In
Norman times, the
manor was given to
Reading Abbey and the
manor house – now called
Bere Court – became the
abbot's summer residence. The last abbot,
Hugh Cook Faringdon, was arrested there in 1539 and subsequently executed in Reading. The manor was later purchased by Sir John Davis, the
Elizabethan mathematician and the
Earl of Essex's fellow-conspirator. His
monument is in the
Church of England parish church of
Saint James the Less. The Pangbourne
war memorial is found in the grounds of the church. It was designed by the artist Vera Waddington. Other monuments and
hatchments in the church are mostly to the Breedon family. John Breedon, Senior, bought the manor in 1671. He was
High Sheriff of Berkshire and brother of the
Governor of Nova Scotia, whose son later succeeded John at the manor. The family produced a number of sheriffs and MPs for Berkshire, as well as doctors and rectors of the parish.
Alwyn Surplice, musician, composer of church music and cathedral organist, was borne in Pangborne in 1906. Initially taught the organ by his mother, the organist of Pangborne Parish Church, he went on to be assistant organist and sub-organist of
St George's Chapel, Windsor and, after war service, Organist and Master of the Choristers successively at
Bristol Cathedral and
Winchester Cathedral. He was a professor at the
Royal Academy of Music. He died at Winchester in 1977.
Kenneth Grahame, author of
The Wind in the Willows, retired to Church Cottage in Pangbourne. He died there in 1932.
E. H. Shepherd's famous illustrations of his book are said to have been inspired by the Thameside landscape there and the
water voles of the river are thought to have inspired the character of Ratty. The
Falkland Islands memorial chapel at Pangbourne College was opened by
Queen Elizabeth II in March 2000. It was built to commemorate the lives and sacrifice of all who died during the
Falklands War of 1982, and the courage of those who served with them to preserve the sovereignty of the islands. The Queen revisited the Memorial Chapel in 2007 to mark the 25th anniversary of the Falklands war.
Jimmy Page owned a riverside cottage in Pangbourne from 1967 to 1973. The band
Led Zeppelin was formed and rehearsals for their first album took place in Pangbourne. On 12 April 2024, the men's section of the public toilets were officially opened by
David Potts, standing in for the planned
Joe Lycett. ==Governance==