Thatcham: West Berkshire Town Claiming to Be the Oldest Continuously Occupied Settlement in Britain
Thatcham sits in the West Berkshire unitary authority, about two miles east of Newbury and 55 miles west of London. The population is around 26,000. Archaeological evidence from the Mesolithic period, roughly 10,000 years ago, was found at excavations near the Nature Discovery Centre, supporting the town's claim to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in Britain. The Kennet and Avon Canal runs through the southern part of the town, and the reedbeds at Thatcham Nature Discovery Centre form one of the largest inland reedbeds in England.
The town centre along the Broadway and High Street grew substantially in the post-war decades as housing estates expanded. Thatcham station is on the Great Western Main Line, with trains to London Paddington in about an hour. The A4 runs through, and the A34 is accessible at the Newbury bypass junction, connecting north to Oxford and the M40, and south to Winchester and the M3. Newbury Racecourse is just to the west.
For a town of its size, Thatcham has a surprisingly deep archaeological record. The finds at the nature centre site include flint tools and evidence of seasonal camps used by hunter-gatherers long before farming reached Britain. The modern town, however, is firmly suburban in character, with its economy tied to Newbury's business parks and the wider Berkshire commuter belt.
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Thatcham sits in the West Berkshire unitary authority, about two miles east of Newbury and 55 miles west of London. The population is around 26,000. Archaeological evidence from the Mesolithic period, roughly 10,000 years ago, was found at excavations near the Nature Discovery Centre, supporting the town's claim to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in Britain. The Kennet and Avon Canal runs through the southern part of the town, and the reedbeds at Thatcham Nature Discovery Centre form one of the largest inland reedbeds in England.
The town centre along the Broadway and High Street grew substantially in the post-war decades as housing estates expanded. Thatcham station is on the Great Western Main Line, with trains to London Paddington in about an hour. The A4 runs through, and the A34 is accessible at the Newbury bypass junction, connecting north to Oxford and the M40, and south to Winchester and the M3. Newbury Racecourse is just to the west.
For a town of its size, Thatcham has a surprisingly deep archaeological record. The finds at the nature centre site include flint tools and evidence of seasonal camps used by hunter-gatherers long before farming reached Britain. The modern town, however, is firmly suburban in character, with its economy tied to Newbury's business parks and the wider Berkshire commuter belt.
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