Eastbury, Berkshire, in Old Photos & Film

Glimpse history through old images of Eastbury, Berkshire, England.

Eastbury is a small Berkshire village situated near three Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), being White Shute, Westfield Farm Chalk Bank and Cleeve Hill. To the west of the village is Bernard’s Ford, which can only be crossed by tractors and horses, so pedestrians use the adjacent footbridge.

Each May, the Eastbury Plough holds the Great Eastbury Duck Race.

Since Eastbury is situated in the valley of the River Lambourne and it’s on the old river level road from Newbury to Lambourn, the village has experienced episodes of flooding including July 2007 and February 2014.

Birkinshaw Photo Collection: 1951

In 1951 photographer Donald Birkinshaw took these beautiful black and white photos of the Berkshire village, with its period homes, thatched roofs and deserted lanes.

Eastbury, Berks, England. The Birkinshaw Photo Collection 1951: Christian Noll on YouTube

Floods in the Lambourn Valley: 2007

On Friday 20th July 2007, the flooding of the village and nearby roads was caught on camera by a motorist.

Floods in the Lambourn Valley 3 – J B on YouTube

Troops Bring Sandbags: 2014

Shortly after 2pm on Thursday, 13 February 2014, around 30 soldiers from the 4 Rifles, Bulford, left their base at the Newbury Weekly News offices. They brought much needed additional sandbags to the residents of Eastbury.

The previous Sunday they had assisted West Berkshire Council and Newbury MP Richard Benyon in bringing sandbags to homes at risk of flooding.

Although several properties were indeed flooded, the sandbags helped protect many more.

Newburytoday – Eastbury: Uploaded to YouTube on 13 Feb 2014 by NewburyToday

Eastbury Manor

In the heart of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty lies a Grade II listed 16th Century Manor House, set within 4 acres of land alongside the River Lambourn. The Manor, constructed with a combination of brick, flint, and stone, primarily dates back to the Elizabethan era and is associated with its former owner, John de Eastbury. However, it is believed that an earlier Manor occupied the same site as far back as the 12th Century. Notable features of the house include an oak carved chimney piece in the drawing room, adorned with Tudor panel wainscoting in immaculate condition. The interior boasts well-preserved original English oak flooring, stone mullion windows with their original leaded quarries, finely carved barge-boards, stunning large brick diamond shaft chimneys, and numerous inviting open fireplaces.

It’s not to be confused with the Eastbury Manor House in Barking, London, which is run by the National Trust.

However, this private house in Berkshire can be rented as a film location.

This is lovely drone footage of the beautiful historic house and its gardens set in a quiet road.

“Eastbury Manor”. Uploaded to YouTube by Colin de Fraine Aerial on 15 Jul 2016, under a Creative Commons Attribution licence. Artist: http://audionautix.com/

More about Berkshire

Old Images of Berkshire, England

Thanks to Kent Wang for the CC BY-SA 2.0 licensed image of the Eastbury Plough featured at the top of this page, onto which the title card was added.