Earley, Berkshire
Historical Description
Earley, Erieigh, or Early, an ecclesiastical parish, formed in 1844 out of Sonning parish, Berks. It is about 2 miles SE from Reading, and it has a station on the L. & S.W.R. and S.E.R., and a post, money order, and telegraph office under Reading. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford; net yearly value, £285 with residence, Patron, the Vicar of Sonning. The church of St Peter, erected in 1844, is a building of brick in the Early English style. A new ecclesiastical parish, that of St Bartholomew, was formed in 1877 out of the parish of St Peter. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford; net yearly value, £202 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Oxford. The ecclesiastical parish of Earley includes the liberty of Earley and part of Woodley, both in the civil parish of Sonning. Area of the liberty, 1913 acres; population, 496; of the parish of St Bartholomew, 5113; of St Peter, 1862. There are several beautiful seats in this district, among which may be mentioned Erieigh Court, Erieigh Whiteknights, Maiden Erieigh, Fox Hill, and Wilderness House.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Berkshire | |
| Civil parish | Sonking | |
| 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 1844.
Churches
Church of England
St. Peter (parish church)
The church of St. Peter, consecrated Sept. 21st, 1844, is an edifice of brick, in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave of five bays, aisles, vestry, organ chamber, south porch and a tower at the north-west angle, containing one bell: in 1882-3 the transepts were removed and aisles and a new chancel and other additions made, at a cost of £4,338: the east window is stained; the west window is a memorial to the Rev. George Porcher and his two daughters; and there is another memorial window to Mrs. Frances St. Aubyn: the church affords 500 sittings: a lych gate was erected about 1902, as a memorial to Charles Stephens J.P. at a cost of £250.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Earley was in Wokingham Registration District from 1837 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Earley from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Early)
- 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 Earley 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.