CAVERSHAM, a village and a parish in Henley district, Oxford. The village stands on the river Thames, in the vicinity of the Great Western railway, 1 mile N of Reading; and has a post-office under Reading. It is a long straggling place, partly mean, partly well built, partly winged with neat new villas.
A bridge connects it with Reading; was the scene of a sharp skirmish in 1643; was rebuilt in 1869; and in the clear, is 290 feet long. An island below the bridge was the place where Robert de Montfort and Henry de Essex fought in the presence of Henry II. A priory of black canons, a cell to Nutley Abbey, stood at the village; and was famous, in the old Romish times, for some boasted relics. The martial Earl of Pembroke, protector of Henry III., died at Caversham; South, the celebrated preacher, prepared his sermons at it for the press; and Earl Cadogan takes from it the title of Viscount.
Caversham Bridge c. 1900
The parish comprises 4,772 acres. Real property, £11,167. Pop., 1,783. Houses, 335. The manor belonged, at the Conquest, to the Giffords; passed to the Marsacs and the Cadogans; and belongs now to W. Crawshay, Esq. The mansion, called Caversham Park, occupies a commanding site, amid fine grounds laid out by Brown; and was destroyed by fire in the time of George I., and again in 1850, and each time immediately rebuilt. Queen Anne of Denmark was splendidly entertained in the original edifice; and Charles I. was for some time kept prisoner in it, and allowed to have interviews with his children.
The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford. Value, £116. Patron, Christ Church, Oxford. The church is partly Norman, partly later styles; lost its north side and its tower in the civil wars; and was partly restored in 1857.
The vicarage of Kidmore is a separate charge.
There are a Baptist chapel of 1866, another dissenting chapel, a national school, a British school, and charities £13.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
View from the tower of St. Peters Church Caversham c. 1900
