Kennet Centre or Eagle Quarter – there’s more history in a name
How things change…
The Kennet Centre in Newbury creeps towards redevelopment, with new plans for blocks of flats over covered walkways of shops submitted, and The Eagle Quarter touted as the new name for the area. The name harks back to 1790 when an iron foundry called the Eagle Iron Works was on the site.
While the developers twist and turn their way to getting the 5.4-acre site redeveloped, strong local opposition has seen the plans criticised for making the town “look like Basingstoke”.
Heritage campaigners have contributed to architectural detail changes, and a reduction in scale.
But much of the planning blurb surrounding the still-to-be-decided application draws on linking Newbury’s historic, commercial past to the present.
But does ‘experience-based shopping as a leisure activity’ with some encouragement for boutique entrepreneurship, presented as the core function of the new-look town centre, really chime with its more robust sounding cloth-making, iron works, engineering history?
As our Local Democracy Reporter Niki Hinman reports, planning developments on the site go all the way back to the Norman conquest in 1066.
Newbury’s name is thought to be as a result of its foundation as a new borough, “Neoburiae”, in the 11th century, following the assumption of power in England by the Normans.
In 1086 the Domesday book noted the borough as consisting of 22 households, land for 12 ploughs, two mills, woodland for 25 pigs, 27 acres of meadow, 11 villagers tied to the landowner as farmhands, 11 smallholders, and 51 enclosures (private estates) producing 70s 7d per year.
The settlement had around 1,500 inhabitants – now there are around 45,000.
In 1086 the Lord and Tenant-in-Chief of Newbury was Arnulf of Hesdin.
A popular twice-weekly market and once-yearly fair was held in the town.
In the 15th and 16th centuries Newbury grew in size and wealth as a result of successful activities in the wool and cloth trade.
It is reported that the prosperous Newbury Winchcombe family, including cloth magnate, ‘Jack of Newbury’ (John Winchcombe, 1489-1557), was producing cloth for export on an industrial scale in local mills and weaving workshops in the 16th century.
He also lived at the house standing today at 24 Northbook Street.
Another wealthy cloth merchant, Thomas Dolman, also established a business in Newbury and built Shaw House.
Many more weaving magnates established themselves in the town in this period and ever increasing numbers of labourers to undertake the work.
The town seems to have expanded northwards in this period, as well as to the west where many mills were now located.
A good number of medieval buildings in the centre of the town were rebuilt or refronted at this time, many of which survive today.
The Norman parish church of Newbury, St Nicolas, was almost entirely rebuilt in this period.
By the late-17th century Newbury had lost much of its wealth as a result of the collapse of the local cloth trade and the disruption of the English Civil War (1642-1651). Gradually Newbury’s mills began to close, the last of them, Greenham Mill, in 1817.
Newbury had doubled in size by the 12th century and became a reasonably significant settlement, sitting on a major toll road route.
So significant that King Stephen (1096-1154) is said to have besieged the castle at Newbury for five months, though the location of this castle is still unknown (possibly in Hamstead Marshall, destroyed in the 13th century).
During this medieval period the focal point of the town was probably a timber bridge across the River Kennet.
The inverted Y-shaped plan of the town was established in this early period of its history and can be seen on all known historic maps: Two roads from the south (one from Winchester/Andover and one from Kingsclere/Basingstoke) join at the south and on the opposite side of the river is the single Northbrook Street, leading north to intersect with the major road from London to Bristol.
By the early 13th century Newbury boasted a relatively large market – larger than that in existence today – a corn mill and fulling mill, all signs of prosperity.
The main industry was the production of wool, as well as leather tanning.
During the English Wars of the Roses (1455-1485) Newbury was the property of the Duke of York.
The town was captured by the Earl of Wiltshire in 1460 and he executed many of the Yorkist-supporting residents of the town.
The Duke of York’s son later became King Edward IV and Newbury later became a Royal Borough.
Newbury also acted as a meeting place for the followers of the Duke of Buckingham in 1483 when he rose against King Richard III.
Many almshouses were built by wealthy individuals to assist the town’s unfortunate citizens in a time of economic difficulty and high taxes; for example at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, in West Mills, on Newton Road, and Northcroft Lane.
The rise in popularity of the nearby town of Bath as a holiday destination for the wealthy in the 18th century allowed for a partial recovery of Newbury’s fortunes.
Situated half way between London and Bath, Newbury was a convenient resting point in the middle of the two-day journey. This activity encouraged the establishment of a large number of coaching houses in the town and outskirts in the 18th century. Theatres also thrived at this time.
The first town hall for Newbury was built in 1742 and the wooden bridge over the River Kennet was replaced in 1772 by the stone one in place today. West of the bridge is Newbury Lock.
In the 18th century, new industries also arrived in the town, assisting in initiating another peak of prosperity.
By 1723 a route was created down the River Kennet, running through Newbury town centre, towards Reading (The Kennet Navigation).
Two large basins were excavated for barges and the Wharf was constructed.
As a result Newbury became an inland port, encouraging a good deal more trade and commercial activity in the town.
A significant shift in industrial activity in Newbury was heralded by the establishment of several iron works and engineering firms in the town in the late-18th century and the encouragement of that area of activity.
This activity came to rival the success of the cloth industry in the town, and ultimately to outlive it in the town when the cloth industry relocated to Yorkshire in the mid-19th century.
The first engineering works opened was that established by William Plenty in 1790 – these were the Eagle Iron Works.
By 1830 Newbury had five iron foundries. Several of these iron works survived Newbury’s next decline of the mid-19th century. The continued presence and operation of this industry in Newbury into the mid-20th century highlights its longevity and importance and enhances its significance and value to the town’s history.
By 1801 the population of the town was 4,725.
On the east side of the town centre a basin and wharves were established to accommodate the increased trade in goods. Barley from Newbury was transported on barges for malting.
Newbury remained predominantly a market town, but many other industries were active here in the 19th century; the town had iron foundries and brick making, silk and paper manufacture, and brewing also took place.
By the 1850s there were nine breweries in the town; the last remaining in operation until 1930.
A corn exchange was built in 1862 and cattle market established in 1873 – replaced in 1968 by a multi-storey car park, which in turn was replaced by the bus station in 1988/89.
The focus of the town centre in this period was Market Place, medieval Cloth Hall and adjoining half-timbered granary, as well as the 17th and 18th century buildings of the town centre.
By 1887 the Ordnance Survey map shows timber yards and malthouses around Newbury’s wharf area, along with brewery and tan yards in the Park Way area.
Along the west side of Bartholomew Street were several malthouses and some large breweries (including West Mills Brewery and Phoenix Brewery). Another brewery lay south of Pelican Lane.
A number of engineering joinery companies were also established by now, among them Eagle Works and Elliott’s Moulding and Joinery Company Ltd.
Some social reforms were implemented in Newbury in the 19th century aiming to tackle the problems caused by an increase in the town’s population.
This included the creation of more schools and the clearance of slum areas of the town.
The Newbury Union Workhouse was built to house the poor in 1834 and later became Sandleford Hospital.
By the late 19th century the town had around 75 pubs, many of which were closed down in the following decades as a result of lobbying by supporters of the Temperance movement.
Only by 1906 was Newbury station connected to the main line of Taunton to Reading – and in to London Paddington.
An electricity supply was provided to the town from 1904.
Newbury Racecourse was built in 1905.
In 1920 the first local authority housing was provided in Newbury, in St George’s Avenue.
In the 1940s the Supermarine Spitfire aircraft was manufactured for the RAF by Vickers Armstrong.
In a building along Turnpike Road, in Shaw, certain parts for the aircraft were produced. The factory was built by the Ministry of Defence after the company was evacuated from Southampton.
When they first arrived in Newbury Vickers Armstrong had three sites – one at West Mills, one in Bartholomew Street and a third in Northbrook Street.
Newbury was affected by bombing during the Second World War. On February 10, 1943, four 500kg bombs and several smaller explosives fell on Newbury – 15 people were killed, 41 injured and many houses and other buildings destroyed.
In the 1950s the construction of housing estates that had begun in the 19th century now increased rapidly, most notably to the north and south of the town centre.
Newbury College was also founded on Oxford Road in 1948 on the site of the former Ormonde Hospital. A new police station and crown court was added in Mill Lane in 1965.
By the 1980s the town had almost expanded to its current extent. The construction of the A34 was begun in 1950 as a relief road for the town.
In 1977 the road was extended northbound to the M4 and a bridge was built over Western Avenue (A4).
In 1979 the A339 was extended to the south, to be known locally as the Sandleford link. An extensive industrial area to the east of the new relief road was created at this time.
An initial scheme to construct a new shopping centre was proposed in 1967; this multi-phased development became known as the Kennet Centre and was completed in the 1980s.
Newbury bypass (A34) was finally completed in 1998 after delays and complications owing to various controversies and protests over the building of the road.
In 1997 Newbury Retail Park opened along Pinchington Lane, on the former site of Newbury Rugby Club.
In 1998 it was decided that Northbrook Street would be pedestrianised during the day. The same arrangement was made for Bartholomew Street in 2000.
Today the northern part of Bartholomew Street, Market Place and Northbrook Street are all pedestrianised from 10am until 5pm daily. But there are plans to expand the timings.
In 2011 the Parkway Shopping centre opened. It has around 50 shops, cafés and restaurants, 550 car parking spaces and 150 apartments.
The story of Newbury’s development in the medieval and early modern periods, as with most British market towns, is characterised by cycles of peaks and troughs of prosperity and slow decline.
The tradition of industry and commerce is continued in Newbury today, and the town is sometimes remembered as the site for certain major global firms.
In the 1980s the company Racal (now Vodafone UK) decided to establish headquarters in Newbury. Many other companies of the technology and pharmaceutical sectors joined Vodafone, but have since left, including Bayer.
In 2002 Vodafone moved into a new £129m world headquarters with 3,250 employees within a ‘campus’ of seven buildings to the north of the town centre – a move partly blamed for the decline in use of the Kennet Centre.
In the words of the developer Lochailort: “The reason for spending a moment to describe Newbury’s journey from 1086 to the current day is to allow us to observe its constant knack for re-invention.
“Its ability to move with the times and to maintain its vibrancy and attractiveness by understanding how social and economic change, so often a challenge, might be seen as an opportunity.
"We are now at a point of change as a result of the structural change in shopping and living, and how technology is driving new ways of working, eating, communicating and living.
“Our design proposals re-establish the streets and spaces that once allowed and fostered this melee of activity and industry.
“The uses that we propose include employment spaces for new small and medium-sized enterprises, shops and cafés aimed at local and independent operators, supporting the next generation of Newbury’s entrepreneurs.
“The living accommodation is aimed at those who want to live in town not out-of-town and to enjoy (and to contribute to) all of the economic, social and cultural benefits that Newbury has to offer.
“The residents will bring life into the heart of Newbury and will be a positive part of the next period of Newbury’s constant reinvention, very much in the spirit of all that has gone before.”
