Lafarge concrete works, Sonning - geograph

The Sonning Works are a gravel works owned by

Lafarge La Farge, LaFarge or Lafarge can refer to: People * Antoinette LaFarge (1966–), American artist and writer * Christopher Grant LaFarge (1862–1938), American architect and partner in the firm Heins & LaFarge * Christopher Grant La Farge ( ...

, located near

Sonning Eye Sonning Eye is a hamlet on the River Thames in the Sonning Common ward of South Oxfordshire, England, in the civil parish of Eye & Dunsden (one of its four small settlements), at what is since 1974 the southernmost tip of Oxfordshire. Geography ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Overview

The

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 ...

works is positioned on the south side of the B478 Playhatch Road between

Playhatch Playhatch (or Play Hatch) is a hamlet in the civil parish of Eye & Dunsden in South Oxfordshire, England, about northeast of Reading, Berkshire. Overview Before 1866, Playhatch formed part of the Oxfordshire section of Sonning civil parish. ...

to the west and Sonning Eye on the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

to the east. To the west and north is

Berry Brook The Berry Brook is a stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or ...

, which joins the River Thames at

Hallsmead Ait Hallsmead Ait is an island in the River Thames in Berkshire, England. It is on the reach above Shiplake Lock near Lower Shiplake. The island is large and triangular shaped, forming a pair with The Lynch, a similar shaped island. It is uninh ...

to the northeast. Gravel has been extracted from the

floodplain between Caversham, a suburb of

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

, and Sonning Eye for much of the second half of the 20th century. The facility was previously owned by

Redland plc Redland or Redlands may refer to: Places Australia *Redland City, a local government area in South East Queensland **Electoral district of Redlands *SCECGS Redlands, an independent school in Cremorne, New South Wales Canada *Redland, Albert ...

before it was taken over by the French firm Lafarge in the late 1990s. The gravel pits are permanently flooded as a set of

artificial lake A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

s known as Caversham Lakes.

Sports

To the southwest is the Redgrave-Pinsent Rowing Lake, formed from former

gravel pit A gravel pit is an open-pit mine for the extraction of gravel. Gravel pits often lie in river valleys where the water table is high, so they may naturally fill with water to form ponds or lakes. Old, abandoned gravel pits are normally used eithe ...

s extracted by the works in the past. Also located here are facilities for

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cour ...

at Reading Sailing Club and

waterskiing Water skiing (also waterskiing or water-skiing) is a Surface water sports, surface water sport in which an individual is pulled behind a boat or a Cable skiing, cable ski installation over a body of water, skimming the surface on two skis or ...

Princess Margaret Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, (Margaret Rose; 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth ...

and her husband

Lord Snowdon Antony Charles Robert Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, (7 March 1930 – 13 January 2017), was a British photographer and filmmaker. He is best known for his portraits of world notables, many of them published in ''Vogue'', ''Vanity Fai ...

waterskied here during the 1960s. In addition, there is

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

in the artificial lake.

Sonning Regatta Sonning Regatta is the regatta of the village of Sonning in Berkshire and the hamlet of Sonning Eye in Oxfordshire, England, on the north and south banks of the River Thames.Perkins (1999), pages 139, 140, 145, 150, 154. It is a part of the Sonni ...

is held every two years on the river here near the sailing club or on the lake if the weather is bad.

References

Year of establishment missing

Works Works may refer to: People * Caddy Works (1896–1982), American college sports coach * Samuel Works (c. 1781–1868), New York politician Albums * '' ''Works'' (Pink Floyd album)'', a Pink Floyd album from 1983 * ''Works'', a Gary Burton album ...

Buildings and structures in Oxfordshire Surface mines in England Economy of Oxfordshire {{Oxfordshire-geo-stub