Stanford Dingley is a small village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

West Berkshire West Berkshire is a local government district in Berkshire, England, 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 Newbury, Bradfield Rural Dist ...

, England, between Newbury and Theale.

Geography

Church Next to Manor Farm, Stanford Dingley - geograph

Stanford Dingley fills part of both sides of the valley of the upper River Pang, on the minor roads between the A4 Bath Road and the

M4 motorway The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is a 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 element was largely ...

. The parish mostly consists of farmland, with some woodland in the upland regions. The southern parish boundary runs along the edge of the woodland on the northern slopes of Clay Hill. The official and actual northern boundary is the motorway which is buffered by the area's only area of woodlands, covering about a fifth of the total area. Bucklebury lies to the west and Bradfield to the east. The village spreads north–south along Cock Lane, which runs between

Bradfield Southend Southend or Bradfield Southend is a small rural village in the west of the civil parish of Bradfield in the English county of Berkshire. Until the 1965 opening of its church it was a hamlet. In the 2011 census it had 738 residents, forming 3 ...

and Yattendon. Slightly detached to the south is the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depi ...

of Jennetts Hill and to the north is 'The Buildings'. The pond complex around the 'Blue Pool', containing

artesian aquifer An artesian aquifer is a confined aquifer containing groundwater under positive pressure. An artesian aquifer has trapped water, surrounded by layers of impermeable rock or clay, which apply positive pressure to the water contained within th ...

s, though generally thought of as part of Stanford Dingley is actually just across the parish boundary in Bradfield.

History

Stanford is from the Old English for "Stoney- Ford", perhaps indicating a Roman river-crossing of the river Pang heading towards Dorchester-on-Thames. Dingley was the name of the

lords of the manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seignor ...

. One of their wives has a

monumental brass A monumental brass is a type of engraved sepulchral memorial, which in the 13th century began to partially take the place of three-dimensional monuments and effigies carved in stone or wood. Made of hard latten or sheet brass, let into the pa ...

in the 12th century

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 ca ...

of Saint Denys. The church has remnants of the original

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

church within its inner walls. The main door and the wall paintings in the nave date from the 13th century and the white wooden bell tower was built in the 15th century. The churchyard is notable for a number of

sweet chestnut ''Castanea sativa'', the sweet chestnut, Spanish chestnut or just chestnut, is a species of tree in the family Fagaceae, native to Southern Europe and Asia Minor, and widely cultivated throughout the temperate world. A substantial, long-lived ...

trees. The church is a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

Notable residents

* Thomas Tesdale, the founding benefactor of

Pembroke College, Oxford Pembroke College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford, is located at Pembroke Square, Oxford. The college was founded in 1624 by King James I of England, using in part the endowment of merchant Thomas Tesdale, and was named aft ...

, was born in Stanford Dingley in 1547. *

Robert Gathorne-Hardy Hon. Robert Gathorne-Hardy, (31 July 190211 February 1973) was a British writer, botanist, and horticulturalist. He was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford. Robert was the third of four sons of Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 3rd Earl o ...

(31 July 1902 – 11 February 1973) was an

English garden The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (french: Jardin à l'anglaise, it, Giardino all'inglese, german: Englischer Landschaftsgarten, pt, Jardim inglês, es, Jardín inglés), is a sty ...

writer.

Amenities

There are two

pubs A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

in the village, the 15th century Bull Inn, a Grade II listed building, and the 18th-century Old Boot Inn, also Grade II listed.

Parish

Stanford Dingley is an

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

, recorded as such in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

. It shares in events and clergy with the

benefice A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

of Bucklebury and Bradfield.

Demography

Nearest places

References

External links

Bradfield and Stanford Dingley Parish PlanNeighbourhood Statistics
{{authority control Villages in Berkshire West Berkshire District Civil parishes in Berkshire