Thatcham
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| Thatcham | |
|---|---|
| Missing image Thatcham_-_Berkshire_dot.png Thatcham | |
| OS Grid Reference: | Template:Gbmappingsmall |
| Lat/Lon: | Template:Coor dm NW |
| Population: | 23 000 (2003 est.) |
| Formal status: | Town |
| Administration | |
| District: | West Berkshire |
| Region: | South East England |
| Nation: | England |
| Other | |
| Ceremonial County: | Berkshire |
| Traditional County: | Berkshire |
| Post Office and Telephone | |
| Post town: | NEWBURY |
| Postcode: | RG18 |
| Dialling Code: | 01635 |
Thatcham is a town in Berkshire, England located 3 miles (5km) east of Newbury and 15 miles (24km) west of Reading. It covers approximately 8.75 square miles (23 km²) and has a population of 23,000 people (2003). This number has grown rapidly over the last few decades from 5,000 in 1951 and 7,500 in 1961. There is a large secondary school, Kennet School, which ranks very well in the country.
It lies on the River Kennet, the Kennet and Avon Canal, the A4 road and the course of a Roman road. It is also served by Thatcham railway station on the line between Newbury and Reading. Employment is provided by a number of light industrial units and it is also a dormitory town for Newbury, Reading and London.
The area may have been occupied continuously from prehistoric times - the well-preserved remains of a mesolithic village dating from 7700 BC have been found in its vicinity. There is also evidence of Bronze and Iron Age settlements and of a Roman town.
The name may have been derived from that of a Saxon chief called Tace (or perhaps Tac or Tec), who established a village in around 500. The settlement was known as Taceham - ham meaning village in Saxon. It is also possible that the name may have come from the Saxon thaec (thatch). Wherever it came from, the name Taceham persisted until after the Norman Conquest in 1066 before going through several minor changes until the current one was adopted in the sixteenth century.
The town had a period of great prosperity around 1304, when part of the building now known as the Bluecoat School was constructed as a small chapel. At this time the population was larger than Newbury's but declined as a result of the Black Death which decimated the area in 1348. There is a Norman parish church of St. Mary which was largely reconstructed in 1857. A local attraction is the Nature Discovery Centre situated at Thatcham Lake, a flooded gravel quarry.