Pingewood 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 ...

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 ...

of Burghfield, to the south 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 ...

, in the English county of

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 ...

. It lies to the Southwest of Burghfield Bridge

Etymology

The name ''Pingewood'' is thought to derive from the

Common Brittonic Common Brittonic (; ; ), also known as British, Common Brythonic, or Proto-Brittonic, is a Celtic language historically spoken in Britain and Brittany from which evolved the later and modern Brittonic languages. It is a form of Insular Cel ...

words corresponding to modern Welsh ''penn'' ("head, peak, tip or end") and ''coed'' ("wood"). When

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

became the dominant language in the area, around the fifth century, Old English-speakers did not understand the meaning and added their own descriptive word ''wood'' on the end. The principal survey of Celtic place-names in England, by

Richard Coates Richard Coates (born 16 April 1949, in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, and educated at Wintringham School) is an English linguist. He was professor of Linguistics (alternatively professor of Onomastics) at the University of the West of England, Bristo ...

and

Andrew Breeze Andrew Breeze FRHistS FSA (born 1954), has been professor of philology at the University of Navarra since 1987. Early life Breeze was born in 1954 and educated at Sir Roger Manwood's School, Emmanuel College, Cambridge (where he took a fi ...

, marks this interpretation as uncertain, however.

History

Until 1938, Pingewood was a peaceful little hamlet with country lanes and high hedges. In the centre of the hamlet was Kirton's Farm, located at the north end of a road that ran north to south, parallel to the Reading to Basingstoke railway but a little further to the west. There were 13 cottages, with a Church school at the southern end of the road, a large village green with a Coronation seat, and a

smallholding A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technolo ...

called Moore's Farm. At both ends of the road, it curved to the east to cross the railway, and there was also a pond by the northern crossing, dug out when the railway bridge was built. Around the copse were more cottages, all being pulled down under a system known as '

quit-rent Quit rent, quit-rent, or quitrent is a tax or land tax imposed on occupants of freehold or leased land in lieu of services to a higher landowning authority, usually a government or its assigns. Under English feudal law, the payment of quit ren ...

'. In one of these lived a woman reputed to be a

witch Witchcraft is the use of magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meaning. According to ''Enc ...

. A little further to the north was Cottage Lane, with farm buildings and cottages.

Gravel pits

By 1938 excavation had begun in the

gravel pit A gravel pit is an open-pit mine for the extraction of gravel. Gravel pits often lie in river valleys where the water table is high, so they may naturally fill with water to form ponds or lakes. Gravel pit lakes are typically nutrient rich and ...

s. Because of the high water table, these pits then filled naturally with water to form Pingewood Lake which covers about . The footpaths vanished, with trees and cowslips, as more land was taken. The school closed in 1958, the farms disappeared - replaced by sailing, water skiing and other water-sports. In the 1960s, 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 ...

cut the hamlet in half. Kirtons Farm is now a hotel and Knights Farm is derelict. The original Kirtons Farmhouse was an H-plan building dating from the 16th century, which was subsequently altered in the 18th and 20th centuries. Most of the ground floor is constructed of painted brick, while the first floor is timber framed, with brick infill. Knights Farm dates from the late 18th century, with 19th century additions, and 20th century alterations. It is a 2-storey building with an attic. The land south of Pingewood is a huge

landfill A landfill is a site for the disposal of waste materials. It is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of waste with daily, intermediate and final covers only began in the 1940s. In the past, waste was ...

Streams and brooks

Streams and brooks criss-cross the hamlet. To the south, and running west to east, flows The Teg, which joins Burghfield Brook on the south-eastern boundary of the hamlet. Burghfield Brook acts as the boundary for

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 ...

on both sides of the junction, and continues for a short distance to the north-east, where it joins Foudry Brook, a tributary of 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 � ...

Haunted house

Searle's Farm is an ancient Tudor building now in the middle of the gravel pits. Legend has it that, sometime in the 19th century, an unmarried serving girl found that she was pregnant and committed suicide by throwing herself from one of the windows. It is said that a soft white light is seen coming from under the door to that room. Several visitors claim to have the same dream while sleeping in the room. A young girl in a flowing white dress is seen at the window, staring out over the surrounding countryside. She is illuminated in a soft white light.

References

External links

{{Commons category, Pingewood
Pingewood Sailing ClubPingewood Outdoor Fires
Hamlets in Berkshire Burghfield Berkshire places with etymologically Brittonic names