Burghfield

Burghfield
Village and civil parish
The Rising Sun, Burghfield Common, in 2005
Burghfield is located in Berkshire
Burghfield
Burghfield
Location within Berkshire
Area17.11 km2 (6.61 sq mi)
Population5,923 Berkshire Public Health Shared Team[1]
• Density346/km2 (900/sq mi)
OS grid referenceSU6668
Civil parish
  • Burghfield
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townREADING
Postcode districtRG7, RG30
Dialling code0118
PoliceThames Valley
FireRoyal Berkshire
AmbulanceSouth Central
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Berkshire
51°24′40″N 1°02′31″W / 51.411°N 1.042°W / 51.411; -1.042

Burghfield /ˈbɜːrfild/[2] is a village and large civil parish in West Berkshire, England, with a boundary with Reading. Burghfield can trace its history back to before the Domesday Book, and was once home to three manors: Burghfield Regis, Burghfield Abbas, and Sheffield (or Soefeld). Since the 1980s the population of Burghfield has nearly doubled with the construction of housing estates, making it a dormitory for Reading, Newbury, Basingstoke and the M4 corridor (which crosses the north of the parish).

Most of the former sparsely inhabited fields of the hamlet of Pingewood, in the north of the parish, are divided by the M4 motorway and have been converted, after gravel extraction in the mid to late 20th century, into lakes that are used for watersports, fishing, and other leisure activities. They are also a habitat for migrating geese, water fowl and other wildlife. A few higher gravel pits in this area have been drained, clay-lined and used as landfill sites.

Besides Burghfield and Pingewood, settlements in the parish include Burghfield Common, Burghfield Hill, Burghfield Bridge, Trash Green, Whitehouse Green and Sheffield Bottom.[3]

  1. ^ Statistics: https://burghfieldparishcouncil.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Parish-Data.pdf Dwellings; Quick Statistics: Population Density; Physical Environment: Land Use Survey 2005]
  2. ^ Pointon, G E (1983). BBC pronouncing dictionary of British names (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 39. ISBN 0192129767.
  3. ^ "Election Maps: Great Britain". Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 17 November 2023.