URPoint Details
On the north side of the Kennet, Woolhampton is on both the Bath Road and the main railway from Paddington. There is a cluster of houses along the main road including two inns. The rest of the village stands amid the trees on the hill and centres around the part Georgian, part Victorian Woolhampton House.
There are also two good early 20th century houses including the Court and Kennet Orleigh, the Georgian rectory, and the church. The latter, of Saxon foundation, was rebuilt in 1861.
Prominent at the top of the hill are the buildings of Douai Abbey which was founded in 1903 by English Benedictines who, on eviction from France, came here, took over the Catholic Diocesan College and extended it over the years. The great abbey church, designed by J, A. Crush, was started in 1928 but not completed. Recently Sir Frederick Gibberd prepared plans for its completion. The foundation stone of this work was laid in 1964.
- Type:
- Landmark