Population 3,187 (2011 census) Civil parish Goring Country England Area 9.61 km² Local time Friday 6:02 AM District South Oxfordshire | OS grid reference SU6080 Region South East Sovereign state United Kingdom Shire county Oxfordshire Dialling code 01491 UK parliament constituency Henley | |
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Weather 3°C, Wind W at 10 km/h, 92% Humidity | ||
George michael last christmas at goring on thames
Goring-on-Thames (or Goring) is a relatively large village and civil parish on the River Thames in South Oxfordshire, England, about 5.5 miles (8.9 km) south of Wallingford and 8 miles (13 km) north-west of Reading.
Contents
- George michael last christmas at goring on thames
- Map of Goring Reading UK
- Geography
- Religious sites
- Amenities
- Oxfordshire Village of the Year 2009
- Calor Village of the Year South England Regional Winner 20092010
- Miscellaneous
- Twin town
- Notable residents
- References
Map of Goring, Reading, UK
The place-name 'Goring' is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as Garinges. It appears as Garingies in a charter formerly held in the British Museum. The name means 'Gara's people'.
Goring has a railway station, which is on the main line between Oxford and London. Most of the land in the civil parish is farmland, with woodland on the Goring Gap outcrop of the Chiltern Hills. Its riverside plain is made up of the residential area of the village including its high street, which has a few shops, public houses and restaurants. Neighbouring this street are the village's churches. One of these, dedicated to St Thomas Becket, has a nave that was built in the 50 years after his death in the early 13th century, and a later bell tower. The village faces Streatley, which has a lower population and a large riverside hotel, across the Thames. The two villages are connected by Goring and Streatley Bridge.
Geography
Goring is on the north bank of the River Thames, in the Goring Gap which separates the Berkshire Downs and the Chiltern Hills. The village is about 8 miles (13 km) northwest of Reading and 16 miles (26 km) south of Oxford. Immediately across the river is the Berkshire village of Streatley, and the two are often considered as twin villages, linked by Goring and Streatley Bridge and its adjacent lock and weir. The Thames Path, Icknield Way and the Ridgeway cross the Thames at Goring. The Great Western Main Line railway passes through Goring, and Goring & Streatley railway station in the village is served by local First Great Western trains running between Reading and Oxford.
Religious sites
The Church of England parish church of Saint Thomas of Canterbury is Norman, built early in the 12th century. The bell-stage of St. Thomas's bell tower was added in the 15th century and has a ring of eight bells, one of which dates from 1290. The rood screen is carved from wood taken from HMS Thunderer (1783), one of Nelson's fleet at Trafalgar. The church hall was added in 1901.
A priory of Augustinian nuns was built late in the 12th century with its own priory church adjoining St. Thomas's. The priory survived until the early part of the 16th century when it was suppressed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries and then demolished. The foundations of the priory church, cloister, dormitory, vestry, chapter house and parlour were excavated in 1892.
Goring Free Church is a member of the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion. The congregation was founded in 1788 and its first chapel was built in 1793. At its centenary, in 1893, a new church building was added and the original chapel became the church hall.
The Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady and Saint John was designed by the architect William Ravenscroft and built in 1898. It is now part of a single parish with the Roman Catholic Church of Christ the King in Woodcote.
Amenities
Goring United Football Club plays in the Reading Football League. Goring-on-Thames Cricket Club was founded in 1876. Two of its teams play in the Berkshire Cricket League. Goring has also a lawn tennis club with teams that play in two local leagues. Goring and Streatley Golf Club is located in the adjoining village of Streatley.
Goring on Thames Decorative and Fine Arts Society was founded in 1987 and is a member of the National Association of Decorative & Fine Arts Societies Goring has a Women's Institute.
Oxfordshire Village of the Year 2009
On 10 July 2009, Goring was named Oxfordshire's Village of the Year, ahead of 11 other villages and taking the title from neighbouring Woodcote. The £1000 prize will be put towards the village's hydro-electric project to generate electricity from the river Thames.
The competition looks at the depth of the infrastructure and activity within the village and Goring's plans to raise £1m to fund the hydro-electric project was instrumental to its success.
Calor Village of the Year – South England Regional Winner 2009/2010
Goring-on-Thames was both the winner in the Sustainability and Communications category and the Overall Regional Winner of the Calor Village of the Year regional heat for South England.
Miscellaneous
In the summer of 1893, Oscar Wilde stayed at Ferry House in Goring with Lord Alfred Douglas. There, Wilde began writing his play An Ideal Husband, which includes a major character named Lord Goring. An enlarged Ferry Cottage was the home in retirement of Sir Arthur Harris, the wartime leader of RAF Bomber Command, from 1953 until his death in 1984.
Goring featured in a five-minute clip of the CBBC series Dick and Dom in da Bungalow in which a puppet cat visits towns making irreverent comments about the people and the monuments that it came across. The clip can be seen on "Da Bungalow Online".