Newbury

History

There was a Mesolithic settlement at Newbury. Artefacts were recovered from the Greenham Dairy Farm in 1963, and the Faraday Road site in 2002. Additional material was found in excavations along the route of the Newbury Bypass. Newbury was founded late in the 11th century following the Norman conquest as a new borough, hence its name. Although there are references to the borough that predate the Domesday Book it is not mentioned by name in the survey. However, its existence within the manor of Ulvritone is evident from the massive rise in value of that manor at a time when most manors were worth less than in Saxon times. In 1086 the Domesday Book assesses the borough as having land for 12 ploughs, 2 mills, woodland for 25 pigs, 11 villeins (resident farmhands, unfree peasant who owed his lord labour services), 11 bordars (unfree peasants with less land than villans/villeins), and 51 enclosures (private parks) rendering 70s 7d.

Doubt has been cast over the existence of Newbury Castle, but the town did have royal connections and was visited a number of times by King John and Henry III while hunting in the area. The first reference to a bridge on the site of the current Newbury Bridge is an account of its reconstruction in the 14th Century. In 1312, King Edward II directed that its bridge should be kept in good order. By 1623, when the bridge collapsed, it was recorded as being built of wood, being 30 feet (9 metres) in length and 20 ft (6 m) in width, and having shops on it. The bridge was presumably rebuilt, as it is recorded that in 1644 a guard was placed on the bridge.

Historically, the town's economic foundation was the cloth trade. This is reflected in the person of the 16th-century cloth magnate, Jack of Newbury, the proprietor of what may well have been the first factory in England, and the later tale of the Newbury Coat. The latter was the outcome of a bet as to whether a gentleman's suit could be produced by the end of the day from wool taken from a sheep's back at the beginning. The local legend was later immortalized in a humorous novel by Elizabethan writer Thomas Deloney. Newbury was the site of two battles during the English Civil War, the First Battle of Newbury (at Wash Common) in 1643, and the Second Battle of Newbury (at Speen) in 1644. The nearby Donnington Castle was reduced to a ruin in the aftermath of the second battle. The disruption of trade during the civil war, compounded by a collapse of the local cloth trade in the late 16th century, left Newbury impoverished.

The local economy was boosted in the 18th century by the rise of Bath as a popular destination for the wealthy escaping London's summer heat and associated stench. Newbury was roughly halfway between London and Bath and an obvious stopping point in the two-day journey. Soon Newbury, and the Speenhamland area in particular, was filled with coaching inns of ever increasing grandeur and size. One inn, the George & Pelican, was reputed to have stabling for 300 horses. A theatre was built to provide the travellers with entertainment featuring the major stars of the age. In 1795 local magistrates, meeting at the George and Pelican Inn in Speenhamland, introduced the Speenhamland System which tied parish poor relief (welfare payments) to the cost of bread.

Greenham Common

A large Royal Air Force station was established during the Second World War in 1942 at Greenham Common on the edge of the town. In the 1950s, it became home to US Air Force bombers and tankers, for which it was equipped with the longest military runway in the United Kingdom. In the 1980s, it became one of only two USAF bases in the UK equipped with ground-launched nuclear-armed cruise missiles, causing it to become the site of protests by up to 40,000 protesters and the establishment of the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp. With the end of the Cold War, the base was closed, the runway was broken up, much of it used as fill material in building the Newbury bypass, and the area was restored to heathland. This project then saw Greenham and Crookham commons reopened to the public in 2000.

1943 bombing

On 10 February 1943, two German bombers, Dornier Do 217s from ll/KG40 Bomber unit in Holland, on a nuisance raid, followed the Great Western Railway line running west from London. One of the bombers headed towards Reading while the other followed the line all the way to Newbury. At 4:43pm the bomber dropped eight high-explosive bombs over the town. There had been no time for a warning siren. The Senior Council School, St. Bartholomew's Almshouses, St. John's Church (just the altar was left standing) and Southampton Terrace were all destroyed, and another 265 dwellings were damaged, many of which had to be demolished. St John's Church was completely rebuilt after the war. 15 people were killed and a further 41 people were injured, 25 seriously.

Government

There are two tiers of local government covering Newbury, at parish (town) and unitary authority level: Newbury Town Council and West Berkshire Council. The town council is based at the Town Hall in the Market Place. West Berkshire Council is also based in the town, having its headquarters on Market Street.

Newbury Town Council currently has 23 councillors, representing seven wards of the town, currently: Brummel Grove, Clay Hill, Falkland, Northcroft, Pyle Hill, Victoria and St Johns. In the 2023 United Kingdom local elections, the Liberal Democrats retained control of the town council, with 21 councillors elected, alongside 2 Green Party councillors.

In the House of Commons, the town is in the Newbury constituency. Since the General Election of July 2024 this constituency has been represented by Lee Dillon, a Liberal Democrat. From 1999 to 2020 Newbury was part of the South East England European Parliament constituency electing MEPs by proportional representation.

Administrative history

Newbury was an ancient borough. Its date of incorporation as a borough is unknown; the name implies it was founded as a borough, and the earliest known documentary reference to it explicitly being a borough is from 1189. The earliest known municipal charter was granted in 1596. The borough covered the same area as the parish of Newbury. It was reformed to become a municipal borough in 1836 under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, which standardised how most boroughs operated across the country.

The municipal borough and parish of Newbury were abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, becoming part of the larger Newbury district. The Newbury district councillors who represented the area of the former borough then acted as charter trustees to preserve the town's mayoralty and civic traditions, in the absence of the town having its own town council.

In the mid-1990s, the government decided to abolish Berkshire County Council and pass its functions to the county's six district councils, including Newbury District Council. Ahead of the change coming into force, the district council decided to establish a new parish of Newbury, and also to change the district's name to West Berkshire. The new parish of Newbury and its town council were established in 1997. Newbury District Council took over county-level functions from the abolished county council and was renamed West Berkshire Council on 1 April 1998.

Twin towns

The twinning ceremonies were held at the Corn Exchange. Newbury is twinned with the following:

Braunfels in Germany (1963)

Bagnols-sur-Cèze in France (1970)

Eeklo in Belgium (1974)

Feltre in Italy (2003)

Carcaixent in Spain. (2019)

Geography

The Civil Parish of Newbury consists of the town and the suburbs of Wash Common, The City, West Fields, East Fields and Speenhamland. The modern conurbation of Newbury, however, with close bus and road links and almost contiguous development, may be taken to include the surrounding villages of Speen, Donnington, Shaw and Greenham. Speen, which is now a suburb of western Newbury, is roughly equidistant between Bristol and London.

Elevations vary from a minimum of 72 m above mean sea level to 122 m at Wash Common. Elevations reach 150–200 m in the directly adjoining hills. The River Kennet and the Kennet and Avon Canal flow east through the centre of the town to reach the Thames at Reading, while the River Lambourn (beside which is the country's largest horse-training paddocks in the Valley of the Lambourn Downs) partly forms its northern boundary, ending in the town. A tributary that is smaller still, the River Enborne, forms the southern boundary (and also the county boundary with Hampshire).

Adjoining the town's south-eastern border is Greenham Common and the famous Newbury Racecourse. Newbury is surrounded on three sides (north, west and south) by the North Wessex Downs. The downland to the south rises steeply out of the river valley providing scenic views, including Watership Down (made famous by the novel of the same name), Beacon Hill, the southeast's highest point Walbury Hill, and Combe Gibbet.

Demography

Newbury has two very narrowly buffered settlements, Thatcham (25,267

inh. as at 2011) and Shaw cum Donnington (1,686 inh. as at 2011) forming an identifiable, informal greater Newbury urban and suburban conglomeration. In major use classes 11% of Newbury's land is occupied by roads and as of 2005, 34% of its land was occupied by domestic gardens.

Economy

Newbury and its immediate surroundings constitute the major commercial and retail centre of West Berkshire. The local economy is inter-related to that of the eastern M4 corridor which has most of its industrial, logistical and research businesses close to Newbury, Reading and Slough, with smaller industrial estates in the county at Theale, Bracknell and Maidenhead. Newbury is home to the United Kingdom headquarters of the mobile network operator Vodafone, which is the town's largest employer with over 6,000 workers. Before moving to their £129 million headquarters in the outskirts of the town in 2003, Vodafone used 64 buildings spread across the town centre.

As well as Vodafone, Newbury is also home to the United Kingdom headquarters of National Instruments, Stryker Corporation, EValue, and the Newbury Building Society. The pharmaceutical company Bayer AG are also headquartered in the town, although in October 2015 the company announced their intention to move to the Green Park Business Park near Reading.

Transport

Rail

Newbury is served by two railway stations, Newbury and Newbury Racecourse, both on the Reading to Taunton line. Great Western Railway operates services from both stations. The town was also served by the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway until its closure in the 1960s.

Road

Following a similar east–west route is the A4 road from London to Bristol, historically the main route west from London. This road has been superseded as a long-distance route by the M4 motorway which runs almost parallel and can be accessed three miles (five kilometres) to the north at the Chieveley interchange at Junction 13. At Newbury this east–west route is crossed by a dual-carriageway north–south trunk road, from the major south coast port of Southampton to the industrial centres of the Midlands. Although this route was once served by the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway, today it is only served by the A34 road, which now bypasses Newbury to the west on an alignment partially using the old rail route (see also 'Newbury Bypass' below).

Until the completion of the bypass, the A34 and A4 met in the town centre at the Robin Hood Roundabout, a complicated gyratory system encompassing 6 approaching roads, a fire station, ambulance station and an exit on the inside of the roundabout, which has a north–south flyover across the roundabout. In 2007, the sculpture Couple in Conversation was unveiled on the roundabout, providing a new landmark for one of the major gateways into the town. Other significant roads radiating from Newbury include the A339 which now includes the renumbered part of the old A34 through the town centre and then heads towards Basingstoke and the M3 motorway, the A343 to Andover, the B4000 to Lambourn, the B4494 to Wantage and the B4009 to Streatley.

Newbury Buses, a division of Reading Buses, provided most local bus services in the area until August 2011. Reading Buses still serves the area under the Newbury & District brand

Reading Buses operates the 'jet black' 1 route to Thatcham, Theale and Reading.

Stagecoach South operates route 32 (formerly the 'Link') to Kingsclere, North Hampshire Hospital and Basingstoke.

Thames Travel operates routes X24 and X34 to Harwell Campus and Didcot.

Swindon's Bus Company operates route X20, a once-weekly 'shopper' service from Marlborough and Hungerford.

Education

Newbury has three main secondary schools:

St. Bartholomew's School – one of the oldest schools in Berkshire, founded in 1466.

Park House School

Trinity School, formed after the closure of Shaw House School and Turnpike School.

There is also Newbury College, a further and higher education college, funded by a private finance initiative, and Mary Hare School, a residential co-educational community special needs school for deaf pupils.

Independent schools nearby include:

Horris Hill, an all-boys day and boarding school (from ages 4 to 13; boarding from 7 to 13)

Downe House School

Cheam School

St Gabriel's School, a co-ed school (from the ages 3 to 18)

Thorngrove School, a day co-educational school in nearby Highclere (from the ages 2½ to 13)

Newbury Hall School, an international high school

St Michael's School, a Roman Catholic school in Burghclere

Sports and leisure

Newbury is home to one of England's major racecourses, Newbury Racecourse, which held its first race meeting in 1905. The most prestigious race in the calendar is the Coral Gold Cup, which normally takes place in late November. The Racecourse also frequently plays host to a series of concerts on race days during the summer, which has included Olly Murs, Craig David, Tom Jones, Rick Astley and Madness in recent years.

Northcroft Lido in Newbury's Northcroft Park is one of the last remaining lidos in the United Kingdom. It was originally built in the 1890s, although the current structure was erected in the 1930s. The pool is still in use today and received a major renovation in summer 2023. It is owned and subsidised by West Berkshire Council but is managed by an external contractor, Parkwood Leisure.

Newbury was home to A.F.C. Newbury, with their home ground situated at Faraday Road near the town centre, but the club collapsed after Vodafone pulled its sponsorship of the team in May 2006. A local pub team from the Old London Apprentice took over the Faraday Road ground temporarily and rebranded itself as Newbury F.C. in 2007, which has played in the Hellenic Football League since 2008. The team were forced to leave their home ground at Faraday Road in 2018, with the site remaining derelict since and the team playing in a number of temporary venues, including in nearby Lambourn. However, work began in May 2023 to restore the football ground at Faraday Road following the election of a new Liberal Democrat-run local council. Newbury F.C. returned to Faraday Road for the 2024/25 season, playing in the Thames Valley Premier League Premier Division.

Newbury's rugby union club Newbury R.F.C., founded in 1928, has been based at a purpose-built ground at Monks Lane since 1996. The town has two cricket teams, including Newbury Cricket Club, founded in 1822 and playing at Northcroft Playing Fields, and Falkland Cricket Club, which in May 2023 hosted the first ever professional cricket match in West Berkshire with a match between the Southern Vipers and South East Stars in the Charlotte Edwards Cup.

Newbury has two athletics clubs, Team Kennet and Newbury Athletic Club, which train at the Crookham Common Athletics Track. The town is also home to numerous golf courses. The most notable is situated at the historic Donnington Grove estate, built in 1763 and where a golf course was opened in 1993.

Media

Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC South and ITV Meridian from the Hannington TV transmitter.

There are four main local radio stations broadcasting in the Newbury area; BBC Radio Berkshire; a community radio station, Kennet Radio; and two Independent Local Radio stations – Greatest Hits Radio Berkshire & North Hampshire (formerly 'Newbury Sound', 'Kick FM', 'Kestrel FM' and 'The Breeze') which broadcasts from London and Manchester, and Heart South (formerly 2-Ten FM) which broadcasts into the area from London. The following local newspapers are distributed in Newbury (circulation):

Newbury Weekly News (Part of Newbury Weekly News, advertising-funded free paper) (33,400)

Newbury & Thatcham Chronicle (21,500)

Newbury Weekly News (24,300)

Places of interest

The Corn Exchange – theatre and cinema.

Kennet and Avon Canal shop and tearooms.

West Berkshire Museum.

Jack of Newbury's House.

St Nicolas' Church (CofE), completed in 1532. This is a fine example of a parish church built entirely in the Perpendicular style.

St Joseph's Church, Newbury, Roman Catholic church with Italianate architecture.

St Bartholomew's Hospital (almshouses).

Raymond Almshouses, Newtown Road, built in 1796, founded by Philip Jemmett of Kintbury, and endowed by his daughter Anne and her husband Sir Jonathan Raymond, Alderman of the City of London.

The Litten Chapel.

The Falkland Memorial.

Donnington Castle.

Nearby places of interest include Bucklebury Farm Park, Combe Gibbet, Highclere Castle, the Sandham Memorial Chapel, The Nature Discovery Centre, the Watermill Theatre and Watership Down.

New Greenham Arts – an ex-US military building on Greenham Common airbase, now used to house artist studios, and a performing arts centre.

Disused GAMA cruise missile storage area at Greenham Common.

Greenham Control Tower cafe and museum.

Notable people

A number of notable people have originated from, worked, lived or died in Newbury:

Richard Adams (1920–2016), author

Hannah Aldworth (?–1778), philanthropist

Roger Attfield (1939–), thoroughbred horse trainer

Francis Baily (1774–1844), astronomer

Captain Collet Barker (1784–1831), early Australian explorer

Michael Bond (1926–2017), creator of Paddington Bear

Harry Bowl (1914–1991), footballer

Bruno Brookes (1959–), radio and television presenter

Lord Carey (1935–), former Archbishop of Canterbury

Lawrence Chaney (1996–), drag performer

Simon Channing-Williams (1945–2009), film producer

Keith Chegwin (1957–2017), television presenter

Harry Cotterell (1841–1925), British trader

Miles or Myles Coverdale (1488–1569), bishop, co-author of the 1st English Bible

George Dangerfield (1904–1986), journalist and author

Mary Farmer (born 1940 Newbury, Berkshire - Died 2021 Boston, Lincolnshire) UK-based designer and weaver of tapestries and rugs