Wargrave
| Wargrave | |
 High Street |
|
  Wargrave Wargrave shown within Berkshire | |
| Population | 3,910 (2001 Census) |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | SU7878 |
| Civil parish | Wargrave |
| Unitary authority | Wokingham |
| Ceremonial county | Berkshire |
| Region | South East |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Reading |
| Postcode district | RG10 |
| Dialling code | 0118 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Royal Berkshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | Wokingham |
| Website | Wargrave Parish Council |
Wargrave is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. The village is primarily on the River Thames but also along the confluence of the River Loddon. The village is larger than the county average, having a railway station on its short branch line, off the Great Western Railway to/from London Paddington; the village is quickly accessible to nearby parts of the M4 corridor, particularly Berkshire and London Heathrow Airport and local major centres of employment include Reading and Bracknell, with smaller businesses and additional commercial facilities in nearby Henley on Thames and Wokingham. The town has many old listed buildings, two marinas with chandlery services for boats, a rowing club and rises steeply to the northwest in the direction of Bowsey Hill, with higher parts of the town generally known as Upper Wargrave. In Upper Wargrave is a Recreation Ground with a cricket club, bowls club and tennis club.
History
Original Forms of Name
It is in the Borough of Wokingham. The name Wargrave is derived from 'Weir-Grove', 'Weregreave',[1] rather than a literal meaning of War Grave and the village dates back to medieval times.[2]
Early history
The first documentary evidence of the settlement was recorded in 1061. The Domesday Book of 1086 records the settlement as having a population of 250.[1] In the 13th century the current High Street was lined with plots and backstreets developed.
Architecturally, Wargrave Court was erected in the early Tudor period, altered and extended in the Georgian to post-Edwardian period.[3] Wargrave Manor occupies its medieval site on the northern outskirts, bounded by its lower meadow that overlooks Wargrave Marsh below it, which is drained farmland downstream and the local primary floodplain. However this building, while also grade II listed, is larger, with a modest landscaped park. It is late Georgian and altered later in a painted stucco with moulded, chamfered quoins, moulding over second floor windows, hipped slate roof with several chimneys, spread over three storeys save for the wings. The east front has a conical roof over a protrusion of similar shape with three sash windows flanked by single bays with similar windows: all windows have architrave surrounds, ground floor windows having Victorian panes. This section has a Doric veranda with coupled columns supporting entablature across the whole front. Flanking wings have two upper sash windows and venetian windows on their ground floor. Its Victorian south front has 5 bays repeating the design and a central porch of angle pilasters supporting entablature and blocking course, above the double door is a radiating fanlight. The west front has a large Victorian semi-circular terrace in front.[4]
The village continued to develop into its current form in the 18th century growing up the hill from High Street eastwards so that by the end of the 19th century this axis, now Victoria Road, was fully settled.
Post-Industrial Revolution History
In the 20th century the village's population grew significantly, especially in the 1970s and '80s[citation needed] as new developments on farmland inside the parish boundaries responded to demand for housing for commuters working in and on the increasingly commercial western outskirts of London.
Geography
The village encloses the confluence of the River Loddon and the River Thames. It is on the A321 road between Twyford and Henley-on-Thames. On the opposite bank of the River Thames are the villages of Shiplake and Lower Shiplake.
Wargrave railway station is on the Henley Branch Line between Twyford (the next station south) and Henley-on-Thames. The railway operator provides trains at least every 30 minutes each way Monday-Friday and allows connections to Reading and London Paddington if a change of train is made at Twyford: the time to the capital is 53–70 minutes.[5] A large proportion of the residents in employment commute to outlying areas, as the village itself supports a small range of shops and businesses, but the average commute is more than five miles to support the local economy as at the 2011 census.[6]
Christian buildings and memorials
The Church of England parish church of Saint Mary dates from the 12th century and has the wide ecclesiastical parish of Wargrave with Knowl Hill.[7] It is situated on Mill Green, off the High Street. In 1914 it was set on fire and gutted as a result of a mistakenly targeted direct action by the Suffragette Movement.[2] The north door remains from the 12th century, the tower from 1635 and the remaining structure was built following the fire. This is a Grade II* listed building.[8]
In the gardens of the churchyard is the Hannen Columbarium, built to house the remains of the Hannen family. It was designed by Edwin Lutyens and is considered an interesting example of his early work.[9]
The ashes of Sir Nicholas John Hannen, judge, his son, Nicholas "Beau" Hannen, actor, and Beau's wife Athene Seyler, also an actor, are all interred in the Columbarium.
Thomas Day (1748–1789), author and abolitionist, is also buried in the churchyard, after being fatally thrown from his horse.[citation needed]
The Roman Catholic church of Our Lady of Peace was built in 1963 and is supported by the Parish of Saint Thomas More of the neighbouring village, Twyford.
The river
There are marinas and Wargrave Boating Club for those who use the River Thames for leisure and sport.
In August, the Wargrave & Shiplake Regatta is held over two days on the Shiplake riverbank opposite. The regatta combines serious and light-hearted racing in canoes, dinghies, dongolas and skiffs. It is the largest community event of the year having taken place since 1867.[10] The event ends with a large firework display on the Saturday night.
Wargrave is mentioned in Jerome K. Jerome's, 1889 book Three Men in a Boat, a humorous account of a boating holiday on the River Thames:
We caught a breeze, after lunch, which took us gently up past Wargrave and Shiplake. Mellowed in the drowsy sunlight of a summer's afternoon, Wargrave, nestling where the river bends, makes a sweet old picture as you pass it, and one that lingers long upon the retina of memory.The “George and Dragon" at Wargrave boasts a sign, painted on the one side by Leslie, R.A., and on the other by Hodgson of that ilk. Leslie has depicted the fight; Hodgson has imagined the scene, "After the Fight"— George, the work done, enjoying his pint of beer.
Day, the author of Sandford and Merton, lived and—more credit to the place still—was killed at Wargrave.—Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men in a Boat, Chapter XIV
Amenities
At one time there were seven public houses on High Street, serving the stage coaches travelling between Henley-on-Thames and Reading; there are now only three. The pubs remaining today are the Bull, the Greyhound and the St George and Dragon. There is also the Queen Victoria public house in Upper Wargrave.
Wargrave has its own primary school, which is split into the infant school and junior school, and a secondary academy school – The Piggott School formerly a comprehensive school, now an academy. Each is a Church of England voluntary controlled school and are also feeder schools to each other. They are all named after Robert Piggott.
Notable people
- Dave Allen, comedian
- Angela Baddeley, actress
- Richard Barry, 7th Earl of Barrymore
- Raymond Baxter, television presenter
- Bert Bushnell,athlete 1948 Olympic Gold medalist, Double sculls
- Michael Caine, actor. Briefly evacuated to Wargrave in 1939 to a "house so big it looked like a castle" (possibly Park Place, Berkshire)
- Paul Daniels, magician
- Peter Davison, actor
- Sandra Dickinson, actress
- Nicholas "Beau" Hannen, actor (son of Sir Nicholas Hannen)
- Sir Nicholas John Hannen, Chief Justice of the British Supreme Court for China and Japan
- Mary Hopkin, singer
- Robert Morley, actor
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Wargrave Local History Society: A Potted History of the Village
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 David Nash Ford's Royal Berkshire History: Wargrave
- ↑ Wargrave Court English Heritage. "Details from listed building database ({{{num}}})". National Heritage List for England.
- ↑ Wargrave Manor English Heritage. "Details from listed building database (1155057)". National Heritage List for England.
- ↑ Association of Train Operating Companies – official timetable
- ↑
- ↑ "Parish Churches". St Mary's Wargrave with Knowl Hill. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
- ↑ St Mary's Church English Heritage. "Details from listed building database (1155023)". National Heritage List for England.
- ↑ See description of the Hannen Mausoleum at http://www.mausolea-monuments.org.uk.
- ↑ Wargrave & Shiplake Regatta: History of the Wargrave & Shiplake Regatta
External links
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