Goring-on-Thames (or Goring) is a village and civil parish on the River Thames in South Oxfordshire, England. Situated on the county border with Berkshire, it is 6 mi (10 km) south of Wallingford and 8 mi (13 km) north-west of Reading. It had a population of 3,187 in the 2011 census and was estimated to have increased to 3,335 by 2019.[2]
The village church is dedicated to St Thomas Becket with a nave that was built within 50 years of the saint's death, in the early 13th century, along with a later bell tower. Goring faces the smaller Streatley across the Thames; the two are linked by Goring and Streatley Bridge.
Geography
Goring (right), at the end of the nineteenth century
GWR provide the service with British Rail Class 387 electric trains, and because
work on electrification from Didcot to Oxford has been suspended since 2019, the trains no longer run beyond Didcot Parkway. A separate diesel service runs between Didcot and Oxford.[4]
The local bus service between Goring and Wallingford is run by a Goring-based community interest company, Going Forward Buses, which was established in December 2016.[5] The bus service to Wallingford runs hourly during the working day from Monday to Friday.[6]
Early history
The name Goring first appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Garinges, then as Garingies in a charter once held in the British Museum. It translates as "Gara's people".[7]
The Anglican Churches of Goring, Streatley and South Stoke form a united benefice.[12] A priory of Augustinian nuns was built late in the 12th century with its own priory church adjoining St Thomas's.[8] This survived until demolished with the early 16th-century Dissolution of the Monasteries.[13] The foundations of the priory church, cloister, dormitory, vestry, chapter house and parlour were excavated in 1892.[11]
Goring Free Church belongs to the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion. The congregation was founded in 1788 and its first chapel built in 1793.[14] At its centenary in 1893, a new church building was added[11] and the original chapel converted into a church hall.[14] It holds two Sunday services.[15]
The Catholic Church of Our Lady and St John the Apostle was designed by the architect William Ravenscroft and built in 1898.[11] It now forms a single parish with the Roman Catholic Church of Christ the King in Woodcote.[16]
Amenities
Flint House, on a hill, is a large flint cobblestone house in a Tudor style converted partly to offices. It is used by police forces nationally as a rehabilitation centre.[17]
On 10 July 2009, Goring was named Oxfordshire's Village of the Year, ahead of 11 other villages and succeeding Woodcote.[24] The £1000 prize was put towards the village's hydro-electric project to generate electricity from the River Thames.[25] The competition considered the depth of infrastructure and activity in the village and at Goring's £1 million hydro-electric plans.
Calor success
Goring-on-Thames was the winner in the Sustainability and Communications category and the Overall Regional Winner of the 2011 Calor Village of the Year regional heat for South England.[26]
In the summer of 1893, Oscar Wilde stayed at Ferry House in Goring with Lord Alfred Douglas. While there, Wilde began writing his play An Ideal Husband, which includes a main character named Lord Goring.
An enlarged Ferry Cottage became the retirement home of Sir Arthur Harris, wartime leader of RAF Bomber Command, from 1953 until his death in 1984.[27] He was buried in Burntwood Cemetery in Goring.[28]
In order of birth:
Sir John Soane (1753–1837), architect, was born in Goring.
Thomas Rome (1838–1916), Australian politician, died in Goring.
Digby Willoughby (1845–1901), military mercenary, died in Goring.
Aubrey Strahan (1852–1928), geologist, retired to Goring.
George Michael (1963–2016), musician, vocalist and producer.[30] Michael lived at Mill Cottage close to the river in his later years. He was found dead there at the age of 53 in the early hours of 25 December 2016.[31]
