Twyford, Berkshire
| Twyford | |
|---|---|
 On the Old Bath Road, looking into Twyford from its western boundary. |
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 Twyford
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| Twyford shown within Berkshire | |
| Population | 6,618 (2011 Census) |
| OS grid reference | SU790755 |
| Civil parish |
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| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Reading |
| Postcode district | RG10 |
| Dialling code | 0118 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Royal Berkshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | Twyford Parish Council |
Twyford is a large village and civil parish in the English Royal county of Berkshire with a population of about 7,000 people. It is in the Thames Valley at grid reference SU794752 on the A4 between Reading and Maidenhead, close to Henley-on-Thames and Wokingham.
The village's toponym is Anglo-Saxon in origin, and means double ford. It is a common name in England. Twyford had two fords over two branches of the River Loddon, on the Old Bath Road to the west of the centre.
In 871 Alfred the Great, his brother Æthelred, and their army escaped their Viking pursuers by fording the River Loddon at Twyford, following the first Battle of Reading.
William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, who was a well known philanthropist who donated his life savings to Loddon Village Hall, spent the final years of his life in Ruscombe Fields, a property close to Twyford, and is remembered by a residential street named 'Pennfields'.
Twyford was primarily an agricultural settlement until the coming of the railway in 1838 put it on the main line to the west and subsequently made it a junction for the Henley Branch Line. However, its position on the Bath Road had always brought activity which was centred on the King's Arms, an important coaching inn. The opening of a by-pass in 1929 finally ended the east-west flow of main road traffic through the centre, but Twyford is still on a busy north-south route from Wokingham in the south to Henley in the north. The greatest expansion, however, has taken place since the Second World War, particularly in the last 50 years, with the construction of several estates north and south of the village. The population, according to the mid-2014 population estimates, was 5,946, but Twyford is still affectionately known by the residents as a village.
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