Caversham is a village and suburb 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 ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

, England, located directly north of Reading town centre across 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, s ...

. Caversham rises from the River Thames, lying on flood plain and the lowest reaches of the Chiltern Hills one of the few places in Berkshire to be considred part of the Chilterns. Two road bridges, including Caversham Bridge, and two footbridges join Caversham to the rest of Reading. Named areas within the village include Emmer Green, Lower Caversham, Caversham Heights and Caversham Park Village. Notable landmarks include Caversham Court, a public park and former country house;

Caversham Lakes Caversham Lakes is a set of lakes created through gravel extraction between the suburb of Caversham, Berkshire, Caversham in Reading, Berkshire and the hamlet of Sonning Eye in Oxfordshire, just north of the River Thames and also refers to th ...

; and part of the Thames Path national trail. Recorded as early as 1086, Caversham was a village part of the Henley district of

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

(it is located around south west of Henley). With the exception of the centre of Caversham and Emmer Green, which were traditional villages, much of the development occurred during the 20th century. In 1911, it was transferred to

and became part of the county borough of Reading.

History

The first written description of Caversham as Cavesham appeared in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

(1086) within the

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

of Binfield. This entry indicates that a sizeable community had developed with a considerable amount of land under cultivation. Robert de Montfort and Henry of Essex fought in front of Henry II under a bridge by the village. The martial Earl of Pembroke, who was a protector of Henry III, died in Caversham in the 13th century. Some time before 1106 a shrine to the Virgin Mary was established in Caversham. Its precise location is unknown, but it may have been near the present St Peter's Church. It became a popular place of

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...

, along with the

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

St. Anne According to apocrypha, as well as Christian and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary, the wife of Joachim and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the Bible's canonical gospels. In writing, Anne's na ...

on the bridge and her well, whose waters were believed to have healing properties. By the 15th century the statue was plated in silver;

Catherine of Aragon Catherine of Aragon (also spelt as Katherine, historical Spanish: , now: ; 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England as the Wives of Henry VIII, first wife of King Henry VIII from their marr ...

is recorded as visiting here on 17 July 1532. The shrine was destroyed on 14 September 1538 under the command of

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

. Only the well survives, now dry and surrounded by a protective wall, topped with a domed iron grill. A modern shrine to Our Lady has been re-established at the

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Church of Our Lady and St. Anne. In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

Caversham Manor was one of the

demesne A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land subinfeudation, sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. ...

s of William Marshal,

Earl of Pembroke Earl of Pembroke is a title in the Peerage of England that was first created in the 12th century by King Stephen of England. The title, which is associated with Pembroke, Pembrokeshire in West Wales, has been recreated ten times from its origin ...

and

regent In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

during King Henry III's minority. It was the place of his death. The medieval community was clustered on the north side of Caversham Bridge east of St Peter's Church, which was built in the 12th century. The third Earl of Buckingham donated the land for the church and neighbouring rectory, together with a considerable amount of land around it, to the Augustinian Notley Abbey near Long Crendon in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, these lands were given to Christ Church. The

rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, p ...

stood in what is now Caversham Court park and herb garden where there are remains with information panels and flat foundation stones as well as a ha ha wall below giving a view over the

and much of

and Tilehurst. In the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

there was fierce fighting around Caversham Bridge for a short time in April 1643.

had been held by Royalists and was besieged by a

Parliamentary In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

force under the Earl of Essex. Royalists marched south from

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

to try to relieve the town's defenders but were heavily defeated, and the town fell to the Parliamentarians a few days later. The fortified

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

was replaced by Caversham House and Park in the 16th century. Several houses have stood on the site, notably the home of William Cadogan. The present Caversham Park House, built in 1850, was occupied by BBC Monitoring from 1943 until 2018, analysing news, information and comment gathered from mass media around the world. The BBC Written Archives Centre is still based on part of the site.

Governance

Caversham is entirely 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 ...

and forms all or part of four of the borough's sixteen electoral wards: Caversham, Caversham Heights, Emmer Green and

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after th ...

wards. Caversham is in the Reading Central parliamentary constituency, currently represented by Matt Rodda of the Labour Party. The 2016 Boundary Commission review recommended moving one of Caversham's wards, Mapledurham, into the Reading West parliamentary constituency, but after consultation, this proposal was reverted in the 2018 recommendations.

Administrative history

Caversham was an

ancient parish 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the Binfield hundred of

. The parish historically extended from the banks of the Thames northwards into the Chiltern Hills, and included the area around

Kidmore End Kidmore End is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in South Oxfordshire, centred NNW of Reading, Berkshire, an important regional centre of commerce, research and engineering. It is in the low Chiltern Hills, partly in the A ...

. Kidmore End was made a separate

ecclesiastical 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 ...

in 1853. The reduced ecclesiastical parish of Caversham (excluding the Kidmore End ecclesiastical parish) was made a local government district in 1891. Such districts were reconstituted as urban districts in 1894. Also in 1894, the

civil parish 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Caversham was reduced to match the urban district, and Kidmore End became a separate civil parish. Caversham Urban District was abolished in 1911, with the area becoming part of the county borough of Reading on 9 November 1911, except for the Caversham Park area, which was transferred instead to the neighbouring parish of Eye and Dunsden. This also had the effect of transferring Caversham from Oxfordshire to the geographical county of Berkshire. In 1911 the civil parish had a population of 9,858. Caversham had no council of its own after 1911, but was classed as an urban parish within the borough of Reading. The parish of Caversham was finally abolished on 1 April 1916, when the parish of Reading was enlarged to cover the whole borough. The Caversham Park area east of Caversham and part of the parish of

Mapledurham Mapledurham is a small village, civil parish and country estate beside the River Thames in southern Oxfordshire, England. The parish borders Caversham, the most northerly district of Reading, Berkshire. Historic buildings in the area include t ...

west of Caversham were subsequently transferred into the borough of Reading in 1977.

Geography

The shopping area and immediate residential surrounds that form Central Caversham are surrounded by more recent developments that form bolt-on additions to the suburb: Caversham Heights on the higher ground to the west, Lower Caversham to the south east, and Caversham Park Village to the north east on what was the parkland of Caversham Park. Emmer Green, to the north, is an older village but is generally considered part of Caversham. Elevations of homes vary from 37m

above mean sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

to 92m at the top of Caversham Park, three metres short of the highest point in the east of the area. The bank of the river has the Thames Path National Trail except to the west of Caversham, where it reverses banks at Reading Bridge. Between

on the Thames and Caversham Heights, adjoining their respective

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, tee box, a #Fairway and rough, fairway, the #Fairway and rough, rough and other hazard (golf), hazards, and ...

s is a western narrow outcrop of the northern foothills that reaches 95m AOD. The low Chiltern Hills on the north bank of the

are therefore higher than the land on the opposite bank, providing wide views to the south.http://getamap.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/getamap/frames.htm?mapAction=gaz&gazName=g&gazString=SU7174

Ordnance survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

website On the northern edge of Caversham is the Local nature reserve of Clayfield Copse. The carved Caversham village sign, carved by a local craftsman, is mounted on a tall Oak post in the village centre.

Demography

Caversham including Emmer Green (the north bank) had: 22.1% of its homes being socially or privately rented in 2011, whereas the

had 42.4%. This broad area had 20.4% of Reading's population and 23.5% of the borough, with the north bank's homes occupying 29.1% of the footprint of the whole borough's homes. It had 5.7% of the borough's non-domestic buildings footprint. The same figures (where Emmer Green is excluded from analysis) are that Caversham more narrowly defined, as is becoming more common, saw 24.8% of its homes rented against the borough's 42.4%, the same area had 15.3% of Reading's population and 16.4% of the borough's area with its homes occupying 20.6% of the footprint of the whole borough's homes. It had 4.3% of the borough's non-domestic buildings footprint. At the 2011 census the proportion of homes that were rented as opposed to owned was close to 50% of the average for the

. The area had 15.3% of

's population and 16.4% of the borough's area. In keeping with a suburb, in 2005 the

Office for National Statistics The Office for National Statistics (ONS; ) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament. Overview The ONS is responsible fo ...

land use statistics published with the census, Caversham had 4.3% of the non-domestic buildings. Almost wholly low rise where developed, its homes occupied 20.6% of the footprint of all homes in the borough.

Transport

Caversham Bridge, Reading Bridge, Christchurch Bridge, and Caversham Lock provide crossing points (the last two for pedestrians only), with Sonning Bridge also available a few miles east of Caversham. While Caversham does not have a railway station of its own, Reading railway station is a short walk from both Reading Bridge and Caversham Bridge.

Education

There is one local authority

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

in Caversham, Highdown School. Many children from the area also attend Maiden Erlegh Chiltern Edge in

South Oxfordshire South Oxfordshire is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Oxfordshire, England. Its council is temporarily based outside the district at Abingdon-on-Thames pending a p ...

. In the independent sector, Queen Anne's School educates girls between the ages of 11 and 18, Hemdean House School has mixed infants and junior schools, and a girls senior school. There is also Caversham Preparatory School, which takes children from ages 3 to 11. There are several

primary schools A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

in Caversham including Caversham Primary School, Caversham Park Primary School, Emmer Green Primary School, The Hill Primary School,

's RC Primary School, St. Martin's RC Primary School, Micklands Primary School and Thameside Primary School. There is a shortage of

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

places in the west of Caversham, but a 2006 proposal to use part of

playing fields to build a replacement for Caversham Primary School did not receive public support. A new Heights Primary School took its first pupils in September 2014 in temporary accommodation, and has not yet found a permanent site. The Education Funding Authority acquired a site (previously residential) in Upper Warren Avenue during 2014, but there was criticism of the choice from local residents. After representations from affected constituents, the local MP, Rob Wilson, intervened. Following discussions with the EFA, Reading Borough Council was commissioned to work with local stakeholders on alternative sites. Five possibilities were proposed – two parks, a wildlife site, a residential site and a field in adjoining

. The subsequent consultation showed a clear preference for occupying a small part of Mapledurham playing fields (5%). The consultation is not binding, and there remain some legal difficulties. It is in trust for recreation purposes and was gifted by the late Mr Hewett to residents of

and

. Yet there would also be significant benefits for the community; the children of the area would have a school within walking distance, the recreation land would be used by the community more and the centre of Caversham's traffic would be reduced. Caversham has several

nursery school A preschool (sometimes spelled as pre school or pre-school), also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, play school, is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin c ...

s, one of which, New Bridge Nursery School was assessed by

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

in 2011 as 'outstanding'. Chiltern College, once a training school for childminders, now provides training in all aspects of child care, and claims to be the only childcare training college 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 ...

with its own nurseries, school, training college and residential accommodation on campus.

Sport

Caversham AFC is one of the largest youth football clubs in the area with many of its girls' and boys' youth teams competing in the top divisions of local leagues. Caversham AFC's main ground is Clayfield Copse, commonly referred to as "Swan's Lair" because the mascot for the team is a swan. In previous seasons, Highdown School has been used as Caversham AFC's training ground. The club colours are red and black. Their main rivals are Caversham Trents FC who also have boys teams competing in many of the same divisions as their AFC counterparts who are also known to use Highdown School as their training ground. The club colours are blue and white and their main ground is Mapledurham Playing Fields. The Albert Road recreation ground offers facilities for

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

croquet Croquet ( or ) is a sport which involves hitting wooden, plastic, or composite balls with a mallet through hoops (often called Wicket, "wickets" in the United States) embedded in a grass playing court. Variations In all forms of croquet, in ...

, and

bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which players try to roll their ball (called a bowl) closest to a smaller ball (known as a "jack" or sometimes a "kitty"). The bowls are shaped (biased), so that they follow a curve ...

Religious sites

There are many

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

churches in the Caversham area. St Peter's is the

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

of the Caversham, Thameside, and Mapledurham

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 ...

, which also includes St John's and St Margaret's, in the neighbouring

village. There are also two

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

Churches, the

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

church of Our Lady and

, Caversham

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

Church, Grace Church Caversham (which is part of Newfrontiers, and the Pentacostal

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

Church of God. Caversham Park Village Church meets in Caversham Park

Primary School A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

each Sunday and is an ecumenical project made up of Anglicans, Baptists and Methodists. Finally, Caversham

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

Church meets at the Youth and

Community Centre A community centre, community center, or community hall is a public location where members of a community gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may be open for the whole community or for a sp ...

in Emmer Green.

Notable people

* Fran Kirby

Notes

References

Attribution

External links

Royal Berkshire History: Caversham
*
Caversham.info – local Caversham community website
{{Authority control Populated places on the River Thames Suburbs of Reading, Berkshire Former civil parishes in Berkshire