Pangbourne | |
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Pangbourne village centre |
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Pangbourne shown within Berkshire | |
Area | 6.8 km2 (2.6 sq mi) |
Population | 2,978 (2011 census) |
• Density | 438/km2 (1,130/sq mi) |
OS grid reference | SU6376 |
Civil parish |
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Unitary authority | |
Ceremonial county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | Reading |
Postcode district | RG8 |
Dialling code | 0118 |
Police | Thames Valley |
Fire | Royal Berkshire |
Ambulance | South Central |
EU Parliament | South East England |
UK Parliament | |
Pangbourne is a large village and civil parish on the River Thames in the English county of Berkshire. Pangbourne has its own shops, schools, a railway station on the Great Western Line and a parish hall. Outside of its grouped developed area is an independent school, Pangbourne College.
Pangbourne is centred 4 miles (6 km) west of Reading, its nearest town and 20 miles (32 km) from Oxford on the River Thames and is across the river from the small developed cluster of the Oxfordshire village of Whitchurch-on-Thames. The two villages are connected by both Whitchurch Bridge and by the traversable weir of Whitchurch Lock, though the latter is not for public use.
Pangbourne railway station is a minor stop on the Great Western Main Line and has stopping services to Oxford via Didcot Parkway and London Paddington via Reading two stops away. The Pang flows through the centre of Pangbourne village before joining the Thames between Whitchurch Lock and Whitchurch bridge. Its water voles are thought to have inspired author Kenneth Grahame's character Ratty and his book The Wind in the Willows. Most of the developed area is just above the current flood plain of the River Thames which benefits from hay meadows traditionally used as flood meadows to either side of Pangbourne, fewer than 15 properties here flooded during the Winter storms of 2013–14 in the United Kingdom.