 with residence. The church is a building of rubble in the Early English style. There are also Baptist, Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan chapels. The church at Oare is a plain building of stone in the Perpendicular style, and that at Winterbourne a building of flint and stone in the Early English style, with an embattled western tower of 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 | Chieveley St. Mary | |
| Hundred | Faircross | |
| Poor Law union | Newbury |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register dates from the year 1560.
Churches
Church of England
St. Mary the Virgin (parish church)
The church of St. Mary the Virgin is a plain building of rubble stone, partly in the Early English style, with some traces of Norman, and consists of chancel, nave of five bays, north aisle, south porch and an embattled western tower containing a clock and 6 bells: the east windows are stained: in the chancel and at the west end are various memorials to the Pocock family, and other memorials to Lucy Fincher, ob. 22nd March, 1667-8, and Catherine Stephens, d. 12th Oct. 1860; Rev. George Wyld, 48 years rector, d. New Year's day, 1837; and to Robert Hillman, gent., 1748; the nave was rebuilt in 1873, from the plans of Mr. J. W. Hugall, architect: in the chancel is an ancient rood frame from which the Lenten veil was anciently suspended: the churchyard, to which half an acre, the gift of W. Fisher esq, was added in the year 1894, is surrounded by elms, affords a fine view or the downs towards the west, and contains a massive tomb to Elizabeth, wife of Charles Long, ob. 1st Jan. 1767, and others to the families of Bathband, Halcomb, Lener, Basing, Preston, and Smallbone, and to Joseph White, 44 years parish clerk, d. 14 June, 1871: the chancel was restored in 1902 at the cost of the 1st and last Baron St. Helier P.C., G.C.B. (d. 1905): there are 600 sittings.
Baptist
Baptist Chapel
There is a Baptist chapel.
Methodist
Primitive Methodist Chapel
There is a Primitive Methodist chapel.
Wesleyan Chapel
There is a Wesleyan chapel.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Chieveley was in Hungerford Registration District from 1837 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Chieveley from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Chieveley, or Chevelie (St. Mary))
- 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 Chieveley 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.