Project Purley The Local History Society for Purley on Thames in the Royal County of Berkshire Publication L0030 A Village History The story of Purley on Thames by John Chapman Part 1 Prehistory to Tudor Contents Introduction PART 1 1 Prehistory 2 Norman Purley 3 The Plantagenets 4 The Tudors PART 2 5 The Stuarts 6 The Georgians 7 The Victorians PART 3 8 Edwardian England 9 The First World War 10 The Interwar years 11 The Second World War 12 Modern Purley Introduction Purley on Thames in the Royal County of Berkshire began as an obscure Saxon village, probably in the 7th century. It lies about four miles to the west of Reading and has been in its shadow for nigh on 1500 years. The village gave its name to a part of Surrey to the south of London and has frequently been confused with it. By the Millennium it had grown to a parish of around 5000 souls with a strong local identity, albeit without a centre or any visible industry and very little commerce. In writing its history I have drawn on the work of many people who have been researching the subject for many years. We have been staggered by the volume of ancient records which document that history, at least in parts. It first gets a mention in Domesday, like so many other similar villages so for the earlier days I have had to draw on a more general history of the area. I have used the several dynasties which rule England from the 11th to 19th centuries as a framework. A few topics have slipped either side of these rather artificial boundaries for the sake of convenience but on the whole the framework does indicate the significant changes in attitude and social changes which have transformed the village from a typical Saxon settlement scraping a living from the soil to a vibrant community earning its crust from technology and commerce and fairly high in the league table of affluence. The history is told in three parts, First from prehistoric times to the end of the Tudor period, then from the Stuarts to the Victorians and finally from Edwardians to the Millennium. Chapter 1- Before the Conquest Prehistoric Times The Thames Valley has probably been populated for around a million years, although the earliest traces are only 250,000 years old. The area is particularly rich in remains from all the stone ages; there are traces of a neolithic camp in the western parts of Purley and a large number of flint implements have been found on the surface and dredged from the Thames. Until about 2500 BC it was peopled by the peaceful neolithic farmers of the Windmill Hill Culture, but the next three millennia saw a succession of invasions and migrations, mainly coming along the Thames valley. Whether or not there was an actual replacement of people following an invasion, or whether the process was more one of assimilation of fresh cultural and technical concepts remains a matter for debate. However the phases of change are characterised first by the so-called Beaker People who brought the Stone Age to a close and then by the Wessex Culture in which metal working first appeared and hence the name ‘Bronze Age’ For the next thousand years there was a period of slow development characterised by the spread of more permanent settlement and the establish- ment of long distance routes for trade and commerce such as the Ridgeway, and of course the River Thames. Along these routes came a continuous stream of new fashions and ideas together with the goods. Around 750 BC the movement of people began again, with each successive wave bringing a more martial outlook on life and improved weaponry which resulted from the development of iron based technologies. Successive cultures are known by such names as ‘Carps Tongue Sword People’ (750 BC); ‘Hallstatt’ (500); ‘La Tene’ (300) and ‘Belgic’, the early refugees from the Roman Conquests on the continent (75). The dates are very roughly when the lands around Purley were affected. In 50 BC came the final Belgic invasion when the Atrebates, under Commius established their capital at Silchester and they remained a major influence throughout the Roman Period. Commius had been made king of the Atrebates by Julius Caesar after he had conquered the tribe, then living in the Arras area in northern Gaul. This was in 55 BC. Caesar was intending to invade Britain so he sent Commius as an emissary with a mission to visit as many tribes as possible to persuade them to entrust themselves to the protection of Rome. The reception that Commius got in Britain seems to have been fairly unfriendly as when Caesar did visit Britain the next year Commius was delivered to him bound hand and foot. A few years later in 51 BC Commius led the Atrebates in a revolt against the Roman administration and inflicted a defeat upon Volusensus, a Roman general. In the end however they were defeated by the Roman cavalry and Commius sued for peace. As part of the settlement he was exiled to live somewhere he was unlikely to encounter any Romans and so he and his followers came to Britain. The Atrebates were well organised and rapidly extended their territory along the south bank of the Thames to Surrey in the east and to around Goring in the west and thence south taking in most of Berkshire, Hampsh- ire, East Wiltshire, western Surrey and West Sussex. Commius was later succeded by his son Verica. A second, and more powerful, Belgic kingdom the Catuvellauni was established north of the Thames under Tasciovanus, originally centred in Hertfordshire the capital moved to Colchester when the Catuvellauni defea- ted the Trinovantes. Under Tasciovanus’ son Cymbelline the Catuvellauni extended their territory, first to Kent and the rest of Surrey and Sussex and then to take over the Atrebatan territory. Cymbelline reigned from around 5 AD to the time of the Roman conquest over a huge area on south east Britain, although the princes of the Atrebates continued as client kings at Silchester. It was a period which saw the introduction of a stable currency, and many other economic features copied from the Roman model. Under strong leadership the area prospered and trade links were established which exten- ded well beyond the immediate borders of the kingdom. It was this increas- ing prosperity which attracted the Romans once more. The Roman Period The first Roman invasion had taken place in 55 BC when Julius Caesar came to survey the possibilties. He came again in 54 BC but travelled nowhere near Purley. He eventually retired permanently to Gaul having established a pattern of trade and commerce between Britain and the Roman Republic. The major invasion of Britain took place in AD 43 when, in the time of the Emperor Claudius, Plautius began the process of permanent conquest. The recorded history of England begins. The Atrebatans were quite receptive to the Romans as they were familiar with their ways and had been trading partners for many years. They offered no resistance to the new order and seemed rather to welcome freedom from rule from Colchester. In fact the Atrebatan princes continued to provide most of the local administration until their power was ended in AD 61 and all the reins of government were firmly taken under Roman control after the rebellion by Boadicea. However the separate identity of the Atrebates seems to have persisted until 96AD. At first Purley came under the Roman Province of Britannia, but in AD 197 this was split and Purley came under Britannia Superior. A further split took place around AD 300 when Purley was part of Maxima Caesariensis. The status of Britain within the Roman Empire had changed dramatica- lly from the time of the revolt of Carausius who proclaimed himself Emperor of Britain in AD 286. Thereafter there were a number of local Emperors who were in effect Usurpers of the Emperor in Rome, on occasions the usurpers succeeded leaving Britain to be governed by Rege- nts or Vicars, at other times they were defeated and replaced by Military Governors. Such was the concern with power struggles that civic and economic matters were left unattended to. This created a period of increasing inflation with high taxes and debasement of the currency, allied to corruption and neglect on a grand scale. It was a period when the wealthy citizens were able to move out to their estates outside the towns and develop their villas leaving the towns to fend for themselves. There are several Villa sites in the area, perhaps the most noteworthy being near the M4/A340 crossing. There is a suspicion that there is also a site beneath Purley Parva and Pangbourne was certainly the site of a Roman crossing of the Thames. The Age of Arthur In AD 410 the administration in Rome finally abandoned any attempts to administer Britain and she was left to get on as best she could. Britain was subjected to repeated raids from Irish, Scottish and Germanic tribes and often local rulers hired other German groups as mercenaries to protect them. The fifth century is full of shadowy figures such as King Cole (Coel Hen), Vortigern and Ambrosius, who seemed to exercise a unifying force over the former Roman provinces. This succession culminated in Arthur who fought a rear guard action against the invaders being pushed further and further westwards until he was finally defeated around 515 AD. It was also a period when Christianity emerged as a force in the land.