Twyford, Berkshire

Last updated

Twyford
The Waggon and Horses, Twyford - geograph.org.uk - 504349.jpg
On the Old Bath Road, looking into Twyford from its western boundary.
Berkshire UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Twyford
Location within Berkshire
Population6,618 (2011 Census) [1]
OS grid reference SU790755
Civil parish
  • Twyford
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town Reading
Postcode district RG10
Dialling code 0118
Police Thames Valley
Fire Royal Berkshire
Ambulance South Central
UK Parliament
Website Twyford Parish Council
List of places
UK
England
Berkshire
51°28′37″N0°52′01″W / 51.477°N 0.867°W / 51.477; -0.867

Twyford is a large village and civil parish in the Borough of Wokingham in Berkshire, England. It had a population of 6,618 in the 2011 Census. [2] It is in the Thames Valley and on the A4 between Reading and Maidenhead, close to Henley-on-Thames and Wokingham.

Contents

History

The village's toponym is Anglo-Saxon in origin, and means double ford . [3] It is a common name in England. Twyford had two fords over two branches of the River Loddon, [4] on the Old Bath Road to the west of the centre. According to the chronicler Geoffrey Gaimar, after King Æthelred of Wessex and his brother, the future King Alfred the Great, were defeated by the Vikings at the Battle of Reading in 871, they escaped by a ford over the River Loddon at Twyford which was not known to their pursuers. [5] William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, who was a well known philanthropist who donated his life savings to Loddon Village Hall, spent the final years of his life in Ruscombe Fields, a property close to Twyford, and is remembered by a residential street named 'Pennfields'. [6]

Twyford was primarily an agricultural settlement until the coming of the railway in 1838 put it on the Great Western main line to the west and subsequently made it a junction for the Henley Branch Line. However, its position on the Bath Road had always brought activity which was centred on the King's Arms, an important coaching inn. [7] The opening of a by-pass in 1929 finally ended the east–west flow of main road traffic through the centre, but Twyford is still on a busy north–south route from Wokingham in the south to Henley-on-Thames in the north. The greatest expansion, however, has taken place since the Second World War, particularly in the last 50 years, with the construction of several estates north and south of the village.

Loddon Nature Reserve, on the outskirts of Twyford, occupies a flooded former gravel pit. Former gravel pit, Twyford - geograph.org.uk - 605006.jpg
Loddon Nature Reserve, on the outskirts of Twyford, occupies a flooded former gravel pit.
Twyford Railway Station has services running to London, Reading and Henley-On-Thames. Twyford railway station MMB 01 165104 43XXX.jpg
Twyford Railway Station has services running to London, Reading and Henley-On-Thames.

Today

The population of Twyford in the 2011 Census was 6,618. Of this, 20.84% were aged 0–15, while 19.96% were aged 65+, leaving a relatively small working age population compared to the rest of Wokingham Borough. There are 2,611 individual dwellings in the ward of Twyford, the majority of which are detached. In 2011, 72.31% of residents aged 16–74 were in employment, the majority of whom held Managerial, Professional or Technical positions. Only 0.5% were registered as actively seeking employment.

The average life expectancy at birth is 80.1 years for males and 84.7 years for females. Twyford is also home to the global headquarters of the international construction and services company, Interserve, which employs 75,000 people worldwide. Twyford is also a place of great community spirit and has many annual events. Popular in recent years have been the annual Twyford Beer Festival, and Twyfest, which is a week long festival of different events from live music, school discos, quiz nights and talent shows.

Government

Twyford has its own parish council, and is also in the Borough of Wokingham, and the ceremonial county of Berkshire. Before this it was in Wokingham Rural District and the hundred of Charlton. Until 1895 Twyford was part of the parish of Hurst in the liberty of Broad Hinton. From the 13th century until 1844 Broad Hinton was a detached part of Wiltshire.

Twinning

Twyford was twinned with Cuincy in northern France in a ceremony over the weekend of 23–25 March 2018. [8]

Transport

Situated in the Thames Valley, Twyford is 10 miles from the M4, M40 and M3 motorways and 25 miles (40 km) from the M25. The town of Reading is 6 miles (10 km) to the west, with Maidenhead 7.5 miles (12 km) to the east, Henley-on-Thames 5 miles (8 km) to the north, and Wokingham 5 miles (8 km) to the south. London is 35 miles (56 km) to the east. Twyford railway station is on the Great Western Main Line and the Elizabeth line, the station is served by trains between Reading and London Paddington stations. There is also a branch line to Henley-on-Thames. The Great Western Main Line has been electrified and Twyford has been served by a new fleet of electric trains since the start of 2018. These links make Twyford very popular with commuters. A direct rail link to Heathrow Airport is also being planned.

Amenities

Twyford has two recreation grounds, both owned and managed by the Parish Council. [9] The King George V Playing Field, between London Road and Wargrave Road has football pitches, three tennis courts, children's playgrounds, a youth shelter and is where the yearly fireworks are held by Twyford Round Table. A project to build a skate park and ball court in the field was completed in July 2008. Stanlake Meadow, off Waltham Road, has football pitches, a cricket square used by Twyford & Ruscombe Cricket Club [10] and a pavilion which is also used as a nursery school. [11] Twyford also has a youth football club called Twyford Comets which plays on both recreation grounds. [12] Indoor sports clubs use the parish hall, Loddon Hall. This is a joint facility with the neighbouring parish of Ruscombe. Twyford has a tennis club, a cricket club and a bowls club with its own green, and claims to have the oldest badminton club in the country.

In 2015, the Cycle Chilterns project created a cycling guide to Twyford town and the surrounding area with cycling information and facilities, places to visit and a variety of cycle routes. The Twyford Cycling Guide can be downloaded and printed out from the website. Twyford has a number of schools [11] and is also served by grammar schools in Reading. One of the oldest and most popular pubs in Berkshire is located in Twyford. The Duke of Wellington was built around 1450, and early records indicate it has been in use as a public house since the early 17th century. It would then have had a different name as there were no Dukes of Wellington before the nineteenth century. [13] Twyford has a nature reserve on the edge of the village of called Loddon Nature Reserve, under the management of the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wokingham</span> Market town in England

Wokingham is a market town in Berkshire, England, 37 miles (60 km) west of London, 7 miles (11 km) southeast of Reading, 8 miles (13 km) north of Camberley and 4 miles (6 km) west of Bracknell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maidenhead</span> Market town in England

Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England, on the southwestern bank of the River Thames. It had an estimated population of 70,374 and forms part of the border with southern Buckinghamshire. The town is situated 27 miles (43 km) west of Charing Cross, London and 13 miles (21 km) east-northeast of the county town of Reading. The town differs from the Parliamentary constituency of Maidenhead, which includes a number of outer suburbs and villages, including villages which form part of the Borough of Wokingham such as Twyford, Charvil, Remenham, Ruscombe and Wargrave.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earley</span> Human settlement in England

Earley is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Wokingham, Berkshire, England. Along with the neighbouring town of Woodley, the Office for National Statistics places Earley within the Reading/Wokingham Urban Area; for the purposes of local government it falls within the Borough of Wokingham, outside the area of Reading Borough Council. Its name is sometimes spelt Erleigh or Erlegh and consists of a number of smaller areas, including Maiden Erlegh and Lower Earley, and lies some 3 miles (5 km) south and east of the centre of Reading, and some 4 miles (6 km) northwest of Wokingham. It had a population of 32,036 at the 2011 Census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Borough of Wokingham</span> Unitary authority area in Berkshire, England

The Borough of Wokingham is a local government district in Berkshire, United Kingdom. It is named after its main town, Wokingham. Other places in the district include Arborfield, Barkham, Charvil, Earley, Finchampstead, Hurst, Sonning, Remenham, Ruscombe, Shinfield, Twyford, Wargrave, Three Mile Cross, Winnersh, Spencers Wood and Woodley. The population of Wokingham is 177,500 according to 2021 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodley, Berkshire</span> Town and civil parish in Berkshire, England

Woodley is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Wokingham, Berkshire, England, four miles (6.4 km) east of Reading and joined to the neighbouring town of Earley, two miles (3.2 km) to the west, and five miles (8 km) from Wokingham. Nearby are the villages of Sonning, Twyford, Winnersh, Hurst and Charvil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crowthorne</span> Village in Berkshire, England

Crowthorne is a large village and civil parish in the Bracknell Forest district of south-eastern Berkshire, England. It had a population of 7,806 at the 2021 census. Crowthorne is the venue of Wellington College, a large co-educational boarding and day independent school, which opened in 1859, and of Broadmoor Hospital, one of England's three maximum-security psychiatric hospitals, which lies on the eastern edge of the village.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">River Loddon</span> River in southern England

The River Loddon is a tributary of the River Thames in southern England. It rises at Basingstoke in Hampshire and flows northwards for 28 miles (45 km) to meet the Thames at Wargrave in Berkshire. Together, the Loddon and its tributaries drain an area of 400 square miles (1,036 km2).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hurst, Berkshire</span> Village in England

Hurst is a village in the civil parish of St Nicholas Hurst in the English county of Berkshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twyford railway station</span> Railway station in the village of Twyford, Berkshire, England

Twyford railway station is a railway station in the village of Twyford, in Berkshire, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sindlesham</span> Human settlement in England

Sindlesham is an estate village in the borough of Wokingham in Berkshire, England. It is located around 4 miles (6.4 km) southeast of Reading and around 6 miles (9.7 km) west of the town of Bracknell, and just south of the village of Winnersh, from which it is separated by the M4 motorway. The River Loddon flows just to the west. A chapel was built in Sindlesham as early as 1220. A large 19th-century, three-storey watermill on the Loddon has more recently become part of a hotel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wokingham (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom 1885-1918 and from 1950 onwards

Wokingham is a constituency in Berkshire represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom since 1987 by John Redwood, a Conservative.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maidenhead (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1997 onwards

Maidenhead is a constituency in Berkshire represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Since its creation at the 1997 general election, the seat has been held by Conservative Member of Parliament Theresa May who served as Home Secretary from 2010 to 2016 and as Prime Minister from 2016 to 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wargrave</span> Town in Berkshire, England

Wargrave is a historic village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. The village is primarily on the River Thames but also along the confluence of the River Loddon and lies on the border with southern Oxfordshire. The village has many old listed buildings, two marinas with chandlery services for boats, a boating club and rises steeply to the northeast in the direction of Bowsey Hill, with higher parts of the village generally known as Upper Wargrave. In Upper Wargrave is a Recreation Ground with a cricket club, bowls club, football pitch and tennis club.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charvil</span> Human settlement in England

Charvil is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. The village is 3 miles (5 km) east of the centre of Reading on the A4 road to Maidenhead, between Sonning and Twyford. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 3,042. The area was mostly farmland until the 1950s, since which time the population has increased significantly. Charvil is bisected by the new A4 Bath Road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruscombe</span> Human settlement in England

Ruscombe is a village and civil parish, east of Twyford in the Borough of Wokingham in Berkshire, England.

Hare Hatch is a village in Berkshire, England, and part of the civil parish of Ruscombe. According to the Post Office the majority of the population at the 2011 Census was included in the civil parish of Wargrave. The settlement lies near to the A4 road, and is located approximately 7 miles (11 km) north-east of Reading. It is close to Twyford, and also lies approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) west of Maidenhead. On 27 April 1927 seven Reading FC fans were killed when their bus crashed in Hare Hatch on the way home from a match against Chelsea.

Shurlock Row is a village in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twyford Brook</span> River in Berkshire, England

Twyford Brook is a small English river in the county of Berkshire. It drains a rural area to the east of Twyford, starting at the foot of the M4 motorway embankment, and is a tributary of the River Loddon. It was once part of a larger river system, draining the area now occupied by the new town of Bracknell. Because of issues with flooding, a new channel was cut to carry the water to the River Thames at Bray. The new channel and the river upstream from there is now known as The Cut, and the old channel became known as Twyford Brook.

References

  1. ↑ "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  2. ↑ "Twyford Today". www.twyford.co.uk. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  3. ↑ Mills, A. D. (1 January 2011). A dictionary of British place-names. Oxford University Press. p. 471. ISBN   9780199609086. OCLC   768491678.
  4. ↑ "Twyford Parish Council in Berkshire". Twyford Parish Council. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  5. ↑ Smyth, Alfred P. (1995). King Alfred the Great . Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. p.  34. ISBN   0-19-822989-5.
  6. ↑ "Twyford History" . Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  7. ↑ Ford, David Nash (2020). Mid-Berkshire Town and Village Histories. Wokingham: Nash Ford Publishing. pp. 265=268. ISBN   9781905191024.
  8. ↑ "Twyford officially twinned with Cuincy in France - Photo 1 of 1 - Maidenhead Advertiser". Archived from the original on 3 April 2018.
  9. ↑ "Twyford Entertainment & Leisure" . Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  10. ↑ "Club history - Twyford & Ruscombe Cricket Club". www.twyfordcc.org.uk. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  11. 1 2 "Schools". www.twyfordtogether.org. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  12. ↑ "About us « Twyford Comets". twyfordcomets.com. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  13. ↑ "Duke of Wellington - Reading & Mid Berks CAMRA". www.readingcamra.org.uk. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  14. ↑ Opening Times. "Loddon Nature Reserve | Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust". Bbowt.org.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2017.

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.