Streatley, Berkshire

Coordinates: 51°31′23″N 1°09′00″W / 51.523°N 1.15°W / 51.523; -1.15
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Streatley
2011 census)[1]
• Density81/km2 (210/sq mi)
OS grid referenceSU5980
Civil parish
  • Streatley
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townReading
Postcode districtRG8
Dialling code01491
PoliceThames Valley
FireRoyal Berkshire
AmbulanceSouth Central
UK Parliament
WebsiteStreatley Parish Council
List of places
UK
England
Berkshire
51°31′23″N 1°09′00″W / 51.523°N 1.15°W / 51.523; -1.15

Streatley is a village and

AOD to 185m at Streatley Warren, a hilltop point on its western border forming the eastern end of the Berkshire Downs. This Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is topped by the 87-mile The Ridgeway path, which crosses the Thames at Goring and Streatley Bridge
.

Location

Streatley is centred 9 miles (14 km) north-west of Reading and 17 miles (27 km) south of Oxford. Its developed area occupies half of the narrow Goring Gap on the River Thames and is directly across the river from the Oxfordshire village of Goring-on-Thames. The two villages are connected by Goring and Streatley Bridge, with its adjacent lock and weir, and are often considered as a single settlement. Goring & Streatley railway station on the Great Western Main Line is in Goring and serves both villages.[A ][B ]

The village is mostly surrounded by

National Trust land: Lardon Chase, the Holies and Lough Down. Nearby villages include Aldworth, Goring-on-Thames, Lower Basildon, Moulsford and Pangbourne The Ridgeway long-distance path passes through the village, which is the finishing line for the annual "Ridgeway 40" walk and trail run.[2] The Thames Path, Icknield Way
and the Ridgeway cross the Thames at Streatley.

The Swan hotel
Part of Golf Club course and agricultural and wooded hills with footpaths in background.
St. Mary's parish church

History

Being in such a vital crossing point on the Thames, a settlement at Streatley has existed for a long time. The village is mentioned in the

sarsen stone, traditionally thought to be the remains of a Roman milestone, is still present at the Bull crossroads.[3] Long before the bridge was built a ferry used to operate between the two villages. Sixty people were drowned at Streatley in 1674 when a ferry capsized in the flash lock.[4]
The iron wheel pump, on the forecourt of The Bull, was the only reliable water source in the great freeze of 1895, and water was sold from this point for sixpence a bucket.

Two-thirds of Streatley used to be owned by the

Morrell family of brewers from Oxford, whose resistance to change enabled the village to withstand the railway line and extra houses that went to Goring-on-Thames. The watermill was originally owned by the nuns of Goring. In later years it was used to drive a generator to provide electricity for the estate. However, it burned down in 1926 and was not rebuilt.[5] On the death of Emily Morrell, in 1938, the estate was sold, and the manor house and some other houses in the village became part of the Royal Veterinary College, which had moved out of London during the Blitz. The college left in 1958.[6] A bomb exploded in a postman's bag on a bicycle in the village in 1979. It was targeted at a retired judge in the village, but went off early, when the postman's bicycle fell over.[7][8] The incident appeared to be the work of the IRA
.

Government

Streatley is a

parliamentary constituency.[9]

Amenities

Public house

Streatley has one

youth hostel
.

Hotel

There is a four-star

Thames
.

Leisure facilities

Ridgeway. Streatley Hill is a destination for cycling hill climbs – the annual Didcot Phoenix Cycle Club and Reading Cycle Club Hill Climb competitions take place every September. The hill featured in the Tour of Britain in 2008 as a designated King of the Mountains
climb.

Church

The

Anglo-Saxon warrior, whose body was discovered under the old bowling green in 1932 and reburied in the cemetery.[11] The village has a Church of England primary school with a feeder pre-school attached to it. The church is a Grade II listed building.[12]

Events

The annual Goring and Streatley

Regatta is held each July on the Streatley side of the river. In the 19th century, it was a serious regatta to rival Henley or Marlow, but now it is a local regatta for amateur teams of inhabitants of the two villages. A torchlight procession of villagers and visitors merges with another stream from Goring each Christmas Eve
, in a night-time spectacle that continues onto Streatley Recreation Ground for a carol service.

In literature

The village is the subject of the poem "A Streatley Sonata" by Joseph Ashby-Sterry[13] composed in the late 19th century:

And when you're here, I’m told that you

Should mount the hill and see the view;
And gaze and wonder, if you'd do
Its merits most completely;

The air is clear, the day is fine,
The prospect is, I know, divine –
But most distinctly I decline
To climb the hill at Streatley

But from the Hill, I understand
You gaze across rich pasture-land;
And fancy you see Oxford and
P'r'aps Wallingford and Wheatley:

Upon the winding Thames you gaze,
And, though the view’s beyond all praise,
I'd rather much sit here and laze

Than scale the Hill at Streatley!

The village is mentioned in

Jerome K Jerome's Three Men in a Boat
:

We had intended to push on to Wallingford that day, but the sweet smiling face of the river here lured us to linger for a while; and so we left our boat at the bridge, and went up into Streatley, and lunched at the Bull, much to Montmorency's satisfaction....
It is an ancient place, Streatley, dating back, like most river-side towns and villages, to British and Saxon times. Goring is not nearly so pretty a little spot to stop at as Streatley, if you have your choice; but it is passing fair enough in its way, and is nearer the railway in case you want to slip off without paying your hotel bill.

Nearest places

See also

References

  1. ^ Key Statistics: Dwellings; Quick Statistics: Population Density; Physical Environment: Land Use Survey 2005
  2. ^ [1] Ridgeway 40 website
  3. ^ Golton, Edward (2002). "Roman Milestones near Streatley?". The South Oxfordshire Archaeological Group Bulletin (57). Archived from the original on 24 December 2012. Retrieved 22 October 2009.
  4. ^ Fred. S. Thacker The Thames Highway: Volume II Locks and Weirs 1920 – republished 1968, David & Charles.
  5. ^ "Streatley – A little bit of history". Streatley Parish Council. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  6. ^ "Goring and Streatley amenity website". Gandsamenity.co.uk. Retrieved 5 February 2010.
  7. ^ "Hansrd HC Deb 8 July 1994 vol 246 c330W". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 8 July 1994. Retrieved 5 February 2010.
  8. ^ "BUfVC Recording".
  9. ^ a b c "Election Maps". Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 27 February 2008.
  10. ^ Christopher Winn: I Never Knew That about the Thames (London: Ebury Press, 2010), p. 78.
  11. ^ "The history of St Mary's Church, Streatley". St Mary's, Streatley. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
  12. ^ Historic England (14 April 1967). "Church of St Mary (Grade II) (1213283)". National Heritage List for England.
  13. ^ John Eade. "Where Thames Smooth Waters Glide". Thames.me.uk. Retrieved 5 February 2010.

Sources

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Streatley, Berkshire.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Goring and Streatley.
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