Mortimer Common
Mortimer Common photos (6 available)
Mortimer Common maps (2 available)
Map of Berkshire
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
Personalised maps
Create an historic map centred directly on any postcode!
Mortimer Common books (12 available)
Maidenhead Town Walk Guide
Paperback
Berkshire Pocket Album
Paperback
Newbury Living Memories
Paperback
Mortimer Common memories
Read and share memories of Mortimer Common and Berkshire inspired by Frith photos
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You can also read memories of nearby places in Berkshire below.
Berkshire memories
The entrance on the left is to Mortimer Station and the house (red brick) just right of centre is the Old Post Office. The white house just left of centre is Street House. The building to the right (and slightly closer to the foreground) is the old water pumping station.
A memory of Stratfield Mortimer contributed by Paul Johnson
Great great grandfather
According to the 1871 census my Great Great Grandfather Thomas Downing was the miller. In the census he is living there with his family including his daughter Elizabeth who became my Great Grandmother.
A memory of Theale contributed by Anne Sorrell
Birds nest
I was about 5 or 6 and my dad was a school groundsman visiting schools in the Reading area cutting the grass and generaly keeping the grounds tidy. He would sometimes take me with him on a Saturday or during the holidays, always by bus no car in those days. I remember going with him to the school at the end of this road towards the trees on the left of the photo. The school caretaker took delight in lifting me up to look into a birds nest with baby birds in it. Nearly 60 years on this is still a memory that I have kept.
A memory of Tilehurst contributed by joe lee
Our first visit 1961
As far as I was concerned, at the tender age of eleven, I belonged to a Norfolk family having only known Gorleston, Great Yarmouth, my birthplace. The untitled photograph of Hyde End House that hung in my grandfather's hall was an enigma and so intrigued my mother that she had to find out its relevence and where it was. After giving my grandfather a grilling, it transpired that this was our family's old ancestral home until 1917!! The quest was on to find out more and a visit was planned in the summer of 1961. Sadly by then we found it in a dilapidated state covered in ivy and overrun with chickens but we could see how grand it must have ...read more here
A memory of Brimpton contributed by alan hyde
Extracts From Mortimer Common & Berkshire books
Viewed across a new orchard is the mansion of Moore Close. The original house, built by Mr Hutchinson Brown,
was bought by Charles Birch Crisp who, in 1910, commissioned newly-qualified architect Oliver Hill to enlarge the
house and design the gardens. Newbold Missionary College moved to the site in February 1946.
An extract from from"Wokingham and Bracknell Photographic Memories".
From its depot in Reading, having stopped at Shinfield, Arborfield, Eversley and Yateley, a Thorneycroft J Type bus operated by the Thames Valley Traction Company has yet to make a pick up in Derby Green before continuing through Blackwater, to its destination in Camberley. It seems a fitting picture to conclude this selection of photographs and illustrate the pace of life in days gone by.
An extract from from"Wokingham and Bracknell Photographic Memories".
The Hope and Anchor, seen here on the right, has changed little in the present day, but now includes the small
gabled building on its left, which had been a blacksmiths for many years. Today the British Legion hall will be found
to the rear of the next building along, which in this photograph bears the name ‘Wokingham Ex-Servicemen’s Club’.
An extract from from"Wokingham and Bracknell Photographic Memories".
The 15th-century building in the foreground has had a variety of uses, including that of a public house named The
Cricketers which ran from the mid 19th century until its closure in 1909. This picture shows it as a fish and chip shop.
In recent years it has doubled as a tailor’s workroom with private accommodation above. The tall narrow building
immediately to the left was at one time home to James Seaward, who was reputedly the inspiration for the character of
Tom in Charles Kingsley’s book ‘The Water Babies’. Beyond is a fine run of 15th- and 16th-century buildings.
An extract from from"Wokingham and Bracknell Photographic Memories".
Opened in June 1860,
the Town Hall cost
£3,505 to build, and
provided space for
the County Police
Station, with cells and
an exercise yard, a
courtroom and council
offices. By this date,
the Fire Brigade were
also housed here and
operated a steam
powered fire engine.
An extract from from"Wokingham and Bracknell Photographic Memories".