Aldworth is a village and mainly farmland
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
in the
English county of
Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...
, near the boundary with
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...
.
Orthography and slight change of name
Aldworth was recorded in the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
of 1086 by scribes whose orthography was heavily geared towards French, lacking k and w, regulated forms for sounds ð and θ and ending many hard consonant words with e, as ''Elleorde'', hinting at El(d)ward, the
Old English
Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
for ''Old Ward'' i.e. ''Old farmed out (let) land'' Scribes in the 12th century rendered it at least once as ''Aldewurda''.
Geography
Aldworth is in a rural area between
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...
,
Newbury and
Streatley. It includes the
hamlets
A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...
of Westridge Green and Hungerford Green. It lies on the high ground of the
Berkshire Downs, just off the
B4009 road between Newbury and Streatley.
The Ridgeway, an pre-
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of Roman civilization
*Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
footpath crosses the north of the parish.
History
King Alfred's defeat of the Danes at the
Battle of Ashdown in January 871, is said by some to have occurred near The Ridgeway and Lowbury Hill.
In
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...
times there was a fortified
manor house
A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...
or
castle
A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...
; La Beche Castle once stood on the site of what is now Beche Farm in the
parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
. This was the main residence of the De La Beche family, after whom it was named. This well-known family of medieval knights had held high positions at court since at least 1260. The De La Beche family remained powerful landowners and knights in the 14th century. Many were retainers to the king, warders to the
Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...
, and
sheriff
A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...
s of Oxfordshire and Berkshire. The family was influential in the reigns of
Edward II and
Edward III
Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring royal authority after t ...
, and embroiled in the royal intrigue of the time. Sir Phillip was imprisoned in
Scarborough Castle from 1322 to 1327, but later pardoned by Edward III. His father, also Sir Phillip, had been imprisoned and later pardoned under Edward II.
Amenities

A small area in the south of the village bears woodland centuries old that is still
coppiced and carpeted with
bluebells. It is open to the public subject to informal permission.
The Bell Inn is a 15th-century inn that has twice won a
National Pub of the Year award.
Another pub, The Four Points, stands at a crossroads south of the village centre.
Governance
Aldworth is a
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
with an elected
parish council. It belongs to the
West Berkshire
West Berkshire is a unitary authority in the ceremonial county of Berkshire, England. It is administered from Newbury by West Berkshire Council.
History
The district of Newbury was formed on 1 April 1974, as a merger of the borough of Newbur ...
unitary authority
A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...
and the
parliamentary constituency
An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...
of
Newbury.
Parish church

The
Church of England parish church
A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...
of
Saint Mary
Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...
is a Grade I
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
, parts of which date back to the 12th century.
The church contains numerous effigies to the De La Beche family.
The collection holds the largest number of medieval memorials to a single family in any parish church. The figures are supposed to be life-size representations, but some of the knights are over seven feet tall, which has led to them being known as the Aldworth Giants.
They were long thought to have been erected in the 1340s by the influential Sir Nicholas De La Beche (sometimes erroneously called Lord De La Beche),
but historians now prefer to date them variously in the Middle Ages.
A large number of the effigies were damaged by
Parliamentarian iconoclasts during the
English Civil War
The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...
of the 17th century. Many of the knights are missing the lower part of their legs, noses and arms, presumably because these were easy parts to break off. Parliamentarians may have seen the giants as a symbol of royalty, although many churches were ransacked in the same period.
In the churchyard to the east of the church is the Aldworth Yew, an ancient yew tree.
The yew was a popular subject for postcards in the 19th century. The trunk diameter was measured at in 1644, but in 1787 it was reported to be in decline. In 1909, its girth was described as requiring "seven men to span it", and little remained other than the broken trunk and a few branches, most broken and dead.
By the late 20th century, the trunk was mostly hollow, and it broke during the
Gale of January 1976, though some roots survived, enabling the tree to regrow with fresh growth. In 2016, the yew was certified to be over 1,000 years old.
The poet,
Laurence Binyon
Robert Laurence Binyon, Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour, CH (10 August 1869 – 10 March 1943) was an English poet, dramatist and art scholar. Born in Lancaster, Lancashire, Lancaster, England, his parents were Frederick Binyon, ...
, moved to Westridge Green on his retirement in 1933.
[Christopher Winn: ''I Never Knew That about the River Thames'' (London: Ebury Press, 2010), p. 79.] After his death in 1943, his ashes were scattered in the churchyard, where there is a slate memorial plaque to him. The parents of
Emily Tennyson, Lady Tennyson née Sellwood, the wife of
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (; 6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of ...
, are also buried there.
Demography
References
Notes
Bibliography
*
*
External links
Royal Berkshire History: Aldworth Parish Church*
{{authority control
Villages in Berkshire
West Berkshire District
Civil parishes in Berkshire