In this blog, we round up all the items and collections that have recently been catalogued at the BRO and are now available to view - catalogue references are given in brackets. You can use our online catalogue to find out more about these and other items in our collections.
Ring, ring, ring, that telephone!
The National Telephone Company directory of subscribers for the Thames Valley District, May 1894, is one of the earliest telephone directories to cover Berkshire (D/EX2859); it includes instructions for users and the locations of Public Call Rooms. You can discover more about this item in our September highlight.
The battlefield of South Earley
We have now catalogued the records of the South Earley Residents' Association, 1966-1993 (D/EX2658). SERA, as it was known, was formed in 1966, initially to oppose a scheme for a private access way from student accommodation at Elm Farm to the Reading University campus at Whiteknights Park. It became a more general group to represent the many concerns of residents, including drainage schemes, litter, roads, noisy students, housing developments, the provision of leisure facilities, and public transport. In September 1979 one member complained, 'For over a year now the residents of Lower Earley and adjoining areas have lived in a disaster area which may be described as a cross between a World War I battlefield and the more contemporary moon-scape', due to the building of the ASDA superstore and the necessary access roads. Other residents opposed a proposed playground near Instow Road in 1981, commenting that 'we already suffer to a degree an undesirable element, who think nothing of using the field for the riding of motor cycles'.
Developers change the face of the county
We have received a small collection of records from The Ellis Campbell Group, a firm of commercial property developers, mainly consisting of deeds of their properties in Tilehurst and Reading, 1870-1998 (D/EX2789). Also of interest are planning application drawings for proposed offices and flats on three sites in Kings Road and Abbey Street, Reading, 1981 (D/EX2401); and estimates for proposed alterations and additions to Court Hill, Letcombe Regis, 1925 (D/EX2638). Plans of Charvil prepared for the Sonning Land Company, February 1935, show the area prior to mass housing development (D/EX2376).
A conveyance to the Corporation of Abingdon of roads on a development opposite Albert Park, Abingdon, known collectively as the Park Roads, and individually as Bostock Avenue, Conduit Road, St Michael’s Avenue, and Victoria Road, 1936, has been added to our Charity Commission records (P/CC2/19/2). DIY development is the focus of the records of Windsor Self Build Housing Association, 1952-1967 (D/EX2844). For more on this fascinating story, see our April 2022 highlight.
Maps and plans: from enclosure to sewers
We were delighted to receive the parish copy of the Woolhampton enclosure map and award, 1815 (D/EX2802), although it is not in good condition, so we recommend you still look at the enrolled copy (Q/RDC9A-B). We have acquired a copy of the Blewbury enclosure act (the Act of Parliament by which the enclosure was authorised), 1803 (D/EX2759).
We have purchased a plan of Thatcham Farm and other property in Thatcham belonging to Miss C M Fromont, 1837 (D/EZ205). Charlotte Fromont was the daughter of Edward Fromont, landlord of the King's Head, Thatcham, who was contracted to change horses for the first mail coach in Britain in 1784 on the way from Bristol to London. The plan was marked up in 1844 to show the route of the Great Western Railway, which would make the mail coaches obsolete.
Three plans of the Forbury, Reading, and Calcot Park, Tilehurst, 1856-1858, were created as evidence in a court case involving the Blagrave family (D/EX2855). Although it is quite badly damaged by damp and cannot currently be viewed, we have catalogued a plan showing sewerage lines in Newbury, 1880 (D/EX543). We have also received a small collection of printed maps of the county from 1637 to the 1880s (D/EX2826).
You can find out more about any of the records mentioned here and more, by searching our online catalogue. Simply enter the collection references mentioned above into the Catalogue Reference field.