as a community facility. Purley Hall was built around 1608 to replace the manor house of Purley La Hyde and was home to personages such as Warren Hastings, Lady Baden-Powell, as a child, and Thomas Hawes, of South Sea Bubble fame. Several smallholdings were established between World War I and World War II, including one by Mortimer Menpes, the artist and friend of Whistler. These have almost all now been redeveloped. Recent development Purley lost most of its old houses due to enclosures around 1800 and redevelopment in the 20th century. After the sale of the estate of Purley Magna in the 1920s most of the eastern part of the parish has been developed but there is easy access to rural areas to the west and south. The area encompassing the other manors has also retained a rural character. Changes in the 20th century began with ribbon development along the Oxford Road and Long Lane and in recent years these properties have been redeveloped with modern housing estates. The Purley River Estate was sold off in small plots in the 1930s and for many years suffered much non-planned development. As a result of the guidance plan agreed during the 1960s, it has gradually developed from self built, timber dwellings and converted railway carriages, to an area with more conventional housing. The gradual upgrading of the area has resulted in a diverse range of housing styles. Government The civil parish of Purley on Thames stretches roughly 1.5 km both north–south and east–west and is within the West Berkshire Council unitary authority area. It has its own parish council of 13 elected members with the parish office at Goosecroft, off Beech Road. The parish is within the Reading West parliamentary constituency. Geography Previously a rural village, Purley is essentially a suburb of Reading, though within the boundaries of West Berkshire. It is bounded to the north by a stretch of the River Thames, to the east by the Borough of Reading, to the west by Pangbourne and to the south by Tilehurst and Sulham. The eastern half is almost completely redeveloped but the western half includes meadow land alongside the river and agricultural land on the north slope of the escarpment. There are small settlements in the extreme west, around Sulham Home Farm, and in the north west around Springs and Westbury Farms. Due to its proximity to the River Thames, Purley