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Summary

Airfield used for training during World War II; most of the land was quarried out in the later 20th century and in 2004 associated buildings were demolished

Associated Legal Designations or Protected Status

• Conservation Area: Sheffield Bridge
• Scheduled Monument 1006972: SHEFFIELD (OR SHENFIELD) LOCK

Other Statuses and Cross-References

• National Monuments Record No.: SU 67 SE 140
  SU 655 702

Monument Type(s):

• MILITARY AIRFIELD (Second World War - 1941 AD to 1945 AD)

Full Description

Theale is classifield as among the smaller Thames Valley airfields of World War II. Most of the site has been quarried for gravel <1>. Until 2004, the hangar and associated buildings survived; they were recorded by Oxford Archaeology prior to demolition. The airfield itself was built in the inter-war period, probably dating back to a simple landing strip laid out in the late 1930s, requisitioned by the Air Ministry in 1940. At the end of the Second World War, Theale was among the first airfields to close <2>.

According to Delve <3> approval was granted in 1939 for acquisition of the land for use as a relief landing ground for Reading. It was always intended as a grass airfield and eventually had four grass strips of approximately 800 yards. There were also a number of the Blister-type hangars positioned along the southern boundary and a small administrative/technical area in the southwest. There is some evidence to suggest the site had been in use since September 1939 by No 8 Elementary Flying Training School [EFTS] at Woodley, formed in July of the same year flying Tiger Moths. It was fully opened and renamed to Theale on 15 August 1941 where it continued as a Class C school with 36 Tiger Moths and 60 pupils. The EFTS was disbanded in July 1945, but was used by gliders until 1947 or 1948.

SU 65196 70312 marks the centre point of the grass field shown in Delve <3>. Possibly one air strip is shown on the 5th Epoch Ordnance Survey 1:10,000 mapping at c SU 64677010; the hangar is marked as a Vehicle Maintenance Depot on the 5th Epoch 1:2500 scale map <4>.

The Silchester Iron Age Environs Project mapped the extent of the airfield in 1946 from air photographs <6><7><8>. The boundary stretched from the Kennet and Avon Canal in the north, including Sheffield Lock to Wellman's Farm in the northeast and across fields to James' Copse in the south, Sheffield Bottom in the southwest and Sheffield Mill in the west. The airfield itself is not named on historic OS maps.

Sources and further reading

Related Monuments

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

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