There was an armed skirmish at Theale, not long after the First Battle of Newbury. Prince Rupert's cavalry attacked parliamentary troops as they made their way back to London. Many soldiers died in the fighting that ensued and their bodies were later buried in Dead Man's Lane.

Being a wayside settlement along the Bath Road, it is not surprising that Theale was famous for its coaching inns. There were not only coaches on the road though. Dick Turpin is said to have hidden out many times in a secret room in the Old Lambe Inn at Theale. Later, in 1809, the roundabout just south of the town was the scene of a daring highway robbery. A certain horse-dealer from Hungerford, named Hazell, fell into conversation with a fellow rider on the road, while on the way to Henley Fair. Shortly after the two parted company, Mr.Hazell found himself being robbed by the same man and a masked accomplice.

See also Tilehurst