Iver | |
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![]() Iver's three similar settlements form a jointly administered community. Footpaths run to theColne Valley regional park, the train station and branch into theChiltern Hills,London and theLondon Loop. | |
Location withinBuckinghamshire | |
Area | 20.1 km2 (7.8 sq mi) |
Population | 11,119 (2011)[1] |
• Density | 553/km2 (1,430/sq mi) |
OS grid reference | TQ0381 |
Civil parish |
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Unitary authority | |
Ceremonial county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | IVER |
Postcode district | SL0 |
Dialling code | 01753 |
Police | Thames Valley |
Fire | Buckinghamshire |
Ambulance | South Central |
UK Parliament | |
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Iver/ˈaɪ.vər/ is acivil parish inBuckinghamshire, England. In addition to the centralclustered village, the parish includes the residential neighbourhoods ofIver Heath andRichings Park and the hamlets ofShreding Green andThorney.[2]
Part of the 43-square-mileColne Valley regional park, with woods, lakes and land by theGrand Union Canal. Most of the open land is classified asMetropolitan Green Belt.
Surrounding the Ivers are neighbouring villages and towns ofFulmer,Denham,Gerrards Cross andWexham. Also nearby areColnbrook,Langley,Uxbridge,Cowley,Yiewsley andWest Drayton.
The Ivers have public transport and motorway links. TheM25 motorway andM4 motorway, including theThorney Interchange, are nearby, while to the north of the Ivers is theM40 motorway as well as theA40, which is parallel to the M40.
Also situated on theElizabeth line, Iver, Richings Park and Thorney are less than 0.5 miles (0.80 km) fromIver railway station, withLangley railway station andUxbridge tube station nearby for other villages across the Iver's.
Two significant employers in the parish are the Ridgeway trading and warehousing estate in Richings Park andPinewood Studios in Iver Heath.
In theDomesday Book of 1086 the whole area was recorded asEvreham orhomestead by the brow of a hill and it was in the possession of a man calledRobert Doiley.
In 1351 the area was granted aRoyal charter to hold a weeklymarket. This charter was confirmed 110 years later in 1461.
Iver village on theUxbridge toLangley road has a pre-Domesday foundation andNeolithic pottery fragments and other artefacts have been discovered. The village church has shards of aSaxon window, and elements dating from the 15th century, 16th century and 17th century can be seen. The village has numerous houses from the 16th and 17th centuries.
In the spring of 893 aViking raiding army plundered throughKent andSussex. After reachingFarnham inSurrey it was intercepted byAlfred the Great's sonEdward with hisWest SaxonFyrd. The Danes were routed, fleeing over theRiver Thames intoMercia with the West Saxon army in pursuit. Having reached theRiver Colne the Danes mounted a defence on what was known as Thorney Island, believed to be land between the Colne and an offshoot channel of the river between Thorney and Iver. Edward began a siege of the island and was joined byÆthelred of Mercia with soldiers from the Mercian garrison in London. After a prolonged stalemate an agreement was reached with the Danes that they would to leave the Angle and Saxon controlled lands peacefully and go directly to the lands in the east under Danish control which they duly did, without any of their plundered spoils.[3][4]
Iver Heath is the location ofHeatherden Hall, aVictorian estate with spectacular grounds. It was purchased by Lt. Col.Grant Morden, a Canadian financier, who transformed the mansion by adding a huge ballroom andTurkish bath. During the 1930s it became a retreat and private meeting place for politicians and diplomats. The agreement to form theIrish Free State was signed at Heatherden Hall. The Church of St Margaret was built in 1862. Iver Heath itself is centred on a triangle of roads. The village post office was on the Slough Road to the south, but closed in September 2020, while aparade of shops used to be found along Church Road to the north. Slough Road and Church Road are connected by Bangors Road North to the east.
Richings Park was once the estate ofLord Bathurst. In the 1630s, the Richings estate was owned by the Salter family, who in 1678 sold it to Sir Peter Apsley. His daughter Catherine married her cousin,Allen Bathurst, 1st Earl Bathurst.[5] Around 1740, the estate was sold to the Earl of Hertford, and in 1776 to Sir John Coghill, 1st Baronet of Richings.[5]
In the 1780s, the house was burned down and rebuilt. It was later the home of the Sullivan and Meeking families.[5] Ironically, in 1924,Viola Meeking married into the Bathurst family who had held the Richings Park estate two centuries earlier.
The new Richings Park mansion, very briefly the home ofRAF Bomber Command, was destroyed duringWorld War II, and its site is now a residential area with its own shopping facilities. Local street names reflect the history of the estate. The cellars of the house are still visible in fields now overlooking theM4.
Richings Park is the location ofIver railway station on theElizabeth Line.
Black Park adjoins the Pinewood Studio complex. It has a lake that extends over 13 acres (5.3 ha).[6] Due to its proximity to Pinewood Studios, Black Park was used for outdoor sequences in some ofHammer'sDracula films, a number ofCarry On films, theGerry Anderson Sci Fi seriesUFO and in the 1964James Bond filmGoldfinger.
To the south, Black Park is separated fromLangley Park by the A412 / Uxbridge Road. Langley Park covers 130 acres (0.53 km2) and is known for its rhododendron and azalea-filled Temple Gardens.
Pinewood Studios is a major Britishfilm studio to the immediate west of the developed land of Iver Heath, which is in all other respects residential. The studios have hosted many productions from blockbuster films to UK television shows, commercials and pop music promos. The Superman and James Bond film franchises have used the film studios which provides tours of its museum.
Pinewood was built on the estate ofHeatherden Hall, a large, attractive Victorian house with spectacular grounds. The Pinewood estate had previously been purchased by Lt. Col. Grant Morden, a Canadian financier andMP forBrentford and Chiswick. He spent a fortune transforming the mansion into a showpiece home, adding refinements such as a hugeballroom, aTurkish bath and an indoorsquash court. Due to its seclusion, the house was used as a discreet meeting place for high-ranking politicians and diplomats. Here the agreement for theAnglo-Irish Treaty was signed. When Grant Morden died in 1934 the estate was purchased at auction byCharles Boot, who had recently inherited a large construction firm from his father,Henry Boot, who died in 1931. Within twelve months Charles had formed a partnership withJ. Arthur Rank, who transformed the mansion into the office building for afilm studio complex. He based his new studios on the latest Hollywood designs of that era. Charles Boot named the complex Pinewood Film Studios, a reference to the many pine trees in the area. The entrance to the studio is on Pinewood Road.
The Sports Centre is based in Iver, which is in the south of the District. The centre is run byGreenwich Leisure Limited. Facilities include a multi purpose sports hall, dance studio, lounge (with adjoining kitchen), sunbed, outdoor floodlit synthetic surface pitch, grass soccer pitches and a changing facility and fitness suite with equipment including a nautilus tread climber. The fitness suite contains pieces of equipment designed to be accessible to those persons with limited mobility.
Adjacent to the Sports Centre on the border of Iver Heath and Iver, this facility is a former secondary school which hosts independent and Council-run events and courses. These include Zumba, Slimming World, Pottery, Guitar and Woodwork. The venue also hosts the Tiny Toes Nursery and a Youth Centre.[7]
Output area | Homes owned outright | Owned with a loan | Socially rented | Privately rented | Other | Usual residents | km2 |
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Civil parish | 1462 | 1720 | 569 | 377 | 43 | 11119 | 20.09 |