Purley on Thames (known locally as Purley) is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. Purley is centred north-west of Reading, east of Pangbourne, and south-east of Oxford. Consequently, Reading is the principal social, economic and cultural centre for the people of Purley. Historically, Purley comprised three separate manors and associated settlements. In the centre there is an historic area named variously Lething or Burley (Domesday) which accommodated traders and craftsmen alongside the main Reading to Oxford road. History Purley has been settled since at least Saxon times. The original settlements were based on Purley Magna (to the east), Purley Parva (to the north-west) and Purley La Hyde (to the west). Ownership of these manors changed several times over successive centuries but the parish remained almost entirely agricultural until development began in the 20th century, with a population of 150–200. Since then it has grown to 4,232 (2001 Census) and around 4394 people in 2011. A timbered Elizabethan manor house was constructed in the 1540s, to be replaced by a brick house in 1740. This was demolished around 1800 to be replaced by Purley Park, designed by James Wyatt in 1800 and on the brow of the hill to be well away from flooding. The house is a Grade II* listed building. At the same time most of the eastern part of the parish was emparked; a new road, New Hill, constructed to provide access to the residual village, and the turnpike highway diverted to the south. In 1948, the mansion was purchased to provide a home and school for people with Down syndrome. While the mansion itself has now been converted to apartments, the Purley Park Trust continues to support adults with learning difficulties with care homes in the former grounds. When the mansion was built, the farm was moved further west and was home to the South Berks Hunt for many years. Its Master of Foxhounds, Cecil Aldin, ran a remount depot there in World War I, employing his friend and fellow artist, Alfred Munnings as a horse doctor. After World War II the property was sold to Messrs G Percy Trentham who used it as the head offices for their civil engineering business. This building is also Grade II* listed. In the 1990s this too was redeveloped and the barn, another listed building, which had originally been adjacent to the church, donated to the parish council