Welford, Berkshire

Description
Welford (anciently called Weligford or the Willowford), a parish comprising a village, the chapelry of Wickham, and the hamlets of Easton, Hoe Benham, and Weston, in Berks, on the river Lambourn, 3 1/4 miles NNE of Kintbury station on the G.W.R., and 6 NW of Newbury. It has a post office at Wickham, under Newbury; telegraph office, Boxford. Acreage, 5228; population, 855. The parish council has seven members. Roman coins and relics have been found, and the parish had two churches at the Domesday survey. The manor, with Welford House, a country mansion standing in a deer park of about 200 acres, belongs to the Archer-Houblon family, who are chief landowners. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford; net value, £536 with residence. The church is a building of flint and stone in the Early English and Perpendicular styles, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, and a circular western tower, with octagonal broach spire. It has some ancient tombs and memorials, and a very ancient cross stands in the churchyard. The rectory, a fine modern mansion in the Gothic style, contains some fine works of art. The chapelry of Wickham is about 1 1/2 mile SW of the parish church. Its church, rebuilt in 1846-49 with the exception of the tower, is a building of cut flint consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, S porch, and an embattled western tower.