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Woodley, Berkshire

Coordinates:51°27′11″N0°54′07″W/ 51.453°N 0.902°W/51.453; -0.902
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Woodley
Woodley Shopping Centre (Precinct)
Woodley is located in Berkshire
Woodley
Woodley
Location withinBerkshire
Population35,470 (2011 Census[citation needed])
OS grid referenceSU7673
•London35 mi (56 km)E
Civil parish
  • Woodley
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townReading
Postcode districtRG5
Dialling code0118
PoliceThames Valley
FireRoyal Berkshire
AmbulanceSouth Central
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Berkshire
51°27′11″N0°54′07″W/ 51.453°N 0.902°W/51.453; -0.902

Woodleyis a town andcivil parishin theBorough of Wokingham,inBerkshire,England.Woodley is 4 miles (6.4 km) east ofReadingand adjoined toEarleywhich is 2 miles (3.2 km) to the west of the town and Woodley is 5 miles (8 km) fromWokingham.Nearby are the villages ofSonning,Twyford,Winnersh,HurstandCharvil.

History[edit]

ThetoponymWoodley is derived fromOld Englishwords meaning "a clearing in the wood".[1]Anciently, Woodley was part of theecclesiastical parishofSonning.[1]Woodley was not mentioned in the Domesday Book. The first written record of the name was in The Register of St Osmund, which is housed in the archives of Salisbury Cathedral. St Osmund was Bishop of Salisbury between 1074 and 1099. The document states that St Osmund visited Sonning and says: "Osbertus de Woodleghe holds a dwelling house and yard and is able to pasture his pigs on the Lord of the Manor's woods".[2]The 1550 Survey of Sonning, housed in Berkshire Record Office, includes the first modern spelling of the name Woodley.[3]In the west of Woodley, Old Bulmershe Manor once belonged to theAbbey of Readingbut was later the home of the Blagrave family[1]and probable birthplace of the 17th-century mathematician,John Blagrave.The adjoining house ofBulmershe Court,otherwise Woodley Lodge, was built in 1777 by James Wheble. Bulmershe (also spelled Bullmarsh) Heath was a marshy area where bulls were pastured. The annual Reading Races were held from 1727 to 1814 on Bulmershe Heath. Horses were entered for the races at The Mitre Tavern in Reading. Owners living in Berkshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire could enter horses. The races were advertised in The Reading Mercury newspaper and ran every August. After 1814 they moved to Kings Meadow in Reading. In the 1820 enclosure of lands in Woodley, the two major landowners were James Wheble of Woodley Lodge and Robert Palmer of Holme Park in Sonning. People lost their rights to cut furze for fuel, catch rabbits and pasture their animals on Bulmershe Heath. In compensation, they were given the Poor's Gardens which were allotments on Headley Road.[2]

Woodley Lodge, later known as Bulmershe Court, was bought byHenry Addington,who lived there every summer 1790–1801. He wasSpeaker of the House of Commonsand later 1801–1804Prime Minister.[1]He was a friend ofWilliam Pitt the Younger.Addington was the Captain Commandant of Woodley Yeomanry, a volunteer cavalry regiment formed by gentlemen and wealthy farmers who owned horses.King George IIIreviewed Woodley Yeomanry on Bulmershe Heath in 1799 and 1805. Addington became Viscount Sidmouth in 1805. He and his wife gave land on which the Royal Berkshire Hospital was built. His name is remembered in Addington Gardens and Addington School in Woodley. In theSecond World Warthe house was used by theUS Army.In the 1960s it was demolished and replaced by a teacher training college that subsequently become part of theUniversity of Readingin 1989. The area was sold in 2013/2014 and is now a new housing estate of houses, flats and a care home.[4]

The 1847 Kelly's Directory of Berkshire described Woodley as "a scattered village and consists principally of farm houses. James Wheble has a neat residence here called Bulmershe Court. There is a market for fat cattle, held at Loddon Bridge every Monday, which is well attended by butchers from Reading and the vicinity". The directory listed the main farmers, public houses and tradesmen. The pubs were The Bull and Chequers at Woodley Green, The Chequers at Bulmershe Heath, The Lands End and The George at Loddon Bridge.[2]

Woodley Aerodrome[edit]

Until the 1930s Woodley was a village of little significance. In 1929, Woodley Aerodrome was opened in a 100-acre (40 ha) field belonging to Sandford Farm.[1]Jack Phillips and Charles Powis started a business The Phillips and Powis School of Flying, offering flying lessons at 12s 6d each.Pauline Gower,later Commander of the Women'sAir Transport Auxiliary,earned her pilot's licence there in September 1930.[5][6]Flight magazine of 10 May 1933 advertised "Learn to Fly for £37 irrespective of the total number of hours taken" at the P and P School of Flying. The short-lived Berks, Bucks and Oxon Flying Club and the Reading Aero Club were also based at the Aerodrome.

In 1932F.G. Milescame to Woodley and Charles Powis agreed "to place at Mr Miles' disposal a newly equipped Aircraft Workshop".[7]F.G. Miles was joined by his wifeBlossomwho was a skilled designer and took an active role in the business. In 1936 his brother George joined the company. Phillips left the company in 1932 and Powis in 1937. The first major success for the company was theMiles Hawkaeroplane, a wooden monoplane which sold for £395. Flying was a hobby for the rich, but this was the most affordable civilian plane of the time. Designed by modernist architect Guy Morgan, the Falcon Hotel was built in 1937 to accommodate visitors and serve as a new accommodation for the Reading Aero Club.

The company name was Phillips and Powis until 1943 when it was changed toMiles Aircraft Ltd.Two of the firm's most famous aeroplanes were the Magister and the Master which were used for basic training of RAF pilots. In the years before the war numerous aviators visited Woodley, includingCharles LindberghandAmy Johnson;[1]Douglas Baderlost his legs in a flying accident on the airfield in 1931. He was in the RAF and had been forbidden from doing low level stunts because of the danger. He recorded the accident in his log book "Crashed slow-rolling near ground. Bad show".[7]The Reading Mercury reported the eyewitness testimony of Captain R.L. Bateman, who was chief instructor at the Aerodrome "I was in the clubhouse when I heard the machine flying overhead. I looked out and saw that the pilot was about 200 feet above the ground. At the time, his machine was going into a slow roll and I was rather surprised at such a thing with the machine at that height. I do not think that the pilot realised that he was so low. At any rate, as he came off his back he lost height and speed and pancaked into the ground. The engine came away from the machine whilst the machine itself rolled over for some distance. The pilot was extracted within a couple of minutes of his machine touching the ground. We did not know the pilot at Woodley and we have no idea why he came here".[citation needed]Bader was taken to the Royal Berkshire Hospital and operated on by the chief surgeon Mr Joyce. His legs could not be saved and both were amputated. He was fitted with tin legs and had to learn to walk again. Bader became a famous pilot and his story is told in the book and film Reach For The Sky. He was always grateful to the Royal Berkshire Hospital and helped them with fund-raising. In 1956 he returned to Woodley to open The Coronation Hall, the community hall which replaced the old village Hut.

From 1935 a civilian flying school was operated by the Philips and Powis company, where trainees were prepared for service in theRAF.[8]The company won a £2M Air Ministry order for 500 M.9 Master Is on 11 June 1938 and this was Britain's largest order for training aeroplanes at the time and required considerable and urgent expansion of the busy factory later that year. By 1939 Phillips and Powis had 1,000 employees and major extensions to the factory and an impressive new 'art deco' headquarters designed by Guy Morgan were officially opened by Air Minister Sir Kingsley Wood on 27 January 1939. When war broke out that September, the airfield and factory buildings were camouflaged and the grass runways were disguised by false hedges. The nearby 'Eleven Elms' were cut down because it was feared they were a landmark which could identify the Aerodrome. In 1940 the company was awarded a Spitfire repair and service contract and at the height of World War Two there was a 24-hour 7 day working week and 5,000 employees and many dispersed production and storage sites around the local area. The RAF formed No. 10 Flying Instructors' School in 1942 from the former No. 8 Elementary Flying Training School. The aerodrome was bombed three times in 1940 but the damage was minor and there were no deaths.[9]

Around 6,000 civil and military aircraft were built and first flown here from 1933 to 1962 and, in 1939, the Phillips & Powis factory installed Britain's first moving track assembly line for aircraft production, to build theMiles Masteradvanced training aeroplane. After theSecond World War,Woodley continued to grow, with other industries relocating here fromReading.By early the 1960s the aerodrome was little-used and all flying finally ceased soon after the Handley Page (Reading) Ltd aircraft factory closed in 1962-63. After gravel extraction in the 1960s and 70s, aerodrome was redeveloped for housing and light industry by Adwest Properties Ltd in the 1980s. The Adwest Group and its tenants continued to use many of the former Miles aircraft factory buildings into the 21st century. Today, Woodley's aviation heritage is mainly commemorated by theMuseum of Berkshire Aviationand also many aviation-related road names on the former aerodrome.

Government[edit]

TheOffice for National Statisticsplaces Woodley within theReadingUrban Area, but for purposes of local government it is in theunitary authorityofWokingham,and outside the area ofReading Borough Council.Woodley is acivil parishwith town status (adopted in 1974) and an elected town council. The town council and unitary authority are responsible for different aspects of local government. Woodley was previously divided between theReading EastandMaidenheadparliamentary constituencies, until 2024 when boundary changes led to the whole town becoming part of the newEarley and Woodleyconstituency.

Landmarks[edit]

WoodleyCongregational churchis aGothic Revivalbuilding completed in 1834.[10]It became aUnited Reformed Churchand is now offices.[1]Church ofSt John the Evangelistwas designed byHenry Woodyer,[10]paid for byRobert PalmerofHolme Parkand built in 1873. Woodley was a made separateecclesiastical parishin 1881.

Education[edit]

Woodley has two secondarycomprehensive schoolsthat have achievedspecialist schoolstatus,Waingels College(Mathematics and Computing), andThe Bulmershe School(Sports).Primary schoolsinclude ones at Highwood, Beechwood, St Dominic'sRoman Catholic,Rivermead, WoodleyChurch of England,Southlake and Willow Bank.

Geography[edit]

Woodley has asite of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)just to the east of the town, calledLodge Wood and Sandford Mill[11]The town has threelocal nature reserves,and they are calledAlder Moors,HighwoodandLavells Lake.[12][13][14]

Sport[edit]

Woodley'sfootballteam isWoodley United F.C.The club was formed in 1904, though it is thought that a team existed in Woodley in the nineteenth century. In 2009, Woodley Town ran three teams in theReading Football League.The 1st team won the Senior Division in 2008–09 (Step 7 of theFAFootball Pyramid System) and the BTC Senior Cup to complete the League and Cup double. It is a FA Charter Standard Development Club. The club runs a youth section, Woodley Town Kestrels, with boys and girls teams from under-7 to under-17 age groups.

Woodley is home to the KingfisherTable TennisClub, who play in theReading& District League and theBracknell,Wokingham& District League. Kingfisher TTC also participate in the British League. In 2019Maria Tsaptsinosof Kingfisher won theEnglandchampionship title. Southlake Angling Society[15]runs the Southlakefisherynear Woodley town centre. It was established in the early 1960s on the former estate lake with which it shares its name. The Society has added Redlands, a local lake inHurst,and a stretch of theRiver Loddonthat flows close to the east of Woodley andEarley.There is apark runin Woodford park every Saturday, and a junior park run every Sunday.

Notable people[edit]

Literature[edit]

Woodley is a location mentioned in the short ghost story The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance byM.R. Jamesfirst published in A thin ghost and Others in 1919

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^abcdefgFord, David Nash (2020).Mid-Berkshire Town and Village Histories.Wokingham: Nash Ford Publishing. pp. 296–301.ISBN978-1-905191-02-4.
  2. ^abcSmith, Ann, ed. (2021).A History of Woodley.Old Woosehill Press.ISBN978-1-5262-0894-1.[unreliable source?]
  3. ^Survey of Sonning 1550 BRO D/EE/M7
  4. ^"Plans lodged for 300 homes at Reading university's Bulmershe campus".geatreading.co.uk.12 March 2012.Retrieved20 February2016.
  5. ^"Great Britain, Royal Aero Club Aviators' Certificates, 1910–1950".ancestry.co.uk.Retrieved4 September2022.
  6. ^Hill, Alison (2022).Pauline Gower, Pioneering Leader of the Spitfire Women.Cheltenham.ISBN978-1-80399-148-1.OCLC1337943261.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  7. ^abTemple, Julian C. (1987).Wings over Woodley: the story of Miles Aircraft and the Adwest Group.Bucks: Aston.ISBN978-0-946627-12-7.
  8. ^"Expansion Unlimited – A visit to Phillips and Powis' Civil Training School at Woodley".Flight magazine. 8 October 1936. pp. 366–368.Retrieved20 February2016.
  9. ^Cooper, Mike (2016).Early closing day: air raids on Reading 1939–1945.Caversham, Reading.ISBN978-0-9935512-1-5.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  10. ^abPevsner 1966,p. 311.
  11. ^"Magic Map Application - sssi".Magic.defra.gov.uk.Retrieved8 March2017.
  12. ^"Magic Map Application - Highwood".Magic.defra.gov.uk.Retrieved29 April2017.
  13. ^"Magic Map Application - Local Nature reserves".Magic.defra.gov.uk.Retrieved29 April2017.
  14. ^"Natural England - Special Sites".Lnr.naturalengland.org.uk.Retrieved1 May2017.
  15. ^Southlake Angling Society
  16. ^"Interview: The Hoosiers".BBC. 18 December 2007.Retrieved20 January2008.

Sources[edit]

External links[edit]

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