Editing Tilehurst (section)

== History ==
Tilehurst was first recorded in 1291, when it was listed as a [[hamlet (place)|hamlet]] of Reading in [[Pope Nicholas III]]'s taxation.<ref name="VCH">{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=43224 |title=Parishes: Tilehurst |editor1=P.H. Ditchfield |editor2=William Page |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |year=1923 |work=A History of the County of Berkshire: Volume 3 |access-date=25 July 2012 }}</ref> At this time, the settlement was under the ownership of [[Reading Abbey]], where it stayed until the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]].<ref name="VCH" /> Tilehurst became an extensive [[parish]], which included the [[tything]] of [[Theale, Berkshire|Theale]] as well as the [[Manorialism|manor]]s of Tilehurst, [[Kentwood (Reading ward)|Kentwood]], Pincents and Beansheaf.<ref name="VCH" /> In 1545, [[Henry VIII]] granted the manor of Tilehurst (now Calcot) to [[Francis Englefield]], who held it until his [[attainder]] (and forfeiture of the manor) in 1586.<ref name="VCH" /> The following year, [[Elizabeth I]] gave the manor to Henry Forster of [[Aldermaston]] and George Fitton. Forster and Fitton possessed the manor until the turn of the century, when Elizabeth sold it to Henry Best and Francis Jackson.<ref name="VCH" />

Over the space of five years, the manor passed from Best and Jackson to the son of [[Thomas Crompton (died 1608)|Sir Thomas Crompton]], then on to Dutch merchant [[Peter Vanlore]].<ref name="VCH" /> Vanlore built a [[manor house]] on the estate—[[Calcot Park]]. Throughout the 17th century the manor passed through the Vanlore family to the Dickenson family, before being purchased in 1687 by the Wilder family of Nunhide (builders of [[Wilder's Folly]]) for £1,075.<ref name="VCH" /> Page and Ditchfield write that in the early 18th century the manor was also owned by the family of [[John Kendrick (cloth merchant)|John Kendrick]], albeit for a short period.<ref name="VCH" />

The manor subsequently passed to Benjamin Child, who married Mary Kendrick,{{#tag:ref|Kendrick's forename is also documented as ''Frances'',<ref name="Ford Berkshire Lady">{{cite web|last=Ford|first=David Nash|title=The Berkshire Lady|url=http://www.berkshirehistory.com/legends/berkslady_bal.html|work=Royal Berkshire History|publisher=Nash Ford Publishing|access-date=30 July 2012}}</ref> also the name of Child and Kendrick's daughter<ref name="Manor of Tilehurst 10">{{cite book|last=Blagrave|first=J R|title=The Manor of Tylehurst|year=1834|location=Southcote|page=10|isbn=978-1-01-954529-4 |url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=c8wHAAAAQAAJ}}</ref>}} heir of the Kendrick family.<ref name="VCH" /> After Kendrick's death, Childs sold the manor to descendants of [[John Blagrave]] in 1759.<ref name="VCH" /> The Blagrave family built the present-day Calcot House, which—according to one story—was made necessary by Child's eviction.<ref name="Ford Calcot">{{cite web|last=Ford|first=David Nash|title=Calcot Park|url=http://www.berkshirehistory.com/castles/calcot_park.html|work=Royal Berkshire History|publisher=Nash Ford Publishing|access-date=25 July 2012}}</ref> After Child sold the estate to the Blagraves, he was reluctant to leave the house.<ref name="Ford Calcot" /> The Blagraves were forced to remove the building's roof to "flush" him out of the building, thereby requiring a new building to replace the uninhabitable original house.<ref name="Ford Calcot" /><ref name="Manor of Tilehurst 11">{{cite book|last=Blagrave|first=J R|title=The Manor of Tylehurst|year=1834|location=Southcote|page=11|isbn=978-1-01-954529-4 |url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=c8wHAAAAQAAJ}}</ref> The manor was retained by the Blagrave family until the 1920s, after which it served as the clubhouse for the estate's [[golf course]] and was later converted into apartments.

The manor of [[Kentwood (Reading ward)|Kentwood]] was owned by [[Peter Vanlore]], before passing through the Kentwood family (taking their name from the manor itself), the Swafield family, the Yate family, the Fettiplace family and the Dunch family.<ref name="VCH" /> In 1719, the manor was divided between heirs.<ref name="VCH" /> The manor of Pincents was named after the local Pincent family. Originally from [[Sulhamstead]], the family owned the manor until the end of the 15th century.<ref name="VCH" /> After this, it was owned by the Sambourne family before they sold it to the Windsor family. In 1598, the manor was sold to the Blagrave family; its succession through the family is identical to that of [[Calcot Park]].<ref name="VCH" /> In the 1920s, the manor was sold off and later became a [[wedding]] and conference venue. The manor of Beansheaf took its name from a 13th-century Tilehurst family. In 1316, John Beansheaf granted some of the manor's land to [[John Stonor (judge)|John Stonor]].<ref name="VCH" /> While it is not recorded how much was granted, it is likely that Stonor inherited the entire estate as the Beansheaf name did not appear in subsequent records.<ref name="VCH" />

In 1390, Ralf Stonor gave the manor to William Sutton of [[Campden]] and John Frank. Frank later returned his share of the manor to Ralf Stonor, after which the manor was retained by the Stonor family until the end of the 15th century. The manor left the Stonor family when [[John Stonor (judge)|John Stonor]] died with no heirs. It passed through his sister, Anne, to her husband—[[Adrian Fortescue (martyr)|Adrian Fortescue]].<ref name="VCH" /> Some of the manor was later reinherited by the Stonors, though the majority was retained by the Fortescues until passing through marriage to the [[Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford|Wentworth family]].<ref name="VCH" /> In 1562 the manor was bought by John Bolney and Ambrose Dormer, after which it was passed into the family of [[Tanfield Vachell]].<ref name="VCH" /> The manor was inherited by the Blagrave family some time after 1600.<ref name="VCH" />

Throughout the 19th century, a number of changes came to Tilehurst. A [[National school (England and Wales)|national school]] was founded in 1819 to provide education to children not in private schooling.<ref name="BFHS">{{cite web|title=Tilehurst|url=http://www.berksfhs.org.uk/cms/Berkshire-Places/tilehurst.html|publisher=Berkshire Family History Society|access-date=24 July 2012}}</ref> The [[Great Western Main Line]] was built through [[Berkshire]] in 1841; {{rws|Tilehurst}} [[railway station]] opened in 1882.<ref name="BFHS" />

In the 1920s and 30s, many new houses were built in Tilehurst, particularly [[semi-detached]] residences. This gave the need for improved utilities; electricity arrived in the 1920s (replacing the [[Natural gas|gas]] that fuelled the area from 1906) and [[Tilehurst Water Tower]] was built in 1932.<ref name="BFHS" /> After [[World War II]], Tilehurst—like many other settlements—was in need of new housing; from 1950, many houses and estates were built in the area.<ref name="BFHS" /> In the mid-1960s, a prominent [[Victorian architecture|Victorian]] character property, Westwood House with some five acres of open grounds was demolished as part of the ever pressing need for new housing. This site was positioned between Westwood Road and Pierce's Hill and had served well as a venue for occasional local social events.