Finchampstead, Berkshire
Historical Description
Finchampstead, a parish in Berks, near the river Blackwater, the boundary with Hants, 4 miles SSW of Wokingham, and 2 from the Wellington College station on the S.E.R. It was known to the Saxons as Flinchamstede, and it formerly had a cattle fair on the first Wednesday of April. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Wokingham. Acreage, 3943; population, 680. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford; gross value, £438. The church is partly Norman with a square tower. There is a Baptist chapel and charities £22.
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 | Finchampstead St. James | |
| Hundred | Charlton | |
| Poor Law union | Wokingham |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1653.
Churches
Church of England
St. James (parish church)
The church of St. James is an ancient fabric, partly Norman, consisting of chancel, with semi-circular apse, nave of two bays, north aisle, south porch and an embattled western tower containing 6 bells, the sixth bell having been added Dec. 8th, 1885, by voluntary subscriptions of the parishioners, to celebrate the 80th birthday of the Rev. Edward St. John LL.B. rector, 1840-92: in the church are various monuments, a curious brass to Elizabeth, daughter and heir to John Taylor, of Finchampstead, gent. and wife of John Blighe, ob. 1635, and to her daughter, Jane; and another brass to the wife of the Rev. Edward St. John, d. 1850: the church was thoroughly repaired and reseated in 1856 and again restored in 1914: there are 260 sittings.
Baptist
Baptist Chapel
There is a Baptist chapel, with sittings for 150 persons.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Finchampstead was in Wokingham Registration District from 1837 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Finchampstead from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Finchampstead (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 Finchampstead 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.