Calcot, or Calcot Row, is a village in

West Berkshire West Berkshire is a unitary authority in the ceremonial county of Berkshire, England. It is 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 Newbur ...

, England. Calcot is within the built-up area of

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

, located about out of the town centre, and straddles the historic A4 Bath Road. It sits between the hamlet of

Horncastle Horncastle is a market town and civil parish in the East Lindsey district in Lincolnshire, England. It is east of Lincoln. Its population was 6,815 at the 2011 census and estimated at 7,123 in 2019. A section of the ancient Roman walls rema ...

and Junction 12 of the

M4 motorway The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is the third longest 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 ele ...

Tilehurst Tilehurst is a village on the western outskirts of the town of Reading, Berkshire, Reading in the county of Berkshire, England. It extends from the River Thames in the north to the A4 road (England), A4 road in the south. The village is partl ...

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

and Theale.

Local government

Although now a suburb of

, Calcot is not within the

Borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, 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 ...

of Reading. Rather it is split between the

civil parishes In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishe ...

of Holybrook and Tilehurst Without, with that part of Calcot north of the Bath Road in Tilehurst

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

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 t ...

of the

unitary authority A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...

. 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 governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

. Calcot is part of the Reading West and Mid Berkshire

parliamentary constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

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

John Blagrave John Blagrave of Reading, Berkshire, Reading (d. 1611) was an English Tudor period, Tudor mathematician, astronomer and designer of astronomical instrument, astronomical and mathematical instruments. His astrolabe designs, which he described in h ...

, 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 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 mill (grinding), milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in ...

on the Holy Brook. 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, ...

and has been converted into apartments. Pincent's Kiln is an

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

(SSSI) on the western border of the area.

Shopping

Calcot is home to two large shopping complexes – the

SavaCentre SavaCentre was a chain of 13 hypermarkets and later a further seven discount supermarkets owned and operated jointly by Sainsbury's and BHS, beginning in 1977. Sainsbury's later took full control of the stores alone in 1989, rebranding them as S ...

and the Pincents Lane Retail Park; both close to Junction 12 of the

. In September 1981, an

hypermarket A hypermarket 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, including full grocery lines and general merchandise. In ...

, a BHS and

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is a British supermarket and the second-largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company was the largest UK r ...

joint enterprise, opened. 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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. 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 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, Inc. (later NeXT Computer, Inc. and NeXT Software, Inc.) was an American technology company headquartered in Redwood City, California that specialized in computer workstations for higher education and business markets, and later develope ...

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

Sports Direct Sportsdirect.com Retail Limited, trading as Sports Direct, is a British retail company owned by Frasers Group. The company was founded in 1982 by Mike Ashley (businessman), Mike Ashley and was originally based in Maidenhead, England. It specialises ...

Boots A boot is a type of footwear. Most boots mainly cover the foot and the ankle, while some also cover some part of the lower calf. Some boots extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is clearl ...

and

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

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

Homebase Homebase was a British Home improvement center, home improvement and garden centre retailer that operated across the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was founded by British supermarket chain Sainsbury's and Belgian retailer GIB Group, GB-Inno ...

, but also featuring a branch of

Dunelm Mill Dunelm Group plc, trading as Dunelm, is a British home furnishings retailer operating in the United Kingdom. One of the largest homeware retailers in the UK, the company headquarters are in Syston, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exch ...

, Carpetright, Utopia Nightclub and

Megabowl Tenpin Ltd (stylized tenpin, and formerly known as Megabowl and Tenpin 10) is one of the largest ten-pin bowling brands in the United Kingdom, consisting of 55 bowling centres ranging from 12 to 36 lanes (depending on the size of the centre), ...

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

IKEA IKEA ( , ) is a Multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in Sweden that designs and sells , household goods, and various related services. IKEA is owned and operated by a series of not-for-profit an ...

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 Transport Limited, trading as Reading Buses, is an English Municipal bus company, municipal bus operator owned by Reading Borough Council, serving the towns of Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Bracknell, Newbury, Berkshire, Newbury, Slough, ...

. 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 a ...

painter

John Singer Sargent John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 15, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian era, Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil ...

spent the summer with his family in the village.

References

{{West Berkshire Tilehurst West Berkshire District