Purley on Thames
In the centre there is an historic area named variously Lething or Burley (Domesday) which accommodated traders and craftsmen alongside the main Reading to Oxford road.[2] At the same time most of the eastern part of the parish was emparked; a new road, New Hill, constructed to provide access to the residual village, and the turnpike highway diverted to the south.[3] While the mansion itself has now been converted to apartments, the Purley Park Trust continues to support adults with learning difficulties with care homes in the former grounds.Its Master of Foxhounds, Cecil Aldin, ran a remount depot there in World War I, employing his friend and fellow artist, Alfred Munnings as a horse doctor.After the sale of the estate of Purley Magna in the 1920s most of the eastern part of the parish has been developed but there is easy access to rural areas to the west and south.Changes in the 20th century began with ribbon development along the Oxford Road and Long Lane and in recent years these properties have been redeveloped with modern housing estates.As a result of the guidance plan agreed during the 1960s, it has gradually developed from self built, timber dwellings and converted railway carriages, to an area with more conventional housing.The civil parish of Purley on Thames stretches roughly 1.5 km both north–south and east–west and is within the West Berkshire Council unitary authority area.It is bounded to the north by a stretch of the River Thames, to the east by the Borough of Reading, to the west by Pangbourne and to the south by Tilehurst and Sulham.
Purley, LondonVillagecivil parishBerkshire2011 censusDensityOS grid referenceUnitary authorityWest BerkshireCeremonial countyRegionSouth EastCountryEnglandSovereign statePost townPostcode districtRG8, RG31PoliceThames ValleyRoyal BerkshireAmbulanceSouth CentralUK ParliamentReading WestReadingPangbourneOxfordmanorsSaxon times2001 censusElizabethanmanor houseJames Wyattlisted buildingturnpike highwayDown syndromeMaster of FoxhoundsCecil Aldinremount depotWorld War IAlfred MunningsWorld War IIcivil engineeringWarren HastingsLady Baden-PowellSouth Sea BubblesmallholdingsMortimer MenpesWhistlerenclosuresribbon developmentWest Berkshire Councilunitary authorityparish councilparliamentary constituencyRiver ThamesBorough of ReadingTilehurstSulhamescarpmentEnvironment AgencyWhite BritishCaribbeanGreat Western Main LineReading BusesThames TravelReadiBusMapledurham Lockprimary schoolsDenefield AcademyNorth Wessex DownsThames PathReading AbbeyThe AnarchyNormanGothic revivalistG E StreetEdward VICatholicMary IThomas HandcockProtestantElizabeth ICongregationalistAct of Uniformity 1662RestorationCharles IIChurch of EnglandHistoric EnglandNational Heritage List for EnglandHungerfordNewburyThatchamcivil parishesAldermastonAldworthAshampsteadBasildonBeech HillBeedonBeenhamBoxfordBradfieldBrightwaltonBrimptonBuckleburyBurghfieldCatmoreChaddleworthChieveleyCold AshComptonEast GarstonEast IlsleyEnborneEnglefieldFarnboroughFawleyFrilshamGreat SheffordGreenhamHampstead MarshallHampstead NorreysHermitageHolybrook