Newbury (St. Nicholas)
The town is one of the largest in the county, and is pleasantly situated in a fertile plain, on the banks of the river Kennet, over which was an ancient wooden bridge of one arch, rebuilt of stone at the expense of the corporation in 1770. The houses are mostly of brick, generally well built and of modern appearance; the streets, diverging obliquely from the market-place, are spacious, well paved under an act lately obtained, and lighted with gas by a company, whose works are much admired: the inhabitants are amply supplied with water. In the hamlet of Speenhamland, adjoining the borough, is a small theatre, which is open for about two months in the year. The environs are pleasant, and afford many agreeable walks on the banks of the Kennet, and in the vicinity of the village of Speen. The trade is principally in malt and flour, for the latter of which are many large mills on the river: there are also a small paper-mill, and a mill for throwing silk; and in the parish of Speen, about a mile from the town, is a manufactory for ribbons and galloons. The river, which was made navigable to Reading in the reigns of George I. and II., and the Kennet and Avon canal, which commences at this place, afford great facilities to the trade; and the Reading and Hungerford railway runs by the town. The market is on Thursday, and is one of the most extensive in the county for corn, which is pitched in the market-place for sale. Fairs are held on Holy-Thursday, for horses and cattle; July 5th, for horses, cows, and hogs; and September 4th and November 8th, for horses and cheese: on the first Thursday after Oct. 11th is a statute-fair for hiring servants.
Newbury is said to be a borough by prescription. The earliest charter known is that bestowed by Elizabeth in 1596, wherein the place is styled an "ancient and populous borough, which had enjoyed divers liberties, franchises, and privileges, by the charters of many of her ancestors and predecessors, kings of England." This grant was confirmed by Charles I. and II., and another charter was conferred in the first of James I. The corporation now consists of a mayor, 4 aldermen, and 11 councillors, under the provisions of the act 5th and 6th of William IV., cap. 75, and the number of justices is four. The recorder presides at quarterly courts of session for the borough; petty-sessions take place as often as cases require, and a court leet once a year at Michaelmas. The Easter quarter-session for the county is held here, and the petty-sessions for the division every Thursday. The powers of the county debt-court of Newbury, established in 1847, extend over the registration-districts of Newbury and Kingsclere. The town-hall, or mansion-house, is a substantial brick building, erected in 1740, supported on piers and arches; the lower part affords an area for the market, and the upper consists of a handsome suite of rooms, in the largest of which the courts are held, and assemblies during the season. Part of the workhouse has been converted into a borough gaol; but the inhabitants being liable to the payment of the county rate, all prisoners committed by the borough magistrates are sent to the county gaol at Reading.
The parish comprises by measurement 1388 acres, of which 486 are arable, 267 pasture, 17 woodland, and 46 gardens; there is a large tract of uncultivated common, and some marsh land. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £38. 16. 10½., and in the patronage of the Crown: the tithes have been commuted for £358, and the glebe comprises 13 acres. The church is a spacious edifice in the later English style, with a lofty embattled tower crowned by pinnacles: the tower and the western part of the nave were the portions built by John Winchcombe, whose effigy on a brass plate removed from over his tomb, is placed against the east wall of the north aisle; above the altar is some beautiful screen-work. There is an ancient chapel dedicated to St. Bartholomew; and the Baptists, Society of Friends, Independents, Wesleyans, and Unitarians, have places of worship. In 1847 an act was passed for a general cemetery. A Blue-coat school was founded in 1706, by the corporation, to whom, in 1624, John Kendrick had given the sum of £4000, for the purchase of a house and garden, the employment of the poor, and other charitable uses. A diocesan school was opened in January, 1840, for the instruction of youth in the doctrines and duties of Christianity, as taught by the Established Church, and in the classics and mathematics. St. Bartholomew's Hospital, supposed to have been founded by King John, and comprising houses for the reception of men and women, was by charter of Elizabeth vested in the corporation: ten houses have been added to the original establishment, and the endowment now exceeds £700 per annum. Opposite to St. Bartholomew's are some almshouses endowed in 1676 with £600, to be laid out in the purchase of land, by Philip Jemmett, Esq., and in 1709 with £400 by Lady Raymond: the income is £379. 10. Besides these, are some almshouses of less importance. The poor-law union of Newbury comprises 18 parishes or places, 17 of which are in the county of Berks, and one in that of Southampton, the whole containing a population of 19,963.
On both sides of the Kennet, extending 16 miles in length, are strata of peat half a mile in breadth, and varying in depth from one to eight feet: the peat sells for ten shillings per load, and in digging for it have been found oaks, alders, willows, and firs, indiscriminately mixed, which appear to have been torn up by the roots; also the horns, skulls, and bones of different kinds of deer; the horns of the antelope, the heads and tusks of boars, and the heads of beavers. In rebuilding the bridge, in 1770, a leaden seal of Pope Boniface IX., a pix, some knives of singular construction, and several coins from the time of Henry I. to William III., were discovered. Within a mile and a quarter of the town is the hamlet of Sandleford, where a small Augustine priory was founded about the year 1200, by Geoffrey, Earl of Perche, which was given by Edward IV. to the Collegiate Church of Windsor; the revenue at the Dissolution was £10. Newbury gives the title of Baron to the Marquess of Cholmondeley.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.