Caversham lies on the north bank of the River Thames, opposite the rest of Reading. Caversham has many independent shops including pubs, supermarkets, jewellers, hairdressers, banks, a library, cafes and restaurants. Caversham is just a 15 minute walk from the centre of Reading, Berkshire in the Thames Valley.

Caversham extends from the River Thames flood plain to just south of the Chilterns. Caversham includes Caversham centre, Lower Caversham, Caversham Park Village CavershamHeights and The Warren

Caversham Park Village is the residential area constructed on part of the former grounds of Caversham Park. The village was largely developed during the 1960s, with the construction of 1500 new houses and the supporting road infrastructure.

Lower Caversham is the part of Caversham situated on lower ground to the east of central Caversham, close to the River Thames. It includes residential development Deans Farm which stands on the site of the original farm. Caversham Lock is situated on the south bank of the Thames, and is connected to Lower Caversham by a weir which carries a public footpath, popularly known as The Clappers, across the river. This path also provides access to View Island, now a public park.

As of the 2011 census Caversham has a population of 23,885 with 8,996 homes.

Schools

There are several primary schools in Caversham including Caversham Primary School, Caversham Park Primary School, The Hill Primary School, St. Anne's RC Primary School, St. Martin's RC Primary School, Micklands Primary School, The Heights Primary School and Thameside Primary School.
There is one local authority secondary school in Caversham, Highdown School. Many children from the area also attend Chiltern Edge School in South Oxfordshire. 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.

Transport The bus routes from Reading to Caversham are 22, 23, 24 and 25. 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.

History

The name of Caversham in 1066 was Caveham. The first written description of Caversham appeared in the Domesday Book within the hundred of Binfield. This entry indicates that a sizeable community had developed with a considerable amount of land under cultivation. The orignial name for Lower Caversham was East Throp.

Deans Farm in Lower Caversham is the likely place for Caversham Castle which existed through medieval times. The earliest and most prominent owner occupant of Caversham Castle was William Marshal (1146-1219) Earl of Pembroke, the eighty year old regent of England during the minority of Henry III. He died at Caversham Castle in 1219.

Some time before 1106 a Shrine of Our Lady was established in Caversham. Its precise location is unknown, but it may have been near the present St Peter's Church. It became a popular place of pilgrimage, along with the chapel of St. Anne on the bridge and her well, whose waters were believed to have healing properties. By the 15th century the statue was plated in silver; Catherine of Aragon is recorded as visiting on 17 July 1532. The shrine was destroyed on 14 September 1538 under the orders of Henry VIII. Only the well survives, now dry and surrounded by a protective wall, topped with a domed iron grill. A modern shrine to Our Lady has been re-established at the Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady and St. Anne.

Around 1400-1500 the original manor house at Deans farm was likely demolished by Sir Francis Knollys and moved to Caversham Park. Several houses have stood on the site, notably the home of William Cadogan, 1st Earl Cadogan. The present Caversham Park House, built in 1850, is occupied by BBC Monitoring, which is a section of the BBC World Service.

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.

Take a look at our other Area Guides

Sources:

Choose Caversham http://www.choosecaversham.co.uk/
Caversham & District Resident’s Association http://www.cadra.org.uk/historyresources.php
Deans Farm http://deansfarm.org/history
Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caversham,_Berkshire