'The Mounts of Wasing'

          Within this book :-

"I think it must be a most pleasing estate therefore I am willing to be as expeditious as possible - am determined to offer a very handsome price for it".  So wrote John Mount from his London home on Tower Hill concerning the Wasing Estate on 19th May 1759.

This marked the beginning of the family's 240 years' relationship with Wasing and the wider Berkshire countryside and community.  During these years the succeeding squires, all Williams, increased and consolidated the family's Berkshire property.  In 1885 this stood at over 4,000 acres and they continued to serve as magistrates, county councillors, sheriffs and members of parliament (a member of the family is Prime Minister David Cameron).

The book is an attempt to present a glimpse of the family's history against the unfolding background of the last 240 years - the Napoleonic Wars, the Berkshire 'Swing' Riots of 1830, the Great Reform Bill, the Corn Law debates of the 1840s, the death in 1885 of General Gordon at Khartoum and a west Berkshire General Election campaign of the same year, both the world wars (including a family presence on D-Day), plus a view of social life during the past two centuries.

The recorded memories of former estate employees are also included and portray a way of life shared by many rural dwellers between the end of the Victorian years and the outbreak of the Second World War.

The story begins when England was a Republic and Oliver Cromwell was Protector.  At this time yeoman Ralph Mount and his bride were married in a village church in Kent.

It contains 166 pages plus over 30 photographs and illustrations............available through John Trigg or the Woolhampton Village Shop.

click here to see some examples

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