Burghfield Bridge is a hamlet in the

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 ...

Burghfield 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, ...

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. The settlement is situated between the village of Burghfield and the

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 ...

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

of Southcote.

History

The bridge

The hamlet is named after the bridge crossing the

River Kennet The Kennet is a tributary of the River Thames in Southern England. Most of the river is straddled by the North Wessex Downs AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty). The lower reaches have been made navigable as the Kennet Navigation, which � ...

on the Kennet Navigation. The river was first crossed in the area in the thirteenth century by the

Lord of the Manor Lord of the manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England and Norman England, referred to the landholder of a historical rural estate. The titles date to the English Feudalism, feudal (specifically English feudal barony, baronial) system. The ...

, Matthew. The original Burghfield Bridge was built by the De Burghfield family, but they had arguments with King Edward I over who should repair it. There was a minor skirmish there after the

First Battle of Newbury The First Battle of Newbury was a battle of the First English Civil War that was fought on 20 September 1643 between a Royalist army, under the personal command of King Charles, and a Parliamentarian force led by the Earl of Essex. Following ...

in 1643. The current bridge was built and is a

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

structure. Burghfield Mill, located on the Kennet, was at times used to mill corn and cocoa. Near to the mill, on the navigation, is Burghfield Lock.

World War II

In the early Part of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, several anti-invasion measures were installed across the borough, including a fortified house at Burghfield Bridge. Iverne House, now a private dwelling, is situated to the south of the bridge and was originally a stables. During the war it was converted into a two-storey shell-proof infantry strongpoint, and gun ports are visible from the road.

Local legend

The pub at Burghfield Bridge is named after the local legend of the Cunning Man. Various stories exist regarding the legend, citing the Cunning Man as a wizard from nearby

Tadley Tadley is a town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Basingstoke and Deane district of Hampshire, England, north of Basingstoke and south west of Reading, Berkshire, Reading. During the 1950s and 1960s, the Atomic Weapons Estab ...

, who was able to heal ailments and broken relationships. Another explanation is that another local building was built by a "cunning man" using bricks placed on their sides to use less building materials.

Transport

Burghfield Bridge is served by

Reading Buses Reading Transport Limited, trading as Reading Buses, is an English Municipal bus company, municipal bus operator owned by Reading Borough Council, serving the towns of Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Bracknell, Newbury, Berkshire, Newbury, Slough, ...

routes 2, 2a and 2b. The hamlet is located near to Reading services on the

M4 motorway The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is the third longest motorway in the United Kingdom, running from west London to southwest Wales. The English section to the Severn Bridge was constructed between 1961 and 1971; the Welsh ele ...

, although the nearest access point to the road is at junction 11, to the south-east. The nearest railway stations to the hamlet is .

References

External links

Royal Berkshire History: Burghfield
{{Kennet and Avon Canal Hamlets in Berkshire Bridges in Berkshire Burghfield