Dorney

Dorney is a village and

It includes a grade I listed manor house, Dorney Court, as well as the largest rowing lake in the south of England, Dorney Lake. Altogether water accounts for 13% of Dorney, the highest proportion in Buckinghamshire.

History

Dorney

Dorney Court is where the first pineapple in the UK was grown^[5] and so Dorney has a public house named The Pineapple, Grade II listed for its age, dating half to the 17th century and half to the 18th century.^[6]

In 1961 a cornfield at Dorney was the scene of a nationally reported abduction. A lone gunman, James Hanratty, abducted Valerie Storie and Michael Gregsten in a Morris Minor parked in the cornfield. He forced them at gunpoint to drive to a lay-by on the A6 at Maulden in Bedfordshire, where he shot and murdered Gregsten, raped Valerie Storie and shot her. She survived, paralysed.

Topography

The village is on the north bank of the River Thames on very gently sloping land towards the river and inchoate streams which were mostly joined into the Jubilee River, mainly on gravel-underlain soil.

Eton is 2.3 miles (3.7 km) east, the centre of which directly faces

Dorney has Dorney Lake, where alongside Holme Pierrepont in England major rowing events take place, such as at the 2012 Summer Olympics and annually in events such as the Wallingford, Marlow and Metropolitan Regattas. The Olympic games also hosted canoeing events there which continue to take place occasionally.

In the south east Dorney Common is a large traditional grassed common, roughly triangular, which is an SSSI. Owing to the continued use of the land for grazing, the common offers panoramic views of Windsor Castle 2 and a half miles to the east.

Local administration

In local administration Dorney's community meets at a civil parish council for minor upkeep, community events and recreational matters and is surrounded to the south, east and west by the non-metropolitan county of

None of the properties in Dorney Reach are listed in terms of architecture, however a central cluster in the other, closer two parts of the village are, giving 15 in total.[8]

Although the church was 'restored' so somewhat unrecognisable in terms of obscuring its medieval decoration (this took place in the 19th century), the chancel and nave date from the 12th century, the tower was built about 1540, and the north or Garrard chapel and the porch were added in the 17th century.^[4]

A second

In the parish of Dorney are the hamlets of Dorney Reach and Lake End; none centred more than 1 mile (1.6 km) apart.

Dorney Reach

Dorney Reach is a community on a riverside road, almost half of the homes of which are by the River Thames, overlooking Monkey Island. This side of the river is also the location of a Thames lock, named Bray Lock; its name is somewhat of a misnomer, as the village of Bray sits on the opposite side of the river from the lock itself.

Lake End

Lake End includes the Pineapple and is the only settled part north of the Jubilee River on the main northward road from the village, with a public car park by the Jubilee River which enables access to its towpath and the buildings of Dorney and Lake End.

Demography

Nearest places

• Burnham — 2 miles
• Taplow — 2 miles
• Eton — 2 miles
• Maidenhead — 4 miles

References

External links

Media related to Dorney at Wikimedia Commons