Shaw cum Donnington (St. Mary)

SHAW cum Donnington (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Newbury, hundred of Faircross, county of Berks, 1¼ mile (N. E.) from Newbury; containing 642 inhabitants. The ancient manor-house was usually the resting-place of Charles I., when on his route to the west of England; and in 1644, an attempt was made here by a soldier of Cromwell's army to assassinate that monarch, which event is recorded by a brass plate fixed on the spot where the ball entered: a bed on which Queen Anne reposed is also preserved. In the second battle of Newbury the mansion was garrisoned for the king, and attacked by a large body of the enemy, who were repulsed with great loss. The parish comprises 1989a. 2r. 26p., chiefly arable land, and including about 100 acres of common or waste; the soil is clay, alternated with gravel and sand. The surface is generally level, and the river Lambourne flows through. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £12. 11. 8., and in the gift of the Rev. Thomas Penrose, D.D.: certain impropriate tithes have been commuted for £13. 7., and the incumbent's for £623; the glebe comprises 28 acres. The church has been rebuilt upon a larger scale, by subscription; it is a neat structure in the Norman style. A school is supported; and there are almshouses for twelve persons, founded about 1618 by Sir Richard Abberbury, Knt.—See Donnington.