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'Soleham' recorded in Domesday Book. Later versions of the name include 'Suleham' (1184) and 'Sullum' (1535). The village is sited on a slope which rises sharply from the stream, and the name is probably a compound of Suhl (gully) and Ham (homestead) <1>.
Greenaway suggests name means "the farm in the narrow valley" <5>. Murray's Guide <4> compares Sulham to the picturesque village of Selworthy in Somerset.
Ancient field names are mentioned in <10>.
| <01> | Gelling, M. 1973. The Place Names of Berkshire - Part One. English Place-Name Society Vol XLIX. P220. [Monograph / SWB10003] |
| <02> | Morgan, P (ed). 1979. Domesday Book - Berkshire. DB5. 61b, 61c, 63b. [Monograph / SWB14587]
https://opendomesday.org/ (Accessed 11/01/2023) |
| <03> | Hadcock, R N. 1968. Rural District of Bradfield (Berkshire), Official Guide. [Monograph / SWB14015] |
| <04> | Betjeman, J and Piper, J (eds). 1949. Murray's Berkshire Architectural Guide. p145. [Monograph / SWB10404] |
| <05> | Greenaway, D. 2007. Around the Valley of the Pang. p150. [Monograph / SWB147222] |
| <06> | Tyack, G, Bradley, S and Pevsner, N. 2010. The Buildings of England (Berkshire). p59. [Monograph / SWB147855] |
| <07> | Fletcher, W. c1840. Tour Round Reading. Google book. p81, Illust. [Unpublished document / SWB148846]
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=EeQGAAAAQAAJ (Accessed 06/02/2019) |
| <08> | Greenaway, D and Dunlop, L. 2011. Around the Three Valleys. p193. [Monograph / SWB148275] |
| <09> | Page and Ditchfield (eds). 1923. Victoria County History (VCH) Berks III 1923. Vol 3. p428. [Monograph / SWB10005]
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/berks/vol3 (Accessed 08/03/2022) |
| <10> | 1889-91. Quarterly Journal of the Berkshire Archaeological and Architectural Society Vol I. I. In ADS Journals. 10.5284/1000017. p100 in The Value of Field Names. [Article in serial / SWB5021]
http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/berks_bas_2007/journal.cfm?volume=-101 (Accessed 18/05/2016) |
| <11> | Robertson, J G (ed). 1843. Environs of Reading. Google book. p81-3, illust. [Unpublished document / SWB149097]
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=7eYGAAAAQAAJ (Accessed 23/08/2016) |
| <12> | The Tate. Digitised collections from the Tate Archive. http://www.tate.org.uk/art/archive/collections. Photographs taken by John Piper. [Website / SWB149075]
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/archive/collections (Accessed 15/08/2016) |