The name 'Waltham' is believed to be derived from the Anglo-Saxon words Wealt and Ham, meaning 'homestead or village in a forest’ (probably indicating a royal hunting estate).

Most of the coins found from the site are of the lower empire (except for a silver one of Amyntas, the grandfather of Alexander the Great) and the area was occupied until 270.

The Domesday Book records: "The King holds Waltham in demesne" and it remained a royal manor until 1189 when Godfrey de Luci, Bishop of Winchester, purchased it from the Crown.

King Edward's grant was confirmed (and Queen Mary's annulled) by an Act of Parliament in the first year of Queen Elizabeth I. Billingbear House was built by Sir Henry Neville in 1567, and this Elizabethan mansion existed as the home of the Nevilles until it was pulled down after a fire in the early 20th century.

[5] In 1920 Hal Taylor founded The Golden Cockerel Press, privately printing books from a surplus army hut he had erected in the village.

The press continued to operate there under the later ownership of Robert Gibbings until, in 1933, economic circumstances forced its sale and production was relocated to London.

[6] Waltham St Lawrence is located in a rural setting in East Berkshire, south of the A4 trunk road and north of the M4 motorway, between Maidenhead and Reading.

Later the chancel, with its side aisles was begun from the east end and the north and south walls of the nave were extended to join up with the new work in the 13th century.

Close to this pillar and (behind the priest's stall) on the north side are to be seen traces of a pointed arch which evidently formed the doorway to the rood stairs.

E. J. Parker, B.D., who gave the stained glass for the east window, which shows in its central panel the Crucifixion, with the Resurrection and Ascension of Our Lord on either side.

The sacring bell – which hangs in its own turret at the top of the tower – bears the following inscription: "The gift of John A. Beere of the Hill Henbolt.

The originals are lodged for safekeeping with the county archivist in Reading, but the parish priest possesses a transcript (1558 to 1812) by Edmund Newbery.

Wilkinson vicar of Waltham in February 1655"[4] "Mabel modwyn widowe abact 68 years old arraigned for witch craft at Redding 29th Feb: and condemned on the 5th of March, 1655.

[4] In the 1990s BBC television series Pie in the Sky the titular restaurant, home of DI Henry Crabbe, is located in the fictional town of 'Middleton'.