Englefield, Berkshire

Englefield is a village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire. The village is mostly within the bounds of the private walled estate of Englefield House. The village is in the district of West Berkshire, close to Reading.

Englefield

St Mark's Church
Englefield
Location within Berkshire
Area9.25 km2 (3.57 sq mi)
Population286 (2011 census)[1]
• Density31/km2 (80/sq mi)
OS grid referenceSU6272
Civil parish
  • Englefield
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townREADING
Postcode districtRG7
PoliceThames Valley
FireRoyal Berkshire
AmbulanceSouth Central
UK Parliament

Battle of Englefield

In 870, the village was the site of the Battle of Englefield. This was fought between the Anglo-Saxons, under Æthelwulf, Ealdorman of Berkshire, and the Danes, and resulted in a resounding victory for the Saxons. The battle was the first of a series in the winter of 870-1. The village may have been named after the battle, Englefield meaning "English field".

The place-name 'Englefield' is first attested in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle for 871, where it appears as Engla feld. It appears as Englefel in the Domesday Book of 1086, and as Englefeld in the Feet of Fines for 1196. The name indicates settlement by the Angles in Saxon territory.[2]

Englefield House
Main article: Englefield House

Englefield House was the home of the Englefield family, supposedly from the time of King Edgar and certainly until the Elizabethan era when the present building was erected. The house eventually passed to the Benyon family, as part of the largest privately owned estate in West Berkshire.[3]

Village

In the late 19th century, Richard Fellowes Benyon rebuilt the villagers' houses as a model estate village and provided them with such amenities as a swimming pool, soup kitchen and a new school. Today the estate, owned by a family company, the Englefield Estate, covers some 20,000 acres (8,100 ha), and its farm is a beneficiary of European Union agricultural subsidies.[4] The village relies on and contributes to the amenities and organisations in Theale and Tilehurst as well as Reading which bound it to the south and east.

Demography
2011 Published Statistics: Population, home ownership and extracts from Physical Environment, surveyed in 2005[1]
Output areaHomes owned outrightOwned with a loanSocially rentedPrivately rentedOtherkm² roadskm² waterkm² domestic gardensUsual residentskm²
Civil parish148965280.1470.1090.1242869.25

References
  1. Key Statistics: Dwellings; Quick Statistics: Population Density; Physical Environment: Land Use Survey 2005
  2. Eilert Ekwall, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names, p.167.
  3. "The thirty landowners who own half a county". Who owns England?.
  4. Robert Verkaik (27 February 2011). "Wealthy minister earns £2m subsidies in EU farm subsidies which his department tried to cover up". Daily Mail. Retrieved 27 February 2011.

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