BLEWBERRY, a parish partly in the hundred of MORETON, but chiefly in that of READING, county of BERKS, 4 miles (N. E. by N.) from East Ilsley, comprising the chapelries of Aston-Upthorp and Upton, and the liberty of Nottingham-Fee, and containing 941 inhabitants. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the peculiar jurisdiction of the Dean of Salisbury, rated in the king's books at £16. 6. 10., and in the patronage of the Bishop of Salisbury. The church is dedicated to St. Michael. William Malthus, by will dated November 16th, 1700, after specifying certain bequests, directed the residue of his estate to be sold, and the purchase money to be invested in land, part of the proceeds of which was to be applied to the maintenance and education of ten boys in the Blue-coat school at Reading, and allowing the bishop of the diocese a discretionary power in the appropriation of the remainder. By deed dated May 13th, 1702, Dr. Burnett, then Bishop of Salisbury, and five other persons, were constituted governors, and agreed on a certain mode of applying the rents, which was confirmed by a decree in Chancery, on the 12th of June, but altered, pursuant to an order from Lord Chancellor King, in 1730. The clear annual income of the charity is about £ 916, the disbursement of which is regulated by a scheme devised in 1816, agreeably to which the trustees allow annually £161 for the support of ten boys at Reading; £50 to a master, and £20 to a mistress, for instructing thirty boys and thirty girls, who are partly clothed and provided with books and stationery; £60 for apprenticing four boys, and £25 for apprenticing four girls; £ 100 for clothing sixty children; and £70 in. compensation to the parents of some of the children for the loss of their labour; besides paying small salaries to certain officers, and defraying incidental expenses. An almshouse for one poor man was founded, and endowed with a gift of £271. 13. 4., by Mr. Bacon, in 1732. A large edifice, called the Charter-house, supposed to have been used as a place of worship previously to the Reformation, has lately been taken down. The manor-house was formerly surrounded by an earthwork, and a deep moat crossed by a drawbridge, the remains of which have been obliterated within the memory of man. A field between Blewberry and Aston is thought to have been the scene of a severe conflict between the Saxons, under Ethelred and his brother Alfred, and the Danes, in which the latter were defeated with great slaughter: in forming a new turnpike road, in 1804, many human skeletons and military weapons were found near the spot. The parish is intersected by a Roman road and a British road, termed respectively Ickleton and Grimsditch. There is an encampment of considerable extent on a hill called Blewberton; and Loughborough hill, the loftiest eminence in this county, has been crowned by an ancient work, apparently constructed for purposes of warfare.