Thatcham as a Mesolithic Village

Thatcham is in the Guinness Book of Records as it is the oldest continuously inhabited place in Britain.

In 1920 workmen discovered the remains of a Mesolithic village (for those who are interested, the Mesolithic period was in the Middle Stone Age, between the Palaeolithic and Neolithic periods).

The village dated from circa 8,400-7,700BC and was built near where the modern sewage work at Lower Way Lane are now situated. The village was built on a pine covered gravel bluff, bordered on one side by a treacherous marsh and on the other side a lake, covering a large part of the Kennet Valley.

The village was pretty much destroyed when the area flooded in about 7,500 – however, the very act that seemed to destedroy the village, enabled it to be preserved by covering it in silt.