Englefield
ENGLEFIELD, a parish, in the union of Bradfield, hundred of Theale, county of Berks, 6 miles (W.) from Reading; containing 373 inhabitants. This parish, which comprises 1379a. 3r. 16p., derives its name from the Saxon word Ingle, a fire or beacon light; and probably had its origin about the middle of the ninth century, when the Danes, having made themselves masters of Reading, sent out a detachment from their army to attack the Saxons, who were encamped here, and who drove them back with great loss. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £11. 12. 8½.; patron, R. Benyon de Beauvoir, Esq.: the tithes have been commuted for £400, and the glebe consists of 33 acres. The church has some portions in the early English style, but has been much modernised; it contains several interesting monuments to the memory of the ancestors of the Marquess of Winchester. Elias Ashmole, the herald and antiquary, in 1647 retired to this place, where he pursued his researches.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.