BERKSHIRE & OXFORDSHIRE.

All that remains of Donnington Castle is the twin towered gatehouse and the foundations.

Bartholomew Street & the church of Saint Nicholas.  The bridge across the Kennet & Avon Canal is on the right.

This 180 degree panorama of Kingsclere was made from beneath an old yew tree in the churchyard, the side of the church is on the left.  In the middle, a public house and florists shop.  On the right is the main street with shops and another old public house.

Newbury Wharf 2005.  Centre left stands the 'Stone Building' the only structure to survive from the original heyday of the Wharf.  Once stables, it is now an information centre & tea shop for the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust. 

The Watermill Theatre Grade II listed premises - the theatre, the house, restaurant, actor's accommodation, offices and gardens are due to come up for sale in 2006.  We need to raise the £1.7 million required to acquire the premises to ensure that The Watermill continues as a theatre and community resource.  http://www.watermill.org.uk

This view of Newbury Wharf circa 1880 shows what an industrious area of the Kennet & Avon Canal the Wharf used to be.  It was filled in and is now a car park, though there are plans to excavate it and use it as visitor moorings, alongside a new restaurant or public house.

This used to be a busy mooring area for the narrow and widebeam boats that once brought flour up the Kennet & Avon Canal to the Hovis bread mill that once stood near to here.

On the road between Newbury & Andover, the well known America Artist Anna Lea Merrit lived here for a while & wrote A Hamlet in Old Hampshire, a book that makes interesting reading, describing events in the village during Victorian times.  Anna is buried in the churchyard.  Sir Donald Wolfitt the actor also once lived here and a plaque can be seen on the wall of the public house. 

In 1941 Kathleen Innes wrote a book called Life in a Hampshire Village about St. Marybourne.  It was published in a nearby farm barn by a publisher who moved all the presses out of London because of the bombing.

Oxford from Headington Hill in October 2004.

A winter view of Newbury Wharf in its heyday.  The 'Stone House' can be seen behind the Newbury Barge.