Caversham Heights

Caversham Heights refers to the part of Caversham situated on higher ground to the west of central Caversham, straddling the Woodcote Road (A4074).

The Warren is a leafy semi rural lane which runs from St Peter's Church along the Thames for one and a half miles, as far as Chazey Court Farm. The special character of The Warren includes the open riverbank with houses merging into the dense tree covered Warren Escarpment, giving spectacular views from the Thames promenade.

Schools

In the independent sector, Queen Anne's School educates girls between the ages of 11 and 18 while Hemdean House School has mixed infants and junior schools, and a girls senior school.

Primary schools in the Caversham Heights / The Warren areas include Caversham Primary School and The Heights Primary School.

Transport

The bus routes from Reading to Caversham are 22, 23 and 24. There is also an Arriva bus service from Marlow and High Wycombe to Reading, and a Thames Travel bus service from Wallingford and Oxford to Reading, both of which pass through Caversham.

Sport and Leisure

There are two recreation grounds in Caversham Heights, and two golf courses and a health club with swimming pool just outside Caversham Heights in neighbouring South Oxfordshire.

The Albert Road recreation area provides public tennis courts, and is home to a bowling club and a croquet club. The other is the larger Mapledurham Playing Fields, which also offers tennis courts as well as several football pitches and a combined outdoor basketball/5 a-side football court.

Caversham Lawn Tennis Club, formed in the early 1900s, can be found on Queensborough Drive.

Amenities

Caversham Heights has one Public House, the Caversham Rose on Kidmore Road. Although in practice two other establishments cater to the region, both set upon the charming A4074. The Pack Saddle, 250 meters north of the Royal County of Berkshire boundary and The Pack Horse, less than a mile further along the road.

The area's retail sector is serviced by two convenience stores, Conisboro Stores and Woodcote Way News, both stores are named after the road upon which they are to be found.

History

The Warren that we know today was made about 1600 by Sir Richard Blount who built Mapledurham Chazey in 1585. The name may come from William de Warrenne, holder of 'Mapledurham' in the Domesday Book. Also, the lands of the Old Rectory (now Caversham Court) included a rabbit warren dating from at least 1254.

Caversham Heights expanded slowly and only really experienced significant growth beginning in the Victorian era, as such most of the homes are late nineteenth and twentieth-century. In the 1930s an apple orchard was felled and built upon to become the Woodcote Way, Geoffreyson Road and Shepherds Lane area and later still a nearby gravel mine was redeveloped to become what is now Silverthorne Drive, Queensborough Drive and Carlton Road.

Caversham Heights is home to St. Anne's Well, once a popular destination for pilgrims and sicklings since Anglo-Saxon times.

Caversham has at Caversham Court foundations of a medieval house, a herb garden and tree-lined park open to the public at no charge, Caversham Lakes and marking its south and south-east border the Thames Path National Trail.

Sources & Links:

Choose Caversham http://www.choosecaversham.co.uk/
Caversham & District Resident’s Association http://www.cadra.org.uk/historyresources.php
Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caversham_Heights