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

Domesday records two manors, Erlegh St. Bartholomew and Erlegh St. Nicholas. The de Erlegh family held the manors c. 1160 -1362. John de Erlegh, 1292, was known as the White Knight - thus the manor of St. Nicholas was renamed. The other manor also has a name change to Erlegh Court. Margaret Gelling records that Manor of Maiden Erlegh, Erley Maydens, is attested from 1502 and that it was formed out of Earley Whiteknights in the 14th Century. The size of the estate is believed to have been some 19 acres. The meaning of the term "Maiden" is a little harder to discover. It could refer to the fact that it was owned or occupied by young women.

There is evidence that a Deer Park existed within Richard de Erlegh`s Manor in Earley in 1276 being some 40 acres in size but it is not clear where it was situated. However, a writer in 1944 records that a deep ditch ran along the south side of Wokingham Road near Maiden Erlegh Manor, but had been infilled to widen the road. This could have been a feature to prevent deer from escaping from the old Deer Park. The de Erlegh family, who took their name from the estates, owned both Manors from the eleventh to the fourteenth century. Erlegh St. Nicholas, Whiteknights, was then bought by Henry de Aldryngton, as was Erlegh St. Bartholomew, which then passed through several owners before coming into the possession of the Fettiplace family in 1488. They held the manor, then known as Erlegh Court, until 1706. Sir Owen Buckingham was in possession of Erlegh Court in the early part of the 18th century. He was Lord Mayor of London in 1705 and established a factory in Reading making sail cloth.

Richard Manly was in possession of the estate until his death in about 1750. His daughter inherited the estate and married, but her new husband`s failing health and the subsequent debts lead to them both being imprisoned until their deaths. The Erlegh Court came in to the hands of John Bagnall in 1766. After his death the house was inherited by his daughter Maria Anne - who married Sir William Scott, who became Lord Stowell, a famous politician. He was also an opponent of the construction of the Great Western Railway which he said would spoil the view from his window. Just as Lord Stowell had acquired Erlegh Court by marriage, so did the Viscount Sidmouth who died in 1844. The Manor remained in the Sidmouth family until the 1930s after which the estate was sold for building development.

The site of the old chapel of St. Bartholomew and the Manor of Erlegh Court stood between Pitts Lane and London Road. Erlegh St. Nicholas, Whiteknights, was bought by Henry de Aldryngton in around 1361. After his death it passed down the family line to the Beke family until the death of Henry Beke in 1580. By marriage to Beke`s daughter, Hugh Speke gained the estate. In 1606 the Speke`s sold the Manor of Erlegh Whiteknights for £7,500 to Francis Englefield. His nephew, also known by the same name became the owner in the beginning of the 17th century. The Englefield`s were devout Roman Catholics and thus faced persecution and heavy taxes. The estate remained in the family until the late 1700s, when they were forced to sell due to the ongoing prejudice of their neighbours.

The Marquis of Blandford, who became the Duke of Malborough, had the parkland extensively landscaped during his ownership between 1798 and 1819. He spent lavishly to achieve a magnificent estate which was praised by Kew Gardens, however, he ran up massive debts and his possessions were seized and sold including many of the landscape features. The impressive Manor House was demolished in 1840 -41. The Whiteknights Estate of today is the home of the University of Reading which took over the site in 1947.

Maiden Erlegh was formed out of the Manor of Erlegh St. Nicholas, as a gift of land by John de Erlegh to Robert de Erlegh in 1362. Later it was transferred to a Charles Hide of Abingdon. In 1673 the estate was sold to Valentine Crome, and then passed through several hands. At the end of the 18th century it belonged to William Matthew Birt who was Governor General of the Leeward Islands.

In 1818 the property then passed to the Rt Hon. Edward Golding, M.P. for Downton, Wiltshire. The Manor was purchased in 1878 by John Hargreaves, Master of the South Berks Hunt, who founded a course where hunt and yeomanry races, similar to the modern hunter chases were run. The course extended over an area now covered by Hillside Road, Sutcliffe Avenue and Mill Lane. The grandstand stood on an area which is to the back of the houses in Hillside Road, opposite Loddon Junior School. Soly Joel continued to allow racing until the First World War, then the Maiden Erlegh Racecourse was demolished, the grandstand being re-erected at Newbury racecourse.

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