Woodley and Sandford, Berkshire
Historical Description
Woodley and Sandford, a liberty in Sonning parish, Berks. Woodley was formed into a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1881. It is 1½ mile NE from Earley station on the Reading branch of the L. & S.W.R., and 3½ miles E from Reading. It has a post office under Reading; money order and telegraph office, Sonning. Population of the ecclesiastical parish of Woodley, 687. There is a parish council consisting of seven members. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford; net value, £270 with residence, in the gift of the Vicar of Sonning. The church is a modern building of flint and stone in the Transition style, between the Early English and Decorated.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Berkshire | |
| Civil parish | Sonning | |
| Hundred | Sonning | |
| Poor Law union | Wokingham |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register dates from the year 1881.
Churches
Church of England
St. John the Evangelist (parish church)
The church of St. John the Evangelist, built in 1873, at a cost of £5,000, by the late Robert Palmer esq. of Holme Park, Sonning, from designs by Henry Woodyer esq. of Guildford, is a building of flint and stone, in the Transition style between the Early English and Decorated, and consists of chancel, nave, with north aisle, organ chamber, vestry, south porch and over it a turret containing 3 bells: the principal feature of the interior is the triplet of arches between the nave and the chancel, supported on columns of dark Forest of Dean stone; the reredos is of Caen stone and Early English and Italian alabaster and marble, and has a sculptured group in the centre representing the Crucifixion: the east window is stained, and a beautiful arch partially filled by oak screen work incloses the organ chamber: there are 260 sittings.
Congregational
Congregational Chapel
There is a Congregational chapel, erected in 1834, with 120 sittings.
Civil Registration
Woodley & Sandford was in Wokingham Registration District from 1837 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Woodley and Sandford from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Woodley, with Sandford)
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Berkshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Woodley and Sandford 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:
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitations of Berkshire 1532, 1566, and 1665-6 is available online.