Project Purley

The Local History Society for Purley on Thames

T1000 ex A0000 8/7/2020

About Purley on Thames

Purley on Thames is a parish just to the west of Reading and bounded on the north by the River Thames. Over the years boundaries have changed and nowadays the Civil Parish is not quite the same as the Ecclesiastical Parish. Parts of the civil parish were ceded to Pangbourne in 1978 and part of the ecclesiastical parish is the Denefield ward of Tilehurst Civil Parish.

Project Purley is the local history society for the parish and we include both the Denefield ward of the civil parish of Tilehurst and the parts of Pangbourne which originally were parts of Purley as well as taking a keen interest in all our neighbours: Reading, Tilehurst, Sulham, Tidmarsh, Pangbourne, Whitchurch and Mapledurham.

This part of the website is about Purley on Thames and its neighbours. It is organised in fourteen sections, each of which deals with a different principal theme. Click on the theme title below to take you another page where you will have choices of more themes.

People
People and families of Purley

The Built Environment
Houses, roads and other places

Physical environment
About Purley as a geographic feature.

Natural History
About the plants and creatures who share the parish with us.

Services
The public services that are available to us

Living in Purley
Information about all the events, clubs and societies that make life worth while

Governance
How Purley has been governed, especially at a local level.

Education
Schools and other educational opportunities for our children and adults.

Sports
Facilities for sport and recreation and some of the sporting activities available.

The Church
About St Mary's church

History
About Purley in the past

Publications
References to books and periodicals about Purley and also access to copies of Purley Publications such as our Journal and Purley Parish News

Our neighbbours and other places
About other places which have links with Purley.

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