An alternative to the devilish story tells how the people of Thatcham once thatched over the River Kennet in order to keep the ducks dry. However, the name of the town does indeed seem to be derived from the thatched dwellings of the first Saxons to settle in the parish, in or near a Romano-British settlement of unknown name. It was one of the many hams or homesteads which sprang up around Berkshire, probably in the sixth century. The Saxons of this period would have been pagans, so would not have recognised the Devil; but perhaps this would explain why they obeyed his orders. Christians would not have done so. In fact, the story was probably christianised, in later times, to show one of the many pagan Saxon gods as the evil one. This would, no doubt, have been Woden, the chief of the Saxon gods, who was often called Grim, a name now synonymous with Satan. He regularly rode across the sky on stormy nights (see “Beware the Ghostly Hunt”). Christian tinkering is certainly shown by an alternative version of the tale, whereby it is the Lord and not his adversary who gives out the commands. Thatcham becomes divinely named: much more acceptable.