The town has a long history dating back to prehistoric times, a claimant to the title of oldest continuously inhabited place in Great Britain.

Thatcham Reed Beds, just to the south of the town, is a site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

[6] The area has evidence of occupation dating from prehistoric times[7] and was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the strongest claimant to being the oldest continuously inhabited place in Britain.

In the Domesday Book of 1086, following the Norman Conquest, the name had altered slightly to Taceham before going through several minor changes until the current form was adopted in the 16th century.

The town had a period of great prosperity around 1304,[8] when the Chapel of St. Thomas the Martyr on the A4, now called the Old Bluecoat School, was granted permission to hold services.

[10] In 1121, Henry I founded Reading Abbey and endowed it with many gifts of land, including the Manor of Thatcham.

While the rivers did not flood, the quantity of water flowing down the hills from Cold Ash and Bucklebury made many roads impassable and stranded hundreds of pupils at Kennet School who tried to wade with rope across Stoney Lane.

[13] The International Seismological Centre, an organisation for the final collection, definitive analysis and publication of global seismicity, is located in Pipers Lane, Thatcham.

Thatcham Town Cricket Club is based at a ground on Brownsfield Road, next to the council offices.

Local employment is chiefly in light industrial premises, sales and distribution, retail and public sectors.