Shinfield
The Bell and Bottle and The Royal Oak facing the village green
Shinfield is located in Berkshire
Shinfield
Shinfield
Location within Berkshire
Population8,136 (2001)
11,277 (2011 Census)[1]
OS grid referenceSU7368
Civil parish
  • Shinfield
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townReading
Postcode districtRG2, RG7
Dialling code0118
PoliceThames Valley
FireRoyal Berkshire
AmbulanceSouth Central
UK Parliament

Shinfield is a village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire, just south of Reading. It contains 4,313 acres (17.45 km2) and is administered by the unitary authority of Wokingham District. Shinfield Park is the northern part of the parish, becoming physically separated from Reading when the M4 motorway was constructed in 1971.

Geography

The parish includes the roadside hamlets of Ryeish Green, Spencers Wood, Three Mile Cross, Shinfield Village and Grazeley and the southern portion of the suburb of Reading called Shinfield Rise. It is surrounded on its eastern and southern boundary by the River Loddon. The M4 motorway runs west–east through the northern portion of the parish, near the former Berkshire County Council's Shire Hall, now the offices of the John Wood Group;[2][3] 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 former A327, running between Reading and Aldershot, with the A327 now bypassing the village centre. Shinfield Village is centred on the village green (School Green), surrounded by a pub, a shop, the village school and recreation grounds. Its residential housing has increased considerably during the first years of the 21st century. The parish consists of a central ridge of high land sloping down to the river 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.

Government

As well as being part of the District of Wokingham, Shinfield is governed by a parish council consisting of fifteen parish councillors, assisted by two full-time administrative staff and several part-time caretaking and maintenance employees. Shinfield has been part of the Hundred of Charlton since before the Norman Conquest. Hundreds effectively ceased to function after 1886. Between 1894 and 1974, it was in the Wokingham Rural District. 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 was officially a detached part of Wiltshire until transferred to Berkshire in 1844.

History

An Iron Age gold stater coin, found in Shinfield and dated to c. 60 – c. 50 BCE[4]
A silver-plated denarius of Tiberius, found in Shinfield in 2012 and dated to c. 16 – c. 37 CE[5]

The village was named Shining Field, by the Anglo-Saxons, after the sparkling flood-waters which still often cover the meadows down by the Loddon on the Arborfield border. The manor was one of the many owned by Catherine of Aragon in Tudor times.[6] She is said to have stayed there on occasion, possibly while visiting Reading Abbey.[6] During the Civil War, Charles I is said to have stayed at Goodrest House (now part of Crosfields School).[6] Later, the local church tower was blown to pieces by Parliamentary soldiers trying to oust a group of Royalists who were hiding there.[6] The brick replacement can still be seen today. The church is the last resting place of the parents of author Mary Russell Mitford.[6][7]

RAF Shinfield Park was located in the north of the Parish and 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. The Cattle Breeding Centre operated at Shinfield from 1943 to 1991.

Transport

Relief road

The Shinfield Eastern Relief Road opened on 31 October 2017.[8] It serves the Shinfield Campus of the University of Reading's Thames Valley Science Park.[9]

Bus services

Shinfield is served by the following bus routes, which are all operated by Reading Buses:

Institutions

Churches

Schools

Sport and leisure

Notable residents

References

  1. ↑ "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  2. ↑ "Amec Foster Wheeler takeover could mean job losses". Get Reading. 14 March 2017. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  3. ↑ "The Story of the BRO". Berkshire Record Office. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  4. ↑ Williams, David (16 May 2013). "Finds record for: SUR-4F5225". The Portable Antiquities Scheme. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
  5. ↑ Williams, David (8 August 2012). "Finds record for: SUR-2620F8". The Portable Antiquities Scheme. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Ford, David Nash (2001). "History of Shinfield, Berkshire". Royal Berkshire History. Nash Ford Publishing. Retrieved 28 December 2010.
  7. ↑ Historic England. "Church of St Mary (Grade I) (1118131)". National Heritage List for England.
  8. ↑ Fort, Hugh (24 October 2017). "Shinfield Relief Road to open 15 months late but works continue". BerkshireLive.
  9. ↑ "How to Find Us". Archived from the original on 28 May 2016.
  10. ↑ "3 - leopard - Reading - Wokingham via Royal Berkshire Hospital, Shinfield, Arborfield, California, Barkham, Wokingham Hospital – Reading Buses – bustimes.org". bustimes.org.
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