Cold Ash is a village and civil parish in West Berkshire centred from Thatcham and northeast of Newbury. Geography The village of Cold Ash is situated at about above sea level, along the top of a ridge, marked by Hermitage Road and The Ridge, which divides the River Pang and River Kennet valleys. Parts of the village to the north and east are within the North Wessex Downs and Cold Ash Quarry is a site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). History The name Cold Ash dates from the 16th century and is mentioned in a 1549 deed of settlement from John Winchcombe to his third son, Henry. During the English Civil War, troops camped on Cold Ash Common before taking part in the Second Battle of Newbury. The area was largely unpopulated before 1800 and consisted of moorland, the oldest part of the village is believed to be Bucklebury Alley. By the end of the 19th century, there were four principal landowners in Cold Ash and a large number of small tenanted dairy farms. Cold Ash Convalescent Home and Children's hospital was opened by a nurse, Agnes Maria Bowditch, in her home in Cold Ash in 1886. By 1901, the hospital had expanded to accommodate 20 patients and specialised in respiratory illness. The hospital closed in 1964 and was demolished, the cul-de-sac, Sewell Close, was built in its place. Governance The village was originally part of the parish of Thatcham but separated as an ecclesiastical parish in its own right in 1866, and as a civil parish in 1894. It is administered by the West Berkshire unitary authority and represented in parliament by the MP for Newbury. The church The Church of England parish church of Saint Mark was designed by the architect Charles Beazley and built in 1864–65. It is a brick Gothic Revival building with a polygonal apsidal chancel. The chancel windows have late 13th-century Decorated Gothic style tracery. The stained glass in the east window is by Clayton and Bell and the north and south windows by Charles Eamer Kempe. Education St Mark's Church of England primary school was built in 1873 next to the church and remained there for some 100 years until it was rebuilt on the other side of the road. The former school building is now a residential property. Hill House Home for Girls, for 'waifs and strays', opened on The Ridge in