- Touchen End
infobox UK place
country = England
official_name= Touchen End
latitude= 51.4801
longitude= -0.7389
civil_parish= Bray
population = <100
unitary_england= Windsor and Maidenhead
region= South East England
lieutenancy_england=Berkshire
constituency_westminster= Windsor
post_town= MAIDENHEAD
postcode_district = SL6
postcode_area= SL
dial_code= 01628
os_grid_reference= SU875765Touchen End, or Touchen-end, is a hamlet in the
civil parish of Bray in the English county ofBerkshire . It is situated about convert|3|mi|km south ofMaidenhead and convert|5|mi|km|0 west of Windsor.Toponomy
The earliest record of a settlement is from 1274 when it was called Twychene which is possibly a corruption of 'two chain' where chains were stretched across road junctions to enable a toll to be levied. The village lies on the junction of the A330 and the B3024 so this is a plausible explanation. Another theory is that the Touchen End has evolved from a shortening of Tutchin Lane End meaning a hamlet at the fork of a road.
In the years since 1274 the village has been recorded on
map s and referred to indocument s which show the evolution of the name: ["Place Names of Berkshire", Margaret Gelling (ed) ISBN 978-0904889451]Holy Trinity Church
The village expanded in the mid-19th century with the building of an Anglican church - Holy Trinity - which is mentioned in Pevsner, and an adjoining
National School .The church was built in 1862 in the 14th century style and is constructed of red brick with stone dressings and a tiled roof, the architect was John Turner.The Buildings of England, Berkshire.
Nikolaus Pevsner . 1966 ISBN 0140710302] The stained glass windows "of a simple Grisaille pattern" and fittings were designed by William White. [cite book | last = Editorial | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = The Builder | publisher = | date = 1862-06-14 | location = | pages = 430 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = ]Within five years the church was so overcrowded that a south aisle was built, paid for by public subscription including a donation from Queen Victoria."Notebook of Revd. J.E. Austin Leigh". Berkshire records Office document number DP/23] In later years, it served as a chapel of ease to St Michael's, Bray until it was deconsecrated in the early 1970s. It is now, along with the school buildings, a private residence. The south aisle was demolished at the time of conversion and the east window, given by David Blackmore, is now in a prison chapel at
Long Crendon ,Buckinghamshire ["History of Touchen End". R.Fontaine]The graveyard attached to Holy Trinity remains in use under the parish of Bray and is notable for the grave of
William Thomas Forshaw VC.References
External links
* [http://www.berkshirehistory.com/villages/touchenend.html Touchen End's entry on David Nash Ford's Royal Berkshire History]
* [http://www.victoriacross.org.uk/bbforsha.htm William Thomas Forshaw VC]
* [http://www.churchplansonline.org/show_full_image.asp?resource_id=05809.tif Holy Trinity on Church Plans Online]
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