Arborfield is a village and former

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 ...

, now in the parish of Arborfield and Newland, in the

Borough of Wokingham Wokingham, or the Borough of Wokingham, is a local government district with borough status in Berkshire, England. Since 1998 its council has been a unitary authority, having taken on county-level functions when Berkshire County Council wa ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It is about south-east of

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

, about west of

Wokingham Wokingham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Berkshire, England. It is the main administrative centre of the wider Borough of Wokingham. At the 2021 census the parish had a population of 38,284 and the wider built-up area had a populati ...

. It lies about west of the village of Arborfield Cross and the two villages have become collectively known as Arborfield, with no signs marking their boundary. In 1931, the parish had a population of 348. On 1 April 1948, the parish was abolished and merged with Newland to form "Arborfield and Newland".

Etymology

The name 'Arborfield' is first recorded in 1166 as Edburgefeld, meaning 'Edburga's Field', Edburga being a widespread

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

lady's name. It evolved through variations to the modern Arborfield as first recorded in the 17th century.Bullock, Llewellyn C W, ''Memoirs of the Bullock Family'', A J Lawrence 1905

Notable buildings

Arborfield Hall

The

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

, which originally stood on the site, was occupied by the Bullock family from the mid-12th century. The last Arborfield Hall, built in 1837, was the home of Sir John Conroy, Controller of the Household of the

Duchess of Kent Duchess of Kent is the principal Courtesy titles in the United Kingdom, courtesy title used by the wife of the Duke of Kent. There have been four titles referring to Kent since the 18th century. The current duchess is Katharine, Duchess of Kent ...

. It was demolished in 1955.

Churches

The present

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...

Saint Bartholomew Bartholomew was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Most scholars today identify Bartholomew as Nathanael, who appears in the Gospel of John (1:45–51; cf. 21:2). New Testament references The name ''Bartholomew ...

is a

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

building designed by J Picton and built in 1863. The new building replaces an older St Bartholomew's church, known as the 'Wooden Chapel of Edburgefeld', that had been built in the 13th century and altered probably early in the 18th century. When the new church was consecrated the roof of the old one was removed and later layers of plaster stripped from the interior walls, revealing

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

wall paintings of ''"figure subjects and geometrical and masonry patterns"'' that ''"covered the walls"''. These have now been lost and the church ruins have greatly deteriorated. The current church is notable for one of its 6 bells. The number one bell (treble) was cast c.1399 at the Wokingham Bell Foundry, it is notable as being the only Wokingham Foundry bell nearby to Wokingham as well as one of the oldest bells still regularly rung. The army

garrison A garrison is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a military base or fortified military headquarters. A garrison is usually in a city ...

has its own garrison church, a 20th-century building dedicated to

Saint Eligius Eligius (; 11 June 588 – 1 December 660), venerated as Saint Eligius, was a Frankish goldsmith, courtier, and bishop who was chief counsellor to Dagobert I and later Bishop of Noyon–Tournai. His deeds were recorded in ''Vita Sancti Eligii' ...

Army garrison

Arborfield is also known for the School of Electronic & Aeronautical Engineering (SEAE) where the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

train their Electronic, Aircraft and Avionic engineers for RADAR, Telecommunications, Control Equipment, Aircraft (Airframes and Engines) and Avionic (Aviation electronic and weapon system) modalities.

Arborfield Garrison Arborfield Green is a new village approximately south east of the village of Arborfield Cross in the English county of Berkshire, previously a British Army garrison called Arborfield Garrison. The army vacated the site in 2015 and it is now ...

is about the other side of Arborfield Cross and which is mostly in the

Barkham Barkham is a village and civil parish in the borough of Wokingham in Berkshire, England, located around southwest of the town of Wokingham. History Barkham dates back to 951, when a Saxon thane gave ''Bloreham'' to the monks of Abingdon Abb ...

International Cocoa Quarantine Centre

Since 1985, Arborfield has also been the home of the International Cocoa Quarantine Centre whose aim is to investigate and reduce diseases in cocoa plants worldwide.

References

Sources

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External links

Arborfield Community Website
{{authority control Villages in Berkshire Borough of Wokingham Former civil parishes in Berkshire