was completed in 1636, and was dedicated with a short verse: Aldermaston saw military stationing in the English Civil War. In 1643, after the First Battle of Newbury, Robert Devereux's Parliamentarians were attacked by Prince Rupert of the Rhine in Padworth Lane. The road is now known as Red Lane, having taken its name from the bloodshed. In October of the following year, a regiment of Parliamentary troops under the command Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester camped in the Aldermaston area. They were defending the crossing at the River Kennet, an operation that came about due to Humphrey Forster's staunch Royalist support. All the estates were sequestered because of these affiliations during the English Commonwealth and returned on the restoration of 1660. Humphrey IV died in 1663. His grandson, an MP, Sir Humphrey Forster, 2nd Baronet (c. 1649 – December 1711), died at the age of about 62 when the Baronetcy became extinct. Congreve family inheritance (1752–1843) In 1752 Forster direct descendants died out and the estate passed to Ralph Congreve as third husband of Sir Humphrey Forster, 2nd Baronet's grand-niece and heir. In 1780 the estate passed to his second cousin, William (a relation of the dramatist of the same name). Many changes to their estate occurred during the William's ownership. The lake by the house was created by damming the stream. The wrought-iron Eagle Gates, at the north-west of the estate, were won at a game of cards so taken from Midgham. To install them, the estate's north-west lodge (a dower house) was dissected (removing the centre section). The estate's east gates are known as the Charity Gates; Congreve's daughters frequently sat by the gates and gave alms to the poor. In approximately 1800, Congreve had a stable block built due west of the house; this is extant and until the site's vacancy was used office space. William Congreve's butler at Aldermaston House, John Manning, died on 31 August 1811. Congreve erected the headstone on his grave in the village churchyard. On 13 January 1843, a serious fire destroyed more than a third of the manor house. William Congreve never recovered from the fire and died the same year. The Congreve name is retained in the name of a cul-de-sac in the village. Burr family purchase and rebuilding (1849–1893) Aldermaston Manor passed into the Court of Chancery, and was eventually purchased in 1849 by Daniel Higford Davall