Pangbourne is one of our regular places to visit if out on the boat for a weekend or even for just a day. It caters for boaters very well, as a long stretch of the River Meadow is available for free mooring. The village which although small, has a good range of shops as well as pubs, small cafes and restaurants and is only a short walk away. Like many of the villages on the banks of the Thames, Pangbourne has a long history. The first recorded mention of it is in a Saxon charter of 844. In fact the name derives from a Saxon word, Paegaingaburnan, meaning 'stream of the sons of Paega.' Paega was the leader of a Saxon group who settled on the site. Nowadays the oldest buildings to be found are the cottages and the Cross Keys pub, opposite the parish church, which date from the 16th century. It was in one of the cottages, Church Cottage, that Kenneth Grahame, author of 'Wind in the Willows' lived earlier this century. For centuries it was a very small quiet village. This all changed in 1840 with the coming of the railway. The Great Western Railway, built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, had a station built just outside the village opposite the 17th century Swan pub. This meant that Pangbourne was now easily reached from London. It became a popular place for visiting anglers, artists and pleasure seekers. Anyone who has read Jerome K Jerome's novel 'Three Men in a Boat' may well remember that it was at Pangbourne that the gallant threesome ended their epic journey and hopped on the first train back to the metropolis.