Wash Common is a small
suburb
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...
to the south of
Newbury. It is built on the former Newbury Wash, which was flat open heathland overlooking Newbury, and until the 19th century there was just a small group of houses separated from Newbury by open country. Both places have grown into each other, and the suburb of Wash Common is now contiguous with Newbury. Most housing development has taken place to the west of the
Andover road, and some of the area to the east of the road still remains open farmland.
Geography
Wash Common is situated at the far western end of a
plateau of sand and
gravel
Gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally throughout the world as a result of sedimentary and erosive geologic processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone.
Gravel is classifi ...
which forms part of the
Bagshot Formation. The plateau runs on an east–west axis, and its top originally consisted of boggy
heath known as the
Newbury Wash. The slope is steepest on the Western side, and to the north it overlooks the
Kennet Valley, factors in the
First Battle of Newbury. Towards the north west the main road climbs up a gentle incline from Newbury, and continues in a South Easterly direction down a rather steeper slope (once called Trundle Hill, a name no longer used) towards
Andover. The level plateau on which it is situated continues for several miles to the east of Wash Common, and a mile to the east can be found the site of the former
RAF Greenham Common.
History
Wash Common is the location of five
Bronze Age tumuli. The
manorial rights over the
common-field lands known as "The Wash" were acquired by the
Mayor and Corporation of
Newbury in 1627. A
turnpike road from