Midgham

Midgham
Berkshire
St Matthew's, Midgham
Location
Grid reference:	SU5567
Location:	51°24’4"N, 1°12’11"W
Data
Population:	334  (2011)
Post town:	Reading
Postcode:	RG7
Dialling code:	0118
Local Government
Council:	West Berkshire
Parliamentary constituency:	Newbury
Website:	Midgham Village

Midgham is a village in Berkshire spread over the slopes and meadows beside the River Kennet, six miles east of Newbury and two miles east of Thatcham. The M4 motorway slices across the landscape five miles to the north.

The Kennet and Avon Canal cuts through close by; Midgham Lock is here, and the canal draws much of the water in summer months in the valley, which is rich with brooks and rivulets winding amongst the meadows.

Midgham Wood covers most of the northwest of he parish and Channel Wood is in the northeast. The vast majority of the other green space is cultivated land, pasture or hay meadows.

Midgham House or Midgham Park in the centre of the area is a building which is not listed but which has a double 15th century red-brick former stable block with later additions and is at the top of a landscaped private park.

Around and about the village

The village extends New Road Hill, Woolhampton Lock in the east, West Berkshire Crematorium in the west, Midgham Marsh (south of the A4 road) in the south and to Midgham Green to the north.

The station in Woolhampton 100 yards east of the area's bounds (which is therefore the nearest station to all but the far western borders of Midgham), changed its name to Midgham railway station in 1873. This station is a minor stop with regular services on the London to Exeter (via Taunton) line. The reason for the change was apparently confusion with Wolverhampton; the stationmaster became frustrated by frequently redirecting wrongly-addressed packages intended for the later; a large town generating a great deal of post.

History

Few if any Roman traces have been found in the parish but there is known to be a Roman Road with a river crossing on Midgham Marsh.

Midgham was in early mediæval centuries a township in Thatcham parish and is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as such. A watermill is recorded here valued at 14 shillings a year. Giles Pinkney had been granted it by William the Conqueror. Pinkney divided it into three sub-manors by subinfeudation: Erley's Manor centred on Midgham House plus two unnamed manors, occasionally later named after the families of some of their longest owners 'Chenduit' and 'Everard'. There were three sub-tenants of part, Almær, Ragner and Gilbert in 1086, who held 3 virgates, 1 virgate and 1 hide and 1½ virgates respectively.

The manor continued with the Pinkney Honour, which required "service of ward of Windsor Castle" including paying £1 for each of its 15 manors across the region to the constable of the castle. Robert Pinkney forfeited his estates for rebellion against King John, but recovered them on the accession of Henry III.

Midgham's history since the Stuart period is published in national sources and by local historian John Trigg. There is evidence that the Knights Templar order held land in Midgham but few details are known.

Trade tokens have been found from the 17th century near the church so it is certain that there was trade in the area during the early modern period. When the parish of Midgham was formed in 1857 the small third manor, Hall Court was converted into the vicarage.

Midgham House

The upper part of Midgham Park estate

Poyntz family

The Poyntz family rebuilt Midgham House and lived there 1735-1840. Residents included the diplomat, Stephen Poyntz, and the MP William Stephen Poyntz. Stephen was governor to Prince William, Duke of Cumberland who spent a few years of his youth here; two rooms were added for this known as the Duke's rooms. It has a 15th-century red-brick former stable block with stone dressings which is listed Grade II.

Neither Midgham House nor its park are listed.

James Johnstone

In a University College London work of 2012, British Slave Ownership, Midgham House is shown as home of James Johnstone, sole proprietor of the Whitehall estate in 1835. The records state that he was recompensed by the Government as part of the abolition of slavery in the Empire, with £5,295 17s 0d, for 294 slaves emancipated in Jamaica.

Benjamin Buck Greene

Benjamin Buck Greene, who later became Governor of the Bank of England, purchased the estate in 1856. He had the village chapel which was near the house and not near the people pulled down in 1868 and the new church completed in the following year. He was followed on his death by Mr A. F. Clarke from 1908 until at least the 1920s. From 1947 until 1955 this country estate was owned by the Earl of Clarendon.

Church

Midgham had its own chapel from at least 1309. The Chapel of St Margaret stood a little to the northeast of the present building (see above section). Midgham was part of the parish of Thatcham until 1857 when Green ('the new squire' and lord of the manor) appointed the first vicar (Rev John Errington) for the proposed parish church, St Matthew.

13th century in style, the church was built by the architect John Johnson. The tower has an embattled parapet and an octagonal stone spire. There is a peal of six bells the oldest of which is inscribed 'Ellis and Henry Knight made mee 1674.' The old chapel stood to the north-east of the present building in the grounds of Midgham House. The registers begin in 1622.

The church is part of a six-parish benefice.

Amenities

The Coach and Horses, Midgham

The village has a public house: The Coach and Horses.

The village green which is run by the Parish Council and a village hall run by its own committee. A variety of trees forms a sort of arboretum at Midgham Green in the north of the area. The main hall, on the (now superseded by M4) Bath road, is used for voluntary and social gatherings; its civil parish council allows it to be hired by fundraisers, lecturers and businesses.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Midgham)

• Royal Berkshire History: Midgham

References

• Page, William; Ditchfield, P.H., eds (1923). Victoria County History: A History of the County of Berkshire, Volume 3. pp. 311–329. 
• Pevsner, Nikolaus (1966). The Buildings of England: Berkshire. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 178.