Kintbury is a village and

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 ...

in the

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 ...

district,

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, between the towns of Newbury and

Hungerford Hungerford is a historic market town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, west of Newbury, east of Marlborough, and 60 miles (97 km) west of London. The population of the parish at the 2021 census was 5,869. The Kennet and Avon Can ...

. The village has a convenient railway to and , proximity to other transport and local cultural destinations, including

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

and

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

sites, and forms part of a very large

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is one of 46 areas of countryside in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Since 2023, the areas in England an ...

, the

North Wessex Downs The North Wessex Downs are an area of chalk downland landscapes located in the English counties of Berkshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire. The North Wessex Downs has been designated as a National Landscape (formerly known as Area of ...

which extends from the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

at Streatley to West

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

. The parish includes the hamlets of Clapton,

Elcot The Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu Limited ''(ELCOT)'' () is an Indian, public sector undertaking, established on 21 March 1977. ELCOT functions to promote, establish and run State Public Sector Enterprises for Electronic items; manage, sup ...

and Winding Wood.

Amenities

Amenities in the village have included the

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 ...

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

, a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

, a corner shop, and a

bakery A bakery is an establishment that produces and sells flour-based baked goods made in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, doughnuts, bagels, Pastry, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries are also categorized as Coffeehouse, cafés, servi ...

. A

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

youth retreat and work centre,

St Cassian's Centre St Cassian's Centre is a Catholic Youth Retreat Centre in the village of Kintbury in the English county of Berkshire. It is owned and operated by the Ireland, Great Britain and Malta District of the de La Salle brothers. The centre was set up ...

, is south-west of the village centre, between Inglewood and Titcomb. There are two

pubs A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

in the village; The Blue Ball and The Dundas Arms. The village has sports facilities including

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which players try to roll their ball (called a bowl) closest to a smaller ball (known as a "jack" or sometimes a "kitty"). The bowls are shaped (biased), so that they follow a curve ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

clubs, as well as an indoor

leisure centre A leisure centre, sports centre, or recreation centre is a purpose-built building or site, usually owned and provided by the local government authority, where people can engage in a variety of sports and exercise, and keep fit. Typical facilit ...

. The village has an area of

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 ...

on its south eastern border called Catmore and Winterly Copses. The Village has a Local nature reserve called Kintbury Newt Ponds.

Points of Interest

The village has an area of

on its south eastern border called Catmore and Winterly Copses. The Village has a Local nature reserve called Kintbury Newt Ponds.

Transport

Kintbury railway station in the village is served by local services from and to . The

Kennet and Avon Canal The Kennet and Avon Canal is a waterway in southern England with an overall length of , made up of two lengths of Navigability, navigable river linked by a canal. The name is used to refer to the entire length of the navigation rather than sol ...

runs through the village at Kintbury Lock. A horse drawn

widebeam A widebeam is a Canal craft, canal boat built in the style of a British narrowboat but with a beam (nautical), beam of or greater.The Canal and River Trust (CRT) gives more than one minimum width for a wide beam on their website: "anything wider ...

canal boat runs public trips from Kintbury, either towards Newbury or towards

Sport and leisure

The village holds an annual "Ray Boxshall Orienteering Fun Day". An

orienteering Orienteering is a group of sports that involve using a map and compass to navigation, navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain whilst moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a specia ...

event named after Ray Boxshall who was heavily involved in running the event in the years before he died. Kintbury has two amateur dramatic societies - The Kintbury Players (who generally perform comedic plays), and

St Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under various titles such as virgin or queen, many of them mentioned in the Litany of Loreto. ...

's Drama Group who perform an annual

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment, generally combining gender-crossing actors and topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or ...

in the

Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...

half term holiday. Kintbury has a Sports and

Leisure centre A leisure centre, sports centre, or recreation centre is a purpose-built building or site, usually owned and provided by the local government authority, where people can engage in a variety of sports and exercise, and keep fit. Typical facilit ...

- the Kintbury

Jubilee A jubilee is often used to refer to the celebration of a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term comes from the Hebrew Bible (see, "Old Testament"), initially concerning ...

Centre, run by the community for the community, with fitness classes, clubs, and a hall available to hire. The Jubilee Centre has three tennis courts and is home to Kintbury Tennis Club. Kintbury is also home to

North Berks Football League The North Berks Football League is a football competition in England. The league was founded in 1908. It has a total of two divisions, with Division One sitting at level 12 of the English football league system. The vast majority of clubs are ba ...

club Kintbury Rangers F.C., who play at the Recreation Ground. Notable former players include

Southampton F.C Southampton Football Club is a professional football club based in Southampton, Hampshire, England. The club competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Their home ground since 2001 has been St Mary's Stadium, before ...

striker

Charlie Austin Charles Austin (born 5 July 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for Southern League Premier Division South club AFC Totton. Released from his contract by Reading as a youth, Austin played non-league football u ...

and former Everton player

Brett Angell Brett Ashley Mark Angell (born 20 August 1968) is an English football manager and former professional footballer. As a player, he was striker and although notably spending time in the Premier League with Everton and Sunderland, he spent the ...

Notable residents

* George Cherry (1822–1887), cricketer and barrister * Robert Harris, author of well-known novels including ''Fatherland'', ''Enigma'' and ''Pompeii'' * Anthony Howard, political journalist, attended school there. * Roger Mortimer (

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

journalist) spent his final years living in Kintbury. *

Chapman Pincher Henry Chapman Pincher (29 March 1914 – 5 August 2014) was an English journalist, historian and novelist whose writing mainly focused on espionage and related matters, after some early books on scientific subjects. Early life Pincher was born ...

lived there for many years. *

Sir Gordon Richards Sir Gordon Richards (5 May 1904 – 10 November 1986) was an English jockey who was the British flat racing Champion Jockey 26 times, and is often considered the world's greatest jockey. He remains the only flat jockey to have been knighted. Ea ...

, 26 times champion jockey, spent his final years there and is buried there. * William Winterbourne, hanged at

Reading Gaol HM Prison Reading, popularly known as Reading Gaol, is a former prison located in Reading, Berkshire, England. The prison was operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service (now His Majesty's Prison Service) until its closure at the start of 2014. It ...

for his part in the

Swing Riots The Swing Riots were a widespread uprising in 1830 by agricultural workers in southern and eastern England in protest of agricultural mechanisation and harsh working conditions. The riots began with the destruction of threshing machines in the ...

of 1830, buried in the churchyard

Demography

References

External links

Kintbury village website

Kintbury Players

Kintbury Jubilee Centre
* {{Authority control Villages in Berkshire Civil parishes in Berkshire West Berkshire District