Greenham is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

, England. Greenham commences immediately south-east of Newbury and is in

West Berkshire West Berkshire is a local government district in Berkshire, England, administered from Newbury by West Berkshire Council. History The district of Newbury was formed on 1 April 1974, as a merger of the borough of Newbury, Bradfield Rural Distric ...

. It was recorded in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

as ''Greneham''.

Governance

Greenham was originally a

tithing A tithing or tything was a historic English legal, administrative or territorial unit, originally ten hides (and hence, one tenth of a hundred). Tithings later came to be seen as subdivisions of a manor or civil parish. The tithing's leader or s ...

in the parish of

Thatcham Thatcham is an historic market town and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire, centred 3 miles (5 km) east of Newbury, 14 miles (24 km) west of Reading and 54 miles (87 km) west of London. Geography Thatcham straddles t ...

. In 1878, the northern part was given to Newbury and the southern part became its own parish. West Berkshire administers local government; certain minor local services such as footpaths and sports facilities received grants from the precept of the parish council, formed of residents. The population of the civil parish was 937 at the 2011 Census. The area of the village, in its broad, traditional definition, including the racecourse,

common land Common land is land owned by a person or collectively by a number of persons, over which other persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect Wood fuel, wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person ...

and airfield, is .

Amenities

Greenham's parish church of St Mary was built between 1875 and 1895 by Henry Woodyer in the Early English style. It is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. There is a public open space by the church, called

Audrey's Meadow Audrey's Meadow is a nature reserve in Newbury, Berkshire, Newbury in Berkshire. It is owned by West Berkshire Council and managed by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust. Geography and site Audrey's Meadow contains a ...

after local councillor, Audrey Appleby, administered by the

Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust The Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT), is a wildlife trust covering the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire in England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It sh ...

. Schools in the parish include Mary Hare primary school in the village itself, Highwood Copse primary school,

St Gabriel's School St Gabriel's School is an independent day school located at Sandleford Priory in Sandleford, two miles (3 km) south of Newbury, in the English county of Berkshire. Pupils and Staff Boys attend the nursery and junior school, up to age 1 ...

at Sandleford Priory and Newbury College.

Transport

Newbury Racecourse railway station is within the parish, served by

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

local services from to and . Services are augmented on race days. The A339 from

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of Hampshire. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of The North Downs. It is located north-east of Southa ...

runs along the southern edge of the parish before heading north along the former alignment of the A34 into the centre of Newbury. The

Kennet and Avon Canal The Kennet and Avon Canal is a waterway in southern England with an overall length of , made up of two lengths of navigable river linked by a canal. The name is used to refer to the entire length of the navigation rather than solely to the cent ...

runs along the north-western edge of the parish. The racecourse incorporates an airfield for

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

use on race days.

Housing

An area separating southern Newbury from Greenham, sometimes referred to by locals as the 'Greenham Gap', has historically been free of housing, but a development of 36 houses was completed in this area in 2020 and outline plans for further housing were approved in 2017 and 2018, amidst concerns about traffic management and local rights of way.

Industry

Newbury Racecourse is within the northern border of the parish. The Greenham Industrial Estate is in the south-eastern corner, beyond the former

RAF Greenham Common Royal Air Force Greenham Common or RAF Greenham Common is a former Royal Air Force station in the civil parishes of Greenham and Thatcham in the English county of Berkshire. The airfield was southeast of Newbury, about west of London. Opened ...

which occupied much of the common between 1942 and 1992.

Demography

References

External links

Royal Berkshire History: Greenham

A History of RAF Greenham Common
Villages in Berkshire West Berkshire District Civil parishes in Berkshire Thatcham {{Berkshire-geo-stub