Wash Common is a small suburban village to the south of Newbury. It is built on the former Newbury Wash, which was flat open heathland overlooking Newbury, and until the 19th century there was just a small group of houses separated from Newbury by open country. Both places have grown into each other, and the suburb of Wash Common is now contiguous with Newbury. Most housing development has taken place to the west of the Andover road, and some of the area to the east of the road still remains open farmland.
Wash Common is situated at the far western end of a plateau of sand and gravel which forms part of the Bagshot Formation. The plateau runs on an east–west axis, and its top originally consisted of boggy heath known as the Newbury Wash. [1] The slope is steepest on the Western side, and to the north it overlooks the Kennet Valley, factors in the First Battle of Newbury. Towards the north west the main road climbs up a gentle incline from Newbury, and continues in a South Easterly direction down a rather steeper slope (once called Trundle Hill, [2] a name no longer used) towards Andover. The level plateau on which it is situated continues for several miles to the east of Wash Common, and a mile to the east can be found the site of the former RAF Greenham Common.
Wash Common is the location of five Bronze Age tumuli. The manorial rights over the common-field lands known as "The Wash" were acquired by the Mayor and Corporation of Newbury in 1627. [3] A turnpike road from Oxford to Andover was built across Wash Common and included a gate near the Gun public house, which was in use up to 1880. [4] A milestone still exists where the road slopes down to Hampshire. Until the latter part of the 19th century, Wash Common was open heathland.
In 1858 an enclosure resolution was passed; W Money, author of "A Popular History of Newbury" published in 1905, describes this act in terms of a land grab, (see chapter XVI): "it is scarcely necessary to add that the householders of Newbury received no compensation when thus deprived of the valuable rights and privileges which had been enjoyed by the commonality of the town for so many centuries, but their inheritance was bestowed on their more favoured neighbours, whose only claim was that they were already possessed, by purchase or otherwise, of land within the boundaries of the borough". The enclosure resolution opened the way for the progressive residential development of Wash Common, which continues to this day.
Wash Common covers part of the site of the First Battle of Newbury. The slope which the Parliamentarians captured, east of Skinners Green and including Round Hill, lies just outside the boundary of Wash Common itself. It is still farmland and can be visited by foot. The Royalist artillery was sited near the present day Gun pub, [5] which is now built over. The area where Prince Rupert's cavalry clashed with the Parliamentarians includes the present Wash Common recreation ground but is largely built over [ibid].
Wash Common lies within West Berkshire. It forms part of the Wash common ward which incorporates the old Falkland Ward, which is represented in Newbury Town Council and West Berkshire Council. It is part of the Newbury parliamentary constituency. Current ward councilors include Adrian Abbs & Tony Vickers, from May 2019 until May 2023. The population of Falkland Ward was recorded in the 2001 Census as just over 6,000, of whom about half live in Wash Common.
Wash Common is the home of the 19th-century Falkland Memorial and Falkland Primary School (named after Lucius Cary, 2nd Viscount Falkland, who fell at the First Battle of Newbury), Park House Secondary School and Sports College, St George's Church (Anglican), St Francis de Sales' Church (Roman Catholic), Glendale Church (Independent), two pubs (The Gun and The Bowlers Arms), Falkland Cricket Club and Newbury Rugby Club. It is also famous as the birthplace of Richard Adams, the author of Watership Down , which begins in eastern Wash Common, specifically on the edge with the more rural and open region of Sandleford.
Berkshire, officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London to the east, Surrey to the south-east, Hampshire to the south, and Wiltshire to the west. Reading is the largest settlement and the county town.
Newbury is a market town in West Berkshire, England, in the valley of the River Kennet. It is 26 miles (42 km) south of Oxford, 25 miles (40 km) north of Winchester, 27 miles (43 km) southeast of Swindon and 20 miles (32 km) west of Reading. It is also where West Berkshire Council is headquartered.
Tilehurst is a village, surburb and civil parish on the outskirts of the town of Reading in the county of Berkshire, England. It lies to the west of the centre of Reading; it extends from the River Thames in the north to the A4 road in the south.
Aldermaston is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. In the 2011 census, the parish had a population of 1,015. The village is in the Kennet Valley and bounds Hampshire to the south. It is approximately 8 miles (13 km) from Newbury, Basingstoke, and Reading and is 46 miles (74 km) from London.
Aldworth is a village and mainly farmland civil parish in the English county of Berkshire, near the boundary with Oxfordshire.
Winterbourne is a village and civil parish in the Berkshire Downs about 3 miles (5 km) north of Newbury in West Berkshire.
Theale is a village and civil parish in West Berkshire, England. It is 5 miles (8 km) southwest of Reading and 10 miles (16 km) east of Thatcham. The compact parish is bounded to the south and south-east by the Kennet & Avon Canal, to the north by a golf course, to the east by the M4 motorway and to the west by the A340 road.
The River Enborne is a river that rises near the villages of Inkpen and West Woodhay, to the West of Newbury, Berkshire and flows into the River Kennet. Its source is in the county of Berkshire, and part of its course forms the border between Berkshire and Hampshire. Despite the name, the river does not run through the village of Enborne, although it does run through Enborne Row.
East Woodhay is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England. The village is approximately 5.5 miles (9 km) south-west of Newbury in Berkshire. At the 2011 census the parish had a population of 2,914.
Newbury is a constituency of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, located in the English county of Berkshire. It was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 and has been in continual existence since then. It has been represented by Lee Dillon of the Liberal Democrats since 2024.
Beedon is a village and civil parish about 6+1⁄2 miles (10.5 km) north of Newbury in West Berkshire, England.
Burghfield is a village and large civil parish in West Berkshire, England, with a boundary with Reading. Burghfield can trace its history back to before the Domesday Book, and was once home to three manors: Burghfield Regis, Burghfield Abbas, and Sheffield. Since the 1980s the population of Burghfield has nearly doubled with the construction of housing estates, making it a dormitory for Reading, Newbury, Basingstoke and the M4 corridor.
Mayhill is a district of Swansea, Wales, situated on historic Townhill, a 175m high landform north west of the city centre, the urban geography of which is divided between the Townhill district to the west and Mayhill to the east. Mayhill is part of the Townhill electoral ward.
Ashmansworth is a village and civil parish in the Basingstoke and Deane district of the English county of Hampshire.
Bowdown and Chamberhouse Woods is a 67.9-hectare (168-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest south of Thatcham in Berkshire. An area of 55 hectares is a nature reserve managed by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust.
Mynydd-Bach or Mynydd-bach is a suburban district and community in the City and County of Swansea, Wales, It falls within the coterminous Mynydd-Bach ward. The name Mynydd-Bach refers to a small plateau, centred about 2.5 miles (4 km) north of Swansea city centre. The most important local employer is the DVLA, which moved here in 1974. The population as of the 2011 UK census was 8,872.
Wash Water is a hamlet on the border of Berkshire, and Hampshire. It is divided between the civil parishes of Enborne, Newbury, Highclere and East Woodhay. The settlement lies adjacent to the A343 and A34 highways, approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) south-south-west of Newbury.
Greenham and Crookham Commons are two adjoining public park areas of 280.5-hectare (693-acre) common land designated as a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in the civil parishes of Greenham and Thatcham, on the southern outskirts of Newbury in the English county of Berkshire.
Woolton Hill is a village in Hampshire, England, in the civil parish of East Woodhay. The village lies approximately 4 miles (6 km) south-west of the centre of Newbury and encompasses the hamlet of Broad Layings on its northern edge.
{{cite book}}
: |author=
has generic name (help){{cite book}}
: |author=
has generic name (help)