Sonning Common

Coordinates: 51°30′43″N 0°58′37″W / 51.5120°N 0.977°W / 51.5120; -0.977

Sonning Common
Sonning Common  Sonning Common shown within Oxfordshire
OS grid reference	SU7180
Parish	Sonning Common
District	South Oxfordshire
Shire county	Oxfordshire
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Postcode district	RG4
Dialling code	0118
Police	Thames Valley
Fire	Oxfordshire
Ambulance	South Central
EU Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	Henley constituency
Website	Sonning Common Parish
List of places: UK • England • Oxfordshire

Sonning Common (not to be confused with nearby Sonning-on-Thames) is a village and civil parish the Chiltern Hills 3.5 miles (5.6 km) west of Henley-on-Thames in South Oxfordshire. It is on the B481 road between Reading, Berkshire to the south and Nettlebed to the north.

History

During the English Civil Wars the village itself did not exist: its present site was merely an area of open land on the route between Reading - occupied alternately by the Parliamentarians and Royalists - and Oxford, which was the King's headquarters.^[1] In 1647 after the end of the first civil war, the King was imprisoned at nearby Caversham House (now the location of BBC Monitoring in Caversham); however he was allowed out under escort to play bowls at an inn (latterly called "The King Charles Head") near Cane End, approximately one mile west of Sonning Common.^[2][3] His route between these places would have brought him close to the present-day village.

The site of the village was called "Sonning Common" from at least the 1640s, long before any fixed settlement existed. The name is literal, referring to its originally being the common grazing land belonging to Sonning Parish.^[4]

Churches

Churches are Christ the King (Church of England),^[5], Saint Michael's (Roman Catholic)^[6], and Sonning Common Free Church.

Education

Sonning Common has a primary school.^[7] Chiltern Edge School^[8] is a secondary school in the village. It has fewer than 1,000 pupils. It has a drama studio, named after the actor Dan Stevens, that was opened in 2007.

Amenities

Sonning Common has three public houses: the Bird in Hand (currently closed and up for sale), the Butchers Arms and the Hare and Hounds.

It also has a Herb Farm (with Saxon Maze), Thames Valley Gymnastics Club and a health centre.^[9] There are two war memorial halls on the village boundaries, although strictly they belong to the neighbouring parishes of Kidmore End and Peppard. Sonning Common also has a duck pond with a duck-house in the middle called "Duckingham Palace", and a Millennium Green (a large area of open public land), which lies at the southern end of the village between Kennylands Road and Peppard Road.

The main route through the village is Peppard Road (the B481), which runs from Reading to Nettlebed. Wood Lane turns off this, and is the location of most of the village's shops and the health centre. It has an Indian restaurant,^[10] a Chinese take-away, fish and chip shop, sandwich shop, post office, supermarkets, a bank, a petrol station, and a cluster of other shops. The village hall is also in the middle of Wood Lane.

The area is surrounded by mainly beech woodland and countryside, which is excellent for walks & picnics. Sonning Common is where the Health Walks project was started. It was set up by Dr William Bird, a former GP in the village. Its aim is to improve people's fitness, both in body and mind, by encouraging them to use their local countryside for walking. Together with Val Lunn, a local fitness instructor, Dr William Bird promoted the project which has now grown into a very successful scheme that has been adopted nationwide, and even internationally.^[11]

The village has an amateur dramatic group, The Chiltern Players, which was formed in 1974.

External links

• Google Directory entry
• Sonning Common Parish Council
• Sonning Common village website
• Sonning Common District Green Gym
• Sonning Common Garages
• The Chiltern Players

References

v • d • e The District of South Oxfordshire Oxfordshire • County Council elections • District Council elections • Henley County Constituency • Wantage County Constituency Towns Didcot • Henley-on-Thames • Thame (Moreton) • Wallingford • Watlington (Christmas Common, Northend) Large Villages Benson (Preston Crowmarsh) • Berinsfield • Brightwell-cum-Sotwell • Chalgrove • Chinnor (Emmington, Henton, Oakley) • Cholsey (Winterbrook) • Crowmarsh (Crowmarsh Gifford, North Stoke, Mongewell, Newnham Murren) • Ewelme • Garsington • Goring-on-Thames • Great Milton • Horspath (Bullingdon Green) • Sandford-on-Thames • Shiplake (Lower Shiplake) • Sonning Common • Wheatley • Woodcote Other Civil Parishes (Component Villages and Hamlets) Adwell • Aston Rowant • Aston Tirrold • Aston Upthorpe • Beckley and Stowood (Beckley, Stowood) • Berrick Salome (Berrick Prior, Roke, Rokemarsh) • Binfield Heath • Bix and Assendon (Bix, Bix Bottom, Lower Assendon, Middle Assendon) • Brightwell Baldwin • Britwell Salome • Checkendon • Clifton Hampden (Burcot) • Crowell • Cuddesdon and Denton (Cuddesdon, Denton) • Culham • Cuxham with Easington (Cuxham, Easington) • Dorchester • Drayton St. Leonard • East Hagbourne (Coscote) • Elsfield • Eye and Dunsden (Sonning Eye, Dunsden Green, Playhatch) • Forest Hill with Shotover (Forest Hill, Shotover) • Goring Heath (Whitchurch Hill, Cray's Pond) • Great Haseley (Latchford, Little Haseley, North Weston, Rycote) • Harpsden • Highmoor (Satwell) • Holton • Ipsden • Kidmore End (Gallowstree Common) • Lewknor (Postcombe, South Weston) • Little Milton • Little Wittenham • Long Wittenham • Mapledurham (Trench Green, Chazey Heath) • Marsh Baldon (Baldon Row) • Moulsford • Nettlebed • Newington (Great Holcombe) • North Moreton • Nuffield • Nuneham Courtenay • Pishill with Stonor (Pishill, Stonor, Russell's Water) • Pyrton • Rotherfield Greys • Rotherfield Peppard • Shirburn • South Moreton (Fulscot) • South Stoke (Littlestoke) • Stadhampton (Chiselhampton, Brookhampton, Ascott) • Stanton St. John (Woodperry) • Stoke Row • Stoke Talmage • Swyncombe • Sydenham (Kingston Stert) • Tetsworth • Tiddington-with-Albury (Tiddington, Albury) • Toot Baldon • Towersey • Warborough (Shillingford) • Waterstock • West Hagbourne • Wheatfield • Whitchurch-on-Thames • Woodeaton • Waterperry with Thomley (Waterperry, Thomley) Former Districts and Boroughs Bullingdon Rural District • Municipal Borough of Henley-on-Thames • Henley Rural District • Thame Urban District • Municipal Borough of Wallingford • Wallingford Rural District Crowmarsh Rural District • Culham Rural District • Goring Rural District • Headington Rural District • Thame Rural District Former Constituencies Oxfordshire County Constituency • Wallingford Borough Constituency • Abingdon Borough Constituency • Berkshire North or Abingdon County Constituency • Abingdon County Constituency List of Parliamentary constituencies in Oxfordshire • List of places in Oxfordshire • List of civil parishes in Oxfordshire