Mary Russel Mitford and Three Mile Cross

1. Mitford Hall

MRM lived 1787-1855 and is best known for her book Our Village, compiled from articles she wrote for The Lady magazine about life in Three Mile Cross in the 1820s. Her father married an heiress with £28,000 pounds and spent all her money. Mary won £20,000 in a lottery when she was 10 and this went the same way. He kept greyhounds, liked gambling and good living and was a charming , popular man. She never criticized his behaviour, but she had to write to support herself and her parents. The family lived for a while at a house in London Road, Reading , near Kendrick School. He bought an Elizabethan farm house called Grazeley Court and built a new house Bertram House on the site. MRM lived there 1804-20. When the money ran out, the house was sold. She and her parents moved to a cottage in Three Mile Cross where she lived 1820-50. She described it as “a cottage- no a miniature house, with many additions, little odds and ends of places, pantries and what not; all angles and of a charming in- and- outness”. The cottage became decrepit and she moved to Swallowfield. She died in Swallowfield in 1855 and is buried in the churchyard. She also wrote poems, plays, an unsuccessful novel and Belford Regis about life in Reading. Reading Central Library has a Mitford collection of books and letters by her. She was friends with Lady Russell of Swallowfield, Charles Kingsley of Waterbabies fame and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The Palmer Mission Hall behind the cottage was built with money from Mr Palmer of Huntley and Palmer. The Palmer Trust gave money for religious and social welfare projects. In the 19th century many visitors came to see the cottage. MRM’s obituary in The Times described it as “ a place of pilgrimage to some of the highest and most accomplished persons in Europe” .The cottage was used as a meeting room and branch library in the 20th century and was in poor condition for years. There was a restoration appeal in 1969.It is a listed building.

Three Mile Cross She described Three Mile Cross as “a long straggling street of low cottages divided by pretty gardens”. The Swan is given the name The Rose in Our Village. She mentions the bow window on the part that juts into the street. The Swan is a grade 2 listed building from the 17th century. The George and Dragon closed in 1957 and is now Highway Cottage. The Post Office was on the west side of the main road on the 1877 map. It is now on the other side of the road. The Wesleyan Chapel is now a private house. Listed buildings in 3MX : Mitford Hall, Highway Cottage, The Lieutenant’s Cottage, Wisteria Cottage, The Swan and the Post Office. MRM mentions the school and the workhouse. The workhouse was on Lea Common. Stagecoaches from Reading to Basingstoke went along the turnpike road through 3MX. There was a pond on Church Lane where the recreation ground is now. There were several ponds on Spencers Wood common.

2. Woodcock Lane and Bertram House An old drovers’ road named after the Woodcock family who owned properties in the Hartley area of Shinfield. MRM enjoyed many walks here. She mentions that Mr Macadam surveyed it and the turnpike road across Spencer’s Wood commons, to see which road should get a hard surface. The higher road across the common was chosen. Bertram House was on the higher ground to the east of Woodcock Lane.

3. Loddon Court Farm was described in the Victoria County History c 1920 as “ a modern house owned by Mrs Rouppel”. It now has chalet homes. It still has a WW2 pillbox from the GHQ stop line. On the other side of the A33 (not visible from the path) is a scheduled ancient monument: the remains of Beaumys Castle. It was owned by the Despenser family. It was the scene of a kidnapping by John de Dalton of Margery, the widow of the last lord. The site was abandoned in 1420 and only the moat is left. Nearby is a 17th c Priory House on the site of a medieval priory.

4. The Mill House Hotel on the Basingstoke Road is a converted 18th century house. The Domesday book has an entry for Shinfield which mentions a mill on the Loddon worth 5s and 150 eels. Was it this mill or the one at Sheepbridge? Skifer Mill is the name given on a 17th c map by John Norden. The mill burnt down in 1961.

5. Sheepbridge Court and farm There was a moated manor here in the 13th century owned by the Earls of Salisbury. It is first shown on a 1625 map, then on the 1761 Rocque map of Berkshire. Pevsner described it as a moated timber framed 16th c house with 17th c wing. Lady Bayliss, High Sheriff of Berkshire, lived there until she sold it a few years ago. An 1872 OS map names Sheepbridge Mill.

6. Spencers Wood The name is possibly from Geoffrey Despenser who held land in the 13th century. There were a few cottages on the common in MRM’s time. There is a house number 202 on the B3349 with the date 1534. St Michael’s church and Lamb’s Lane school were built in 1908. Previous school was in Stanbury Park, then in the building which is now the library. Stanbury Park was a 17 bedroom house, and was built in 1860s by Frederick Allfrey whose brother owned Wokefield Park. The Stanbury Park estate went from the Basingstoke Road to Woodcock Lane in the west, and up to Grazeley Road. He died in 1915 aged 96 and is buried in Grazeley church. The house was used by the army in WW2 by the Royal Engineers, then a POW camp with Nissen huts. They were converted for housing after 1945. The Orangery from Sol Joel’s estate at Maiden Erleigh was erected there then later sold and moved. The house was damaged by fire in the 1960s and demolished. Now it’s a housing estate called Wellington Court. There is an avenue of wellingtonias.

Highlands was a farm in 18th century and a 7 bedroom house was built there in 1820. William Merry lived there 1831-73, then his adopted daughter. The house was converted to offices in 1967.

There was no mains gas, electricity or water in Three Mile Cross and Spencers Wood until after WW2.