| Thatcham | |
  Thatcham shown within Berkshire |
|
| Population | 22,824 (Parish, 2001) |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | |
| Parish | Thatcham |
| Unitary authority | West Berkshire |
| Ceremonial county | Berkshire |
| Region | South East |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | THATCHAM |
| Postcode district | RG18 and RG19 |
| Dialling code | 01635 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Royal Berkshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| European Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | Newbury |
| List of places: UK • England • Berkshire | |
Thatcham is a town in Berkshire, England 3 miles (5km) east of Newbury and 15 miles (24km) west of Reading. Berkshire (ˈbɑːkʃə or /ˈbɑːkʃɪə/ say Baak-shuh/-sheer sometimes abbreviated to Berks) is a Home County in the South In Biology a population is the collection of inter-breeding organisms of a particular Species; in Sociology The British national grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references commonly used in Great Britain, different from using Latitude and Longitude A civil parish in the United Kingdom is a unit of local government. The districts of England are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government History The district of Newbury was formed on April 1, 1974, as a merger of the borough of Newbury Bradfield Rural District, Hungerford Rural The ceremonial counties are areas of England that are appointed a Lord-Lieutenant, and are defined by the government as the Counties for the purposes of the Lieutenancies Berkshire (ˈbɑːkʃə or /ˈbɑːkʃɪə/ say Baak-shuh/-sheer sometimes abbreviated to Berks) is a Home County in the South The region, also known as the government office region, is currently the highest tier of local government sub-national entity of England, with only one South East England is one of the nine official Regions of England. Constituent country is a phrase used often by official institutions in contexts in which a country makes up a part of a larger entity or grouping England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland This list of sovereign states, alphabetically arranged gives an overview of States around the world with information on the extent of their Sovereignty. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system UK Postal codes are known as postcodes. UK postcodes are Alphanumeric. The, also known as the Reading postcode area, is a group of postal districts centered on Reading and Basingstoke in Southern England. The UK Telephone numbering plan, also known as the National Telephone Numbering Plan, is the system used for assigning Telephone numbers in the United There are a number of law enforcement agencies in the United Kingdom. Thames Valley Police is one of the largest Home Office Police services in England and the largest non- metropolitan one covering 2200 sq mi (5700 The fire service in the United Kingdom operates under separate legislative and administrative arrangements in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and The Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service is a statutory fire and rescue service covering the area of the Ceremonial county of Berkshire in The South Central Ambulance Service NHS Trust is the authority responsible for providing NHS Ambulance services in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, South East England is a Constituency of the European Parliament. This is a list of the 646 constituencies currently represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, as at the 2005 general election Newbury is a United Kingdom House of Commons constituency consisting of Newbury, Thatcham, Hungerford and a large A Gazetteer of place names in the United Kingdom showing each place's County, Unitary authority or council area and its geographical coordinates List of places --> List of cities in the United Kingdom List of towns in England Lists of places This is a list of settlements in Berkshire, England. See the List of places in England for places in other counties A geographic coordinate system enables every location on the Earth to be specified in three coordinates using mainly a spherical coordinate system. A town is a type of settlement ranging from a few to several thousand (occasionally hundreds of thousands inhabitants although it may be applied loosely even to huge metropolitan Berkshire (ˈbɑːkʃə or /ˈbɑːkʃɪə/ say Baak-shuh/-sheer sometimes abbreviated to Berks) is a Home County in the South England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland To help compare different Orders of magnitude this page lists Lengths between 1 km and 10 km (103 and 104 m) Newbury is a Civil parish and the principal Town in the west of the County of Berkshire in England. To help compare different Orders of magnitude this page lists Lengths between 10 and 100 km (104 to 105 m) Reading (ˈrɛdɪŋ as Redding) is a town in England, located at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, midway between It covers about 8.75 square miles (23 km²) and has a population of 23,000 people (2003). To help compare sizes of different geographic regions we list here Areas between 10 km² (1000 Hectares and 100 km² (10000 hectares Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. This number has grown rapidly over the last few decades from 5,000 in 1951 and 7,500 in 1961. Year 1951 ( MCMLI) was a Common year starting on Monday. Events of 1951 January Year 1961 ( MCMLXI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.
It lies on the River Kennet, the Kennet and Avon Canal, the A4 road and the course of a Roman road. Kennet Fluss2 dbjpg|150px]] The upper reaches of the River Kennet near Avebury The The Kennet and Avon Canal is a Canal in southern England The name may refer to either the route of the original Kennet and Avon Canal Company, which linked the The Roman Roads were essential for the growth of the Roman Empire, by enabling the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate news It is also served by Thatcham railway station on the line between Newbury and Reading. Thatcham railway station is a railway station in the village of Thatcham in the county of Berkshire in England. Employment is provided by a number of light industrial units and it is also a dormitory town for Newbury, Reading and London. A commuter town is an urban community that is primarily residential from which most of the Workforce commute out to earn their livelihood London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom.
Contents |
History
The area has been occupied continuously from prehistoric times, and is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest continuously inhabited place in England. Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records (and in previous U The well-preserved remains of a Mesolithic village dating from 7700 BC has been found in its vicinity. The Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age was a period in the development of human technology in between the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age and the Neolithic or New Stone Age There is also evidence of Bronze and Iron Age settlements and of a Roman town. The term Bronze Age refers to a period in human cultural development when the most advanced Metalworking (at least in systematic and widespread use included techniques for This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age for the mythological Iron Age see Ages of Man. Ancient Rome was a Civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC
The name may have been derived from that of a Saxon chief called Tace (or perhaps Tac or Tec), who established a village in around 500. The Saxons or Saxon people were a Confederation of Old Germanic tribes. A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet, but smaller than a Town or City. Events By Place Europe Possible date for the Battle of Mons Badonicus: Romano-British and Celts defeat an Anglo-Saxon The settlement was known as Taceham - ham meaning village in Saxon. It is also possible that the name may have come from the Saxon thaec (thatch). Wherever it came from, the name Taceham persisted until after the Norman Conquest in 1066 before going through several minor changes until the current one was adopted in the sixteenth century.
The town had a period of great prosperity around 1304, when the Chapel of St. Thomas the Martyr on the A4, now called the Old Bluecoat School, was constructed. St Thomas Becket (c 1118 &ndash December 29, 1170) was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 to 1170 At this time the population was larger than Newbury's but declined as a result of the Black Death which decimated the area in 1348. The Black Death, or the Black Plague, was one of the deadliest Pandemics in human history widely thought to have been caused by a bacterium named Yersinia There is a Norman parish church of St. Mary which was largely reconstructed in 1857. For other buildings in Normandy see Architecture of Normandy. A parish is a Local church; it is an administrative unit typically found in episcopal or presbyterian churches Click here for Indian Rebellion of 1857 Year 1857 ( MDCCCLVII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the This is believed to be built on the same site as an earlier Saxon Church. It was also previously known as St. Luke's. A local attraction is the Nature Discovery Centre situated at Thatcham Lake, a flooded gravel quarry.
Thatcham ratings
To many people in the UK, the name "Thatcham" is most strongly associated with the approval ratings for car security systems issued by the Motor Insurance Repair Research Centre near the town (see link below). For instance, "Thatcham Cat 1" (or just "Cat 1" is the approval for a combined car alarm and immobiliser, "Thatcham Cat 2" is for a standalone immobiliser and "Thatcham Cat 3" is for additional physical security devices such as steering wheel locks. This article is about the Electronic device. For the Kim Possible episode see Car Alarm (TV Episode. An immobiliser or immobilizer is an electronic device fitted to an Automobile which prevents the engine from running unless the correct key (or other token
With vehicle crime escallating out of control in the late 1980s, the efforts of government and the British insurance industry led to the setting up of procedures to assess and improve the level of vehicle security provided by the vehicle manufacturers and from 'aftermarket' (that is, items fitted after the vehicle has left the production line) suppliers and installers.
The Motor Insurance Repair Research Centre, or "Thatcham" as it is widely known (taken from its Berkshire location), was established in 1969 by British Insurers. It was given the job in 1992 of developing a set of guidelines aimed at improving the effectiveness and reliability of various forms of security devices, from steering wheel locks to audible car alarm systems.
Thatcham not only puts in place the "goal posts" in terms of the test guidelines and effectiveness each device (or vehicle) must be capable of achieving, it also carries out the actual testing of those devices and vehicles. This includes attack tests on the vehicle and laboratory tests on the vehicle security system's components. The attack tests include breaking into the vehicle through the boot, bonnet or doors, overcoming steering locks and trying to start the engine without the original vehicle keys. This results in a points score.
Thatcham's work is funded by charges made to the companies seeking to have their products tested and certified, and by the motor insurers. Its efforts were extended to include commercial vehicles in 1996/97 and motorcycles in 1999.
While best known for testing vehicle security systems, MIRRC also provides a large amount of the data that insurers use to define a car's insurance grouping.
Thatcham Car Security Categories and Installation Certification The simplest form of car security is the steering wheel lock. At best this provides a limited deterrent but the better ones have been categorised by Thatcham as Cat-3 devices (Category 3 - Mechanical Immobilisers). Wheel Locking Devices (locking wheel nuts/bolts) come under Category 4 (Cat-4).
Vehicle engine immobilisers are Cat-2 (Electronic/Electromechanical Immobilisers) and full alarm systems are Cat-1 (Electronic Alarm and Immobiliser combined).
As car security systems improved, the career thief found vehicles harder to steal and so moved towards theft using the vehicle's original keys stolen from homes and offices, briefcases and handbags. Vehicle tracking systems provide an effective way for vehicle recovery in the event of a theft and are categorised by Thatcham as Cat-5 devices.
To conform to these categories, the manufacturers are required to build their products to very stringent criteria. But with aftermarket devices, the product itself is only one half of the equation, with proven expert installation being a requirement.
Installation by a certified company must be proved. Unless these products are fitted by a certified installer, they are not recognised by the insurance companies. So even if you have a Cat-1, Cat-2 or Cat-5 device on your vehicle, you may find that your claim will fail if your car is broken into or stolen and you don't have the proper installation certificate.
Many alarm manufacturers put a small VSIB (Vehicle Systems Installation Board) certificate in the box. If these devices have been fitted by an unauthorised installer, the certificate will not have the proper embossed certified stamp and is thus worthless.
July 2007 flooding
In July 2007, Thatcham was flooded during a period of sustained heavy rain, during which 3 times the average July monthly rainfall hit the town in just 24 hours. While the rivers did not burst, the quantity of water flowing down the hills from Cold Ash and Bucklebury made many roads impassable and stranded hundreds of pupils at Kennet School on the last day of term. Cold Ash is a Village and Civil parish in Berkshire, England. This article refers to the real-life village for J R R Tolkien 's Fictional village see Buckland (Middle-earth Bucklebury Kennet Comprehensive School is a Secondary school in Thatcham, Berkshire, England. Many homes were completely flooded out in this period, with many being forced to move out.
Twinning
The town is twinned with:
Army Cadet Force
Thatcham has an Army Cadet unit known as 16 Platoon Thatcham, B Company, Berkshire ACF. Nideggen is a town in the district of Düren in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. The unit, like its Company is badged under 'The Rifles' light infantry. The unit parades on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 1930 to 2130. It is sited in the Kennet Heath estate which was previously an RLC base. The unit was there when the base was and has survived, but its future is unknown due to the council's need for houses, and the local residents who complain about the noise given off. However, the land has been and still is MoD land, and because the Army Cadet force is a major recruiting group for the Army it is very unlikely that it will be removed.
See also
External links
- Thatcham Historical Society
- Old Bluecoat School
- Thatcham Town Council
- Thatcham Vision
- The Motor Insurance Repair Research Centre
- Berkshire Army Cadet Force
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