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Shaw is first documented as 'Sagas' in 1080 <1>; its name in the Domesday Book is 'Essages', and means a small wood. At the time of Domesday, it had a mill, meadow and woodland <2>.
It is suggested that Shaw is a medieval shrunken settlement <13>, and that the village shrinkage was noted by the Medieval Village Research Group. The given grid reference of SU 475 684 (or SU 475 685) is just north of Shaw House, although it is not clear what the evidence for this was.
The parish consists of the townships of Shaw and Donnington, two settlements about 1.5km apart. Apart from the church and mansion of Shaw House, Shaw's post-medieval historic settlement is clustered around a crossing of the River Lambourn at SU 4779 6906 where there is a mill along with several half-timbered and brick houses. The Victoria County History of 1924 considered that 'none appear to be of any great age' <11>.
The river forms a parish boundary; to the south was historically Speen parish but this changed to Newbury.
| <01> | Gelling, M. 1973. The Place Names of Berkshire - Part One. English Place-Name Society Vol XLIX. p263. [Monograph / SWB10003] |
| <02> | Morgan, P (ed). 1979. Domesday Book - Berkshire. DB5. 62d. [Monograph / SWB14587]
https://opendomesday.org/ (Accessed 11/01/2023) |
| <03> | ?Hasard, Rev John. c1528-9. Map of Shaw Heath, Berkshire. Paper. [Map / SWB13914] |
| <04> | Gough/ Andrews J P. ?. MS Gough Berks 13. [Article in serial / SWB13299] |
| <05> | Commissioned by the Duke of Chandos. 1729/30. Map of Speen Manor. [Map / SWB12939] |
| <06> | Gray, E W (ed)?. pre 1839. The History and Antiquities of Newbury and its Environs. p172. [Monograph / SWB11182]
https://archive.org/details/historyandantiq00unkngoog (Accessed 16/07/2019) |
| <07> | Peake, H. 1931. The Archaeology of Berkshire. P56,225. [Monograph / SWB10018] |
| <08> | Betjeman, J and Piper, J (eds). 1949. Murray's Berkshire Architectural Guide. p141. [Monograph / SWB10404] |
| <09> | Harvey, John H. 1979. Huntia 3 (3) - A map of Shaw, Berkshire, England, of ca. 1528-29. [Article in serial / SWB13915] |
| <10> | Morris, W A D. 1969. A History of the Parish of Shaw-cum-Donnington. [Monograph / SWB12974] |
| <11> | Page and Ditchfield (eds). 1924. Victoria County History (VCH) Berks IV 1924. Vol 4. p87-91, 94-7. [Monograph / SWB10281]
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/berks/vol4 (Accessed 24/09/2015) |
| <12> | Millson, Cecilia. 1998?. The Story of Shaw-cum-Donnington. [Monograph / SWB13408] |
| <13> | Copley, G J. 1958. An archaeology of South East England: A Study in Continuity. p235. [Monograph / SWB148498] |
| <14> | Harris, J. 1838. Shaw and Donnington Tithe Map. 1 inch to 3 chains. [Map / SWB147584]
http://ww2.berkshirenclosure.org.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=DD1%2f106%2f1 (Accessed 10/02/2022) |
| <15> | Tubb, R B. 2002. Speen, Stockcross, Shaw-cum-Donnington Road by Road. [Monograph / SWB13610] |
| <16> | University of Hull. 2009-16. Beresford's Lost Villages. https://dmv.hull.ac.uk/. Shaw. [Website / SWB148949]
https://dmv.hull.ac.uk (Accessed 26/11/2019) |
| MWB18545 | 1 and 2 Vine Cottages, Church Road, Shaw (Building) |
| MWB18345 | 112 Shaw Road, Newbury (formerly the Old Dog Inn) (Building) |
| MWB18337 | 89 Shaw Road, Newbury (formerly The Wheatsheaf) (Building) |
| MWB20240 | 92-94 Shaw Road, Newbury (former Reading Room) (Building) |
| MWB15909 | Shaw Bridge House, Shaw (Building) |
| MWB5023 | Shaw House (Building) |
| MWB15774 | Shaw House (Park) (Landscape) |
| MWB16720 | Shaw Manor - conjectural location (Monument) |
| MWB6230 | Shaw Mill (Monument) |
| MWB6722 | St Mary's Church, Shaw - ditch (Monument) |
| MWB5022 | St Mary's Church, Shaw (Building) |
| MWB19897 | Thatcham Hundred (Place) |
| MWB5018 | DONNINGTON VILLAGE (Place) |