Sulham is a village in

West Berkshire West Berkshire is a unitary authority in the ceremonial county of Berkshire, England. It is administered from Newbury by West Berkshire Council. History The district of Newbury was formed on 1 April 1974, as a merger of the borough of Newbur ...

, England. The larger village of Tidmarsh is adjacent to Sulham on the west side, with

Tilehurst Tilehurst is a village on the western outskirts of the town of Reading, Berkshire, Reading in the county of Berkshire, England. It extends from the River Thames in the north to the A4 road (England), A4 road in the south. The village is partl ...

on the east side.

Governance

The two villages of Sulham and Tidmarsh share the combined

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 ...

of Tidmarsh with Sulham with most

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

functions carried out by the West Berkshire council.

Geography

From the west, Sulham is surrounded by the civil parishes of Tidmarsh,

Pangbourne Pangbourne is a village and civil parish on the River Thames in the West Berkshire unitary area of the county of Berkshire, England. Pangbourne has shops, churches, schools and a village hall. Outside its nucleated village, grouped developed are ...

Purley-on-Thames Purley on Thames (known locally as Purley) is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. Purley is centred north-west of Reading, east of Pangbourne, and south-east of Oxford. Historically, Purley comprised three separate manors and ...

and Tilehurst to the east. To the south is

Theale Theale () is a village and civil parish in West Berkshire, England. It is 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 (which here incorpo ...

which has the local roads' junction with 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 ...

. Sulham Woods and a lengthwise

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. Due to the similarity, the term '' scarp'' may mistakenly be incorrectly used inte ...

rises in this area from . Sulham Woods is a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

and forms one side of the village. Features include many chalk pits and open rolling fields. The village is dominated by the Sulham Hall estate in the north and is spread out along Sulham Lane which stretches between Pangbourne and Theale, parallel to the

River Pang The River Pang is a small chalk stream river in the west of the English county of Berkshire, and a tributary of the River Thames. It runs for approximately from its source near the village of Compton, Berkshire, Compton to its confluence wi ...

Landmarks

Sulham House is a Grade II listed

country house image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...

and was built about 1710. This has been the home of the Wilder family and their descendants since 1712. They have owned or rented estates in the parish since 1497. A feature of the parish and estate is the elevated Wilder's Folly, a tower built in 1768 by Reverend Henry Wilder of Sulham House and later used as a

dovecote A dovecote or dovecot , doocot (Scots Language, Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house Domestic pigeon, pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or b ...

. The ecclesiastical parish church of St Nicholas, built in 1836, stands next to the house and is Grade II listed. This is the main settled area of the village. Sulham Farmhouse is a Grade II* listed building.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Berkshire West Berkshire District Civil parishes in Berkshire Former civil parishes in Berkshire