News

A page of Tadley and District History Society (TADS) and local history news. The aim is to highlight new items on this page, with old items being archived for future reference.

The Society's membership is kept informed via its monthly newsletter. This has been published, in various formats, since the very early days of TADS and has proved to be an excellent means of communicating with the membership.

In Grateful Remembrance -
Tadley War Memorial

All are welcome to the book launch of a new TADS publication honouring the men named on the Tadley War Memorial which is being held at 2.30 pm on Saturday 3 November 2018 at the Ambrose Allen Centre, Franklin Avenue, Tadley RG26 4ER.

Tadley War Memorial is located in the grounds of St Peter's Church on The Green. The memorial records the names of the thirty-seven men - thirty-one who died during World War I and six in World War II.

Who were these men, where did they live, how and when did they die?

Why does one man not have a Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone?

Why is it not possible to visit Tom Taylor's grave?

In Grateful Remembrance tells the story behind the names. Not just the personal history of the thirty-seven men, but also that of the lives of those people they left at home.

In 2014, as part of the national commemorations to mark the start of World War I, Tadley and District History Society held an exhibition in the Community Centre of the lives of the 31 men. A second exhibition was held in St Paul's hall the following year, to commemorate those who died in World War II. This book is as a result of the success of these two exhibitions.

In Grateful Remembrance - Tadley War Memorial will be on sale from Tuesday 6 November at Profile Print and Copy, 50 Bishopswood Road, Tadley RG26 4HD (cash and cheques only) [Tuesday to Friday, 9.00 am to 5.30 pm]. It can also be purchased from TADS (tel) 0118 970 1578; (email) tadshistory@gmail.com.

Tadley and District History Society are enormously grateful for the financial assistance given by Tadley Town Council which has enabled the publication of this book.

TADS newsletter

The newsletter's current A5 format is both successful and flexible - should there be more news or information than can fit in the usual four pages, extra ones can easily be added.

Both printed and electronic formats are published; copies of back issues may be accessed here.

If you have anything you wish to be considered for inclusion in future issues of the newsletter, please contact the editor Richard Brown (details on the 'Contact us' page).

Past issues of TADS monthly newsletter.

Lost Medieval village of Tadley -
volunteers required

Tadley is designated in the National Monuments Record (England), now known as English Heritage Archive and the Archaeology and Historic Buildings Record as a 'Deserted Mediaeval Village'. The parish church of St Peter's stands alone amongst the fields, with most of modern Tadley (post 1600), now a town, situated about a mile to the east. One of Tadley and District History Society's (TADS) projects is to discover the exact whereabouts of the original village.

Evidence gathered by TADS so far includes a state paper that mentions the demolishing of a church house and other houses in 1636, archaeological records of a 'spread of mediaeval activity' noted during cable work, aerial photographs of the surrounding fields taken from aircraft and a mobile mast, and a preliminary field walk of a copse behind the church to look for clues of habitation.

Photographs indicate a possible field system adjacent to Tadley Place and a 'linear feature' across a field between St Peter's Church and Tadley Place. It seems logical that the original houses would have been dotted around the vicinity of the church and manor. However, the precise location of any mediaeval buildings has yet to be discovered. It now seems that archaeological techniques, such as field walking, and the use of specialist techniques, such as geophysics, will be the only way of gaining further evidence for the location of the lost village.

TADS is very keen to assist in locating the original site of Tadley village and would love to hear from anyone who would like to join the project and help organise the archaeological activities. TADS members will be able to lend a helping hand. Perhaps it would be a suitable project for a student in archaeology or history? It is possible that any finds would not be just mediaeval but from other periods as well (for example, the Portway Roman road crosses the field opposite St Peter's Church).

Jimmy Thatcher - local photographer

The photographs displayed here were taken by photographer James 'Jimmy' Thatcher (1851- 1941) who lived the latter part of his life in New Road, Tadley. Assisted by one of his daughters, Amelia, he toured the lanes with his tripod strapped to the crossbar and the camera on the carrier of his bicycle capturing daily life in and around Tadley.

A local resident, Les Hawkins is a collector of local photographs and is particularly interested in those taken by Thatcher. He has asked TADS help in identifying the location and if possible, those persons posing for the photographer. If you are able to help identify any of these photographs please either contact Les directly (zzleshawkinszz@hotmail.com) or via TADS (tadshistory@googlemail.com).