The West Berkshire Historic Environment Record (HER) is the primary index of the physical remains of past human activity in the unitary authority of West Berkshire Council. Limited elements of the West Berkshire HER are available online via the Heritage Gateway, therefore it is not suitable for use in desk-based studies associated with development, planning and land-use changes, and does not meet the requirements of paragraph 194 of the National Planning Policy Framework (2021: 56). Please read the important guidance on the use of the West Berkshire HER data. For these purposes and all other commercial enquiries, please contact the Archaeology team and complete our online HER enquiry form.

Summary

Documentary reference to a fieldwork erected by Royalists in 1644 across a heath west of Speen; unsubstantiated location, although possibly covered by the Newbury Bypass

Monument Type(s):

• FIELDWORK (17th century - 1644 AD to 1644 AD)

Full Description

Money's analysis of the Second Battle of Newbury <1> includes an extract from the Royalist Sir Edward Walker's account of defensive tactics near Speen Hill. Referring to a heath, which appears to have been west of Speen, Walker wrote: 'at the entrance to the Heath, between two hedges we cast up a work which cleared the Heath and all the fields to the North even to the river; to the South, within the hedge, there was one narrow field, and from thence a perpendicular descent into a Marish (sic - probably Speen Moor) between that and the River Kennet..' It was apparent that this traverse remained uncompleted and Walker felt that this had contributed to the Royalist failure to stop the Parliamentarian attack.
Money drew a short length of north-south entrenchment on his plan of the Second Battle <1>; if this feature had survived in the late 19th century, it was not depicted on the First Edition Ordnance Survey, unless it coincided with a field boundary <2>. This area was developed in the 1990s as one of the junctions of the Newbury Bypass, but no apparent reference to a Civil War trench occurs in the archaeological work that was carried out beforehand.
No GIS representation has been drawn, but an approximate NGR can be given as SU449681, based on Money's drawing. However, Walker's description might apply to many locations further west, on Wickham Heath.

Sources and further reading

Related Monuments

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

If you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.