Town in Berkshire, England
Newbury
Newbury has fought three battles: two in the Civil War, and a 1990s treehouse stand-off over a bypass. It also made a coat in a single day.
Key information
- County
- Berkshire
- Nation
- England
- Known for
- Horse racing, the Civil War battles, Greenham Common and the Kennet and Avon Canal
- What locals are called
- Newburians
- Famous people
- John Winchcombe (Jack of Newbury), Lucius Cary (Lord Falkland), Earl of Essex
- Football clubs
- Newbury AFC
About Newbury
The town that had three battles
Newbury gave its name to two of the Civil War's most important clashes. On 20 September 1643 the Earl of Essex's Parliamentarian army fought Charles I's Royalists in the fields south of the town. Essex's men were heading back to London and Charles tried to block them. The Royalists lost one of their brightest minds that day. Lucius Cary, Viscount Falkland, a poet and thinker who hated the war, rode into a gap in a hedge under fire and was killed. The second battle came on 27 October 1644, and nearby Donnington Castle played a part. Its Royalist garrison held out against long sieges, and the battered gatehouse still stands on its hill. Then came the "third" battle. In the mid-1990s protesters lived in treehouses and tunnels to try to stop the Newbury bypass. The road opened in 1998 anyway, but the protest changed how Britain argued about roads.
Jack of Newbury and the cloth boom
Before it was a racing town, Newbury was a wool town. In Tudor times the cloth trade made some of its merchants very rich, and the richest was John Winchcombe, known as Jack of Newbury. He became a folk hero, and his story was turned into a popular Elizabethan tale. The 1626 Cloth Hall, now the town museum, is a reminder of those days. The River Kennet provided the water and the transport that kept the looms busy.
The coat made in a day
On 25 June 1811 Newbury set out to prove that a coat could go from sheep to suit in a single day. A flock was sheared at dawn, and the wool was carded, spun, woven and tailored while crowds watched. The finished Newbury Coat took 13 hours and 20 minutes. It was worn that evening by the man who had staked a hefty wager on it. The stunt turned into a minor legend of the Industrial Revolution, and the story is still told in the town.
Where Arkle ran and the canal runs through
Newbury Racecourse opened in 1905 and quickly became one of the great jumping venues. Its big winter handicap chase, traditionally known as the Hennessy Gold Cup and now called the Coral Gold Cup, has been held here since 1960. Arkle won it in 1964 and 1965, and Mill House took it in 1963, which made the rivalry between the two horses a national talking point. During the Second World War the course was turned over to military use, serving as an American supply depot. The other waterway is the Kennet and Avon Canal, which links London and Bristol. It runs right through the centre, and Newbury Wharf has working locks and canalside walks. Restoration was completed in 1990 after decades of decline, and the towpath is now a popular route for walkers and cyclists.
Greenham Common: missiles, women and open heath
Just outside town, Greenham Common became a Cold War symbol. American cruise missiles arrived in 1983, and a women's peace camp had already formed in September 1981. It lasted for years, with fences hung with banners, photos and personal items. The base closed in 1993, and the common was returned to the public in the 2000s. The old control tower still stands on the heath, which is now a place for walking, bird-watching and kite-flying. It is one of the strangest turnarounds in Berkshire. Newbury today is also a business town, with Vodafone one of its best-known employers.
Market-town life
Newbury is still a proper market town, with a busy centre, a Corn Exchange and shops around the Market Place. Locals are Newburians, and weekends tend to be about racing, the canal or a drive to Berkshire's villages. For football, Newbury AFC fly the flag at non-league level, and the town's rugby and cricket clubs are active too. Berkshire's local pig breed, the Berkshire, is a heritage breed, and it turns up on the menus of local gastropubs and farm shops.