Goring Rural District

The Oratory Prep School is a Roman Catholic day and boarding school for some 330 boys and girls aged from two to thirteen, founded in 1925. The school is co-educational and is separate from the nearby Oratory School, although they share a similar history.

Goring Heath is a hamlet and civil parish in the Chiltern Hills in South Oxfordshire. The civil parish includes the villages of Whitchurch Hill and Crays Pond and some small hamlets. Goring Heath is centred 3 miles (4.8 km) southeast of Goring-on-Thames and about 4 miles (6.4 km) northwest of Reading, Berkshire. In 1724 Henry Alnutt, a lawyer of the Middle Temple in London, established a set of almshouses at Goring Heath. They form three sides of a courtyard, flanking a chapel of the same date. In the 1880s a school was built beside the almshouses in what was intended to be the same architectural style. A post office was added in 1900.Alnutt also left a continuing income from his estate at Goring Heath to teach, clothe and apprentice boys from five parishes. One of the parishes was Cassington in West Oxfordshire, where Alnutt's charity established a small school for boys. In 1833 the Alnutt school was absorbed into a new Cassington parish school, which in 1853 became Cassington's present St. Peter's Church of England primary school.

Crays Pond is a hamlet situated in the parish of Goring Heath in South Oxfordshire. Crays Pond is about 2.4 miles (3.9 km) northeast of Goring-on-Thames and about 7.0 miles (11.3 km) northwest of Reading, Berkshire.

Whitchurch Hill is a village in the Chiltern Hills in Oxfordshire, about 5.5 miles (9 km) northwest of Reading, Berkshire, near Whitchurch-on-Thames. The Church of England parish church of Saint John the Baptist was designed by the architect Francis Bacon (1842–1930) and built in 1883. Whitchuch Hill has a public house, the Sun Inn.

Whitchurch-on-Thames is a village and civil parish on the Oxfordshire bank of the River Thames, about 5.5 miles (9 km) northwest of Reading, Berkshire, in close proximity to Whitchurch Hill. Opposite Whitchurch on the Berkshire bank is the village of Pangbourne.

Hartslock, also known as Hartslock Woods, is a 41.8-hectare (103-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in a wooded area on the north bank of the River Thames to the south-east of Goring-on-Thames in the English county of Oxfordshire. An area of 29.4 hectares (73 acres) is a Special Area of Conservation and an area of 10 hectares (25 acres) is a nature reserve owned and managed by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT). The site is well known for the variety of wild orchids that grow on its sloping grassland, and especially for the monkey orchid (Orchis simia) that grows in very few other places in England.The name Hartslock is believed to derive from the Hart family, who in the 15th century owned a 'lock', probably a wooden construction used to support nets and eel traps, across the river below the woods. This structure no longer exists, having been removed in stages during the 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1915, Hartslock Wood was one of the sites listed by Charles Rothschild, the founder of the Wildlife Trusts, as "worthy of preservation", although the exigencies of the First World War meant that no practical steps were taken to protect it then. In 1950s and 60s, local residents reacted to encroaching agriculture by helping to monitor and protect the orchids, and in 1975/76 BBOWT bought part of the site and established it as a nature reserve. In 1986, the whole site was designated as an SSSI.The site has diverse semi-natural habitats, including species-rich chalk downland, ancient yew woodland, semi-natural broadleaved woodland, riverside fen and scrub. The wood has a variety of tree species including beech and yew, and there is a large colony of badgers. Besides the monkey orchid, several other orchid species, including lady (Orchis purpurea), bee (Ophrys apifera), pyramidal (Anacamptis pyramidalis), common spotted (Dactylorhiza fuchsii), common twayblade (Neottia ovata) and white helleborine (Cephalanthera damasonium), are to be found on the steeply sloping grassland part of the site. A hybrid of the monkey and lady orchids has been reported at Hartslock, the only place in Britain where this hybrid has been recorded.The Thames Path passes through Hartslock Woods. The path is usually at some distance from the river, as this is a stretch of the path that is not based on the old Thames towpath, which is on the opposite bank at this point.

Elvendon is a small settlement in Oxfordshire and the Chiltern Hills, near Goring. It includes the grade II listed building Elvendon Priory.

Beale Wildlife Park is situated by the River Thames, between the villages of Pangbourne and Lower Basildon in Berkshire, England. It has three main areas of attraction: collections of small exotic animals, farm animals and birds; landscaped gardens and woodlands; and children's play areas. In 1956, Beale Park was formed by Gilbert Beale who decided to give the 350-acre (140 ha) Thames-side park land to ‘the people’ by converting it from private farmland into a non-profit making, charitable trust. In those days it was little more than a track and a couple of ponds.

Pangbourne College Boat Club is a rowing club based on the River Thames at Pangbourne College Boathouse, Shooters Hill, Pangbourne, Berkshire.

Whitchurch Lock is a lock and weir on the River Thames in England. It is a pound lock, built by the Thames Navigation Commissioners in 1787. It is on an island near the Oxfordshire village of Whitchurch-on-Thames and is accessible only by boat. The weir crosses the river to the Berkshire village of Pangbourne .

Whitchurch Bridge is a toll bridge that carries the B471 road over the River Thames in England. It links the villages of Pangbourne in Berkshire, and Whitchurch-on-Thames in Oxfordshire – crossing the river just downstream of Whitchurch Lock. It is one of two remaining private toll bridges across the Thames, the other being Swinford Toll Bridge. The bridge has a weight limit of 7.5 tonnes and is a Grade II listed structure. Its 1792-built, now unrelated, residential toll house is also listed.The bridge is owned and maintained by The Company of Proprietors of Whitchurch Bridge, who are themselves owned by the General Estates Company, who also own Bathampton Toll Bridge across the River Avon to the east of Bath. Tolls currently range from 60p for cars to £4 for vehicles of over 3.5 tonnes. Pedestrians, cyclists and motorcycles cross for free. A pre-paid multiple-use Bridge Card can be bought that provides cost savings on tolls.The Thames Path crosses the river on Whitchurch Bridge. In the downstream (easterly) direction the path passes along the southern bank of the Thames through Pangbourne Meadow. In the upstream (westerly) direction it takes a more inland route through Hartslock on the north side of the river.

The River Pang is a small chalk stream river in the west of the English county of Berkshire, and a tributary of the River Thames. It runs for approximately 23 kilometres (14 mi) from its source near the village of Compton to its confluence with the Thames in the village of Pangbourne. The river, and its water voles, are thought to have inspired author Kenneth Grahame's character Ratty and his book The Wind in the Willows.