Calcot, or Calcot Row, is a former village, now a suburb west of

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...

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 Ber ...

, England. Calcot straddles the historic A4 Bath Road and is between the former hamlet of Horncastle, and Junction 12 of the M4.

Tilehurst Tilehurst is a suburb of the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. It lies to the west of the centre of Reading, and extends from the River Thames in the north to the A4 road in the south. The suburb is partly within the boundarie ...

is to the north, and the village of

Theale Theale () is a large village and civil parish in West Berkshire, England, southwest of Reading and 10 miles (16 km) east of Thatcham. The compact parish is bounded to the south and south-east by the Kennet & Avon Canal (which here incorp ...

is to the west, across the motorway. Its named neighbourhoods include Beansheaf Farm and Fords Farm south of the centre developed in the early 21st century.Ordnance Survey (2006). ''OS Explorer Map 159 – Reading''. .

Local government

Although now a suburb of

, Calcot is not within the

Borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

of Reading. Rather it is split between the

civil parishes 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. ...

Holybrook Holybrook is a civil parish, forming a contiguous part of Reading in West Berkshire and is a mixture of urban, suburban land with watercourses and flood meadows in Berkshire, England. The parish takes its name from the Holy Brook, a watercours ...

and

Tilehurst Without Tilehurst or Tilehurst Without is a civil parish in the district of West Berkshire, in the English county of Berkshire. It includes that part of the larger Reading suburb of Tilehurst that lies outside the Reading Borough boundary, together with ...

, with that part of Calcot north of the Bath Road in Tilehurst

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

and that part south in Holybrook parish. The whole of Holybrook parish and the part of Calcot within Tilehurst parish, form the Calcot

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to ...

of the

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

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 Dist ...

. Both parishes have elected parish councils and, together with the unitary authority, are responsible for different aspects of

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loc ...

. Calcot is part of the Reading West

parliamentary constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

Statistics

The Calcot ward of

has an area of 324 ha and a total population of 9,093 living in 3,554 dwellings.

Schools

Calcot has two primary schools serving pupils aged 4 to 11. Serving the Beansheaf and Fords Farm communities to the south of the A4 Bath Road is Kennet Valley Primary School while north of the A4, both sharing the same grounds, are Calcot Junior School and Calcot Infant School, which incorporates a nursery. When children leave primary school at 11 they attend secondary schools in neighbouring villages.

Places of interest

Calcot Park is a large country house and estate, to the north east of Calcot. Over the years the estate has been the home to

Peter Vanlore Sir Peter Vanlore (c. 1547 – 6 September 1627) was a Dutch-born English merchant, jeweller and moneylender in Elizabethan and Stuart England. Biography He was born circa 1547 in Utrecht, Netherlands, the third son of Maurits van Loor a ...

, Frances Kendrick, and to John Blagrave, a relative of the mathematician

John Blagrave John Blagrave of Reading (d. 1611) was an English Tudor mathematician, astronomer and designer of astronomical and mathematical instruments. His astrolabe designs, which he described in his writings, were advanced for Britain. He devoted himsel ...

, who built the present house in 1759. Today the house has been converted into apartments and the grounds have become a golf course.

Calcot Mill Calcot Mill is an historic former watermill on the Holy Brook, a channel of the River Kennet in the English county of Berkshire. The mill is situated in the civil parish of Holybrook and to the south of Calcot, a suburb of Reading. The ori ...

is a former

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production ...

on the

Holy Brook Sacred waters are sacred natural sites characterized by tangible topographical land formations such as rivers, lakes, springs, reservoirs, and oceans, as opposed to holy water which is water elevated with the sacramental blessing of a cleric. T ...

. It was built on the site of a mill originally owned by

Reading Abbey Reading Abbey is a large, ruined abbey in the centre of the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire. It was founded by Henry I in 1121 "for the salvation of my soul, and the souls of King William, my father, and of King William, m ...

and has been converted into apartments. Pincent's Kiln is an SSSI on the western border of the area.

Shopping

Calcot is home to two large shopping complexes - the SavaCentre and the Pincents Lane Retail Park and has a car dealers between the two; all close to Junction 12 of 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 ...

. In September 1981, an

hypermarket A hypermarket (sometimes called a hyperstore, supercentre or superstore) is a big-box store combining a supermarket and a department store. The result is an expansive retail facility carrying a wide range of products under one roof, includin ...

, a BHS and

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company ...

joint enterprise, opened up. At the time, it was one of the largest hypermarkets in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

. This store featured in the SavaCentre TV adverts in 1983. In 1989, Sainsbury's bought out BHS's 50% share in the partnership, and the following year the right side of the store was extended by to over . In August 1998, it was re-modelled, to provide a greater emphasis on food, at a cost £26m. The SavaCentre was downsized and re-branded as Sainsbury's in 2005, with the extension being sold off to

Next Next may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Next'' (1990 film), an animated short about William Shakespeare * ''Next'' (2007 film), a sci-fi film starring Nicolas Cage * '' Next: A Primer on Urban Painting'', a 2005 documentary film Lit ...

. A further refurbishment took placein 2008. At the same time, the SavaCentre site was rebranded as the Calcot Retail Park, with branches of

Sports Direct Frasers Group plc (formerly known as Sports Direct International plc) is a British retail, sport and intellectual property group, named after its ownership of the department store chain House of Fraser. The company is best known for trading pre ...

Boots A boot is a type of footwear. Boot or Boots may also refer to: Businesses * Boot Inn, Chester, Cheshire, England * Boots (company), a high-street pharmacy chain and manufacturer of pharmaceuticals in the United Kingdom * The Boot, Cromer St ...

and

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

opening up. In 2015, an Argos in-store concession opened up inside Sainsbury's. However, the SavaCentre name is still more commonly used by the locals. On the other side of the car dealers, was the Pincents Lane Retail Park. This was anchored by a branch of

Homebase Homebase is a British home improvement retailer and garden centre with stores across the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. Founded by Sainsbury's and GB-Inno-BM in 1979, the company was owned by Home Retail Group from October 2006, un ...

, but also featuring a branch of

Dunelm Mill Dunelm Group Plc is a British home furnishings retailer operating throughout the United Kingdom. One of the largest homewares retailers in the United Kingdom, The company headquarters are based in Syston, England. It also has its own factory for ...

Carpetright Carpetright Limited is one of the largest British retailers of floor coverings and beds. The company is owned by Meditor. History The company was established by Lord Harris of Peckham in 1988 when he opened its first shop in Canning Town.

, Utopia Nightclub and

Megabowl Tenpin Ltd (stylized "tenpin"), is one of the largest tenpin bowling brands in the United Kingdom, consisting of 48 bowling centres ranging from 12 to 36 lanes (depending on the width of the centre), which often have on-site restaurants and ba ...

bowling alley. In 2015, the retail park was demolished (apart from the Dunelm Mill store) and a new branch of

IKEA IKEA (; ) is a Dutch multinational conglomerate based in the Netherlands that designs and sells , kitchen appliances, decoration, home accessories, and various other goods and home services. Started in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA has been ...

was opened in its place in July 2016. The original plan was for a three-storey store, but in the end a reduced store over two floors was built because of the growth in online shopping.

Transport

Calcot is east of the M4 motorway. Local bus services are provided by

Reading Buses Reading Buses is a bus operator serving the towns of Reading, Bracknell, Newbury, Slough, Windsor, Maidenhead, Wokingham and the surrounding areas in the counties of Berkshire, Oxfordshire, and Hampshire, England, as well as parts of Greater ...

. The nearest railway stations are and .

Notable people

In 1881 the American

post-impressionist Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction ag ...

painter

John Singer Sargent John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and more ...

spent the summer with his family in the village.

References

{{West Berkshire Suburbs of Reading, Berkshire Tilehurst West Berkshire District