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Coley Park Flats and the Holy Brook
©Uli Harder - May 5 2007

Coley Park is a regional area of Reading located southwest of the town centre. Reading is located 38 miles (61 km) west of London in the royal county of Berkshire, England.

Coley Park (as an estate) has been in existence since at least the 13th century, the Vachell Family purchasing the land from Thomas Syward of Reading in 1309. However, long before this the Romans were passing over the land, but according to historians, apart from nearby Silchester (known as Calleva) being a major Roman town, there is no evidence the Romans had a major settlement in Reading, apart from the possibility of Reading having a river port and many scattered farms.

Later came the Saxons, Normans and Danes which in turn decided to invade England, with the Saxons and the Normans having the greater impact on the history of Reading.

The Domesday book of 1086 records that along the Kennet River area, four flour mills and three fisheries were operating at that time.

Coley Park would have been an expansion on the name of Coley, which is the much older inner district to the south west of Reading Town. Coley Park mainly encompasses the earlier estate owned by the Vachell family and many others.

Coley was also known by many variants over the years. In 1250 is was known as Colleya. In 1270, it had reverted to Colley. By 1384 it had been shortened again to Colle. John Speed's first map of Reading printed in 1610, shows the spelling as Coly.

The name may have Roman origins, where Colle relates to a 'small climb or small hill'. Older Coley definitely has many small hills throughout its area.

To find Coley Park on the MultiMap.Com website <click here>

This website is mainly a historical and nostalgic look back into the early days of Coley Park estate and some of the surrounding older Coley area, but there are some more recents events and images to keep the site in perspective.

Today, Coley Park is just another urban area of Reading, where the residents live, work, shop and play and could be forgiven for not knowing the importance and prestige that Coley Park estate once held - being unaware that many previous occupants of the estate were prominent and distinguished Members of Parliament or Mayors of Reading. Many being married or buried at St. Mary's Church in Reading.

Oliver Cromwell was a regular visitor and was supported by the Vachell family of Coley Park in his quest to remove King Charles I from the throne of England.

Coley Park had its own Volunteer Corps rifle range in the late 19th century, major Pottery and Brick Kilns that supplied Reading with much of its red brick buildings, and later during WWI had an Aerodrome and Pilot Training School.

In 1847, the world's most famous railway engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, built a railway that cut a decisive path between the estates of Coley Park and Southcote and forever separated them.

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Any use of copyrighted images is unintentional, and any such material will be promptly removed from this site upon notification from the copyright holder. Copyright images are acknowledged where possible.
Please note that some older images suffer from quality.