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Shinfield is a village and civil parish in the English county of
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 ...
, just south of Reading. It contains 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 The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is a motorway in the United Kingdom running from west London to southwest Wales. The English section to the Severn Bridge was constructed between 1961 and 1971; the Welsh element was largely ...
was constructed in 1971.


Geography

The parish includes the roadside hamlets of
Ryeish Green Ryeish Green is a small hamlet in the civil parish of Shinfield, Berkshire, England, 4 miles south of Reading. It is located next to Spencers Wood and sometimes considered a part of that village. The only road in the hamlet is Hyde End Lane, wh ...
,
Spencers Wood Spencers Wood is a village in the civil parish of Shinfield, Berkshire, England, south of Reading. The village of Three Mile Cross adjoins it to the north. To the west lies the village of Grazeley. History 250px, The A33, to the West of S ...
,
Three Mile Cross Three Mile Cross is a village in the civil parish of Shinfield, to the south of Reading, and immediately north of the adjoining village of Spencers Wood, in the English county of Berkshire. In the 1960s, the M4 Motorway was built and became a n ...
, 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 The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is a motorway in the United Kingdom running from west London to southwest Wales. The English section to the Severn Bridge was constructed between 1961 and 1971; the Welsh element was largely ...
runs west–east through the northern portion of the parish, near the former
Berkshire County Council The Council of the Royal County of Berkshire, also known as the Berkshire County Council, was the top-tier local government administrative body for Berkshire from 1889 to 1998. The local authority had responsibilities for education, social servi ...
's Shire Hall, now the offices of the John Wood Group; 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 Gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally throughout the world as a result of sedimentary and erosive geologic processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gravel is classifi ...
.


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 Charlton may refer to: People * Charlton (surname) * Charlton (given name) Places Australia * Charlton, Queensland * Charlton, Victoria * Division of Charlton, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives, in New South Wale ...
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
manor Manor may refer to: Land ownership *Manorialism or "manor system", the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of medieval Europe, notably England *Lord of the manor, the owner of an agreed area of land (or "manor") under manorialism *Man ...
s 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 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 ...
in 1844.


History

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 Loddon may refer to: *Loddon, Norfolk in England, UK *Shire of Loddon in Victoria, Australia (since 1995) **Bridgewater On Loddon, Victoria in Australia *River Loddon, flows into the River Thames near Reading *Loddon River, flows north from south of ...
on the Arborfield border. The
manor Manor may refer to: Land ownership *Manorialism or "manor system", the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of medieval Europe, notably England *Lord of the manor, the owner of an agreed area of land (or "manor") under manorialism *Man ...
was one of the many owned by
Catherine of Aragon Catherine of Aragon (also spelt as Katherine, ; 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was Queen of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 11 June 1509 until their annulment on 23 May 1533. She was previously ...
in
Tudor times The Tudor period occurred between 1485 and 1603 in England and Wales and includes the Elizabethan period during the reign of Elizabeth I until 1603. The Tudor period coincides with the dynasty of the House of Tudor in England that began wit ...
. She is said to have stayed there on occasion, possibly while visiting Reading Abbey. During the Civil War,
King Charles King Charles may refer to: Kings A number of kings of Albania, Alençon, Anjou, Austria, Bohemia, Croatia, England, France, Holy Roman Empire, Hungary, Ireland, Jerusalem, Naples, Navarre, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Sardinia, Scotland, Sicily, Sp ...
is said to have stayed at Goodrest House (now part of Crosfields School). Later, the local church tower was blown to pieces by Parliamentary soldiers trying to oust a group of Royalists who were hiding out there. The fine brick replacement can still be seen today. The church is the last resting place of the parents of author Mary Russell Mitford.
RAF Shinfield Park RAF Shinfield Park was a Royal Air Force administrative site in the south of Reading, Berkshire. It served as the Met Office residential training college from 1971 until 2002. The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts was built on pa ...
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 The Cattle Breeding Centre was a veterinary research centre at Shinfield in the United Kingdom. History The site opened in February 1943 as the Reading Centre for the Artificial Insemination of Dairy Cattle. It had Shorthorn and Guernsey cattl ...
operated at Shinfield from 1943 to 1991.


Transport


Relief road

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


Bus services

Shinfield is served by the following bus routes: * 3, Reading - Arborfield- Wokingham * 10, Reading -
Spencers Wood Spencers Wood is a village in the civil parish of Shinfield, Berkshire, England, south of Reading. The village of Three Mile Cross adjoins it to the north. To the west lies the village of Grazeley. History 250px, The A33, to the West of S ...
* 10a, Reading - Thames Valley Science Parkhttps://bustimes.org.uk/services/set_4-10A-_-y08


Institutions


Churches

*The
Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...
of
St. Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...
is in Church Lane on the west side of the village. *Shinfield
Baptist Church Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
is on Hollow Lane (the main north-south route through the village and formerly the A327)


Schools


Alder Grove CofE Primary School
*Shinfield Infants & Nursery School – built by
Richard Piggott Richard Pigott (1835 – 1 March 1889) was an Irish journalist, best known for his forging of evidence that Charles Stewart Parnell of the Irish National Land League had been sympathetic to the perpetrators of the Phoenix Park Murders. Parn ...
in 1707 *Shinfield
St Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...
's CoE Junior School *Whiteknights Primary School *Crosfields Independent Day School – centred on the early 17th century Goodrest House *Oakbank School *Ryeish Green School (Defunct)


Sport and leisure

*Shinfield Players Theatre
Shinfield Tennis Club
Millworth Lane, Shinfield. *Shinfield
Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
Club, Millworth Lane. Shinfield. *The Shinfield Shambles Border Morris
The Kennet Morris Men
*There are play areas & recreation grounds in Kendal Avenue, Millworth Lane and at Frensham Green and Pearman's Copse *Pound Green WI and Shinfield Mothers' Union *Shinfield & District History Society *
Spencers Wood Spencers Wood is a village in the civil parish of Shinfield, Berkshire, England, south of Reading. The village of Three Mile Cross adjoins it to the north. To the west lies the village of Grazeley. History 250px, The A33, to the West of S ...
Library


Notable residents

*Shinfield is the current home of
Glenn Little Glen Matthew Little (born 15 October 1975) is an English footballer. Born in Wimbledon, London, he also previously played for Burnley, Derry City, Glentoran, Crystal Palace, Sheffield United, Wrexham and Aldershot Town. He has also appea ...
( Wrexham FC),
Jem Karacan Jem Paul Karacan (born 21 February 1989) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Northern Premier League club Radcliffe. Prior to his move to Bolton he played for Turkish club Galatasaray and Reading, as well as various loan s ...
( Reading FC) and Brynjar Gunnarsson ( Reading FC). *Spencers Wood in the parish was the former home of Lenny Henry and
Dawn French Dawn Roma French (born 11 October 1957) is a British actress, comedian, presenter and writer. French is known for writing and starring on the BBC comedy sketch show ''French and Saunders'' with her best friend and comedy partner, Jennifer Saunde ...
.


References


External links


Shinfield Parish Council
{{authority control Villages in Berkshire Borough of Wokingham Civil parishes in Berkshire