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Summary

Railway sidings from the Great West Railway, first created in the early 20th century and part of area in use in the early 21st century

Monument Type(s):

• RAILWAY SIDING (Early 20th century to Early 21st century - 1912 AD to 2050 AD)

Full Description

The earliest sidings at Theale West are shown on the second Epoch Ordnance Survey map of 1899, where three lines lead off the Great Western Railway south of Theale Green <1>. These appear to be related to gravel extraction, leading to gravel pits; the eastern most siding lead to an area where Roman remains were found in 1887-97, during this extraction.

On the Third edition OS map of 1912 <2>, a different layout is shown, with short straight lines either side of a triangular fishpond. However the more extensive layout dates initially from 1929 when a private siding was laid in for Wraysbury Sand & Gravel <3>; in 1962 the siding layout was extended to support stone traffic, which became the major use in the late 20th and early 21st century.

By the 5th Epoch OS of 1970 <4> a Railway Pre-Assembly Depot is marked, covering an area of c 475m by 385m; 15 years later a dual carriageway around Theale village had cut through the northern part of the sidings, but a large depot with a complex of new industrial buildings was built on the site. This has been used for an aggregates plant and fuel storage at the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st.

The GIS polygon shows the greatest historic extent of the railways sidings and depot.

Sources and further reading

Related Monuments

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

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