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Summary

A settlement which developed adjacent to a wharf on the Kennet Navigation, later the Kennet and Avon Canal

Associated Legal Designations or Protected Status

• Conservation Area: Aldermaston Wharf

Other Statuses and Cross-References

• Berkshire SMR No. (pre 2000): 05050.25.010
  

Monument Type(s):

• TRADING SETTLEMENT (18th century to Mid 20th century - 1701 AD? to 1950 AD?)
• WHARF (18th century to Late 19th century - 1718 AD? to 1900 AD?)

Full Description

The First Edition Ordnance Survey <1> shows the settlement of Aldermaston Wharf at the junction of canal, roads and railway, with a malthouse and brewery. The wharf itself lay along the waterway to the east of the lock and bridge. According to an interpretation board by the canal <2>, the settlement built up as a trading community around the wharf on the Kennet Navigation, a forerunner of the canal which was completed in 1723 between Newbury and Reading. In July 1740 the central carpentry depot for the canal was based at Aldermaston. By 1810 the Navigation had been linked to Bath through the Kennet and Avon Canal. The waterway was used to carry flour, cheese, timber and malt to London and bring back coal and iron, or luxury goods such as tobacco and spirits.

After the canal was completed, local trade flourished, and a 1811 promotional pamphlet described Aldermaston as having "a large wharf which is the place of export of very considerable quantities of round and hewed Timber, Scantling, Hoops, Brooms, etc, as well as of Malt and Flour". Imports included coal, groceries and manufactured goods. Even in the early 20th century, the wharf was described as having "considerable trade in timber, coals and wood hoops" <3>. There was also a brewery at the wharf, owned in the late 18th century by Francis Strange <2>.

When the Great Western Railway bought the Kennet and Avon Canal in the 1850s, an extra spur was cut to the north to link the waterway to the railway sidings.

British Waterways produced a Heritage Impact Assessment in relation to proposed redevelopment of Aldermaston Wharf in 2011. The report includes a number of photographs of the area, including the canal, Listed Buildings, modern housings, and maps showing the area in the 19th century and the conservation area <6>.

West Berkshire Museum has a photograph showing Canal Cottage, once used as accommodation for canal workers, in its modern guise as a visitor centre <7>.

Sources and further reading

Related Monuments

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

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