Sonning, Berkshire - Lock, Bridge & Mill - postcard 1992

Postcard
• Picture / Image:  'The Thames at Sonning', Berkshire - multiview: The Lock / The Bridge / The Mill - with historical notes
• Publisher:  Paul A Tyrrell (photographer) / Thought Factory
• Postally used:  yes
• Stamp:  2nd class blue
• Postmark(s):  illeg., dated 1996
• Sent to:  Henfield, W Sussex
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Sonning, occasionally called Sonning-on-Thames is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Wokingham in the English county of Berkshire, a few miles east of Reading. The village is situated on the River Thames and was described by Jerome K. Jerome in his book Three Men in a Boat as ""the most fairy-like little nook on the whole river"".

The parish of Sonning originally included Charvil, Woodley and Earley and, before the formation of civil parishes in 1866, was a cross-county-boundary parish containing Sonning Eye, Dunsden Green and Playhatch in Oxfordshire as well. It is now much smaller and triangular shaped. The ecclesiastical parish of Sonning continues to include Sonning, Charvil and Sonning Eye. The north-western boundary is formed by the River Thames before passing through the middle of the Thames Valley Park. The southern border follows the railway line. The north-eastern boundary travels over Charvil Hill and follows the edge of the housing at Charvil itself until it reaches the confluence of St Patrick's Stream with the Thames, near St Patrick's Bridge. The northern corner of the parish consists of very low-lying land adjoining the River. The Sonning Golf Course sits in the south-east corner, with Holme Park, Sonning Hill and the business park in the south-west, and the village roughly in the middle.

Sonning village is at a crossing point of the River Thames, where the narrow arched Sonning Bridge on the B478 crosses the river to the hamlet of Sonning Eye on the Oxfordshire bank. Just upstream of the bridge is Sonning Lock. The old village is now joined to further housing along Pound Lane and the A4 Bath Road. It lies some three miles east of the major town of Reading. In other directions this would put it within the Reading suburban sprawl, but Sonning remains a clearly delineated small village.

The main road through Sonning is the B478, running from the Bridge to the Charvil roundabout on the A4. The B4446 runs north from the A4 to the village. The A4 itself passes through the south of the parish, as does the main Reading to Paddington railway line, though there is no station. On the Thames, there are moorings at Sonning, both above and below the lock, as well as in the weir stream.

Sonning Lock is a lock and associated weir situated on the River Thames at the village of Sonning near Reading, Berkshire, England.^[2] The first lock was built by the Thames Navigation Commission in 1773 and it has been rebuilt three times since then. There is a weir a little upstream at the top of the island where Sonning Backwater separates from the main course of the river.

weir at Sonning is recorded as belonging to the Blunte family in the 15th century. This was associated with the mill and fisheries and mention is made of a ""Locke-heise"" at this time. The flash lock was replaced in 1773 by the pound lock. This was the highest upstream of the eight locks constructed after the navigation act of 1770. It was commissioned in 1771 but took two years to build. Fir wood was originally used for these locks, but this decayed very quickly and was replaced at Sonning by oak in 1787. Repairs took place in 1827 when the old flash lock was brought back temporarily into use. By this time a lock house had been built.

The lock-keeper from 1845 to 1878 was James Sadler, a poet and beekeeper. He wrote verses about the river and about bees, and is credited with the invention of the Berkshire hive. One of his works The Thames from Oxford to Windsor is a rhymed list of the locks, bridges and towns.

The lock was rebuilt in 1868. The weirs were reconstructed in 1898 and further rebuilding of the lock occurred in 1905.^[3]

type=printed postcards

theme=topographical: british

sub-theme=england

county/ country=berkshire

number of items=single

period=1945 - present

postage condition=posted