Shiplake
| Shiplake | |
|---|---|
 Lower Shiplake's meadows with wading Egyptian geese and parish church viewed from the Berkshire side of the River Thames. | |
| Area | 4.44 km2 (1.71 sq mi) |
| Population | 1,954 (2011 Census)[1] |
| • Density | 440/km2 (1,100/sq mi) |
| OS grid reference | SU7678 |
| Civil parish |
|
| 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 |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | Shiplake.net |
Shiplake is a rural village and civil parish on the River Thames situated 2.3 miles (3.7 km) south of Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire, England.
In the village is Shiplake Railway Station, the second of three stations on the Henley Branch Line which provides train services requiring a change at the small town of Twyford to the south, to and from London Paddington. The railway line crosses the river Thames via Shiplake Railway Bridge.
The main road from Henley to Reading, Berkshire, which is 4 miles (6.4 km) to the south-west, passes the edge of the village.
Shiplake College is a large independent school based in the village.
Parish church
The Church of St Peter and St Paul dates from at least the 13th century and is the centre of the ecclesiastical parish of Shiplake in the diocese of Oxford. In 1869 the Gothic Revival architect, G. E. Street, rebuilt the chancel, north aisle, parts of the south aisle and replaced all its windows' traceries.[2]
The church tower includes a ring of eight bells,[3] all recast by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in 2009.[4] Shiplake Church also has a Sanctus bell cast by Gillett & Johnston of Croydon in 1929.[4]
The Revd Paul Bradish is the present Rector of Shiplake.
Economic and social history
In 1773 the Thames Navigation Commission built Shiplake Lock on the River Thames about 0.5 miles (800 m) downriver from the main village. In 1857 the Great Western Railway opened a 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) northwest of the village. Lower Shiplake has since grown into the largest settlement within the parish.
In 1889 the author Jerome K. Jerome featured the village in his novel Three Men in a Boat.[5]
Shiplake Court is former a country house rebuilt in 1894 overlooking the Thames, which in 1959 became Shiplake College, an independent boarding school.[6]
In 2003 the village of Binfield Heath and hamlet of Crowsley, separated from Shiplake Civil Parish to form the newly-created civil parish of Binfield Heath.[7]
Amenities
Shiplake has a village hall,[8] a Women's Institute[9] and an amateur dramatic society,[10] as well as a bowls club[11] and a lawn tennis club.[12]
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).[13] 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
- Barriemore Barlow, former drummer of Jethro Tull, lives in Shiplake.
- Vince Hill, singer, lives at Lower Shiplake.
- Henry Constantine Jennings, the antiquarian, was born at Shiplake and on 15 August 1731 was baptised in the parish church.
- Simon Kernick, best selling author of crime thrillers, lives in Shiplake
- Gary Moore used to live in Shiplake.
- George Orwell, author of Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four, lived in Shiplake.
- Ian Paice, drummer of rock band Deep Purple, lives in Shiplake.
- Brian Paterson, creator of Foxwood Tales and Zigby, lives in Shiplake.
- Urs Schwarzenbach, the financier, has one of his houses at Lower Shiplake.
- Alfred Tennyson and Emily Sellwood were married in Shiplake Church.
- Shane O'Brien, Gold Medalist at the 1984 games in Los Angeles, rowing for New Zealand, lived in Shiplake and was Deputy Headmaster at Shiplake College
See also
- The Lords Phillimore (of Shiplake), head of family-owned underlying legal interests of a private housing Kensington network of streets of the same name, remain seated at Shiplake; the Phillimore family received a UK Peerage in 1918, in addition to the baronetcy created in 1881.
- Vanderbilt family
Nearest places
Nearest villages | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||||||
References
- ^ "Area: Shiplake CP (Parish): Key Statistics: Population Density". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
- ^ Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). Oxfordshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 755–756. ISBN 0-14-071045-0.
- ^ Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers, Reading Branch
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ Jerome, J.K. "14". Three Men in a Boat. The Literature Network.
- ^ Shiplake College
- ^ Binfield Heath, Oxfordshire
- ^ Shiplake Memorial Hall
- ^ Oxfordshire Federation of Women's Institutes
- ^ Shiplake and Dunsden Dramatic Organisation (SHADDO)
- ^ Shiplake Village Bowling Club
- ^ Shiplake Tennis Club
- ^ Wargrave & Shiplake Regatta
External links
- Shiplake CofE parish church website
- Site of Sonning RC Church, Shiplake Bottom
- www.shiplakevillages.com
Media related to Shiplake at Wikimedia Commons
