Shottesbrook, Berkshire
Historical Description
Shottesbrooke, a parish in Berks, 4 miles E by N of Twyford station on the G.W.R., and 4½ SW by W of Maidenhead. Post town, Maidenhead; money order and telegraph office, White Waltham. Acreage, 1395; population of the civil parish, 184; of the ecclesiastical, with White Waltham, 1043. The manor belonged in the time of William Rufus to Alward the goldsmith, and belongs now to the Smith family. Shottesbrooke Park is a large country mansion, standing in a park of 300 acres. A college for a warden and five priests was founded here in 1337 by Sir W. Tressell. The living is a rectory, united with White Waltham, in the diocese of Oxford; joint net value, £319. The church is a beautiful cruciform building of flint and stone, in the Decorated style, consisting of chancel, nave, transept, S porch, and a central tower, surmounted by an octagonal spire.
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 | Shottesbrook St. John the Baptist | |
| Hundred | Beynhurst | |
| Poor Law union | Cookham |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register dates from the year 1566, on the first page of which is a complete list of the rectors of the parish from the year 1548.
Churches
Church of England
St. John the Baptist (parish church)
The church of St. John the Baptist, formerly collegiate, is a structure of flint with stone dressings, and for symmetry and beauty has few equals among English churches, being especially remarkable for the uniformity of its design, even down to the minor portions: it is a cruciform building in the Decorated style, consisting of chancel, nave, transept, south porch and central tower, with a light and elegant octagonal spire of graceful proportions and containing 5 bells: the interior was restored in 1852 under the superintendence of the late G. E. Street esq. R.A. architect: the founder's tomb, in the north transept, a truly beautiful specimen of Early Gothic, has resumed its ancient form: during the progress of the restoration fragments of Norman mouldings and arches were discovered: in 1905 an organ was erected in the south transept, and the transept separated from the nave by an oak screen, at the charge of Basil Guy O. Smith esq. as a memorial to his father, Augustus Oswald Smith esq.; there are 195 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Shottesbrooke was in Cookham Registration District from 1837 to 1896 and Maidenhead Registration District from 1896 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Shottesbrook from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Shottesbrook (St. John the Baptist))
- 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 Shottesbrook 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.