Dedication:St. Mary the Virgin, Shinfield benefice
  Tower Correspondent:
Bobbie May, 4 Halfacre Close, Spencers Wood, READING RG7 1DZ
Tel: 0118-988-4172
Email:Bobbie@bmay.freeserve.co.uk

  Service Ringing: Sun 9.30
  Practice night: Tue 7.45pm
 Simulator: Minor Practice Mon before last Friday of month.
Not Bank holidays. Bookable by other ringers during simulator week.

  Availability and Restrictions:

• Outings: Readily available
• Quarter Peals and Peals: Readily available by arrangement

  The Bells (6) 11-3-13 Restored 1976 further details

• Draught: short
• Audibility: 3
  (On a scale of 1 to 5, 1=faint 5=very loud)
• Extra facilities: There are simulator connections on all 6 bells; they may all be rung with clappers tied and only the ringers hear the sound in the ringing chamber. This tower is a Ringing Centre.

  Access to ringing chamber:
A ground floor ring, reached either through the church, with 2 steepish steps up, or through the West door of the tower which opens directly into the ringing chamber.

In daytime, light through the west window can be troublesome but there are curtains to shade it. Spacious chamber, plenty of room for helpers to stand behind.

  Points of interest in church

• Impressive Waggon-head ceiling and early round-headed arches
• Various brasses - one to the parents of Mary Mitford author of Our Village
• Alabaster tableau, renovated about 10 years ago
• Hatchment board
• Charity Boards ( in tower )
• Brass listing Vicars of Shinfield from 1280 to the present day
• Stained glass windows including Millennium window designed by Lynn Clayden a some-time ringer of Henley.

• Toilets in church hall with disabled facilities. Wide doors. Ramps for wheelchair access to church and church hall.
• First aid box at back of church.
• Fire extinguishers in church in the choir vestry ( Martyn Chapel )

No special facilities for children in immediate area but recreation ground about half a mile away in village in Millworth Lane ( far end ), just beyond the two pubs. Kiddy play area in Church Lane at junction with Basingstoke Rd.

  Travel Details: OS Grid Ref: SU729682
  Public Transport:

• Bus passes end of Church Lane N/S to the East of Shinfield - Reading to Basingstoke - 10-15 mins walk and N/S to the West of Church Lane Reading to Aldershot and Mortimer (6 miles) - about 5 mins walk. Infrequent.
• Nearest railway stations Reading (central) about 5 miles and Mortimer (distance?).

By road From Exit 11 of the M4, go about a mile East towards Earley, then turn South along the A327.

Car Parking on the road opposite the church and spaces for parking in a small rectangular area among the new houses opposite the church, supposedly designated a diocesan parking area.
  Eating Places:
Pubs The Six Bells ( Hungry Horse syndicate ) though access by car is soon to be made difficult as the North end of Church Lane is to be closed: 3 minutes' walk from church.
L’Ortolan, in Church Lane — a very expensive French restaurant, haunt of the great and good, where the kitchens were used in the filming of Lenny Henry’s series Chef!
There are two pubs opposite the green in Shinfield Village -
The Royal Oak (has a children's room) and
the Bell and Bottle. There is also The Black Boy on the Shinfield Road. Both pubs have gardens and car parks.

  Local points of interest for non ringers:

• There is information about the church inside the church itself on hand-held boards which can be made available to interested parties without special arrangements.
• Booklet about the bells written at the time of the restoration, due to be updated.
• Postcard of the church available in the ringing chamber for a donation.
• Along the Shinfield Road between Church Lane and Brookers Hill is an Antiques/ Oddments emporium.
• Mary Mitford's House ( Author of Our Village) is in Spencers Wood about 2 miles away. She is buried in Swallowfield, adjacent to the path from the churchyard to Swallowfield Park.
• Large Garden Centre and World of Water half way down Hyde End Rd.
• See also under facilities

Page last updated 5 Feb 2007