Shaw House and St Mary's Church Conservation Area

This trail starts and ends at Shaw House, near Newbury, Berkshire. It explores the Shaw House and St Mary’s Church Conservation Area, and Shaw House’s Grade II Registered Park and Garden.

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Shaw House and St Mary's Church Conservation Area

England RG14 2DR, United Kingdom

Created By: West Berkshire Archaeology Service

Tour Information

This walking trail starts and ends at Shaw House. It explores the Shaw House and St Mary’s Church Conservation Area, and Shaw House’s Grade II Registered Park and Garden. It includes an academy called Trinity School.

You may park in the car park at Shaw House (www.what3words.com ///riders.drama.dairy), but please note that the grounds and car park are locked when the House is locked. Please check the website for Shaw House’s opening times first: www.westberkshireheritage.org/shaw-house/plan-your-visit.

Members of the public are welcome to wander around Shaw House’s grounds when the car park is open, but please be aware of any events taking place at the house, such as weddings and wakes. Please be sensitive to the presence of any guests or requests from members of staff.

During school term time, you may want to take into consideration school dropping off and collection times. Trinity School’s term dates are listed on its website: www.trinitynewbury.org. St Mary’s Church and churchyard are also likely to be busy on Sundays, during Christian holidays and on Armistice Day (11 November). For more information, please visit: www.shawchurch.org.uk.

This trail was prepared by West Berkshire Council’s archaeology service. One of the archaeology service’s jobs is to look after West Berkshire’s Historic Environment Record or HER. The HER is a database of buildings, monuments, sites, places, areas and landscapes of archaeological, architectural, artistic and historic interest. More information about it can be found here: https://info.westberks.gov.uk/her. Links to the HER’s records are included in the trail.

You can give feedback on the trail here (please select Archaeology Service from the dropdown list): www.westberkshireheritage.org/feedback-form or contact us at archaeology@westberks.gov.uk.


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What You'll See on the Tour

www.what3words.com ///career.driver.hours You can enter the gardens of Shaw House from the car park. There is an entrance about half way up the car park on the western side that has stairs over an earth bank. Level access is available from... Read more
www.what3words.com ///prices.resist.admit Look around you at the great house with its grassy lawns and big trees, and then turn to look across the road. This is where there would have once been views to the river and park, and down to Newb... Read more
www.what3words.com ///rests.elite.shop A map survives called the Speen Manor map that shows us the design of the House and its estate in 1729 or 1730, after they were bought by James Brydges, the first Duke of Chandos (1673-1744), in 1728. ... Read more
www.what3words.com ///rounds.eagle.winter The path you are following and the bridge you have just crossed were once the main route to Shaw House from the London to Bath Road for 200 years! Because this was the way that most visitors would ... Read more
www.what3words.com ///cycle.deaf.flash Find a long bit of concrete embedded in the southern riverbank, but be careful at the edge of the water. Do not to lean too far in and you will be able to spot some bricks within the riverbank. These ... Read more
www.what3words.com ///rare.pushed.treat On the Shaw and Donnington Tithe Map of 1838 and on the First Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1880-81, a boat house is marked on the north bank of the River Lambourn near here, upstream of the semi-cir... Read more
www.what3words.com ///economics.apron.twice The settlement of Shaw is called 'Sagas' in the oldest written reference to it in 1080. It was called 'Essages' in Domesday Book of 1086, which means a small wood. When Thomas Dolman I bought the ... Read more
www.what3words.com ///trap.arena.rides This gateway is called a lych gate. Lych gates are gateways with roofs and are the traditional entrances into churchyards. The name comes from the Saxon or Old English word for a dead body, lic. This l... Read more
www.what3words.com ///myself.hugs.lion This war memorial is made of stone and is in memory of those who died in the First World War (1914-18) (sometimes called the Great War), who lived in the villages of Shaw and Donnington. It was dedicat... Read more
www.what3words.com ///gain.crowned.goes Four of these great chest tombs are Grade II listed and they date from the 18th and 19th centuries. Although they are listed, not much information is said about them on their records. If you are inter... Read more
www.what3words.com ///player.pushy.sock Almost immediately past the redwood trees is a short stretch of brick wall. Have a look at the east side of the wall where there is a diagonal line up it. Believe it or not, this is one of the oldest ... Read more
www.what3words.com ///chest.candy.bless The part of the garden to your right is called the Great Lawn. The Speen Manor map shows us that in the 18th century most of it was divided into parterres, but about a third of it was a bowling green!... Read more
www.what3words.com ///rocks.splice.clear When Mrs Farquhar owned Shaw House, she had a range of buildings built for use by her servants that ran northwards from the House’s west wing, possibly reusing some older buildings that were alread... Read more
www.what3words.com ///slides.tummy.glitz This gap in the earthwork terrace was created when Shaw House was a school and there was a gymnasium and a swimming pool here. In the northern side you can see some brickwork that might have been par... Read more
www.what3words.com ///timing.wake.intelligible The First Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1880-81 shows two buildings here built against the wall along Love Lane. The wall along the lane dates from the mid- to late 17th century and, like the ... Read more

 

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