Cold Ash

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Coordinates: 51°25′26″N 1°15′50″W / 51.424°N 1.264°W / 51.424; -1.264
Cold Ash

St Mark's parish church
Cold Ash

 Cold Ash shown within Berkshire
Population 3,623 (2001 Census[citation needed])
OS grid reference SU5169
Civil parish Cold Ash
Unitary authority West Berkshire
Ceremonial county Berkshire
Region South East
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town Thatcham
Postcode district RG18
Dialling code 01635
Police Thames Valley
Fire Royal Berkshire
Ambulance South Central
EU Parliament South East England
UK Parliament Newbury
Website Cold Ash Parish Council
List of places
UK
England
Berkshire

Cold Ash is a village and civil parish in West Berkshire about 1 mile (1.6 km) north of Thatcham and 2.5 miles (4 km) north east of Newbury.

History

The Church of England parish church of Saint Mark was designed by the architect C.N. Beazley and built in 1864–65.[1] It is a brick Gothic Revival building with a polygonal apsidal chancel.[1] The chancel windows have tracery in a late 13th-century Decorated Gothic style.[1] The chancel windows have stained glass: the east window by Clayton and Bell and the north and south windows by C.E. Kempe.[1]

Downe House School, a girls' boarding school, moved to Cold Ash in 1922 when it outgrew its original premises, Downe House, Charles Darwin's former home near Bromley in Kent.[citation needed] St Peter's, a red brick house built in about 1700, is now part of the school.[2]

The Cloisters was built as a Roman Catholic Convent for the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary.[1] The Catholic architect W.C. Mangan of Preston, Lancashire designed the chapel, which was built in 1934–36 and has a tower.[1] It is now part of Downe House School.

Amenities

Cold Ash Post Office

Cold Ash has two public houses, the Castle Inn[3] and the Spotted Dog.[4] Cold Ash has a Women's Institute.[5] St. Mark's Church of England Primary School[6] has about 150-200 pupils in the 4–12 age range.

The village has a recreation ground with two tennis courts and space for football and cricket. The Acland Memorial Hall[7] is Cold Ash's village hall.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Pevsner 1966, p. 117
  2. "Downe House School St Peters St Peters Downe House School". National Heritage List for England. English Heritage. 16 August 1983. Retrieved 22 July 2013. 
  3. The Castle Inn
  4. The Spotted Dog
  5. "Cold Ash WI". Cold Ash Parish. Cold Ash Parish Council. Retrieved 22 July 2013l. 
  6. Cold Ash St Mark's Primary School
  7. "The Acland Memorial Hall". Cold Ash Parish. Cold Ash Parish Council. Retrieved 22 July 2013. 

Sources and further reading

External links

Media related to Cold Ash at Wikimedia Commons

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