Donnington, Berkshire

Donnington
Donnington Castle
Donnington  Donnington shown within Berkshire
OS grid reference	SU467693
Civil parish	Shaw-cum-Donnington
Unitary authority	West Berkshire
Ceremonial county	Berkshire
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Newbury
Postcode district	RG14
Dialling code	01635
Police	Thames Valley
Fire	Royal Berkshire
Ambulance	South Central
EU Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	Newbury
List of places: UK • England • Berkshire

Donnington is a village in the civil parish of Shaw-cum-Donnington just north of the town of Newbury in Berkshire, England.

Donnington Castle, a ruined medieval castle of some historical significance, is in the village. Donnington Hospital almshouses, established in 1393, are the oldest charity in the county (although others formed later had older charities merged into them). The earliest current building dates from 1602, but the complex is very wide-ranging, with additional modern almshouses having been built in Bucklebury and Iffley. Other notable buildings include Donnington Priory and Donnington Grove. The latter is a Strawberry Hill Gothic mansion, now an hotel at the centre of a golf course.

Famous residents

• Albemarle Bertie, Royal Navy officer and later Admiral during the American Revolutionary War and Napoleonic Wars
• Beau Brummell, Regency dandy, lived at Donnington Grove
• Sebastian Faulks, Journalist and author, born in the village in 1953
• Thomas Hughes, author of Tom Brown's Schooldays, lived at Donnington Priory

Further reading

• Ditchfield, P.H. & Page, William (1907). Victoria County History: A History of the County of Berkshire, Volume 2. pp. 91–94. 
• Page, William & Ditchfield, P.H. (1924). Victoria County History: A History of the County of Berkshire, Volume 4. pp. 87–97. 
• Pevsner, Nikolaus (1966). The Buildings of England: Berkshire. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 128–129. 

External links

Media related to Donnington, Berkshire at Wikimedia Commons