The Estate in Transition
The village in 1820
Most of the old village that lay along the road (then called Englefield Street) from Theale to Bradfield, between the church and about where the Old Rectory now is, had been demolished but at Appleton’s Corner next to the road is the house (34) that would give it the name a few years later when George Appleton lived there. Between Appleton’s Corner and the church is a pair of houses marked A and B, one of which may have been that of Richard Horne, a mercer, whose inventory was valued at £228 3s 7d when he died in 1692. In pencil is another building that may have been the old stables for Englefield House, which were still in existence in 1822.
The old rectory behind the church is shown and labelled as such and the “new rectory” (though an already old building) that Richard Benyon exchanged for it is also shown. In the park, next to the lake, is a house belonging to the widows Giles and Davis which was also shown by Ballard alongside the broad avenue from Englefield House in 1762. The house marked “Welch/Baker” must be another remnant of the old village but not shown is another pair of old houses just beyond the new rectory that was still there until after halfway through the century.
At the top of the new village street are what must be the old houses, although their positions seem not entirely accurate. The old Crown Inn is presumably at K and G is perhaps an error, being scribbled out. On the opposite side of the road must be numbers 4 and 5 at H and the shop at M with number 10 at L.
Further down The Street at N is the old house of Thomas Horne in 1762 that became the school and opposite is another house scribbled out. Next, at O and 33 are two more houses and then where the row of workshops with its back to the road at the estate yard is now was then apparently a row of three houses and then another pair. The old Chantry Cottage (39) was at the top of the lane of the same name
Just after the fork to Tidmarsh was Pound Cottage (40), occupied by Charles Mason - a pencil entry so probably a later addition. There are then three pairs of brand-new houses on a new straight alignment with the old road still running round the back of them. These included the new Three Daggers Inn (45/46) replacing the one in the old village. Where the old road rejoins the new one is the former Dunt’s Farm house, also not shown by Ballard as it is in Tilehurst parish, now apparently divided into two.
