The Brook, Wokingham

[behindthefrogs]

The railway history of the area is basically as follows.

1840  The Reading to Paddington Line is opened.

1849  A line is constructed from Reading to Guildford and then extended to Dorking and Redhill.  This is the original line which runs to the south of Brook House.

1856  The railway line from Staines reached Wokingham providing a direct link to London.  This was built by an independent company under the Staines Wokingham and Woking Junction Railway Act.  It had running powers to Reading over the Reading to Redhill line which it joins just before Wokingham Station.  This line runs just north of Brook House.

1938  The line between Reading and Staines was electrified.  The line to Redhill is still served by a Diesel Service today.

David   

[Emmarine]

Thanks so much David,
I will be getting out a map to look more closely at these connections.
This is very informative, and is concise information that would take a lot of digging to find.

Chris

[Robert_Marr]

I forgot all about this thread. Thanks very much to all of you for the information that you have provided. It's been a really interesting read. As my grandfather was adopted a before he was one years old and since he died before I was born I know nothing of his family. I was very lucky to find a member of the Kennedy family online and they provided me with a tree. That has given me so much information that I could not have found out on my own. They didn't know about my grandfather though and as such he was not included in the tree.


I don't know how the Kennedys came to be at the Brook or have a precise date when they moved there. My grandfather Jimmy was born there in 1927 as I stated in the first post and his mother, Emily May, lived there too at the time. May as she was known was born in 1901 but not at the Brook. The address she was born at was Peach Street. The youngest of her siblings, Alfred, was born at Market Place in 1910 so it was sometime between then and 1927 that the Kennedys came to be in the Brook. Indeed May's father Henry died there in 1929.

I noticed looking through the tree that quite a few of the family were buried at All Saints. Do any of you know if this is close to the Brook?

Thanks

Robert

[behindthefrogs]

All Saints is the Wokingham Parish Church and is about a mile from the Brook.  If you are walking you go staight to the town centre, turn right and after about another half mile you come to All Saints.  ( I live about half a mile further on) By car it is a bit more complicated because of one way traffic systems.

The alternative which is St Paul's wasn't consecrated until 1864 a year after the parish was created.  This is only a little further away turning left at the centre of town and heading towards Reading or alternatively following the railway just beyond the station.  The parish boundary appears to follows the Finchampstead Road which I think puts Brook House into All Saints parish.

However this is even more confused by another parish of St Sebastian being created in 1871.  This is to the south and I can't work out where its northern boundary is.

David

[Robert_Marr]

David,

thanks for the information. I noticed alot of Kennedys were buried at All Saints from 1910 onwards and there were baptisms there from earlier. I thought it must be close by.

Cheers

Robert

[newburychap]

thanks for the information. I noticed alot of Kennedys were buried at All Saints from 1910 onwards and there were baptisms there from earlier. I thought it must be close by.

I have just received a draft copy of the MIs for All Saints, Wokingham - should be available from Berks FHS in a few weeks.

[Robert_Marr]

thanks for the information. I noticed alot of Kennedys were buried at All Saints from 1910 onwards and there were baptisms there from earlier. I thought it must be close by.

I have just received a draft copy of the MIs for All Saints, Wokingham - should be available from Berks FHS in a few weeks.

Cheers. I'll look out for that.

[behindthefrogs]

I was looking for something else in the 1881 census today and as I stepped through the households I came to "The Brook"  This was a private house with a separate household of servants.

There was then another property called "East Brook" which was a private school with what looked like paying boarding pupils.

David

[JC1]

I have just found this thread - James Twycross was the brother of my great great great great grandmother Ann Twycross (married name Burchatt) of Godalming, where James Twycross was born. I have a copy of the will of their father John Twycross (a leather dresser) of Godalming - James was an executor for his will, and is described as a woolstapler of Wokingham. I would love to find out more about what sounds a very interesting family. One of the messages mentions that he was mayor in 1858 - does anyone know any more about this? I was also very interested to hear that there are photos of James's children.

JC