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Arborfield Cross

Berkshire geography stubsBorough of WokinghamVillages in Berkshire
Arborfield Cross geograph.org.uk 64524
Arborfield Cross geograph.org.uk 64524

Arborfield Cross is a village in the civil parish of Arborfield and Newland in the Borough of Wokingham in the English county of Berkshire.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Arborfield Cross (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Arborfield Cross
School Road,

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Nearby Places
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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 51.396873 ° E -0.905288 °
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Address

School Road

School Road
RG2 9NY , Arborfield and Newland
England, United Kingdom
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Arborfield Cross geograph.org.uk 64524
Arborfield Cross geograph.org.uk 64524
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Nearby Places

Farley Castle

Farley Castle is an early 19th-century modern house situated at Farley Hill, Swallowfield, Berkshire.The Gothic-styled, two-storey house in red brick with battlements and round turrets, was built for Edward Stephenson Esq in c. 1810 for his youngest son Henry Stephenson who farmed the estate. For the first 30 years the Castle was known as Ragg Castle. Edward Stephenson's eldest son Rowland Stephenson inherited Farley Castle in 1833 - Rowland changed his name to Rowland Standish in 1834 to inherit estates on his mother's side of the family. In 1843 Rowland died and his eldest son Edward Ferris Standish inherited Farley Castle. Edward died in 1845 and his younger brother Rowland Edmund Walter Pery Standish inherited Farley Castle. Farley Castle was rented out to the Martin-Atkins family from 1854 but in 1867 it was bought by William Hastings Martin-Atkins. On his death in 1902 it passed to his step-son Captain Henry Meredith Richards OBE, who didn't live there, but rented it out to a rich brewing family, Walter Mortimer & Louise Allfrey. I 1922 Louise Allfrey bought Farley Castle. On Louise's death in 1944, Farley Castle was bought by Owen Wilfred Beardmore who converted the Castle into a Hotel & Country Club. In 1952, it was the residence of adventurer, author & amateur archaeologist, Frederick Mitchell-Hedges, discoverer of the controversial rock crystal "Skull of Doom", who wrote his autobiographical "Danger My Ally" there in 1953/54.In 1958, Farley Castle was purchased by Dorothy Woolley who founded Hephaistos School for very bright but disabled boys. Initially a day school based in the castle, Hephaistos became a Special School with the addition of amenities including a teaching block, dormitories, dining hall, and a swimming pool. Berkshire County Council purchased the school and ran it from 1966 to 1988 when it closed. Despite being a Grade II listed building, between 1988 and 1992 Farley Castle was totally neglected and abandoned. It was purchased by developers but was allowed to be occupied and stripped by a Peace Convoy from Greenham Common and the Castle lay roofless and neglected for a couple of years. Eventually, in 1992, it was purchased by new developers and the Castle was renovated and converted to three houses. Other house was built in the grounds.

Bearwood House
Bearwood House

Bearwood or Bear Wood, Sindlesham, Berkshire, England is a Victorian country house built for John Walter, the owner of The Times. The architect was Robert Kerr and the house was constructed between 1865 and 1874. The family fortune had been made by Walter's grandfather, John Walter I. Originally a coal merchant and underwriter, in 1785 John Walter had established The Daily Universal Register, renamed as The Times in 1788. In 1816, Walter's father, John Walter II purchased the Bear Wood estate in Berkshire from the Crown Estate and in 1822 built a small villa on the site of the present house. Nothing remains of this first building, which was swept away in the gargantuan rebuilding undertaken by Kerr for John Walter III. The cost, £129,000, equivalent to £12,741,576 in 2021, was double the original estimate. In 1919, the house was sold and subsequently gifted to the Royal Merchant Navy School, which had been established in the City of London in 1827 to educate the sons of merchant sailors lost at sea. The school moved into Bearwood in 1922. In 1966 it was renamed Bearwood College, but falling pupil numbers, declining revenues and increasing costs led to the college's closure in 2014. In the same year the site was purchased by the Reddam Group of international schools and renamed Reddam House, Berkshire. Described by Nikolaus Pevsner as "one of the major Victorian monuments of England", the house is a Grade II* listed building.