Welcome to this web site, which is devoted to the history of Shinfield and district: please read this message from the chairman of the Society.

Talks are held at 19:45 at the School Green Centre, Shinfield, usually on the second Tuesday of each month, and all are welcome! A year’s membership is £15: we ask visitors £3 on the door. To make sure you hear about our talks, please sign up for our newsletter!

Also on this web site you can find a gallery of photos and postcards showing Shinfield and surrounding areas over the past 150 years; maps of the area from the 17th century onwards; histories of Shinfield published and unpublished; related links and a contact form. If you have any photographs or other information relating to the history of the area, please get in touch with us.

2025-26 Lecture Programme

Tuesday 13 January, Dr Richard Marks, ‘Victorian Berkshire and the Great Western Railway’

A short AGM, followed by a journey led by Dr Richard Marks, through Berkshire’s railway past. Discover why Brunel brought the Great Western Railway through the county, how early stations shaped local life, and how steam power transformed rural Berkshire. A lively exploration of engineering, community, and change in the age of rail which will surprise you.

Image: 'The Broad Gauge Society, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons'

Tuesday 10 February, Dr Peter Dewey, ‘A. G. Street (1892-1966): A Farmer In Broadcasting’

This talk was postponed from October:

A. G. Street, a south Wiltshire farmer, was close to bankruptcy in 1931, when he wrote his best-selling book Farmer’s Glory. It caught the attention of the BBC, which turned him into a radio star, and the most well-known farmer in Britain. In the Second World War he did sterling service publicising the achievements of the Ministry of Agriculture and the war effort. He went on to play a dominant role in the success of ‘Any Questions?’, all the while continuing to farm. He brought town and country together at a time when farming was neglected and despised. Peter Dewey will tell the story of how Street became the public face of farming and end by arguing that the time is ripe for a modern-day Arthur Street.

Dr Peter Dewey taught for many years at Royal Holloway University. He is currently writing a biography of A. G. Street.

A. G. Street

Tuesday 10 March, Professor Richard Hoyle, ‘The Labouring Poor of Barkham in the 1790s’

Tuesday 14 April, Gareth Jones, ‘The Loddon Drainage Association, 1920-1925: a last Hurrah for local landowners’

Tuesday 12 May, Chris Young, Tour of Shinfield Church (arrangements to be confirmed)

All are welcome to attend our meetings. A year’s membership is £15: we ask visitors £3 on the door.