Tadley, Hampshire

Originally the parish was heathland and common land covered in gorse[?] and blackberries, with a few scattered settlements. Bricks used to be made at Tadley Common and the manufacture of besom brooms[?] was, and still is, another local industry. Relics of these industries can be seen in the names of houses in the village such as Kiln House and Broom Cottage.

A congregational chapel was founded in Tadley in 1662; this may be identified with a chapel which was converted into the first village school in 1820.

In recent years Tadley has become a township, with residential estates covering the former heath lands. Development has occurred on either side of the Hampshire/Berkshire border following the growth of a government establishment in the 1950s and the designation of Basingstoke as a London overspill town in the 1970s

Some of the people in Tadley used to live in Berkshire, but now the borders have been moved so that all of the town is now in Hampshire.

Tadley is the home of the besom broom industry. This sort of broom is traditionally owned by mythical witches. The brooms that are used on the Queen's premises are/were made in Tadley.

North of Tadley is the great atomic weapons plant, Aldermaston[?], where lots of demonstrations have been held through the years.

Tadley doesn't really have lots of interesting places to visit, although there is a Roman Wall at nearby Silchester, the site of a big Roman settlement.