The Englefield family supposedly owned the manor from the time of King Edgar the Peacemaker in the mid-10th century until it was confiscated from Sir Francis Englefield, an infamous 16th century Roman Catholic who worked for 'Bloody' Queen Mary Tudor until forced to flee overseas. The Englefields later bought Whiteknights Park in Earley and continued to be buried in the Englefield Chapel in Englefield Church until the last of them died in 1822. They still have impressive monuments there, although seven fine brasses have disappeared, including one from the elaborate 1514 tomb-chest memorial to Sir Thomas Englefield, Speaker of the House of Commons. Arches under the south wall shelter a stone knight and a wooden lady of the early 14th century. Sir Edward Norreys, Governor of Ostend, also lived in the parish and entertained Queen Elizabeth I at his house on the site of the old rectory.

Englefield House is basically an Elizabethan E-plan building, believed to have been built for the Queen's favourite, the 2nd Earl of Essex, after he bought the estate in 1589. After the Civil War, the house became the retreat of the 5th Marquess of Winchester when he returned from exile abroad. He had held his old home, the palace of Basing House (Hampshire), against a three-year siege by parliamentary troops, until Cromwell himself arrived to finish it off. Basing was then raised to the ground. Winchester's third wife was the granddaughter of Sir Francis Walsingham and they may have purchased the Englefield estate because an old family connection with the house. They have a fine monument in the north aisle of the parish church.

Although the family have changed their name twice, the Benyons have been in residence at Englefield House since 1802. The artist, John Constable, produced a painting of it for them thirty years later. At the end of the 19th century, Richard Fellowes Benyon restored and embellished Englefield House and he did the same for the village whose community thrived under his influence. He created a model estate village, modernizing cottages and farm buildings and providing a bathing pool for boys and a penny soup kitchen, not to mention a new school and the modernization of the church, using Gilbert Scott as his architect. Benyon even moved the Bradfield Road from where it ran through the archway at the back of the house to its present route on the other side of the estate wall.

Read more history of Englefield and other nearby settlements, like Sulhamstead & Lower Padworth, in David Nash Ford's book, 'Mid-Berkshire Town and Village Histories'. Click to Order direct from the Author.

 

NEW BOOK Whether you are from Mid-Berkshire or just visiting, this book is the place to find out all about the history of some 113 different towns, suburbs, villages and hamlets in the Boroughs of Reading and of Wokingham and the eastern portion of the District of West Berkshire. From Streatley to Padworth and Ruscombe to Finchampstead, join David Nash Ford from berkshirehistory.com in his second volume examining the structures, people and events that have shaped each place. Some of these histories were first published in part here on this website, but they have all been considerably expanded and are joined by many new histories of places often missed by historians, including those which only joined Berkshire in 1911 or later. Click for full details and purchase options.