Goring Heath is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

Chiltern Hills The Chiltern Hills or the Chilterns are a chalk escarpment in southern England, located to the north-west of London, covering across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire; they stretch from Goring-on-Thames in the south- ...

South Oxfordshire South Oxfordshire is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Oxfordshire, England. Its council is temporarily based outside the district at Abingdon-on-Thames pending a p ...

. The civil parish includes the villages of

Whitchurch Hill Whitchurch Hill is a village in the Chiltern Hills in Oxfordshire, about northwest of Reading, Berkshire, near Whitchurch-on-Thames. The Church of England parish church of Saint John the Baptist was designed by the architect Francis Bacon (1842 ...

and Crays Pond and some small hamlets. Goring Heath is centred southeast of Goring-on-Thames and about northwest of

Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, England, and the county town of Berkshire. It is the United Kingdom's largest town, with a combined population of 355,596. Most of Reading built-up area, its built-up area lies within the Borough ...

. In 1724 Henry Alnutt, a lawyer of the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

in London, established a set of

almshouse An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) is charitable housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the Middle Ages. They were often built for the poor of a locality, for those who had held ce ...

s at Goring Heath. They form three sides of a courtyard, flanking a

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

of the same date.Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, pages 616-617 In the 1880s a school was built beside the almshouses in what was intended to be the same architectural style.Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, pages 617 A

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

was added in 1900. Alnutt also left a continuing income from his estate at Goring Heath to teach, clothe and apprentice boys from five parishes.Crossley & Elrington, 1990, page 53 One of the parishes was

Cassington Cassington is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Oxfordshire about northwest of Oxford. The village lies on gravel strata about from the confluence of the River Evenlode with the River Thames. The parish includes the Ha ...

West Oxfordshire West Oxfordshire is a local government district in northwest Oxfordshire, England, including towns such as Woodstock, Burford, Chipping Norton, Charlbury, Carterton and Witney, where the council is based. Area The area is mainly rural downla ...

, where Alnutt's charity established a small school for boys. In 1833 the Alnutt school was absorbed into a new Cassington parish school, which in 1853 became Cassington's present St. Peter's

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

primary school.

References

Sources

* *

Nearest places

{{South Oxfordshire Civil parishes in Oxfordshire Hamlets in Oxfordshire South Oxfordshire District