CHOLSEY, a parish in the hundred of READING,
though locally in the hundred of Moreton, county of
BERKS, 2 miles (S. W.) from Wallingford, containing
975 inhabitants. The living is a vicarage, with the perpetual
curacy of Moulsford united, in the archdeaconry
of Berks, and diocese of Salisbury, rated in the
king's books at £18. 9. 9., and in the patronage of the
Crown. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, contains
some remains of Norman architecture. The Baptists
have a place of worship here. A monastery was founded,
in 986, by Ethelred, as an atonement for the murder of
his brother, Edward the Martyr, which was destroyed
by the Danes in 1006, together with the village wherein
it was situated. The abbot of Reading had a seat here,
which was granted, in 1555, to Sir Francis Englefield,
and conveyed afterwards by the crown to William
Knollys, Viscount Wallingford, subsequently created
Earl of Banbury.