page_title: Burghfield
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Burghfield / Geography
caption_attribution_description: English: Burghfield Sailing Club Lake. A view across the Sailing club lake
context_page_description: Burghfield is a village and large civil parish in West Berkshire, England, with a boundary with Reading. Burghfield can trace its history back to before the Domesday book, and was once home to three manors: Burghfield Regis, Burghfield Abbas and Sheffield. Since the 1980s the population of Burghfield has nearly doubled with the construction of many new housing estates, dependent for its employment on, for instance, Reading, Newbury and Basingstoke and M4 corridor which bisects the edge of the area.
  Most of the formerly sparsely inhabited fields of the hamlet or locality of Pingewood, in the north of the parish, are divided by the M4 motorway and have been converted after gravel extraction in the mid to late 20th century into lakes and their shores mostly used for water sports, fishing, and other leisure activities. They are also a habitat for migrating geese, water fowl and other wildlife. A few higher pits/quarries in this area have been drained, clay-lined and used as landfill.
  Burghfield has many amenities — the majority are sports clubs and facilities, including a leisure centre, educational or religious.
context_section_description: In 1923 the parish of Burghfield had 4,309 acres of land, of which 1,660 acres were arable, 1,940 acres permanent pasture and 163 acres woods and plantations. The land lies low in the valley of the Kennet, at an average altitude of a little over 100 feet (30 m) above the ordnance datum, rising in the south-west to a height of 302 feet (92 m).
  The main settlements of Burghfield parish lie along Burghfield Road, the major road out of Reading. From north-east to south-west: Burghfield Bridge is the closest to Reading and lies by the crossing of the Reading Road over the River Kennet; this is followed by Burghfield Village, after the crossing of the Burghfield Road over the M4 motorway which runs through the north of the parish; Burghfield Hill is in the southern upland part of the parish, naturally enough, at the top of Burghfield Hill; and Burghfield Common – named after the parish common land on which it was built and with by far the largest population – lies, in quick succession, the furthest south-west. The south-eastern part of Burghfield Common is known as Great Auclum (see History below). A corner of north-western Burghfield Common is actually in Sulhamstead parish.
  In the north of the parish, the Kennet River valley, is surrounded by a number of man made lakes, marshland and willow scrub, with old water meadows and Osier beds to the north of the river. Further south, between the M4 motorway and Burghfield Village the ground is flat, and consists of farmland and pastureland with occasional small stands of deciduous woodland. At Burghfield Hill, the slopes are covered in grassland and some larger copses of deciduous woodland, and are dissected by a number of partially wooded valleys and small streams such as Clayhill Brook. The plateau gravels support grassland, deciduous woodland and Scots pine, with small areas of heath land persisting on Wokefield Common which borders Burghfield Common to the south. The grasslands within the Parish are grazed by a wide variety of cattle, sheep and horses.
  The parish is served by a number of footpaths and bridleways across the fields and open spaces as well as through the woods. These paths and bridleways can be enjoyed by walkers and nature lovers, and are an important resource for the Parish. There are a number of other paths and "cut-throughs" allowing pedestrians to move freely around the Parish, away from motorised traffic.
caption: A view across the Burghfield Sailing club lake
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