Coley Park

Coley is an electoral ward of the Borough of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire. Until the 2022 Reading Borough Council election, it was known as Minster ward and had slightly different boundaries. It lies south-west of the town centre, comprising all or parts of the suburbs of Coley, Coley Park, and West Reading, together with a large tract of undeveloped River Kennet flood-plain to the south. From the south in clockwise order it is bounded by the River Kennet, the Reading to Basingstoke railway line, Reading West railway station, the Oxford Road, Prospect Street, Tilehust Road, Castle Hill, and the A33 back to the River Kennet. The ward is bordered, in the same order, by Whitley, Southcote, Battle, Abbey and Katesgrove wards. It lies entirely within the Reading West parliamentary constituency.The principal changes to the ward boundary in 2022 were the loss of the section of the old Minster ward to the west of the railway line, bounded by Bath Road, Parkside Road and Tilehurst Road, to Southcote ward, and the loss of the strip of Minster ward to the east of the A33, as far as the River Kennet, to Katesgrove ward. Coley ward also gained the area bounded by Tilehurst Road, Reading West station, Oxford Road and Prospect Street from Battle ward.As of 2016, there were just over 10,000 people living in Minster ward, of whom 21% were aged under 16, 12.6% were aged 65 and over, and 29% were born outside the UK. The population lived in a total of just under 4,700 dwellings, of which almost 50% were in purpose-built blocks of flats, and around 20% each were terraced houses or semi-detached houses, with detached houses and flat conversions making up the rest. Of the population aged between 16 and 74, approximately 70% were in employment and 5.5% were unemployed. Of those in employment, 50% were in managerial, professional or technical occupations, with 26% in professional occupations.As with all Reading wards, the ward elects three councillors to Reading Borough Council. Elections since 2004 are generally held by thirds, with elections in three years out of four, although the 2022 elections were for all councillors due to the boundary changes. The ward councillors are currently Ellie Emberson, Paul Gittings and Liz Terry, all of whom are members of the Labour party.

All Saints' Church is a Church of England parish church in the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. The church is on Downshire Square, a tree-lined square in West Reading close to the Bath Road. It is part of the parish of St. Mark and All Saints, which includes St. Mark's Church. The church was built between 1865 and 1874, as a daughter church of the Minster Church of St Mary, to serve the growing population of the Bath Road area. It was designed by the architect James Piers St Aubyn. The construction is of coursed rubble with ashlar dressings and weathered buttresses. The roof is tiled, and the church has a five bay aisled nave with a short transept. The interior includes a painted arcade, a rich five-window apse, and mural mosaics, the finest of which is a glass mosaic reredos depicting the last supper. This came from the London workshop of the renowned glass artist Antonio Salviati and was installed in 1866. The foundations for a tower to the south side of the church were constructed, but the tower itself was never completed.The music for the church was originally provided by a small four-stop organ lent to the church by a "Father Willis", which was positioned in the original North transept. The organ was extensively enhanced to include a triple keyboard and additional pipes between 1874 and 1883, and has remained in more or less the same form until the present day.There is a current project appeal for the upgrading of the church to modern accessibility standards. This project hopes to add toilet facilities and improve disabled access to the building whilst retaining the church's unique character and architectural features.The church is categorised as a Grade II listed building by English Heritage.

Courages Sports Ground was a sports and cricket ground in Coley Park suburb of the town of Reading, Berkshire, England. The ground belonged to the Courage Brewery in the town, and was principally provided for the sport and recreation of the brewery staff. It was located south of Berkeley Avenue, which is a part of the A4 road, and was bordered to the west by the Reading to Taunton railway and to the north, south and east by housing. Established prior to 1961, the first cricket match recorded at the ground is in 1964 when Courages Cricket Club played Calmore Sports. Berkshire first played at the ground in the 1975 Minor Counties Championship against Wiltshire. Berkshire played seven further Minor Counties Championship matches at the ground, the last of which came against Wiltshire in 1983. Two MCCA Knockout Trophy matches were played there in 1984 between Berkshire and Buckinghamshire. The first match ended in no result, with the second match won by Berkshire a replay. A single List A match was played there in the 1986 NatWest Trophy between Berkshire and Gloucestershire. Gloucestershire batted first and made 249/9 from their sixty overs, with Andy Stovold top scoring in the innings with 58, while Peter Lewington's 3/23 were the best bowling figures of the innings. Berkshire were dismissed for 129 to lose the match by 120 runs, with Mark Simmons' 26 the top score in Berkshire's innings, while David Lawrence took figures of 4/36. This was the last time Berkshire played at the ground, with the final recorded match to be played there coming in 1990.The ground was sold for residential development soon after the last game, with two roads on the new estate named after the cricketers Ken Barrington and Gordon Greenidge. A small southern portion of the ground wasn't built on and today forms the core of Courage Park.

Bath Road Reservoir is an underground reservoir complex in the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. Located to the North-West of the Bath Road in West Reading, the complex covers 5.38 acres (2.18 ha). It comprises two underground reservoirs, covered entirely by vegetation, together with a water tower that is listed as a grade II listed building.

The Berkshire Record Office is the county record office for Berkshire, England. It is located in Reading. The Berkshire Record Office opened on 10 August 1948 in The Forbury, Reading. It moved to the new Berkshire Shire Hall, beside the M4, in 1981, and to its present home in Coley Avenue, Reading, in 2000.

Yeomanry House is a former military installation in Reading, Berkshire. It is a Grade II listed building.

Courage Park is a public park in the Coley Park suburb of the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. The park includes amenity grassland, together with a wooded area to the south of the site. Within the park there is a brick-built pavilion with changing rooms and storage space, a basketball court, and a children's play area. This principal access to the park is from Edenham Crescent, a residential street, and the park was previously known as Edenham Crescent Park. Other pedestrian accesses are available from Wensley Road, Swallows Croft and Coley Avenue.

Coley is an inner-town district near the centre of the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire. It is often referred to as Old Coley, to distinguish it from the adjacent, and much more recent, suburb of Coley Park. The district has no formal boundaries, but the historically the name referred to the area roughly bounded by Castle Street, Castle Hill and the Bath Road to the north, Berkeley Avenue to the south and west, and the River Kennet and Bridge Street to the east. Coley is bordered to its south and west by Coley Park, to its north by West Reading, and to its east by Katesgrove and the Inner Distribution Road. The district lies entirely within the borough of Reading, within Coley, Abbey and Katesgrove wards. It is within the Reading West parliamentary constituency.Coley is split between the Church of England parishes of All Saints Church and St Giles' Church, although neither church is actually within the district.The Berkshire Record Office is located in Coley Avenue near to the junction with Bath Road. Coley formerly had a railway goods yard, the Reading Central Goods station, which was connected to the main line at Southcote Junction by the Coley branch line. Phoebe Cusden, a notable socialist, peace campaigner and Mayor of Reading, lived all her life in Coley. In 1977 she published Coley: Portrait of an Urban Village, a history of the suburb.Old Coley housed one of Reading's largest slum communities, built in the area between Wolseley St and Castle St. Centred around the Coley Steps, courts and back-to-back housing accommodated a population of about 1,500. The slums were eventually cleared in the 1930s, with residents rehoused in the new council estates of Whitley and Norcot. In 1989 the Coley Local History Group recorded the memories of its residents in two publications "Talking of Coley" (ISBN 0951593307, 1990) and "More Talking of Coley" (1991)

Carey Baptist Church is an independent evangelical/Baptist church in Reading, England.

Reading West railway station serves West Reading, Berkshire, about 1 mile (1.6 km) west from the town's main retail and commercial areas. The station is served by local services operated by Great Western Railway. It is 36 miles 75 chains (36.94 mi; 59.4 km) down the line the zero point at London Paddington.

Holy Trinity Church, also known as the Church of the Holy Trinity, is a Church of England parish church in the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. It is situated on the Oxford Road some 500 metres (1,600 ft) west of the town centre. It is a Grade II listed building.

Fobney Lock is a lock on the River Kennet in the Small Mead area of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. Between the lock cut for the lock and the river itself is Fobney Island, which is a nature reserve.Fobney Lock was built between 1718 and 1723 under the supervision of the engineer John Hore of Newbury, and this stretch of the river is now administered by Canal & River Trust and known as the Kennet Navigation. It has a rise/fall of 7 ft 8 in (2.24 m).Fobney Island was transformed into a nature reserve in 2013, with the creation of wetland, a hay meadow and reed beds. It was intended that the resulting habitats would attract wildlife, including birds, bats, water voles, and otters.