Woodley, Berkshire
Woodley is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Wokingham, in Berkshire, England. Woodley is 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Reading and adjoined to Earley which is 2 miles (3.2 km) to the west of the town and Woodley is 5 miles (8 km) from Wokingham. Nearby are the villages of Sonning, Twyford, Winnersh, Hurst and Charvil.
History
The
Woodley Lodge, later known as Bulmershe Court, was bought by
The 1847 Kelly's Directory of Berkshire described Woodley as " a scattered village and consists principally of farm houses. James Wheble has a neat residence here called Bulmershe Court. There is a market for fat cattle, held at Loddon Bridge every Monday, which is well attended by butchers from Reading and the vicinity". The directory listed the main farmers, public houses and tradesmen. The pubs were The Bull and Chequers at Woodley Green, The Chequers at Bulmershe Heath, The Lands End and The George at Loddon Bridge.[2]
Woodley Aerodrome
Until the 1930s Woodley was a village of little significance. In 1929, Woodley Aerodrome was opened in a 100-acre (40 ha) field belonging to Sandford Farm.[1] Jack Phillips and Charles Powis started a business The Phillips and Powis School of Flying, offering flying lessons at 12s 6d each. Pauline Gower, later Commander of the Women's Air Transport Auxiliary, earned her pilot's licence there in September 1930.[5][6] Flight magazine of 10 May 1933 advertised "Learn to Fly for £37 irrespective of the total number of hours taken" at the P and P School of Flying. The short-lived Berks, Bucks and Oxon Flying Club and the Reading Aero Club were also based at the Aerodrome.
In 1932 F.G. Miles came to Woodley and Charles Powis agreed "to place at Mr Miles' disposal a newly equipped Aircraft Workshop".[7] F.G. Miles was joined by his wife Blossom who was a skilled designer and took an active role in the business. In 1936 his brother George joined the company. Phillips left the company in 1932 and Powis in 1937. The first major success for the company was the Miles Hawk aeroplane, a wooden monoplane which sold for £395. Flying was a hobby for the rich, but this was the most affordable civilian plane of the time. Designed by modernist architect Guy Morgan, the Falcon Hotel was built in 1937 to accommodate visitors and serve as a new accommodation for the Reading Aero Club.
The company name was Phillips and Powis until 1943 when it was changed to
From 1935 a civilian flying school was operated by the Philips and Powis company, where trainees were prepared for service in the RAF.[8] The company won a £2M Air Ministry order for 500 M.9 Master Is on 11 June 1938 and this was Britain's largest order for training aeroplanes at the time and required considerable and urgent expansion of the busy factory later that year. By 1939 Phillips and Powis had 1,000 employees and major extensions to the factory and an impressive new 'art deco' headquarters designed by Guy Morgan were officially opened by Air Minister Sir Kingsley Wood on 27 January 1939. When war broke out that September, the airfield and factory buildings were camouflaged and the grass runways were disguised by false hedges. The nearby 'Eleven Elms' were cut down because it was feared they were a landmark which could identify the Aerodrome. In 1940 the company was awarded a Spitfire repair and service contract and at the height of World War Two there was a 24-hour 7 day working week and 5,000 employees and many dispersed production and storage sites around the local area. The RAF formed No. 10 Flying Instructors' School in 1942 from the former No. 8 Elementary Flying Training School. The aerodrome was bombed three times in 1940 but the damage was minor and there were no deaths.[9]
Around 6,000 civil and military aircraft were built and first flown here from 1933 to 1962 and, in 1939, the Phillips & Powis factory installed Britain's first moving track assembly line for aircraft production, to build the
Government
The
Landmarks
Woodley
Education
Woodley has two secondary
Geography
Woodley has a site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) just to the east of the town, called Lodge Wood and Sandford Mill[11] The town has three local nature reserves, and they are called Alder Moors, Highwood and Lavells Lake.[12][13][14]
Sport
Woodley
Woodley is home to the Kingfisher
Notable people
- Hi De Hi
- James Henry, footballer
- F G & Maxine ('Blossom') Miles, aircraft designers and pilots
- Hampshirecricketer
- Irwin Sparkes, vocalist, The Hoosiers[16]
- Chris Tarrant, TV presenter, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
- Sam Barratt, footballer
Literature
Woodley is a location mentioned in the short ghost story The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance by
See also
- Sonning Cutting on the Great Western Railway north of Woodley
References
- ^ ISBN 978-1-905191-02-4.
- ^ ]
- ^ Survey of Sonning 1550 BRO D/EE/M7
- ^ "Plans lodged for 300 homes at Reading university's Bulmershe campus". geatreading.co.uk. 12 March 2012. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
- ^ "Great Britain, Royal Aero Club Aviators' Certificates, 1910–1950". www.ancestry.co.uk. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
- OCLC 1337943261.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ^ ISBN 978-0-946627-12-7.
- ^ "Expansion Unlimited – A visit to Phillips and Powis' Civil Training School at Woodley". Flight magazine. 8 October 1936. pp. 366–368. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
- ISBN 978-0-9935512-1-5.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ^ a b Pevsner 1966, p. 311.
- ^ "Magic Map Application - sssi". Magic.defra.gov.uk. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
- ^ "Magic Map Application - Highwood". Magic.defra.gov.uk. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
- ^ "Magic Map Application - Local Nature reserves". Magic.defra.gov.uk. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
- ^ "Natural England - Special Sites". Lnr.naturalengland.org.uk. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
- ^ Southlake Angling Society
- ^ "Interview: The Hoosiers". BBC. 18 December 2007. Retrieved 20 January 2008.
Sources
- Page, W.H., eds. (1923). A History of the County of Berkshire, Volume 3. Victoria County History. London. pp. 210–225.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 311.
External links
- Media related to Woodley at Wikimedia Commons
- Woodley Town Council
- Royal Berkshire History: Woodley House