Parochial Topography OF THE HUNDRED OF WANTING, WITH OTHER MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS RELATING TO THE COUNTY OF BERKS. BY WILLIAM NELSON CLARKE, OF ARDINGTON. OXFORD, PRINTED BY W. BAXTER, FOR J. PARKER; AND G. B. WHITTAKER, AVE MARIA LANE, LONDON. PREFACE. NO topographical account of any parish in Berkshire has yet been published, with the exception of Mr. Coates's History of the town of Reading, and Mr. Pote's Description of Windsor. The first work containing information relative to the county, since the publication of Camden's Britannia, is Fuller's Worthies, printed in one volume folio, 1662a. It contains the list of Sheriffs to the year 1641, the Gentry of 1433, with some miscellaneous notices of the celebrated characters who have been natives of each county. In 1719, Ashmole's notes of arms and monumental inscriptions, which he had taken in a personal survey of all the churches in Berkshire, during the years 1665 and 1666, were published in three volumes 8vo. The anonymous editor added some miscellaneous information. a Reprinted in 1811, in two volumes quarto, but without additions. Elias Ashmole, the celebrated Herald, Antiquary, and Chemist, was born at Litchfield in 1617, and died in 1692. His connection with this county arose from his marriage (in 1649) with Mary, daughter of Sir William Forster, of Aldermaston, Baronet, and widow of Sir Thomas Mainwaring, Recorder of Reading. He resided at Bradfield. с Reprinted, very incorrectly, in one volume folio, at Reading, in 1736, at the instance of Mr. John Watts, an Alderman of that borough, who gave away a sheet weekly, with the Reading Mercury, (which he had established in 1723,) till the whole was completed. Extracts from the Magna Britannia are prefixed to some of the parishes, some of the matter contained in the 8vo edition omitted, and translations of the epitaphs added. b |