Dinton's Story

Dinton Pastures has not always been a Country Park. Over time it has been used as a King's hunting ground, a farm and for gravel extraction. Follow Dinton's story below, or delve deeper into gravel extraction or the creation of a Country Park.

Ancient past, Domesday

The area of land we currently know as Dinton Pastures can be traced back as far as the Domesday Book of 1086. Back then, the Dinton boundaries more or less fell into the region known as Whistley, one of the four liberties (districts) of the parish of Hurst. These two names give us the first clues as to what the land was like back then as the physical appearance was reflected in the names of places in the locality. Hurst was simply the old English for wooded hill, while Whistley, we assume derives from the Anglo-Saxon 'lei' which generally denotes a clearing of woodland for settlement, and 'wisc', which means marshy meadow.

Whistley Manor

Records show that an ancient manor house, surprisingly named the Manor House of Whistley, existed to the north of what is now Lavell's Lake. This formed the focus for what was then a thriving area of agriculture, fishing, timber and basket making. Little remains to show this was an active area though as the house was pulled down in the middle of the nineteenth century.

Although active, much of the wealth generated from this busy community was paid directly to the church, and more specifically the Abbot of Abingdon, to whom the land was granted in 978, and with whom it remained until the dissolution of the monasteries in 1538. After this, because the land was part of the Windsor Forest until 1700, the King retained rights of ownership.

Little else is recorded about Whistley Manor until Henry VIII gave it to Richard Ward of Waltham St. Lawrence. It then changed hands many times over the centuries as fortunes were made and lost, until it was sadly demolished in the middle of the nineteenth century. Now gravel workings have removed any trace of the past.

Sandford

Sandford Mill is another building connected to Dinton Pastures which dates back many years. It appears on John Norden's 1609 map of the area next to the Emm Brook, but can now be found on the River Loddon. As no records exist of the mill moving, this is probably just an inaccurate recording.

During the Civil War of the 1640's the mill was sacked and burned for supplying corn to the Royalists. The mill that we see today was built later, in 1772 and a keystone bearing this date can still be seen today, on the bridge next to the mill. In fact, this bridge was used in the late eighteenth century to collect tolls from those crossing the River Loddon.

The mill, which was still used, for at least very basic milling, until the 1950s, has changed ownership numerous times over the years and has now been refurbished into a pleasant private residence. Unfortunately the mill is no longer working, as severe erosion of the banks in the late 1950's was considered too costly to repair. A much cheaper option was chosen instead, which involved filling in the channels leading to the water wheels.

High Chimneys

The other major building bordering Dinton Pastures is High Chimneys, a manor house built in the early seventeenth century by Galen Cope, whose initials can still bee seen in one of the bricks today. You can still see the house nowadays, by the side of Dinton's main driveway. The land around has been farmed by various tenants over the years, but it was not until 1904 that High Chimney's dairy farm (now the Country Park café & office) was built. This marked the increased popularity and profitability of dairy farming at the turn of the century. In later years piggeries, poultry houses and stabling were added as the farm diversified. Dairy farming remained the principal activity however as this extract from a catalogue of sale shows 'a first-class dairy farm and gentleman's residence'.

Gravel

As long ago as the 19th century, gravel had been extracted from an area near the eastern boundary of Dinton Pastures, by Sandford Lane, to keep local roads repaired. Later, in the mid 1960's, a local contractor started taking gravel from the area which is now White Swan Lake.

The Berkshire County policy at the time was not to open up new gravel pits. Due to the potential recreational value of the site, as a public lake, Berkshire County Council accepted the application, with the condition that the site was left in a state which would 'help with the evolution of a valley park' in the Loddon Valley area. This stopped in 1969 when Berkshire County Council bought the land for gravel, to be used in the construction of the A329(M).

Further extractions were made in 1970, to be used for the building of the Reading to Theale sections of the M4. Permission for the digging was only given on condition that the area would be re-landscaped once all the gravel had been removed. For more details on gravel extraction at Dinton Pastures please use the link on the left.

"Hmm, a big hole!"

Dinton was clear of gravel workings by 1976. Major Oldfield, the then owner of the site, had some topsoil dumped in the south east corner of the site to form a golf course and stocked, what was now White Swan Lake with fish, to encourage leisure on the site. In 1978 Major Oldfield sold the site to Wokingham Borough Council and the Countryside Commission, who had plans to "create a natural, quiet open space area for the district". For more information about the development of Dinton Pastures as a Country Park please use the Creating Dinton link on the left.

Dinton now

Dinton has changed a lot in the 20 odd years since it was first opened as a country park. In that time the park has gone from strength to strength and now receives about half a million visitors a year. The site plays a vital role in the Countryside Services efforts of promoting the awareness and enjoyment of the countryside in the Wokingham borough.