Coley is an inner-town district near the centre of the town 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 (spelling ...

, in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

county of Berkshire. It is often referred to as Old Coley, to distinguish it from the adjacent, and much more recent, suburb of

Coley Park Coley Park is a suburb of the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. It is largely built on the country estate of the same name, surrounding Coley House. It is primarily a residential area, although it is also home to the Berkshire ...

. The district has no formal boundaries, but the historically the name referred to the area roughly bounded by Castle Street, Castle Hill and the Bath Road to the north, Berkeley Avenue to the south and west, and the

River Kennet The Kennet is a tributary of the River Thames in Southern England. Most of the river is straddled by the North Wessex Downs AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty). The lower reaches have been made navigable as the Kennet Navigation, which � ...

and Bridge Street to the east. Coley is bordered to its south and west by Coley Park, to its north by West Reading, and to its east by Katesgrove and the Inner Distribution Road. The district lies entirely within the borough of Reading, within Coley,

Abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The con ...

and Katesgrove wards. It is within the Reading West parliamentary constituency. Coley is split between the Church of England parishes of All Saints Church and St Giles' Church, although neither church is actually within the district. The Berkshire Record Office is located in Coley Avenue near to the junction with

Bath Road The A4 is a major road in England from Central London to Avonmouth via Heathrow Airport, Reading, Bath and Bristol. It is historically known as the Bath Road with newer sections including the Great West Road and Portway. The road was once the ...

. Coley formerly had a railway

goods yard A goods station (also known as a goods yard or goods depot) or freight station is, in the widest sense, a railway station where, either exclusively or predominantly, goods (or freight), such as merchandise, parcels, and manufactured items, are l ...

, the Reading Central Goods station, which was connected to the main line at Southcote Junction by the

Coley branch line The Coley branch line ( ELR:COY), also known as the Coley goods branch, was a single-track branch railway running from the Reading to Basingstoke line at Coley Branch Junction to Reading Central goods depot. History The railway was built by ...

Phoebe Cusden Phoebe Cusden (1887–1981) was a socialism, socialist, trade unionist, educator, peace campaigner and politician from the English town of Reading, Berkshire, Reading. She was continuously active between the 1910s and the 1970s, and was a leading ...

, a notable

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

peace campaigner A peace movement is a social movement which seeks to achieve ideals, such as the ending of a particular war (or wars) or minimizing inter-human violence in a particular place or situation. They are often linked to the goal of achieving world peac ...

and

Mayor of Reading In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well as ...

, lived all her life in Coley. In 1977 she published ''Coley: Portrait of an Urban Village'', a history of the suburb. Old Coley housed one of Reading's largest slum communities, built in the area between Wolseley St and Castle St. Centred around the Coley Steps, courts and back-to-back housing accommodated a population of about 1,500. The slums were eventually cleared in the 1930s, with residents rehoused in the new council estates of Whitley and Norcot. In 1989 the Coley Local History Group recorded the memories of its residents in two publications "Talking of Coley" (, 1990) and "More Talking of Coley" (1991)

References

Suburbs of Reading, Berkshire {{Berkshire-geo-stub