Modern Coley Park has much of it's foundations in the 1960's when, in preperation for the development of Reading's Inner Distribution Road the population of the area to be redeveloped had to be re-housed. Many of these people were moved into council flats and houses built on the Coley Park Estate.

Today, Coley Park covers an area about two square miles and has a population of about 5000 people. It is bordered by the railway to the West, the Holy Brook to the South, Rose Kiln Lane to the East, and Berkley Avenue to the North. (To see an arial photo click here.)

Coley Park does however have a rich history. Orginaly a big estate, Coley Park was the home of the Vachell Family from 1309 until 1727. The family maxim, Tis better to Suffer than to Revenge, is said to have come from an incident which took place here in the 14th century. John Vachell was in dispute with the Abbot of Reading over rights of way through the former's estate. The Abbot sent a monk to test his rights with a load of corn. In a fit of rage, Vachell killed the poor man. He was excommunicated, heavily fined and given this unusual motto.

The old house at Coley appears to have been an Elizabethan mansion much like that to be seen at Sherborne Castle (Dorset) today. It was possibly built by Thomas Vachell, the zealous Protestant and friend of Thomas Cromwell. Just before he quit Reading in 1644, Charles I was entertained at this house, though presumably not by Lady Lettice Hampden, widow of both the famous Parliamentarian, John Hampden, and of Thomas Vachell. She later watched the Siege of Reading from the gatehouse. The Vachell House, crumbling after the Civil War, was rebuilt by her nephew, Tanfield Vachell, and, in the late 18th century, it was replaced by a new building on higher ground. The original old dovecote (1553) and barns (1619) can still be seen on the original site though. Most of the park was covered by Victorian slums, but these were swept away in the sixties. Unfortunately, the wyvern topped gateposts, which for many years flanked the entrance to Berkeley Avenue, have also now disappeared.

Thanks to David Nash Ford and Berkshire History for much of the detail.





In preperation for the development of Reading's Inner Distribution Road the population of the area to be redeveloped had to be re-housed. Many of these people were moved into council flats and houses built on the Coley Park Estate.

Coley Park covers an area about two square miles and has a population of about 5000 people.

To see a arial photo click here.

To see it full size click on either on the picture or here.

In the early 1880s, the club moved to its first fully enclosed ground, at Coley Park, just south of the A4. However by the end of the decade they were on the move again. 01-08-1881 31-07-1889

Thomas Vachell, Member of Parliament for Reading, was the commissioner responsible for the suppression of Reading Abbey. The Vachells were a long-established local family. Two hundred years earlier a Vachell had given part of Tilehurst to Reading Abbey. Commissioner Vachell's eldest son, also Thomas, remained a Catholic and lived for more than seventy years after the dissolution of Reading Abbey. The younger Thomas's widowed sister-in-law Mary Martyn (née Reade) spent her latter years living with her son-in-law William Wollascott at Shinfield. Thomas Vachell the younger was probably the link between his father who suppressed the abbey and his wife's niece, in whose final lodgings the abbey's books were found two and a half centuries after the dissolution. Dovecote at Coley Park Amidst modern housing, Coley Park's dovecote survives Left, set into the brickwork is a carved stone with cross motif, seen right in close-up. Did it come from Reading Abbey?

Mary Seacole Day Nursery Terrapin Building Coley Primary School Wolseley Street Coley

Coley Park After School Club (RBC) Coley Park Community Centre 140 Wensley Road Coley Park

Coley Park Playscheme Coley Park Community Centre 140 Wensley Road Coley Park

Defra Rural Development Service Government Buildings Coley Park Reading Berkshire RG1 6DE

http://www.rftra.co.uk/

Links to Radio Stations

John Stanley Monck Born: 28 February 1845, Coley Park, Reading, Berkshire, England Died: 3 September 1929, Sumner, Christchurch, Canterbury Major Teams: Canterbury. Known As: John Monck

Advanced instruction for the latter took place at a small aerodrome built on low-lying ground near the River Kennet at Coley, by joining up two fields alongside the CWS jam factory off Beverley Avenue. It is believed that the main aircraft in use was the Avro 504, but Martinsyde S1 biplanes and various Farman Longhorns and Shorthorns were also reported at Reading. The field also served as a LG for visitors to both training organisations until September 1917, when the S oTT (Men) started its move to Halton. Coley Park remained open, for it is recorded that Captain Palethorpe, an RAE test pilot, forcelanded there on November 23 1918 during a flight from Farnborough in the temperamental BAT Bantam. The aerodrome, plagued by river fogs, fell into disuse after the war and the land was released. All trace of it and the jam factory have long disappeared. It is now the site of an industrial estate.