PADWORTH, a parish in the hundred of THEALE, county of BERKS, 9 miles (S. W. by W.) from Reading, containing 271 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry of Berks, and diocese of Salisbury, rated in the king's books at £6. 6. 8., and in the patronage of the Crown. The church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, is an ancient structure with a semicircular chancel, the roof of which is supported by a well-proportioned Norman arch. The Kennet and Avon canal, and the old Roman vallum, or earthwork, called Grime's Dyke, pass through the parish. Elizabeth Brightwell, in 1750, gave £ 200 South Sea Annuities, for teaching poor children of both sexes.