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Theale
Theale maps
Historic maps of Theale and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Theale maps
Theale area books
Displaying 1 of 12 books about Theale and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Theale
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Theale.
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or of a photo of Theale.
Millers at Tyle Mill
Thomas Hine mentioned that there is a record of tenants of Tyle Mill. My great great great uncle, Edward Fordham, was the miller in the early 1850s. I would be interested to know if Thomas has any further information. He had been born in Hertfordshire near Royston but moved to Sulhampstead for a few years before returning to his roots and taking up the trade of corn merchant.
Tyle Mill
Hello Anne Sorrell! I saw your reference to your forebear at Tyle Mill. I hold an ever-increasing Index for Berkshire Millers and Mills. I have your Thomas DOWNING at Tyle Mill in 1864, and 1869. Hope this helps! Do you have any further info about him and the mill? I would be interested to add further to my Index. Thanks and Kind Regards, Tom HINE.
Working in Theale
After leaving school in 1952 jobs around Theale were mainly farming, Parker Timber Co. or Theale brewery. I worked at the brewery until I joined the army in 1954. I worked with Derek Parsons, Ron Cole, Ken Duckett, Bert Minchin the delivery driver, Ginger Becket his mate (he lived at the Sunnyside Camp), Bob Harrison the foreman and Mr Howse the manager. Also working there was 'Simmo' Simmonds, the landlord of the Bull Pub next door. Theal at that time was getting very busy with the A4 running through the middle of the village. People thought that when the M4 was built the village would die but as can be seen today this was far from the case. I bought a house in Wigmore Lane in 1968 and lived there for 16 happy years. We moved to Wiltshire 25 years ago but as my son now lives in Wigmore Lane we still visit Theale quite a lot.
Theale..The Birthplace of William Frederick PARSONS
William or 'Billy' as he was known was born in the house at 38 Crown Lane Theale on the 24th. September 1911, the eldest son of Frederick James and Matilda (Gladys) Parsons and their house was along the lane from The Crown Inn which was situated on the corner.
Billy's dad sadly died aged 32 at Crown Lane / Blossom End when Billy was 5 years , his brother Charles was 3 and his mother was pregnant with her third son Herbert who was born a few months after his father's death. Life in those days as a widow with 3 children was very hard and sadly baby Herbert died at 15 days old, causing added great sadness to the family, however somehow they survived. At 10 years of age Billy was bringing some money into the home by working for various villagers, he was also working for the local butcher whose name escapes me at present, but he was taught the trade and at 12 years of age was... Read more
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.
Berkshire memories
The Lane Pauline Johnson
I used to walk to Blands School through the lane with my friend Jean Brookes, we would often stop outside the Clark's (Terry) house and climb up the bank where we could see Jean's house across the field. Then we would continue past the West's house (Peter). We were often late for school as you can imagine! The headteacher at Blands school was Mr Halfpenny, one of the teachers was Miss Tanner, a road leading of off Hollybush Lane was named after her. I remember Dauntless well, my mum worked there for a while in the 1960s, a few of the local lads got married to Wrens. I lived on Clayhill Road and my friend lived in the Close.
Memories of The Lane
I remember the Lane so well. Pauline Johnson and myself used to use it on a daily basis to go to school. We used to dawdle and chat and skip and tease the boys, Terry Clark and Alan Berry being two of the names that come to mind. We used to love the little stream that ran along the bottom and often stopped to look at the brown pebbles and the endless amount of frog spawn. I wonder, is that steam still there ? My friend Pauline and I must take a walk along there soon to check !
