| Static Image Name: | St Mark's Church Englefield 2.JPG |
| Static Image Caption: | St Mark's Church |
| Country: | England |
| Type: | Village and civil parish |
| Official Name: | Englefield |
| Civil Parish: | Englefield |
| Unitary England: | West Berkshire |
| Lieutenancy England: | Berkshire |
| Post Town: | READING |
| Postcode Area: | RG |
| Postcode District: | RG7 |
| Population: | 286 |
| Population Ref: | (2011 census)[1] |
| Area Total Km2: | 9.25 |
| Region: | South East England |
| Constituency Westminster: | Reading West |
| Os Grid Reference: | SU6272 |
| Coordinates: | 51.443°N -1.1°W |
Englefield is a village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire. The village is mostly within the bounds of the private walled estate of Englefield House. The village is in the district of West Berkshire, close to Reading.
The place-name 'Englefield' is first attested in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle for 871, where it appears as Engla feld. It appears as Englefel in the Domesday Book of 1086, and as Englefeld in the Feet of Fines for 1196. The name indicates settlement by the Angles in Saxon territory.[2]
See main article: Battle of Englefield. In 870, the village was the site of the Battle of Englefield. This was fought between the Anglo-Saxons, under Æthelwulf, Ealdorman of Berkshire, and the Danes, and resulted in a resounding victory for the Saxons. The battle was the first of a series in the winter of 870–1. The village may have been named after the battle, Englefield meaning "English field".
See main article: Englefield House. Englefield House was the home of the Englefield family, supposedly from the time of King Edgar and certainly until the Elizabethan era when the present building was erected. The house eventually passed to the Benyon family, as part of the largest privately owned estate in West Berkshire.[3]
In the late 19th century, Richard Fellowes Benyon rebuilt the villagers' houses as a model estate village and provided them with such amenities as a swimming pool, soup kitchen and a new school. Today the estate, owned by a family company, the Englefield Estate, covers some .[4] The village relies on and contributes to the amenities and organisations in Theale and Tilehurst, which bound it to the south and east, as well as Reading.
| + 2011 Published Statistics: Population, home ownership and extracts from Physical Environment, surveyed in 2005 | |||||||||||
| Output area | Homes owned outright | Owned with a loan | Socially rented | Privately rented | Other | km2 roads | km2 water | km2 domestic gardens | Usual residents | km2 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Civil parish | 14 | 8 | 9 | 65 | 28 | 0.147 | 0.109 | 0.124 | 286 | 9.25 |