Cold Ash
| Cold Ash | |
|---|---|
 St Mark's parish church | |
  Cold Ash Cold Ash shown within Berkshire | |
| Area | 7.9 km2 (3.1 sq mi) |
| Population | 4,063 (2011 census)[1] |
| • Density | 514/km2 (1,330/sq mi) |
| OS grid reference | SU5169 |
| Civil parish |
|
| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Thatcham |
| Postcode district | RG18 |
| Dialling code | 01635 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Royal Berkshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | Cold Ash Parish Council |
Cold Ash is a village and civil parish in West Berkshire centred 1 mile (1.6 km) from Thatcham and 2.5 miles (4 km) northeast of Newbury.
History
The Church of England parish church of Saint Mark was designed by the architect C.N. Beazley and built in 1864–65.[2] It is a brick Gothic Revival building with a polygonal apsidal chancel.[2] The chancel windows have tracery in a late 13th-century Decorated Gothic style.[2] The chancel windows have stained glass: the east window by Clayton and Bell and the north and south windows by C.E. Kempe.[2]
Downe House School, a girls' boarding school, moved to Cold Ash in 1922 when it outgrew its original premises, Downe House, Charles Darwin's former home near Bromley in Kent. St Peter's, a red brick house built in about 1700, is now part of the school.[3]
The Cloisters was built as a Roman Catholic Convent for the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary.[2] The Catholic architect Wilfred C. Mangan of Preston, Lancashire designed the chapel, which was built in 1934–36 and has a tower.[2] It is now part of Downe House School.
Geography
Cold Ash has a site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), called Cold Ash Quarry.[4]
Amenities
Cold Ash has two public houses, the Castle Inn[5] and the Spotted Dog.[6] Cold Ash has a Women's Institute.[7] St. Mark's Church of England Primary School[8] has about 150-200 pupils in the 4–12 age range. There is a second school of a similar size, St Finian’s Catholic Primary, situated on The Ridge.
The village has a recreation ground with two tennis courts and space for football and cricket. The Acland Memorial Hall[9] is Cold Ash's village hall.
Demography
| Output area | Homes owned outright | Owned with a loan | Socially rented | Privately rented | Other | km² roads | km² water | km² domestic gardens | Usual residents | km² |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Civil parish | 484 | 592 | 95 | 123 | 25 | 0.193 | 0.012 | 1.096 | 4063 | 7.9 |
In Literature
Cold Ash appears as the main location in the novel The Unseen (2011) by English author Katherine Webb.
References
- 1 2 Key Statistics: Dwellings; Quick Statistics: Population Density; Physical Environment: Land Use Survey 2005
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Pevsner 1966, p. 117
- ↑ Historic England (16 August 1983). "Downe House School St Peters St Peters Downe House School (1220197)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
- ↑ "Magic Map Application". Magic.defra.gov.uk. Retrieved 2017-03-06.
- ↑ The Castle Inn
- ↑ The Spotted Dog
- ↑ "Cold Ash WI". Cold Ash Parish. Cold Ash Parish Council. Retrieved 22 July 2013l.
- ↑ Cold Ash St Mark's Primary School
- ↑ "The Acland Memorial Hall". Cold Ash Parish. Cold Ash Parish Council. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
Sources and further reading
- Ditchfield, P.H.; Page, W.H., eds. (1923). A History of the County of Berkshire, Volume 3. Victoria County History. pp. 311–329.
- Pevsner, Nikolaus (1966). Berkshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 117.
External links
- Piper, Reg (2001). "Cold Ash – A Brief History of the Development of the Village". Cold Ash Parish. Cold Ash Parish Council. Archived from the original on 2012-12-24.
