Shinfield is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Wokingham, Berkshire, England. It lies just south of Reading, around 3 miles (4.8 km) from the town centre, and covers an area of 4,313 acres (17.45 km2). Shinfield Park is the northern part of the parish, becoming physically separated from Reading when the M4 motorway was constructed in 1971.
The main road through the village, running north–south, is the former A327, running between Reading and Aldershot, with the A327 now bypassing the village centre. Shinfield Village is centred on the village green (School Green), surrounded by a pub, a shop, the village school and recreation grounds. Its residential housing has increased considerably during the first years of the 21st century. The parish consists of a central ridge of high land sloping down to the river Loddon on the east and the Kennet Valley on the west. The soil is mostly London Clay, with patchy spreads of valley and plateau gravel.
Government
As well as being part of the District of Wokingham, Shinfield is governed by a parish council consisting of fifteen parish councillors, assisted by two full-time administrative staff and several part-time caretaking and maintenance employees. Shinfield has been part of the Hundred of Charlton since before the Norman Conquest. Hundreds effectively ceased to function after 1886. Between 1894 and 1974, it was in the Wokingham Rural District. There are many manors and supposed manors in the parish: Shinfield, Hartley Dummer alias Arbor, Hartley Battle, Hartley Amys, Hartley Pellitot, Moor Place, Diddenham Court, Hartley Court and Garston. Hartley Dummer is in the hundred of Theale. The Diddenham estate was officially a detached part of Wiltshire until transferred to Berkshire in 1844.
History
An Iron Age gold stater coin, found in Shinfield and dated to c. 60 – c. 50BCE[4]A silver-plated denarius of Tiberius, found in Shinfield in 2012 and dated to c. 16 – c. 37CE[5]
The village was named Shining Field, by the Anglo-Saxons, after the sparkling flood-waters which still often cover the meadows down by the Loddon on the Arborfield border. The manor was one of the many owned by Catherine of Aragon in Tudor times.[6] She is said to have stayed there on occasion, possibly while visiting Reading Abbey.[6] During the Civil War, Charles I is said to have stayed at Goodrest House (now part of Crosfields School).[6] Later, the local church tower was blown to pieces by Parliamentary soldiers trying to oust a group of Royalists who were hiding there.[6] The brick replacement can still be seen today. The church is the last resting place of the parents of author Mary Russell Mitford.[6][7]
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