Wargrave, Berkshire
Historical Description
Wargrave, a village and a parish in Berks. The village stands on the right bank of the Thames, in a pleasant valley, amidst beautiful scenery, 2 miles N by W of Twyford station on the G.W.R., 3 SE from Henley, and 7 NE from Reading. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Twyford (R.S.O.) Acreage of the civil parish, 4462; population, 2027; of the ecclesiastical, 1845. There is a parish council consisting of eleven members. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford; net value, £200 with residence½ The church is an ancient building of flint, brick, and stone, in the Early Norman, Lancet, and later styles, consisting of chancel, nave, S aisle, N porch, and an embattled western tower with hexagonal turrets at the angles. There are several useful charities.
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 | Wargrave St. Mary | |
| Hundred | Wargrave | |
| 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 under the date October 10th, 1666, contains an entry of a collection of £2 1s. 11d, for the "poore distressed Londoners by reason of ye late lamentable fire;" under 17th February, 1793, is a record of the burial of Richard Barry, 7th Earl of Barrymore; and under December 4th, 1818, that of his brother, the Hon. and Rev. Augustus Barry.
Churches
Church of England
St. Mary (parish church)
The church of St. Mary was originally a structure of flint and brick with stone dressings in the Early Norman, Lancet and later styles, and consisted of chancel, nave of five bays, south aisle, north porch and an embattled western tower erected 1515-30, with hexagonal turrets at the angles, containing 6 bells and a clock, presented by Mrs. E. J. H. Jekyll: the church was almost entirely destroyed by fire on the morning of June 1, 1914, only the bare walls, the external Norman doorway and the tower being left standing: the church was rebuilt in 1915 at an estimated cost of £13,300: the church plate includes a chalice of the date of Charles II. a silver flagon dated 1709, chiefly the gift of Mrs. Doyley, and a paten given by Mrs. Pritchard in 1763; but a new communion service was presented by the Rev. Arthur Smith Sturges M.A. curate here 1866-71: in the churchyard is a large and ancient vessel of hewn stone, said to have once been a font.
Congregational
Congregational Chapel
There is a Congregational chapel, with a square western tower.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Wargrave was in Wokingham Registration District from 1837 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Wargrave from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Wargrave (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 Wargrave 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.