Shiplake

Shiplake

Parish church of SS Peter and Paul
Shiplake
Shiplake shown within Oxfordshire
Area 4.44 km2 (1.71 sq mi)
Population 1,954 (2011 Census)
• Density 440/km2 (1,100/sq mi)
OS grid reference SU7678
Civil parish
  • Shiplake
District
Shire county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town Henley-on-Thames
Postcode district RG9
Dialling code 0118
Police Thames Valley
Fire Oxfordshire
Ambulance South Central
EU Parliament South East England
UK Parliament
Website Shiplake Villages

Shiplake is a village and civil parish beside the River Thames 2 miles (3 km) south of Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England. The river forms the parish boundary to the east and south, and also the county boundary between Oxfordshire and Berkshire.

The village has two centres. The larger is Lower Shiplake, around Shiplake railway station on the Henley Branch Line. 1 mile (1.6 km) southwest of it is the older part of the village, around the parish church and Shiplake College independent boarding school.

Binfield Heath, 1 mile (1.6 km) west of "old" Shiplake, was part of the civil parish until 2003. It is now a separate civil parish.

The 2011 Census recorded the parish population as 1,954.[1]

The A4155 main road linking Henley with Reading, Berkshire passes through the parish just west of the village.

Toponym

The earliest known surviving records of the toponym "Shiplake" are from the 13th century. The Book of Fees records Sciplak in 1236 and the Taxatio Ecclesiastica records Schipelak in 1292. It is derived from Old English and means "stream where sheep were washed".[2]

Parish church

The Church of England parish church of SS Peter and Paul dates from at least the 13th century and is the centre of the Church of England parish of Shiplake. In 1869 the church was restored and enlarged to designs by the Gothic Revival architect GE Street. The chancel, north aisle and parts of the south aisle were rebuilt and the tracery of all its windows were replaced.[3] The church is a Grade II* listed building.[4]

The church tower has a ring of eight bells, all recast by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in 2009.[5] Shiplake Church also has a Sanctus bell cast by Gillett & Johnston of Croydon in 1929.[5]

Shaft cross in the parish churchyard

In the churchyard is a Gothic Revival shaft cross. It was erected in 1908 as a monument to a member of the Phillimore family. It is Grade II listed.[6]

Economic and social history

In 1773 the Thames Navigation Commission built Shiplake Lock on the River Thames about 1⁄2 mile (800 m) downriver from the main village.

About 1830 Shiplake House was built.[7] It is a three-storey early 19th-century Regency house just east of what is now Shiplake College. Part of the rear and side has a decorative wrought iron verandah.[8]

In 1857 the Great Western Railway opened the Henley branch line between Twyford and Henley-on-Thames, crossing the Thames on Shiplake Railway Bridge, about 300 yards (270 m) downstream from Shiplake Lock. The GWR built Shiplake railway station at Lower Shiplake, 1 mile (1.6 km) northeast of the older part of the village. Lower Shiplake has since grown into the largest settlement within the parish.

The original railway bridge was of timber. In 1897 the GWR replaced it with the present iron bridge.

In 1889 the author Jerome K. Jerome featured Shiplake in his novel Three Men in a Boat.[9]

Houses by the Thames at Lower Shiplake

Most homes in Shiplake were built after the railway arrived. These include Shiplake Court, an country house beside the parish church that overlooks the Thames. The house was built between 1890[10] and about 1905.[11] In 1959 it became Shiplake College, an independent boarding school.[12] Some of the college buildings are Grade II listed, including its "extraordinary"[7] water tower.[13]

In 2003 the village of Binfield Heath and hamlet of Crowsley were separated from Shiplake civil parish to form the new civil parish of Binfield Heath.[14] Binfield Heath and Crowsley remain part of the Church of England parish of Shiplake, as does Eye and Dunsden to the south.

Amenities

The Plowden Arms

Shiplake has a pub, the Plowden Arms, on the main road near the parish church and Shiplake College.[15]

Shiplake has a village hall,[16] Women's Institute,[17] amateur dramatic society,[18] bowls club[19] and lawn tennis club.[20]

The village has a small number of industrial, storage, retail, distribution and office units.[1]

Public transport

Shiplake railway station is on the Henley Branch Line. All trains terminate at Twyford, where they connect with Great Western main line trains to London Paddington and Reading.

Two bus routes serve Shiplake and Lower Shiplake.

Arriva the Shires route 800 links Shiplake with Reading in one direction and Henley and High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire in the other. Buses run twice an hour on weekdays, and once an hour on Saturdays and Sundays.[21]

Thames Travel route X38 links Shiplake with Reading in one direction and Henley, Wallingford and Oxford in the other. Buses run once an hour from Mondays to Saturdays. There is no Sunday service.[22]

Wargrave & Shiplake Regatta

The Wargrave & Shiplake Regatta was founded in 1867 and is held over an August weekend for non-racing shells (also known as Olympic or fine boats).[23] It receives the most entries for skiffing and dongolas racing on the Thames. The regatta attracts a comparable number of entries to the largest shell-racing regattas on the Thames such as Kingston Regatta and Molesey Regatta.

Notable residents

See also

Nearest places

References

  1. 1 2 "Shiplake Parish Local Area Report". nomis. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
  2. ↑ Ekwall 1960, Shiplake
  3. ↑ Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, pp. 755–756.
  4. ↑ Historic England. "Church of SS Peter and Paul  (Grade II) (1059595)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
  5. 1 2 Davies, Peter (17 June 2010). "Shiplake SS Peter & Paul". Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers. Central Council of Church Bell Ringers. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  6. ↑ Historic England. "Church of St Peter and St Paul, cross approximately 80 metres north west  (Grade II) (1059596)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
  7. 1 2 Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, p. 757.
  8. ↑ Historic England. "Shiplake House  (Grade II) (1059601)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
  9. ↑ Jerome, Jerome K (1889). "14". Three Men in a Boat. The Literature Network.
  10. ↑ Historic England. "Shiplake College  (Grade II) (1059600)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
  11. ↑ Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, pp. 756–757.
  12. ↑ Shiplake College
  13. ↑ Historic England. "Shiplake College, water tower approximately 90 metres north west  (Grade II) (1181367)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
  14. ↑ Binfield Heath, Oxfordshire
  15. ↑ The Plowden Arms
  16. ↑ Shiplake Memorial Hall
  17. ↑ "Shiplake WI". Shiplake Villages. Shiplake Parish Council. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
  18. ↑ "Shiplake and Dunsden Dramatic Organisation". Shiplake Villages. Shiplake Parish Council. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
  19. ↑ Shiplake Village Bowling Club
  20. ↑ Shiplake Tennis Club
  21. ↑ "800, 850". Arriva the Shires. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
  22. ↑ "river rapids X38 X39 X40" (PDF). Thames Travel. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
  23. ↑ Wargrave & Shiplake Regatta

Bibliography

  • Ekwall, Eilert (1960) [1936]. Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Nuffield. ISBN 0198691033.
  • Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). Oxfordshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books is a. pp. 755–757. ISBN 0-14-071045-0.
  • Thacker, Fred S (1968) [1920]. The Thames Highway. II: Locks and Weirs. Newton Abbott: David & Charles. pp. 132, 247, 253–258, 265, 277, 288, 327. SBN 7153-4233-9.
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