FINCHAMPSTEAD, a parish in Wokingham district, Berks; near the river Blackwater, the boundary with Hants, and the Reading and Guildford railway, 3½ miles SSW of Wokingham. It was known to the Saxons as Flinchamstede; and it formerly had a cattle fair on the first Wednesday of April. Post town, Wokingham. Acres, 3, 926. Real property, £4, 275. Pop., 637. Houses, 130. The property is divided among a few. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford. Value, £500.* Patron, the Rev. Edward St. John. The church is Norman, with a square tower, and was recently restored. There are a Baptist chapel, a free school, and about 57 acres of fuel allotment.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))