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Hurley is a small village and large, rural civil parish in Berkshire, England. Its riverside is agricultural, except for Hurley Priory, as are the outskirts of the village. The adjoining inn is believed to date from 1135.

Hurley
The Olde Bell inn, originally the guest house for Hurley Abbey
Hurley Location within Berkshire
Population	1,854 (2001) 1,923 (2011 Census)[1]
OS grid reference	SU826834
Civil parish	Hurley
Unitary authority	Windsor and Maidenhead
Ceremonial county	Berkshire
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Maidenhead
Postcode district	SL6
Dialling code	01628
Police	Thames Valley
Fire	Royal Berkshire
Ambulance	South Central
UK Parliament	Maidenhead
List of places UK England Berkshire 51.543°N 0.808°W / 51.543; -0.808

Topography

Hurley is a linear development perpendicular to and adjoining the Upper Thames 4 miles (6.4 km) NW of Maidenhead and 3.5 miles (5.6 km) ENE of Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire on the A4130 road. The parish includes the considerable hamlets of Cockpole Green, Warren Row, Knowl Hill, Burchett's Green and part of Littlewick Green.[2] Ashley Hill Forest, almost 2 miles (3.2 km) south of the village, is close to and almost equidistant between Warren Row, Knowl Hill and Burchett's Green and is the largest woodland. Other than this, the parish is mainly agricultural; however, many farms have spinneys of woodland adjoining.

Historic structures

• By the river is the Scheduled Ancient Monument, Hurley Priory, a partially moated Benedictine priory founded in 1086 as a cell of Westminster Abbey.[3][4] The priory was dissolved in 1536, but its priory church survives as the current parish church.
• 'The Olde Bell' Inn in Hurley is reputedly the oldest still-working inn in Britain; parts of the inn date to 1135, when it was the hostelry of Hurley Priory.[5]
• The old manor estate of Hall Place (1728) is now the home of Berkshire College of Agriculture.
• The Manor House in the High Street was used as Station Victor, forming part of Operation Sussex.
• The former main priory building became a mansion known as Ladye Place, which stood adjoining the present parish church. It was the home of the Barons Lovelace. It was demolished in 1837 as uninhabitable.
• The Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research (IGER) also had a facility at Hurley until 1992.

Localities

Hurley Bottom

Only one of the buildings at the foot of the hill in the south of the village street is listed. This southerly neighbourhood has the loose name Hurley Bottom but is 10m higher than the riverside parts of the village.

Frogmill Court and Frogmill Spinney

Frogmill Spinney forms a riverside Park Homes estate, with fewer than 25 available. The court is now a farmhouse but is a centuries-old building which is listed as such adjoining the river, which in this parish consists of mainly grazing and pasture meadows.[6] Approximately seven detached or semi-detached riverside homes also adjoin the river in this western frontage point, accessed by a separate lane.[2]

Recreation

Hurley is often used as a mooring for barges and motor launches, or by campers. The weir at Hurley Lock is considered the premier venue in the United Kingdom for freestyle kayaking^{[citation needed]}. Cricket has been played in Hurley for over 100 years. The club currently plays in the Chiltern League on Saturdays and friendly fixtures against local rivals on Sundays. The ground has a London plane tree inside the boundary.^{[citation needed]} The clubhouse was rebuilt in the 1970s after fire destroyed the previous wooden one.^{[citation needed]} The Temple Golf Club was founded in 1909. It is recognised for its scenic beauty and its emphasis on sustainable environmental management.[7]

In popular culture

• A riverside picnic scene in the James Bond film From Russia with Love was filmed near the village.
• The priory and parts of the village have been used as locations for the mystery series Midsomer Murders.
• The village is mentioned in the comic novel Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome.[8]
• The village is the setting for "The Invisible Millionaire", a short story in the Saint series by Leslie Charteris.
• The composer William Crotch was also an artist, and completed the drawing View from Hurley Bottom on 30 August 1806.[9]

Public transport

The village is served by a bus route from Maidenhead. Closest railway stations are Marlow, Maidenhead and Henley approximately four miles north east, south east and west respectively.

External links

• Hurley Parish
• Royal Berkshire History: Hurley

Notes

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