Nettlebed

Nettlebed Common around 1900 from Windmill Hill. The large pond is the Sea Pond which still exists. Nettlebed was the major centre for brick, tile and pottery manufacture in Oxfordshire from medieval times, and possibly even earlier, up until the 20th century. As the same materials are required for both brick and pottery manufacture, namely clay, sand, water and firewood, the history of these products is inevitably closely linked. There is evidence that bricks were used in the region during Roman times although no manufacturing sites have been found. After the Romans left England around 300A.D. the use of bricks declined until the 12th century although there is evidence that medieval potteries operated in Oxfordshire in the 9th century. Nettlebed and nearby Crocker End, situated on the top of the Chilterns escarpment on a rich bed of Reading Clay and with a plentiful supply of firewood and pond water, was a natural site for brick and pottery making. 700 feet above the...

                     Thought to be more than fifty million years old, these two pudding stones were found in the courtyard of the 16th century Bull Hotel in the High Street. It was also thought that they might have been used as mounting blocks. After the Bull closed the stones were moved to the present location. ************************************ Pudding Stones and the Geology of Nettlebed by Dr. Jill Eyers Rocks and landscape shaping Nettlebed As you look around Nettlebed today it is difficult to imagine a time when it was anything else but this beautiful green English village with its lush woodland, common and gentle rolling hills. Surprisingly, it is the effects of very different environments that have shaped Nettlebed today. Much of the underlying solid rock is Chalk and this was deposited between 95 and 65 million years ago – the result of warm seas and a massive global warming. After 65 million years plate movements gradually moved us...