Chalkpit and Hogmoor in 1762

 

​By 1762 Chalkpit Farm, on the road leading from the Tidmarsh Road to the chalkpit, was already established. It is not clear exactly when the farm was first created but it certainly has all the characteristics of one created at the time of the enclosures. Such farmsteads were typically sited on their own in the middle of the large, enclosed fields that belonged to them. In 1762 we know that the old common field system was very much still in use in Englefield, although it would only be a matter of years before that way of life began to break up. It seems likely that Chalkpit Farm and the fields surrounding it were the product of an earlier wave of enclosures, probably towards the end of the 17th century and up to that time there was a second common field, like the Great Field was in 1762, on this side of the village. An earlier plan of the common fields in the archives seems to date from around 1695 and there are also other plans that appear to be from the same time showing the boundaries and dimensions of the fields at Chalkpit.

 

On the map above, the modern Pangbourne Road and the extension of Chalkpit road back to join with it are shown in red with the M4 motorway in blue. Buildings are also shown in red but not all may be houses, where there are two in close proximity it is likely that one was a barn or shed. Chalkpit Farm is on the road up to the chalkpit from the old Tidmarsh turnpike and on that turnpike near the junction with the Chalkpit road are two more buildings at the top of a piece of land that was known as Long Ground. One of these is likely to have been the one known as "New House" in John Horn's will of 1759. Further along towards Tidmarsh are more buildings, close where the new road is shown connecting with the route of the old one. These were also part of John Horn's legacy, left in 1759 to his son William. On Piper's Lane, now severed by the motorway, are two buildings that form Piper's Farm.

 

At the top right corner of the map are the water meadows, known as the Dairies, on the River Pang near Hogmoor Bridge and the presence of Great Mill Field near here indicates the location of the mill that is known to have been here at this time, and may have been successor to the one mentioned in Domesday.