Tilehurst / Tygelhurst / Tyghelhurst / Tylehurst

No entry found for Tilehurst in the Domesday survey. The Victoria County History (Nerkshire, vol. 3, 1923) notes: "The church of Tilehurst was probably granted to the abbey of Reading at the same time as the manor, but the first evidence of the gift is a charter of Hubert Walter Bishop of Salisbury (1189–93), confirming various churches to the abbey. [...] The vicarage had been instituted before the date of the charter. [...] The only ancient portion of the present church is the south aisle, which apparently dates from the late 13th or early 14th century. [...] The tower is of the 18th century [...] The whole of the rest of the church was rebuilt, and a west door and windows were inserted in the tower in 1856, from the designs of G. E. Street." The Parish web site [www.stmichaeltilehurst.org.uk/detailed-history.html] [accessed 29 November 2011] notes: "The font (for holy water for baptism), the cupboard under the bell tower and the pulpit (replacing one with three tiers) are all Street's design"; it consists of an octagonal basin with carved sides, raised on a base of clustered colonnettes and an octagonal lower base. The font cover is octagonal, with graded sides; also modern.