Cold Ash Parish Council is the civil council administration serving the Parishioners of Cold Ash Parish. A number of facilities are provided by the council including the Hermitage Road Recreation Ground, Tennis Courts, Children’s Play Areas and Allotments. See the What We Do page for more details of the services provided by the Council.
We hope that, through this website you can be in touch not only with the Parish Council but with the many schools, organisations and businesses that make our Parish so vibrant and interesting. Do look at our Community Group links and if you have any comments or useful information, please contact us, we would be happy to hear from you.
Cold Ash Parish
Cold Ash village is at the centre of the Parish and is approximately four miles north-east of Newbury and less than two miles north of Thatcham. Much of the village stands on a ridge of the Berkshire Downs overlooking the Kennet Valley to the south and the Pang Valley to the north.
The adjoining village of Ashmore Green forms part of the Parish and lies at a lower elevation less than a mile to the south-west of Cold Ash.
The Parish also includes the urban fringes of Newbury (Manor Park) and Thatcham (Southend & Florence Gardens).
The Parish enjoys excellent connectivity with Reading, London, Oxford and Southampton via the A4, A34 and M4. The Thatcham train station is also 2 miles away.
From almost everywhere in the Parish there are fine views across open countryside. There are large areas of woodland which although are in private ownership have Public Rights of Way which allow Parishioners to enjoy them. See our Public Rights of Way & Walks page.
Land held in trust by the Parish Council, donated by the Vicar and Church Wardens of Thatcham has enabled the Council to provide a well used recreation ground, allotments, grazing land, a wildlife garden and community orchard.
There are a large number of vibrant community groups and clubs that serve parishioners.
The Church of England Parish Church of St Mark was designed by the architect C. N. Beasley and built in 1864-65. It is 500 feet above sea level.
There are two primary schools in the village, St Mark’s (Church of England) and St Finian’s (Roman Catholic). In addition, Downe House secondary school is based in the Parish.
The Parish is also served by two Public houses.