Pangbourn

"PANGBOURN, a parish and post town in the hundred of Reading, county Berks, 5½ miles W. by N. of Reading, and 11 from Wallingford. It is a station on the Great Western railway. The village, which is of small extent, is situated on the banks of the Thames. The manor formerly belonged to Brigham, Bishop of Salisbury, who gave it to the monastery of Reading in 1230, In 1671 it became the property of John Breedon Esq. A fine trout stream, called the Pang, here falls into the Thames on the E., giving name to the village, The surface is hilly and well wooded. The land is chiefly in tillage, with a small proportion of pasture and woodland. The soil is in general a sharp gravel and chalk, but fertile in the neighbourhood of the village. The line of the Great Western railway intersects the parish. The tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £609, and the glebe comprises 3 acres. The living is a rectory* in the diocese of Oxford, value £430. The church is dedicated to St. James the Great. The interior contains a chalk monument of singular appearance to Sir John Davis, to whom the manor formerly belonged. The parochial charities produce about £51 per annum, including the endowment of Breedon's school. The Independents have a place of worship. De la Bere House, Shooter's Hill House, Pangbourn Lodge, and Rosewood Cottage are the principal residences. E. A. Breedon, Esq., is lord of the manor. Many Roman antiquities were discovered here in October, 1838."

From The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland(1868). Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003.

Other descriptions can be found from other periods in various trade directories covering Berkshire from the early 19th century onwards from Berkshire FHS (members only) and from A Vision of Britain Through Time.