Cheveley with Oare, Berkshire Genealogy

Guide to Chiveley with Winterbourne and Oare, Berkshire ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Character
Chieveley is a village of 1481 people (2001 census) and 508 households and a civil parish. A map of 1877 stated the area at the time to be roughly 5328.189 acres. Chieveley Service Station serves Junction 13 of the M4 motorway. It is located approximately 4 miles to the north of Newbury, close to the M4 motorway and A34 road.

The landscape is of gently rolling chalk hills. The land is predominantly arable with some dairy, sheep and pigs. There is a healthy quantity of woodland and abundant wildlife. There is a network of green lanes and footpaths that afford good walking.

The civil parish consists of the villages of Chieveley and Curridge and the hamlets of Downend, Oare and Snelsmore Common. The original parish also included Leckhampstead and Winterbourne. The structure has been much affected by roads. The M4 passes east-west through the middle of the parish and has done much to cut Curridge and Oare from Chieveley. This was opened in 1971. The A34 running north-south quarters the parish. Its path has moved several times, the most recent development being a change to Junction 13 that opened in Autumn 2004.

The landscape is dominated by farming. There are currently three working farms in the parish. Other industries include a garden centre, land-fill site, hotels, baker and many small businesses.

History
There is ancient civilisation nearby that indicates early settlement. The parish boasts a fine Iron Age hill fort in Snelsmore, called Bussock Camp. This is in private grounds but is visible in May when they are opened to the public to view the fine display of bluebells.

The name Chieveley is said to be derived from 'Field of Chives'. The WI's 'Berkshire Book' assures the reader that chives were noted in the area as far back as 951. This is the same year that King Edred gave the village to his bailiff, Wulf.

The Domesday Book has this to say of Chieveley (source: The National Archives):


 * In Rowbury Hundred The abbey itself holds Chieveley. It has always held it. TRE it was assessed at 27 hides; now at 7½ hides. There is land for 20 ploughs. In demesne are 3 ploughs; and 28 villains and 10 bordars with 18 ploughs. There are 3 slaves, and 4 acres of meadow, [and] woodland for 60 pigs. Of this land William holds of the abbot 5 hides, and Godfrey 1½ hides, and there is 1 plough, with 3 villains and 2 bordars having 1 plough, and 3 acres of meadow. The whole, TRE and afterwards, was worth 12l; now the abbot's portion [is worth] 10l; [that] of his men 50s.

This text is a structured shorthand tax assessment.

In August 1207, King John seems to have had a good few days' hunting in West Berkshire. He is reported in Curridge on the 3rd and Chieveley on the 5th.

The first vicar of Chieveley was Elias, appointed in 1154. It is likely that there was a Saxon church before it was replaced by the Normans and later the Victorians. Chieveley parish registers start on 10 April 1560. There are still several families in the area who were recorded in those annals.

Chieveley once had its own maypole, on the site now occupied by Maypole Cottage (on the corner of the High Street and Church Lane).

Here is an important mid-19th Century historical and jurisdictional perspective for those researching prior to approximately 1900--by John Marius Wilson:

CHEVELEY, or Chieveley, a village and a parish in Newbury district, Berks. The village stands 4½-miles N by E of Newbury; and has a post office under Newbury. The parish includes also the hamlet of Oare, and the tythings of Courage, Snelsmore, Leckhampstead, and Winterbourn. The property is subdivided. The (parish) living was united with the parishes of Leckhampstead (1754), and Winterbourn (1564), the chapelry of Oare(1802), and the tything of Courage(or Curridge)--each of which, see. There were three dissenting chapels here.

Famous people

 * Robert Goff, Baron Goff of Chieveley, Lord of Appeal in Ordinary.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records
Chiveley parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

Oare parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

Non-Conformist Chruches

 * Baptist
 * Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
 * Primitive Methodist
 * Protestant Dissenters
 * Society of Friends/Quaker
 * Wesleyan Methodist

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Berkshire Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Websites
Chieveley with Winterbourn and Oare in Genuki