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 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 ...

, in the English county of

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 ...

. 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 Suburban village to the south of the town of Reading, Berkshire, Reading in the England, English county of Berkshire. It is largely built on the country estate of the same name, surrounding Coley House. It is primarily a resident ...

. 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, in 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 Christians, Christian monks and nun ...

and Katesgrove wards. It is within the Central Reading 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 The Royal Berkshire Archives is the record office for the county of Berkshire in the United Kingdom. It is located in Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written langua ...

is located in Coley Avenue near to the junction with Bath Road. Along with Coley Park it was formerly land owned by the Vachell family from about 1300 to its sale in 1727. The estate then passed to the Thompson family until 1791, and then William Chamberlayne until 1809. Chamberlayne was responsible for selling off the land then known as Pinkney's Mead, close to the town centre. This was obtained piecemeal by small local developers who built tiny, densely packed cottages on the site for the growing population of Reading. 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 lo ...

, the Reading Central Goods station, which was connected to the main line at Southcote Junction by the Coley branch line. Phoebe Cusden, a notable

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

, peace campaigner and

Mayor of Reading The Borough of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire, currently has a largely ceremonial mayor. The mayor is responsible for chairing full council meetings as well as representing the council at events, welcoming guests and visiting local o ...

, 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). These were combined, extended and reissued in 2021 as "Coley Talking".Ounsley, M: ''Coley Talking'' (Two Rivers Press, 2021, )

References

{{Reading, Berkshire Suburbs of Reading, Berkshire