Chalkpit, Hogmoor and Piper's Lane

 

In 1822 when the plan for the new Pangbourne Road was produced the situation was the same as it had been in 60 years earlier, with Chalkpit Farm, the three Horn properties and Piper's Farm all still in evidence.

 

When the new Pangbourne Road was built in 1825 the road up to the Chalkpit Farm was extended back through "Long Ground" to join it and a new house, Chalkpit Lodge, was built at the junction and by 1829 the Horn's house had gone, though Miss Winchcombe said that traces could still be seen later in the century. The two houses comprising Chalkpit Lodges were occupied by John Aubery (or Awberry) and William Dixon in 1844.

 

New Road, the road from the chalkpit to Bradfield was completed in 1855 and the old road behind Englefield House was closed. In fact a road had already extended from the chalkpit as far as Lone Barn by 1844 although there was only the barn itself there then and no house. Soon after the New Road was completed two new pairs of cottages were being built alongside Chalkpit Lodge and Chalkpit Farmhouse was rebuilt.

 

Also by 1829, the Horn's house shown in 1822 near Little Blackmoor had gone, leaving only the one at the top of Bucklesmoor. In 1844 the house, obviously now divided into two, was part-occupied by Mary Horn, widow of William Horne the great-grandson of John Horn who left the house to his son William in 1759. Mary also still occupies Bucklesmoor, Bushy Moor and Hogmoor Bridge Meadow  which makes up the smallholding from which Miss Winchcomb's mother later fetched butter and eggs as a child in the 1860s when it was occupied by William and Mary's son Thomas. The house and land are, however, now owned by Mr Benyon having been sold to him in 1819. The other tenant of the house is James Wheeler.

 

In Piper's Lane, Piper's Farm is owned in 1829, along with the other land in this area, by the Rector of Wallingford and tenanted in 1844 by James Batten. In 1881 the house still stood but was unoccupied and shortly after that was demolished.

 

Further along Piper's Lane and down a side turning was a house called "Malpas". According to Miss Winchcombe this was originally a picturesque old cottage with apple trees lining the path to the door, where lived another member of her Horne ancestors who was famous for the lavender water she made and sold. The 1844 survey shows a house at the double right-angle bend in this road (80 in the image right), tenanted by Robert Horn and his wife Elizabeth and William Chapman and his wife, also Elizabeth. In 1851 "Malpas House" is still occupied by Robert Horn and William Chapman, although Elizabeth Horne had died in 1848 and daughter Caroline and her husband Charles Cox now live there as well. William Chapman, presumably son of the previous William, and the Coxes with Robert Horn are still in occupation in 1861. By 1871, however, Robert Horne is living with his son Thomas further along the road toward North Street and Malpas seems to have disappeared. The 1877 map shows the house has indeed gone but another house named College Cottage has appeared a little further along the track off Piper's Lane. This name does not appear in any census although Malpas reappears in the 1881 census and also in 1891, though it was then uninhabited and it was was noted that Robert and John Horne "sleeps in a shed near Malpas". Malpas was still inhabited in 1901 and 1911.

 

At the point where Piper's Lane meets the road from Englefield to North Street was a large old house (85, right) which seems to have been the "Timbered Cottage". This actually lay outside the parish of Englefield, in Tilehurst then Theale, until recently and was also part of John Horn's property after the Tilehurst enclosures in 1817 but sold to Mr Benyon two years later. However the Horns seem to have remained in occupation for in 1844 Sarah Horne lives in part of it, with Thomas Cox and William Ham in other parts. Mary Elizabeth Horne, Miss Winchcomb's mother, was born there in 1856 but in 1860 it was pulled down and the New Inn built in its place. Here the tenants gathered at Michaelmas to pay their rents and were afterwards entertained to dinner by Mr Benyon. The New Inn was still in business in 1881 but seems to have ceased operating as a public house by 1891 and been pulled down by 1913.

 

In 1844 there was also a house on the opposite side of Piper's Lane, belonging to William Clark. Miss Winchcombe said that when the Timbered Cottage was pulled down the Hornes moved to a house converted from an old farmhouse just on the other side of Piper's Lane so this may have been it. By 1878, however, William Clarke's house had disappeared and the present house had been built close by so it may have been that one.