Sonning Common
| Sonning Common | |
| Oxfordshire | |
|---|---|
 Homes at Chalkhouse Green, Sonning Common | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SU709804 |
| Location: | 51°31’8"N, -0°58’42"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 3,784 (2011) |
| Post town: | Reading |
| Postcode: | RG4 |
| Dialling code: | 0118 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | South Oxfordshire |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Henley |
| Website: | sonningcommonparish.co.uk |
Sonning Common is a village in a relatively flat, former common land part of the Chiltern Hills in south-eastern Oxfordshire, three and a half miles west of Henley-on-Thames and two and a half miles north of Reading, across the Thames in Berkshire.
History
During the Civil War the village itself did not exist: being an area of open land east of the route between Reading – occupied alternately by the Parliamentarians and Royalists – and Oxford, which was the King's headquarters.[1] In 1647 after the end of the First Civil War, the King was imprisoned at nearby Caversham House in Caversham, but however he was allowed out under escort to play bowls at an inn (latterly called "The King Charles Head") near Cane End, approximately one mile west of Sonning Common.[2] His route between these places would have brought him close to the present-day village.
The site of the village has been called "Sonning Common" since at least the 1640s, long before any fixed settlement existed. The name is literal, at the time gradually losing its earlier status of common grazing land belonging to Sonning-on-Thames. (Both places have intermittently been spelt 'Sunning' as seen on maps such as that of the Bath Road from 1786, indicating contemporary pronunciation.)
Churches
- Church of England: Christ the King[3]
- Evangelical: Sonning Common Free Church
- Roman Catholic: St Michael's
About the village
Sonning Common has a Herb Farm (with a Saxon layout maze), Thames Valley Gymnastics Club and a health centre.[4]
The parish council helps to maintain a pond with a duck-house in the middle called "Duckingham Palace", three children's playgrounds and a Millennium Green
Wood Lane has a health centre, village hall, and most shops.
There are three pubs: The Bird In Hand', *The Butchers Arms and The Hare and Hounds.
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Sonning Common) |
References
- ↑ "Civil War". Sonning Common Parish. http://sonningcommonparish.co.uk/War/.
- ↑ "Village's part in civil war". Henley Standard. 2009-05-26. http://www.henleystandard.co.uk/news/news.php?id=601297.
- ↑ A Church Near You. "Christ the King, Sonning Common". A Church Near You. http://www.achurchnearyou.com/sonning-common-christ-the-king/.
- ↑ "Sonning Common Health Centre". Sonning Common Health Centre. 2013-03-26. http://www.sonningcommonhealthcentre.co.uk/.