Prehistoric Earley - The Romans and beyond - The Middle Ages - The Manors of Erlegh - About Soly Joel - Maiden Erlegh Park - Other Natural Features - From Hamlet to Town

The Romans invading England in AD 43, came to a land with fully developed agriculture. Roman artifacts have been discovered at a number of sites Earley. In east Berkshire a wide range of settlements have been discovered ranging from villages to isolated farmsteads. Some Roman settlements developed from existing Iron Age sites, such as the one located at the Thames Valley Business Park in Earley. By the time Roman rule had ended all traces of this settlement had disappeared, and the area was effectively abandoned. During this time the nearest large Roman settlements were at London and Silchester.

A Saxon settlement has been discovered in Reading at the confluence of the Kennet and the Thames dating from about 600 AD. This group called themselves the Readingas, from which the Town of Reading takes its name. During the Reign of Edward the Confessor the Manors at Earley were held by the Crown. The Great Survey of AD 1086 reveals that only about 20 per cent of Berkshire was wooded, and by 1200 much of the modern landscape was already recognisable. The Norman conquest had the positive effect of increasing woodland cover to provide hunting forests with Windsor Forest extending to the Loddon.

Prehistoric Earley - The Romans and beyond - The Middle Ages - The Manors of Erlegh - About Soly Joel - Maiden Erlegh Park - Other Natural Features - From Hamlet to Town