View source for Ufton Nervet

{{Use British English|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}}
{{Infobox UK place
|type= [[Village]] and [[civil parish]]
|official_name= Ufton Nervet
|static_image_name= Ufton Nervet church.jpg
|static_image_caption= St Peter's parish church
|label_position= left
|coordinates = {{coord|51.403|-1.088|display=inline,title}}
|os_grid_reference= SU6367
|population= 296
|population_ref=([[United Kingdom Census 2011|2011 census]])<ref name=ons>[http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk Key Statistics: Dwellings; Quick Statistics: Population Density; Physical Environment: Land Use Survey 2005]</ref>
|area_total_km2=6.48
|civil_parish= Ufton Nervet
|unitary_england= [[West Berkshire]]
|lieutenancy_england= [[Berkshire]]
|region= South East England
|country= England
|constituency_westminster= [[Wokingham (UK Parliament constituency)|Wokingham]]
|post_town= [[Reading, Berkshire|Reading]]
|postcode_district= RG7
|postcode_area=RG
|dial_code= 0118
|website= [http://www.sulhamstead.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4&Itemid=5 Sulhamstead and Ufton Nervet]
}}

'''Ufton Nervet''' is a village and [[civil parish]] in [[West Berkshire]], England centred {{convert|6|mi|0}} west southwest of the large town of [[Reading, Berkshire|Reading]] and 7 miles
east of [[Thatcham]]. Ufton Nervet has an elected civil parish council.

==Toponymy==
"Ufton" is derived from the [[Old English]] ''Uffa-tūn'' = "Uffa's farmstead"; the [[Domesday Book]] of 1086 records it as ''Offetune''.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/berkshire3.html |work=The Domesday Book Online |title=Berkshire N–Z |year=1999–2013 }}</ref>

==Geography==
Ufton Nervet is a [[strip parish]] about {{convert|4.5|mi}} long and up to {{convert|1|mi}} wide, running roughly north-northwest – south-southeast between the Kennet valley and the crest of low hills in its south. It is bounded to the north by the [[A4 road (England)|A4 road]], to the south by a minor road linking [[Burghfield Common|Burghfield]] and [[Tadley]], and to the west and east by a mixture of field boundaries and minor roads. It includes a section of the [[River Kennet]], the [[River Kennet#Navigation|Kennet Navigation]] and the [[Reading to Taunton line|railway between Reading and Taunton]].

Ufton Nervet village is a [[nucleated village]] close to the parish's eastern boundary, less than a mile from Burghfield Common and [[Sulhamstead]]. Two minor roads link the village with the A4, crossing the canal and the railway line in the valley bottom. Both lanes cross the canal by [[swing bridge]]s. The larger, Tyle Mill Road, passes through part of Sulhamstead and crosses the railway by a bridge. The smaller, Ufton Lane, passes through Ufton Green and used to cross the railway by a level crossing, replaced by a bridge in December 2016. Other lanes link the village with Burghfield Common, Sulhamstead Abbots and [[Stratfield Mortimer|Mortimer]]. Its direct link with [[Padworth]] to the west is a footpath past Ufton Court; the only road links with Padworth are circuitous ones via the southern or northern edges of the parish.

==History==
[[File:Bronze Age, Broadward spearhead (FindID 766371).jpg|thumb|right|A [[British Bronze Age|Bronze Age]] spearhead, found in Ufton Nervet in 2007 and dated to {{circa|1100|900}} [[Common Era|BCE]]<ref>{{cite web |url= https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/766371 |title=Finds record for: SUR-49AF85 |date= 21 June 2023 |orig-date= 5 February 2016 |last= Williams |first= David |access-date=6 September 2023 |publisher= The Portable Antiquities Scheme}}</ref>]]
===Archaeology===
Excavation of a site at Ufton Green found a number of scattered [[Prehistoric Britain#Mesolithic|Mesolithic]] stone artefacts. They are interpreted as evidence of stone-working to make tools or weapons.<ref>{{cite PastScape |mnumber=1213740|access-date=18 October 2014}}</ref>

===Manors===
Three [[Manorialism|manors]] have existed in this area: '''Ufton Robert''', Ufton Nervet and Ufton Pole.<ref name=Page>{{harvnb|Page|Ditchfield|1923|pp=437–444}}</ref> The Domesday Book records the first two.<ref name=Page/><ref>{{cite web |url= https://opendomesday.org/place/SU6268/ufton-robert/ |title= Ufton [Robert] |last=Powell-Smith |first= A. |year=2011 |publisher=Open Domesday |access-date= 6 September 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= https://opendomesday.org/place/SU6367/ufton-nervet/ |title= Ufton [Nervert] |last=Powell-Smith |first= A. |year=2011 |publisher=Open Domesday |access-date= 6 September 2023 }}</ref>

The original Ufton Nervet, also called Ufton Richard, was about {{convert|0.7|mi}} northwest of the current village, at the current site of Ufton Green.<ref name=Page/> It had its own [[parish church]] of St [[John the Baptist]], the ruined west wall of which survives<ref name=Page/><ref name=Pevsner>{{harvnb|Pevsner|1966|p=246}}</ref> and is a [[scheduled monument]].<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1006967 |desc=Remains of St John the Baptist church at Ufton Green Farm |access-date=18 October 2014}}</ref> The place was named after Richard Neyrvut, later corrupted to Nervet, who held the manor in the 13th century.<ref name=Page/>

[[File:Ufton Nervet moat.jpg|thumb|Moat of the former Ufton Robert manor house]]
Ufton Robert [[manor house]] was just west of the current village. Its [[moat]] and a set of three [[medieval]] fishponds survive and are also a scheduled monument.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1013176 |desc=Moated site and three fishponds at Ufton Nervet |access-date=18 October 2014}}</ref> An artificial stream, controlled by a set of sluices, fed the moat and ponds.<ref>{{cite PastScape |mnumber=240946|access-date=18 October 2014}}</ref> Excavations in the 19th century found bridge piles, a gateway and other foundations.

[[File:Ufton Court near Ufton Nervet - geograph.org.uk - 22970.jpg|thumb|Ufton Court]]
The Perkyns family held the manor from about 1411.<ref name=Page/> When they bought the manor of Ufton Pole in 1560 they merged the two manors and moved the main residence to Ufton Pole. This is now [[Ufton Court]], a large [[Elizabethan architecture|Elizabethan]] manor house about {{convert|0.6|mi|0}} southwest of the village.<ref name=Page/> The house was built in about 1568, altered in the 17th and 18th centuries, restored in 1838 and is now a [[Listed building#Categories of listed building|Grade I listed building]].<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1135879 |desc=Ufton Court |grade=I |access-date=18 October 2014}}</ref>

In 1434–35 the parishes of Ufton Nervet and Ufton Robert were merged and Ufton Robert's parish church of [[Saint Peter|St Peter]] was made the church of the merged parish.<ref name=Page/> Although the original parish of Ufton Nervet had ceased to exist, this eventually became the name of the current village and parish.<ref name=Page/> After the merger, Ufton Robert's parish church of St John the Baptist fell into decay, but its west wall survived by being adopted as the dividing wall between two cottages. In 1886 the cottages were demolished, re-exposing the west wall<ref name=Page/> which now stands isolated in a pasture.

===Parish church===
The [[Church of England parish church]] of [[Saint Peter]] was built in 1862 on the site of an earlier church.<ref name=Page/> It is a [[Gothic Revival architecture|Gothic Revival]] rendition of 14th-century [[English Gothic architecture#Decorated Gothic|Decorated Gothic]].<ref name=Pevsner/> The walls are predominantly [[rag-stone]] with [[ashlar]] dressings. It has a [[chancel]], north chapel (used as an organ chamber), [[nave]] of three [[Bay (architecture)|bays]], west tower with tall octagonal shingled spire, and south porch.<ref name=EH-Peter>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1319598 |desc=Church of St Peter |grade=II |access-date=23 July 2013}}</ref>

The present St Peter's contains [[English church monuments|church monuments]] salvaged from the old church. They include one to Richard Perkins (died 1560) with [[Corinthian order|Corinthian]] [[column]]s, one to Francis and Anna Perkyns (died 1615–16 and 1635) with recumbent effigies and a [[monumental brass|brass]] to William and Constantia Smith (died 1627 and 1610).<ref name=EH-Peter/> St Peter's has stained glass windows from two London makers: [[Charles Edmund Clutterbuck|Charles Clutterbuck]] and [[Lavers, Barraud and Westlake|Lavers and Barraud]].<ref name=EH-Peter/>

In front of the porch is a mature [[Taxus baccata|yew tree]]. The church is redundant] as the [[ecclesiastical parish church]] is today that of ''Sulhamstead Abbots and Bannister with Ufton Nervet'' which is in the upper part of Sulhamstead.<ref>[http://www.achurchnearyou.com/parishfinder.php?ufton%20nervet Parish Finder] The Church of England. Retrieved 16 December 2014</ref>

In 1720 [[Oriel College, Oxford]], bought the [[advowson]] of Ufton Nervet.<ref>{{harvnb|Sharp|1892|p=192}}</ref> Some eminent [[fellow|fellows]] of the college went on to serve as rectors of the parish, including [[Henry Beeke]] (1789-1819, botanist and creator of [[income tax]]),<ref name=Sharp-list>{{harvnb|Sharp|1892|pp=209–210}}</ref> [[James Fraser (bishop)|James Fraser]] (1860-1870, future [[Bishop of Manchester]]),<ref name=Sharp-list/> and Thomas Brooking Cornish (1878-1906, former headmaster of the [[King's School, Macclesfield]]).<ref name=Sharp-list/>

==Transport==
The River Kennet flows through the north of the parish. Between 1718 and 1723 it was made navigable by digging a series of cuts controlled by [[Lock (water transport)|locks]]. One {{convert|3|mi|0|adj=on}} cut starts about {{convert|1|mi}} downstream from [[Aldermaston]] and ends at Ufton Bridge, where it was controlled by [[Ufton Lock]]. The lock gates have now been removed but the lock chamber survives. Between 1794 and 1810 the [[Kennet and Avon Canal]] was built from [[Newbury, Berkshire|Newbury]] to [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]]. The Kennet Navigation is now managed as part of the canal.

The Berkshire section of the [[Berks and Hants Railway]] from {{rws|Reading}} to {{rws|Hungerford}} was built through the north of the parish and opened in 1847. The nearest station is {{rws|Aldermaston}}, {{convert|3.5|mi}} by road.

===Rail crash===
{{main|Ufton Nervet rail crash}}
The Ufton Nervet crash took place in the parish on 6 November 2004. Seven people were killed and 70 injured when the 17:35 1C92 from London {{rws|Paddington}} to {{rws|Plymouth}} was partially derailed by colliding with a stationary car on the [[Level crossing#United Kingdom|level crossing]], before subsequently passing over a set of points for the Down Goods Loop at Towney, causing a major derailment. The inquest concluded that the car driver, who was killed in the collision, committed suicide.
 
Road deaths at the crossing after the major crash in 2004 have followed in 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2014, bringing the total number of fatalities to eleven. 

On 18 April 2016, work began on constructing a single-carriageway bridge over the railway, at a cost of £7 million. It was completed and opened on 16 December 2016.

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book |editor1-last=Page |editor1-first=W.H. |editor1-link=William Henry Page |editor2-last=Ditchfield |editor2-first=P.H. |editor2-link=Peter Ditchfield |others=assisted by John Hautenville Cope |year=1923 |title=A History of the County of Berkshire |volume=3 |series=[[Victoria County History]] |place=London |publisher=The St Katherine Press |pages=437–444 |url= http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=43241 }}
*{{cite book |last=Pevsner |first=Nikolaus |author-link=Nikolaus Pevsner |series=[[Pevsner Architectural Guides#Buildings of England|The Buildings of England]] |title=Berkshire |year=1966 |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |location=Harmondsworth |page=246 }}
*{{cite book |last=Sharp |first=Mary |title=The History of Ufton Court |year=1892 |publisher=Elliot Stock |location=London |url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/The_history_of_Ufton_court%2C_of_the_parish_of_Ufton_in_the_county_of_B_erks%2C_and_of_the_Perkins_family_-_compiled_from_ancient_records_%28IA_cu31924088940139%29.pdf}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Ufton Nervet}}

{{West Berkshire}}

{{authority control}}

<!--Categories-->
[[Category:Ufton Nervet| ]]
[[Category:Villages in Berkshire]]
[[Category:Civil parishes in Berkshire]]
[[Category:West Berkshire District]]