Blewbury Parish Plan 2004 Archive Page The Parish Plan was completed in 2004. This page has not been updated since then. For current information on Blewbury go to the main Blewbury site.
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The Parish

Blewbury is at the spring line on the north edge of the Berkshire Downs. The whole of the Parish is included in the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, while the older part of the Village is a Conservation Area. Blewbury is on the A417 road about 16 miles west of Reading and 12 miles south of Oxford.

Blewbury is "A Venerable Village" which was already sizeable in Saxon times. It has a population in 2001 of about 1650. Local services now include a post office, a primary school, a playgroup, a petrol station and convenience store, a greengrocer, a doctors’ surgery, a hairdressers and three operational pubs.

Historical Environment

1. Blewbury is special in its harmonious mix of buildings from the earliest - the mainly Norman church of St. Michael’s - to its latest, 21st century buildings. Few places of any size have such a pleasing mix of different architectural styles and open spaces. The reason for many of the guidance notes, policies and initiatives in this plan is to identify and safeguard the elements and characteristics that make Blewbury the place it is.
2. That mix has arisen partly because it has for many centuries been a place where people have lived and worked together. The open spaces, buildings and houses have been used for work, farming and leisure and simply for living in. The buildings were not put here by outside planners, but by people who needed a place to live and work and consequently have a comfortable and generally harmonious feel.
3. The pattern of the Village has been set largely by the water which is an integral part of the Village, and almost certainly why the first Village was built here. It is vital that the shape of the water flowing through the Village is substantially preserved.
4. The general pattern of the roads and paths go back to Saxon times (the cob walls) and that part of the Village needs preserving because so many other cob walls in other villages have disappeared.
5. Where the original use of a building has gone e.g. the outbuildings at Ashbrook House, a vibrant link with the past has been preserved by putting the buildings to totally different uses without destroying the original structures.
6. The Village has changed through the centuries by a happy combination of preserving many old and useful buildings, (witness the large number of Listed Buildings and structures), changing the use of some open spaces without losing them (e.g. the Playclose), and erecting new buildings when there has been a real and proven need for them.

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Changes since 1985

The developments since the last plan have included a new estate in Bridus Mead, new houses replacing post war prefab housing in Eastfields, a row of houses in place of a coal yard next to the Barley Mow pub and other new houses as indicated in the Conservation and Growth Map.

A new cemetery was established. It has a fine lych gate matching that of the neighbouring old cemetery.

An extra five acres was purchased next to the existing Recreation Ground and cemetery to add to the recreational facilities. It is named Tickers Folly Field. This now contains a skate board park, a BMX track, and two full size croquet lawns with their own small pavilion. Part of the land provides an additional car park supplementing the parking on the older part of the Recreation Ground.

The provision of tennis on the older part of the Recreation Ground has been increased to four courts, again with a small pavilion.

The play corner on the Recreation Ground was dismantled and an excellent new play park for up to 9 year olds was created next to the school.

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