With Remembrance Sunday approaching, as part of our series on local road names, it seems the appropriate time to recall those who fell in the Great War 1914-18, who are commemorated in some of the road names in the recently built housing estates.
Mark Horace ALLEN Thomas Henry LAILEY John ALDER William Henry LAILEY Edward Ernest BEALES Henry John PARKER William PIGGOTT Frederick James BOLTON Frederick ALLEN Albert G MAYBANKS Alfred LAWRENCE Jesse James WESTALL Arthur Richard John APPLETON William MEARING Errol Geoffrey ELISHA Austin BAILEY
d. 21-Nov-1914 d. 5-Jan-1915 d. 5-Jan-1915 d. 7-Aug-1915 d. 25-Sept-1915 d. 25-Sept-1915 d. 18-Aug-1916 d. 17-Feb-1917 d. 5-Mar-1917 d. 5-Sept-1917 d. 9-Sept-1917 d. 11-Sept-1917 d. 29-Nov-1917 d. 15-Apr-1918 d. 22-Apr-1918 d. 2-Oct-1918
Allen Way Lailey Path Alder Grove Lailey Path Beales Grove Parker Close Piggott Road Bolton Drive Allen Way Maybanks Lawrence Place Westall Street Appleton Way Mearing Grove Elisha Close Bailey Mews
Almost all the roads are in Shinfield, in the new estate behind the School Green Centre and the Health Centre. The exception is Elisha Close in Spencers Wood. Errol Elisha was a member of the Elisha family about which I’ve written in an earlier post.
Although the above list may seem long, it is by no means a full list of all those from Shinfield Parish who fell in the Great War. All 28 young men who died are commemorated on the War Memorial on School Green, as well as those killed in the Second World War. More information about all of them can also be found on the Roll of Honour website.
Group members are involved in work being undertaken by the Parish Council to update their local walks leaflets and two Group members recently took the opportunity to explore what remains of the former RAF flight training base at Shinfield Park. This part of the Parish is now cut off by the M4 motorway and the roundabout-road complex associated with the new University Bridge but in the past it was at the heart of the parish. Until the end of the eighteenth century it was the site
Shinfield Lodge, now The Lodge, where officers were billetted during the War and subsequently the Officers Mess, now a private house again
of the old manor house – when Alexander Cobham purchased the manor, he had it pulled down. Even after this, some of the most exclusive properties in the parish were located on the ridge along the road from Reading and the neighbouring farm, later known as Ducketts Farm, was still known as Manor Farm.
During the Second World War, the Headquarters of RAF Flying Training Command was relocated to Shinfield Park and two of these properties were taken over by the RAF: Shinfield Lodge, a Grade II listed, Georgian building which still survives in the middle of the modern “Met Office” housing estate, and the Grove, which used to stand near the roundabout. After the War, the RAF housing off Whitley Wood Lane was built as accommodation for officers and the Lodge became the Officers’ Mess. A series of pathways leading up the steep, wooded slope linked the RAF housing to the Lodge and other facilities at the top of the rise and the main, partly-gravelled pathway with the remains of two lamp posts marking the route still survive.
RAF Flying Training Command was reabsorbed into Training Command in 1968 and subsequently disbanded in May 1975. After Flying Training Command left Shinfield Park, the Meteorological Office College relocated to the site from Stanmore in Middlesex in October 1971. When the Met. Office HQ relocated from Bracknell to Exeter in 2004, the College relocated at the same time however the European Centre for Medium Range Weather
The wording round the outside reads “To commemorate the site of HQ Flying Training Command RAF Shinfield Park 1940-1968”
Forecasting remained in Shinfield Park. Since then the remainder of the site has been redeveloped for housing. The RAF occupancy was commemorated by the construction of a replica RAF roundel in the verge on AphelionWay. A dedication ceremony was held beside the roundel on 16th January 2013, attended by officers from the RAF, representatives from Shinfield Parish Council and local residents.
In common with other recently-built estates, streets have been named to commemorate the previous history of the area – in the case of the RAF housing, former Commanding Officers of Flight Training Command: Air Marshal Sir Lawrence Pattinson, 1940-1, Air Marshal Sir Philip Babington, 1942-45, Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham, 1945-47 and Air Marshal Sir Lawrence Pendred, 1952-55. The other officer commemorated is Sir John Maitland Salmond, who commanded the Training Division during the Great War, going on to become the RFC Commander in the Field on the Western Front and subsequently Chief of Air Staff in 1930. In the case of the Met Office estate, the roads are named after cloud formations, e.g. Cirrus Drive, and meterological situations, eg. Zenith Avenue (the point directly above one’s head) and Aphelion Way (a planet’s furthest point from the sun).
If you are interested it is still possible to follow the footpath from the RAF houses up to Shinfield Lodge. On foot from Three Mile Cross or Ryeish Green you can cross the M4 using the footbridge near the Six Bells pub and then return on the footpath beside the University Roundabout. From the RAF housing you climb through Nores Wood, originally part of the parkland surrounding the Grove which still contains a number of ancient oak trees.
The track from the RAF housing off Whitley Wood Lane to the Lodge still survives passing through Nores Hill Wood.
Alternatively the area is part of the Shinfield Parish footpath walk no. 6. This and other walks leaflets are available from a number of local outlets, including the Parish Office, Spencers Wood Pavillion and Spencers Wood Library.
In an attempt to make information easier to find we are consolidating previous posts on the Group’s Blog and publishing them in a new area on the website Our Village time Time. So far two themes have been completed, the first on The Village in War Time gathering together previous posts on the Great War and Second World War, including the letter from Maria Antonia Bertoni on her father’s experience as an Italian POW held at Stanbury Camp. The second theme to be completed is Settlement and landscape, bringing together posts on the many changes that have affected the village and surrounding countryside over the years. Future themes will include farms and farming and leisure and recreation.
If there are further improvements that you would like to see please leave a comment below or get in touch through our email.
Although Shinfield’s VE Day Commemorations had to be cancelled due to the current restrictions we’ve taken the opportunity to update our website to create an area about the impact of the Second World War, and the Great War, on the Village and its residents. This includes information from previous posts including accounts of evacuees and the impact of the wars on our village schools as well as new information.
The former United Reform Chapel, Basingstoke Road
We’ve also created a new Resources area on the website which will contain free downloadable files and information. With so many people taking advantage of the current restrictions to explore the area by bike or on foot, the first item to be uploaded is a history-focused walk along the Basingstoke Road.
Some people may feel that somewhere like this doesn’t have much of a history to speak of but we would beg to differ. All along the Basingstoke Road from Three Mile Cross to Swallowfield there are hints and clues to be found which add interest to an afternoon’s walk, for instance the old orchards that used to grow where Apple Tree Lane now stands, a reminder of the village’s former history of market gardening. No need to walk the whole distance in one go but if you’re feeling energetic…
