Goring-on-Thames
| Goring-on-Thames | |
| Oxfordshire | |
|---|---|
 Goring mill and parish church from the bridge | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SU6080 |
| Location: | 51°31’23"N, 1°8’6"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 3,104 (2001) |
| Post town: | Reading |
| Postcode: | RG8 |
| Dialling code: | 01491 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | South Oxfordshire |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Henley |
| Website: | Goring Parish Council |
Goring-on-Thames (or Goring) is a fine-looking, large village on the north bank of the River Thames in Oxfordshire, halfway between Reading (8 miles downstream) and Wallingford (5½ miles upstream), both across the river in Berkshire. It is about 16 miles from Oxford.
Goring is on the north bank of the River Thames, in the Goring Gap which separates the Berkshire Downs and the Chiltern Hills.
Immediately across the river is the Berkshire village of Streatley, and the two are often considered as twin villages, linked by Goring and Streatley Bridge and its adjacent lock and weir. The Thames Path, Icknield Way and the Ridgeway cross the Thames at Goring. The Great Western Main Line railway passes through Goring, and Goring & Streatley railway station in the village is served by local First Great Western trains running between Reading and Oxford.
Churches
The parish church is St Thomas, dedicated in the Middle Ages to Thomas Beckett. It is Norman, built early in the 12th century.[1] The bell-stage of St Thomas's bell tower was added in the 15th century[1] and has a ring of eight bells.[2] The church hall was added in 1901.[3]
A priory of Augustinian nuns was built late in the 12th century with its own priory church adjoining St Thomas's.[1] The priory survived until the early part of the 16th century[4] when it was suppressed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries and then demolished. The foundations of the priory church, cloister, dormitory, vestry, chapter house and parlour were excavated in 1892.[3]
Goring Free Church is a member of the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion.[5] The congregation was founded in 1788 and its first chapel was built in 1793.[5] At its centenary in 1893 a new church building was added[3] and the original chapel became the church hall.[5]
Big Society
- Goring United Football Club
- Goring-on-Thames Cricket Club, founded in 1876.[6]
- Lawn tennis club
- Goring on Thames Decorative and Fine Arts Society, founded in 1987 and a member of the National Association of Decorative & Fine Arts Societies[7]
- Women's Institute[8]
Awards
Oxfordshire Village of the Year 2009
On 10 July 2009 Goring was named Oxfordshire's Village of the Year, ahead of 11 other villages and taking the title from neighbouring Woodcote.[9] The £1000 prize will be put towards the village's hydro-electric project[10] to generate electricity from the River Thames.
The competition looks at the depth of the infrastructure and activity within the village and Goring's plans to raise £1m to fund the hydro-electric project was instrumental to its success.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 614
- ↑ The Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers, Reading Branch: Goring-on-Thames
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 615
- ↑ Page, 1907, pages 103-104
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Goring Free Church: Our History
- ↑ GardinersWorld: Our History
- ↑ Goring on Thames Decorative and Fine Arts Society
- ↑ Oxfordshire Federation of Women's Institutes
- ↑ BBC News, Oxfordshire. Goring Named Village of the Year
- ↑ Goring & Streatley Sustainability Group
Books
- Page, William (Ed.) (1907). Victoria County History: A History of the County of Oxford, Volume 2. pp. 103–104.
- Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 613–616. ISBN 0-14-071045-0.
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Goring-on-Thames) |