Goring

"GORING, a parish in the hundred of Langtree, county Oxford, 6 miles S. of Wallingford, and 10 N.W. of Reading, its post town. The Great Western railway has a station here. The parish is situated on the eastern bank of the river Thames, which is here crossed by a bridge. It includes the hamlet of Gatehampton. This place appears to have been a Roman station on Icknield Street, which here crosses the Thames into Berkshire. A nunnery of the Augustine order was founded here in the reign of Henry II., and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Its revenue at the Dissolution was valued at £60 6s. 6d. There is a chalybeate spring in the parish. The tithes were commuted for land, under an Enclosure Act, in 1809. The living is a vicarage' in the diocese of Oxford, value £146. The church is an ancient structure in the Norman style of architecture, with a massive embattled tower. It is dedicated to St. Thomas-a-Becket, and was anciently the conventional church of the priory. The principal endowments are the almshouses at Goring Heath, founded by Henry Allnutt, Esq., for twelve poor men, who are provided with every comfort, the funds of the charity producing nearly £1,100 per annum. There are also almshouses for four persons, founded by Richard Lybbe, Esq., with a yearly income of about £62. The Independents have a chapel. There are both foundation and British schools. Quantities of Roman antiquities have been found at various times in the parish, consisting of coins, vases, &c., as also traces of burial-places."

"GATHAMPTON, a hamlet in the parish of Goring, in county Oxford, 6 miles S.E. of Wallingford. It is situated on the banks of the Thames."

"GORING HEATH, a village in the parish of Goring, hundred of Langtree, county Oxford, 4 miles distant from the railway station. This was formerly an uninhabited and open spot; but is now, with the adjoining hamlets of Collin's End and Path Hill, well peopled and thriving, and the land under good cultivation. There is a free school, endowed by Henry Allnutt, Esq., founder of the almshouses and other charities."

[The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]