When is a town in two counties at once? When its Wallingford! This picturesque town is in the historic county of Berkshire, but was stolen since 1972’s Local Government Act by Oxfordshire and now lies within its ceremonial borders.

As the ‘ford’ in its name suggests the town grew up around a river-crossing, the river here being the Thames itself, which provides its eastern border. There have been Romans remains found in the area which suggests they were the first to use it, but records indicate the first settlement here was Anglo-Saxon. It was fortified By Alfred the Great and was the site of his royal mint.

However when push came to shove despite the fortifications Wallingford did not resist the advance of William the Conqueror, the Saxon Lord Wigod allowed his armies to rest there, and the Archbishop of Canterbury Stigand surrendered to him in the town, effectively ending any obstacle to William becoming king.

William rewarded Wallingford’s complicity in his conquest of England by building a large Norman castle in the town. Later that same castle played a major role during ‘The Anarchy’ as civil war erupted following the death of William Adelin, son of Henry I. It all got very House of Dragon as various factions battled for the crown of both England and Normandy, compounded by a significant numbers of Barons who chose neither side but were instead content with carving out their own little fiefdoms.

Clearly the perfect story to be stolen by George R.R. Martin.

The two armies finally met there and Wallingford Castle was beseiged but did not yield and eventually peace was broked in the Treaty of Wallingford and Henry Plantagenet became Henry II of England.

However if you go looking for the castle you will be disappointed, as there are only a few walls and the name of a park to mark that it was ever there. Like many a fine fortification it met its end after the English Civil War,stubbornly standing for the king despite a total blockade for many months. Only starvation ended the brave Wallingford garrison’s resistance. Like many Royalist strongholds it was slighted after the conflict and many of it stones used to enlarge Windsor Castle.

Its a lovely town and was home to Agatha Christie for 40 years, but enough of all that, here are its delicious doors!