Shinfield, Berkshire
Historical Description
Shinfield, a parish in Berks. It has three villages- School Green, Three-mile Cross (Miss Mitford's " Our Village "), and Spencer's Wood. School Green stands 3 miles SW of Earley station on the L. & S.W.R. and S.E.R., and 4 S by E of Reading. It has a post office under Reading; money order and telegraph office, Earley. The parish includes the liberty of Hartley Dummer and part of the chapelry of Grazeley, and comprises 4314 acres; population of the civil parish, 1493; of the ecclesiastical, 959. There is a parish council consisting of nine members. The manor belongs to the Cobham family. The manor house, Shinfield Grange, Goodrest, Shinfield Grove, Shinfield Lodge, and Hyde End are chief residences. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford; net value, £100 with residence. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Hereford. The vicarage of Grazeley is a separate benefice. The church is an ancient building of flint and brick in the Early English style, and there is a Congregational chapel at Spencer's Wood. There are an endowed school with £100 a year, and some small charities.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Berkshire | |
| Ecclesiastical parish | Shinfield St. Mary | |
| Hundred | Charlton | |
| Poor Law union | Wokingham |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register dates from the year 1649.
Churches
Church of England
St. Mary (parish church)
The church of St. Mary is an ancient edifice of flint and brick, in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, south aisle, north porch and an embattled western tower containing 6 bells: in the church are several monuments: the seats are of oak and the pulpit of carved oak: the east window is stained: the church was completely restored in 1857, at a cost of £1,600: there are 360 sittings.
Civil Registration
Shinfield was in Wokingham Registration District from 1837 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Shinfield from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Shinfield (St. Mary))
- Kelly's Directory of Berkshire, 1915
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Berkshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Shinfield are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Berkshire papers online:
Villages, Hamlets, &c
Hartley DummerVisitations Heraldic
The Visitations of Berkshire 1532, 1566, and 1665-6 is available online.