Holiday accommodation Berkshire
The Hungerford Fishery is unique in many ways, but not least because of its history. There are records that go back pretty well for six centuries but since fishing is one of the oldest occupations then it is hardly surprising that the inhabitants made records of their experiences.
Tradition and indeed history has it that John of Gaunt, (1340-1399) the fourth son of King Edward III, came into the ownership of the Manor through his marriage to Blanche the daughter of Henry, Duke of Lancaster and he granted the inhabitants of Hungerford the right to fish in the River Kennet from Elder Stub at Leverton to Irish Style which is 2 miles downstream of Kintbury. Altogether about 6 miles of prime fishing and a significant source of food in those days. Consequently it was fought over many times by those with a mind to take commercial benefit from these miles of productive chalk streams.
Coaching
Coaching Period begins: In 1752 an enterprising Newbury firm, John Clark & Co., started a Flying Coach service to Bath. It proposed travelling at 4-5 mph, and undertook to perform the whole journey in 12 hours. In the same year, the London to Bath Post Coach took two days for its journey, the average coach weighing over a ton. By 1782 things were only a little better - the London to Bath trip now took 38 hours, and a letter posted on Monday would not be delivered until late on Wednesday, and the reply could not be received until Saturday at the earliest.
Besides the many other hazards of travelling in the late eighteenth century, daylight robberies had become so frequent that the Post Office was driven to the humiliating resort of officially advising the public to cut bank notes in half before sending them in the post, and awaiting confirmation of their safe arrival before dispatching the second half!
The King's Street: In mediaeval times most tracks served merely to link villages to their local market towns. Near Hungerford, however, there was a more important road from a very early date; a survey of Savernake Forest dated 1228 mentions 'the King's Street, leading from the house of the lepers at Hungerford towards Marlborough'. This Kings Way corresponds roughly with the modern A4 through the forest.
Farleigh Hungerford Castle -
was built sometime between 1370 and 1380 by Sir Thomas Hungerford, of Heytesbury - the first Speaker of the House of Commons (c1377). His family and their descendants continued to live here for nearly 300 years and were much connected with Wiltshire. They were one of the richest families in England for many years and owned land from Farleigh to as far as Salisbury.
This Robert Hungerford was known as Baron Hungerford and Lord Moleyns by right of his wife. He was married to Eleanor, the daughter of William Lord Moleyns. While fighting abroad he was captured at Castillon in 1453 - the very last battle of the Hundred Years' War - and imprisoned for seven years in France. When he returned to England, he joined the Lancastrian army in the Wars of the Roses (1455 - 1485), but was again taken prisoner at the Battle of Hexham in 1464 and was attained.
Farleigh Hungerford Castle is an enclosure castle built between the late 14th century and early 15th century and situated on high ground on the south bank of a bend in the River Frome. The castle includes an inner court and outer court with natural man-made defences surrounding it. The inner court lies at the north west end of the castle and comprises a hall with curtain wall and towers. The inside of much of the keep was divided into living quarters, which included a hall and kitchen, seen now as wall footings and substructures, while the northern corner was devoted to the garden. The north east and north west towers are ruined down to basement level, but the south west and south east towers remain upstanding in part. The curtain wall stands to full height in some places and is ruinous elsewhere. The outer court is formed by a curtain wall which abuts the hall and encloses an area of circa 3000 square metres. In the outer court is a chapel, the Priest's House, and the site of the stables