Aldermaston ( ) is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. In the 2011 census, the parish had a population of 1,015. The village is in the Kennet Valley and bounds Hampshire to the south. It is approximately from Newbury, Basingstoke, and Reading and is from London.
Aldermaston may have been inhabited as early as 1690 BCE; a number of postholes and remains of cereal grains have been found in the area. Written history of the village is traced back at least as far as the 9th century CE, when the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles showed that the Ealdorman of Berkshire had his country estate in the village. The manor of Aldermaston was established by the early 11th century, when the village was given to the Achard family by Henry I; the manor is documented in the Domesday Book of 1086. St Mary the Virgin Church was established in the 13th century, and some of the original Norman architecture remains in the building's structure. The last resident Lord of the Manor, Charles Keyser, died in 1929. Aldermaston Court, the manor estate and house, was requisitioned for armed forces use during the Second World War.
The name "Aldermaston" is well known in connection with the UK's nuclear weapons programme, as well as the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), which develops, maintains, and disposes of the UK's nuclear weaponry is in the parish. Built on the site of the former RAF Aldermaston, the plant has been the destination of numerous Aldermaston Marches.
Toponymy
The village of Aldermaston derives its name from Ældremanestone, Eldremanestune or Hedlremanestone, the Old English for "Ealdorman's Homestead". Other documented names include Aldermaston ad Pontem (11th century), Aldremaneston (13th century), and Aldmerston (19th century).
History
thumb|right|A gold [[British Iron Age|Iron Age quarter stater coin from the reign of Commius, found in Aldermaston in 2013 and dated to BCE]]
Evidence suggests that Aldermaston was inhabited in the 12th century CE, possibly extending back to 1690 BCE. Radiocarbon dating on postholes and pits in the area show activity from 1690 to 1390, 1319 to 1214, and 977 to 899 BCE. Wheat and barley grains have been found in these excavations. Tests show that most of the barley was dehulled, but that absence of such debris may mean that the cereal was brought in from other areas. Harold's assessment of Aldermaston valued the village's 15 hides at £20 a year. During the rest of William's reign, and that of his son William Rufus, Aldermaston was owned by the Crown.) of Sparsholt. In the mid-12th century, the Achard family founded the church of St Mary the Virgin. In 1292, Edward I granted the right for the lord of the manor to hold a market in the village. Another charter was granted by Henry IV, with evidence that the market existed until approximately 1900.
The interior of the house featured a number of mythical statues, as well as artwork by Gaspard Dughet, portraits of William Congreve and Godfrey Kneller, and Tintoretto's Esther Before Ahasuerus. The house's Jacobean garden featured patterns of groves and avenues of oak, yew, Spanish chestnut and lime trees. The Congreve Family owned the estate at the time of the 1830 Swing Riots. The rioters marched across Aldermaston, wrecking twenty-three agricultural machines. Workers were so frightened by the riots that they left their machinery in the open in an attempt to limit additional damage.
Victorian era
thumb|alt=A photograph of a grand Victorian manor house|[[Aldermaston Manor was built in the 1840s]]
thumb|right|upright|alt=A monochrome lithograph of a grand wooden staircase|[[Joseph Nash's 1849 lithograph of the staircase at Aldermaston Manor]]
In 1843, the manor house was destroyed by fire, news of which was carried in The Illustrated London News. Burr held the estate until his death 50 years later, when this was inherited by his son, who sold it in 1893. and the water fountain on the small village green was installed to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Keyser oversaw the restoration of the village almshouses in 1906 and 1924, and defrayed the cost of a memorial oak tablet in memory of those killed in World War I. Of the 100 men from the village who served in the war, 22 were killed (the highest percentage of town population in the country). The tablet bears the name of each man lost in action.
During Keyser's lordship, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales listed Adminston as a possible name for the village. One of the houses in the village is recorded as having fetched £1,375.
In 1953, Pole stepped down as Lord of the Manor and was succeeded by AEI's senior representative, Thomas Allibone. Allibone held the position for 32 years, until Blue Circle Industries acquired the estate in 1985. By the 19th century, the hundreds had been superseded by other sub-divisions. From then on, Aldermaston was, at times, part of the Bradfield Poor Law Union and Sanitary District, and the registration sub-districts of Mortimer (late 19th century) and Bucklebury (early 20th century). is in the area of West Berkshire unitary authority. The electoral ward of Aldermaston includes the neighbouring parishes of Wasing, Brimpton, Midgham, and Woolhampton and is the smallest ward in West Berkshire by population. The ward's councillor is Dominic Boeck, who represents the Conservative Party. Aldermaston is under the catchment of Thames Valley Police and is covered by the Brimpton Neighbourhood Policing Team.
Geography
thumb|upright=1.3|alt=Photograph of a small village green, showing a drinking fountain, oak tree, and well|The Loosey with the fountain (left) and well (to the right of the oak tree) visible
Aldermaston is in West Berkshire, about from the Hampshire boundary. The village is south of the A4 road that links the parish with Newbury and Reading. The main road in Aldermaston, The Street, is part of the A340 road and links the village with Pangbourne and Basingstoke. The course of Ermin Way, the Roman road that linked Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester) with Glevum (Gloucester) via Corinium Dobunnorum (Cirencester) runs south of the village, but none of the road survives in the area.
At the southern end of The Street is a small triangular village green called The Loosey—possibly named after a "Lucy" who planted the oak tree which stands on the green. The Loosey is the site of a Roman well, discovered in 1940 by a cow that almost fell down it. The Kennet and Avon Canal forms part of the parish's boundaries with Woolhampton and Padworth. Sections of Grim's Bank are in the parish. Part of the earthwork in the AWE complex survives at a height of and with a ditch deep. The village has a couple of Sites of Special Scientific Interest called West's Meadow and Aldermaston Gravel Pits.
Geology
The landscape of Aldermaston is influenced by Paices Hill and Rag Hill, which are extremities of the chalk formation the North Wessex Downs as part of the Thames Basin Heaths. The topography of the land in the parish generally slopes northward to the River Kennet. The storm coincided with the annual Glade Festival and jeopardised the event. The festival gates were temporarily closed while organisers assessed the flooding, which submerged one of the stages. The festival's car park was incapacitated, with thousands of revellers stranded in the village and surrounding lanes. The floods also hit the Church of England primary school, with the Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service evacuating pupils and staff from the school in life rafts.
The evacuation used four rafts, rescuing pupils and teachers from the school through windows. The 165 people (140 pupils and 25 members of staff) were taken uphill to the parish hall, where blankets and sleeping bags had been provided. Thames Valley Police stated that the emergency services were "really stretched because of what happened over the county and the Glade event", that "the A340 road junction was two or three-foot under water", and predicted that "a lot of householders would be homeless." 20% were middle class ("middling sorts"), 10% were upper class ("employers and professionals") and 2% were unclassified. By 1896, the population had grown to 585. This coincides with the opening of the Atomic Weapons Establishment in the early 1950s, and the majority of this figure counts residents in the parts of Tadley within the parish of Aldermaston
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:85%; width:70%; border:0; text-align:center; line-height:120%; margin:1em auto;"
| colspan="12" style="text-align:center;"|Historical population of Aldermaston
|-
! style="background:#9cc; color:navy; height:17px;"| Year
! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"| 1801
! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"| 1811
! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"| 1821
! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"| 1831
! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"| 1841
! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"| 1851
! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"| 1861
! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"| 1871
! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"| 1881
! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"| 1891
! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"| 1901
|-
! style="background:#9cc; color:navy; height:17px;"| Population
| style="background:#fff; color:black;"| 672
| style="background:#fff; color:black;"| 678
| style="background:#fff; color:black;"| 653
| style="background:#fff; color:black;"| 636
| style="background:#fff; color:black;"| 662
| style="background:#fff; color:black;"| 783
| style="background:#fff; color:black;"| 585
| style="background:#fff; color:black;"| ?
| style="background:#fff; color:black;"| 528
| style="background:#fff; color:black;"| 655
| style="background:#fff; color:black;"| 482
|-
! style="background:#9cc; color:navy; height:17px;"| Year
! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"| 1911
! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"| 1921
! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"| 1931
! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"| 1941
! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"| 1951
! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"| 1961
! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"| 1971
! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"| 1981
! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"| 1991
! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"| 2001
! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"| 2011
|-
! style="background:#9cc; color:navy; height:17px;"| Population
| style="background:#fff; color:black;"| 559
| style="background:#fff; color:black;"| 533
| style="background:#fff; color:black;"| 461
| style="background:#fff; color:black;"| ?
| style="background:#fff; color:black;"| 638
| style="background:#fff; color:black;"| 2,186
| style="background:#fff; color:black;"| ?
| style="background:#fff; color:black;"| ?
| style="background:#fff; color:black;"| ?
| style="background:#fff; color:black;"| 927
| style="background:#fff; color:black;"| 1,015
|-
| colspan="12" style="text-align:center;font-size:90%;"|
Census (1801–2001); Cassey's History, Gazetteer and Directory of Berkshire and Oxfordshire (1868)
|}
A number of parish border changes occurred in the first half of the 20th century, including the net loss of to Beenham and Woolhampton on 1 April 1934 alone. By 2001, the parish population had reduced to 927. In 2005 30% of parish residents lived in the village. Of the 70% outside the village, 30% lived at Aldermaston Wharf, 20% in the local mobile home parks, 10% in the Falcon Fields development and 10% in "other outlying areas". Raghill is an industrial area to the east of the parish, which has some light residential developments. The average age of residents in the parish is approximately 50 with 31.5% of residents in the 45–64 age group. The next highest industry by workers was "retail and handicrafts", which employed approximately 20%.) was the original cultivator, but the pear (a cultivar of the European Pear) was named after Richard Williams of Turnham Green, who grew several grafts of the original tree. On 5 December 1956, a plaque commemorating the tree was unveiled on the wall of the village school. Gilchrist (Mathews' business partner) bought the mill from William Mount in 1856 using money inherited from his brother's death the previous year. Upper Church Farm was originally known as Harry's Farm, after a William Harry who died in 1544. the establishment was named The Pack Horse during the and Forster lordships and The Congreve Arms throughout the Congreves' ownership. The building has a large black and gold clock set into the gable, and a small bell turret upon which is a gilt fox-shaped weather vane. By 1850, the pub brewed beer on-site; a brewery was built as an out-building behind the main pub building. John Knight produced beer at the pub for 40 years, selling it for 2d. The brewery building is still in existence, with the wooden louvres still operational. In the 1970s, the pub was home to the Kennet Folk Club. It was last used in 1865 and its drunk inhabitant burnt himself to death trying to keep warm. On 11 September 2010 the lock-up was opened to the public as part of the Heritage Open Days scheme. The pub is named after the archery butts that were located in the fields opposite the pub. The Falcon Inn was on the southern border of the parish. The pub closed in 2009 and was demolished in 2011. The Aldermaston Brewery was established at Aldermaston Wharf in 1770, and was demolished in the 1950s. It was replaced with a cable factory, which was demolished in 1990. where 70 trees are felled annually for this purpose. There are approximately 1000 trees growing at any given time. The workers at the yard cut the wood into approximate bat shapes, then cure the wood in a kiln. The clefts of wood are then shipped to India, where the final manufacturing can be undertaken under moisture-controlled conditions. by studio potters Alan Caiger-Smith and Geoffrey Eastop. It had previously scaled back its output in 1993 due to Caiger-Smith's partial retirement after the 1992 recession. In April 1958, the first Aldermaston March was held. The march saw around 3,000 protesters march from London to Aldermaston over four days, with a total attendance of 12,000 at the establishment's gates.
The 50th anniversary of the event was marked on 24 March 2008 with the "Bomb Stops Here" protest, attended by Vivienne Westwood and Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) president Walter Wolfgang. The 2008 demonstration was the biggest protest staged by CND in ten years. Until 2005, AWE discharged "pre-treated waste water" into the River Thames at Pangbourne via an pipeline which runs under roads and fields within the parish. A water processing facility was installed on-site in 2006, though the Pangbourne Pipeline remains in situ. The reserve contains specimens of trees such as alder, cherry, hawthorn, oak, and willow. Examples of reeds present include typha latifolia, phragmites australis, mentha aquatica, and lythrum salicaria. Numerous species of bird nest in the reserve, including the common teal, shoveler, common kingfisher, water rail, and common nightingale. The following year, one villager requested that a pump be installed by his house. "Chuffer" Ford, who lived in The Forge with his wife Olive, A hole was cut in the brick wall beside Ford's yard to house the Shell-branded pump. Ford's business offered other motoring services, with signage reading "vacuum, oil, and cycles". There is a number of small businesses in the village, including a florist and the village shop. In the 1970s the hairdressers was a music shop, which was opened by Terry Wogan. and Youngs Industrial Estate on Paices Hill. The latter opened in the early 1980s, and is the location of Paices Wood Country Parkland, a wildlife project managed by BBOWT. In 2007 Aldermaston won the Business Category Award in the regional final of the Calor Village of the Year competition. The judges stated that the village "has a very successful business community" and that "local businesses are well-supported by villagers and in return these businesses support village activities". In addition to the business award, the village was announced as the Overall Winner of the "English Country Village of the Year" competition in 2006, as well as category winners in the "Building Community Life", "Business", "Young People" and "ICT" categories.
Architecture
The majority of houses in the village were built between the 17th and late 19th centuries, including examples of Victorian Gothic architecture. The parish hall, built in 1897, is predominantly flint and brick. including gatepiers, greenhouses, a tomb, railings and a wall, the village red telephone box
Culture
Since the early 1800s, Aldermaston has held a candle auction every three years. The open auction starts with a horseshoe nail driven through a tallow candle an inch below the wick and lit in the parish hall. The lot is the lease of Church Acre, a plot of granted to the church in 1815 after the inclosure act, the Woolhampton Inclosure Act 1811 (51 Geo. 3. c. c). In 1976, the parish hall hosted an episode of the BBC's Any Questions?. The show, which was previously held behind the Hind's Head pub, Since 1957 there has been an annual performance of the York Nativity Play from the 15th century York Mystery Cycle. The play follows a script by E. Martin Browne with carols by William Byrd, Johannes Eccard, and Michael Praetorius. The performances are at the village church in early December, and the actors are local people who have appeared in the play for many years. In 1964, the play was recorded and broadcast by the BBC Home Service under the title of Star Over Aldermaston. One member of the production team was David Shute. and was held near Winchester.
Transport
thumb|alt=Photograph of a railway station platform, showing the main two pairs of rails, a footbridge, and an old rusted siding|right|[[Aldermaston railway station, looking to the west]]
railway station is in Aldermaston Wharf, from the village itself. The station is managed by National Rail and served by Great Western Railway services between and . The village is south-east of the Kennet and Avon Canal at Aldermaston Wharf, which provides waterway links to London (via the Thames) and Bristol (via the River Avon). The village is on the A340 road, and has nearby access to the A4 road and the M4 motorway.
A West Berkshire Council-run bus service, route 44, serves the village and provides a connection with Thatcham and Calcot The 2005 Parish Plan identified a need for a relief road near the village. A report was presented in 2009 evaluating the problems caused by HGV traffic through the village, and described solutions which included support from Newbury MP Richard Benyon. RAF Aldermaston ceased to operate as a civilian airport in 1950. It was established in 1836 The school uses the names of the manor's squires in its house system. It reopened in 2022 as a day nursery. Alder Bridge Steiner School, although located in Aldermaston Wharf, is within the parish of Padworth. Padworth College is situated on the border of Aldermaston and Padworth parishes.
Religious sites
thumb|alt=Photograph of a church with roughcast walls and square belltower. A number of gravestones are visible in the foreground|The [[Church of St Mary the Virgin, Aldermaston|Church of St Mary the Virgin is a 12th-century church with many alterations]]
The Church of England parish church of Saint Mary the Virgin was built in the mid-12th century. The Norman building was altered throughout the following millennium, particularly in 13th, 14th, 15th and 17th centuries. Individuals buried in the churchyard include squires Charles Keyser (1847–1929) and Daniel Burr (–1885), schoolmaster John Stair (c.1745–1820), and Maria Hale (1791–1879). The club, which first played in 1786 as "The Gentlemen of Aldermaston", originally played at a pitch at Aldermaston Court. The ground was lost when the airfield was built. Sir William Mount, 2nd Baronet, the grandfather of British Prime Minister David Cameron, allowed a cricket pitch to be established on a portion of his Wasing estate. Tadley RFC is in the parish, about from the village. Aldermaston Raceway, a banger racing and stock car venue, was located in the parish. A course for off-road 4x4 trials is close to the raceway.
Notable people
- Thomas Allibone, Lord of the Manor (1953–1985)