Shinfield
| Shinfield | |
| Berkshire | |
|---|---|
 The Bell and Bottle and The Royal Oak, Shinfield | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SU7368 |
| Location: | 51°24’29"N, -0°56’49"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 8,136 (2001) |
| Post town: | Reading |
| Postcode: | RG7 |
| Dialling code: | 0118 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Wokingham |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Wokingham |
Shinfield is a village in Berkshire, to be found just south of Reading. The name is from Old English, meaning Shining Field, after the sparkling flood-waters which still often cover the meadows down by the Loddon on the Arborfield boundaries.
Shinfield Village is centred on the village green (School Green), surrounded by two pubs, a few shops, the village school and recreation grounds. Its residential housing has increased considerably in during the first years of the 21st century.
The parish includes the roadside hamlets of Ryeish Green, Spencers Wood, Three Mile Cross, Shinfield Village and Grazeley and the southern suburb of Reading called Shinfield Rise. It is surrounded on its eastern and southern boundary by the River Loddon.
Geography
The M4 motorway runs west-east through the northern portion of the parish, near the county's old Shire Hall, now the offices of Foster Wheeler; the part to the north of the M4 corresponds closely with the part known as Shinfield Park. The main road through the village, running north-south, is the A327, running between Reading and Aldershot.
The parish consists of a central ridge of high land sloping down to the Loddon on the east and the Kennet Valley on the west. The soil is mostly London clay, with patchy spreads of valley and plateau gravel.
There are many manors and supposed manors in the parish: Shinfield, Hartley Dummer alias Arbor, Hartley Battle, Hartley Amys, Hartley Pellitot, Moor Place, Diddenham Court, Hartley Court and Garston. Hartley Dummer is in the hundred of Theale.
The Diddenham estate is technically perhaps in a detached portion of Wiltshire locally situate in Berkshire.
Churches
- Church of England: St Mary the Virgin
- Baptist: Shinfield Baptist Church
History
The manor was one of the many owned by Catherine of Aragon in Tudor times.[1] She is said to have stayed there on occasion, possibly while visiting Reading Abbey.[1] During the Civil War, King Charles I is said to have stayed at Goodrest House (now part of Crosfields School).[1] Later, the local church tower was blown to pieces by Parliamentary soldiers trying to oust a group of Royalists who were hiding out there.[1] The fine brick replacement can still be seen today. The church is the last resting place of the parents of author Mary Russell Mitford.[1]
RAF Shinfield Park was located in the north of the parish, it was the home of RAF Flying Training Command from 1940 until 1968. It then became the home of the Meteorological Office College from 1971 until 2002. The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) remains on the site though the rest has been converted to residential housing.
Business
The Green Park Business Park lies half in the Hartley area of Shinfield and half in the Smallmead area of Whitley in Reading.
The 2 MW (peak) Enercon wind turbine, near Junction 11 of the M4, stands in Shinfield; described as "the UK's most visible turbine", it was raised in November 2005
The Courage Berkshire Brewery, built in 1978, is also half within Shinfield but was demolished in 2011.
Big Society
- The Shinfield Shambles Border Morris
- The Kennet Morris Men
- Pound Green Women's Institute
- Shinfield Mothers' Union
- Shinfield & District History Society
Sport
There are play areas and recreation grounds in Kendal Avenue, Millworth Lane and at Frensham Green and Pearman's Copse
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Shinfield) |