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| Langley | |
|---|---|
 St Mary the Virgin parish church | |
  Langley Location withinBerkshire | |
| Area | 3.6 km2 (1.4 sq mi) |
| Population | 17,583 [1] |
| • Density | 4,884/km2 (12,650/sq mi) |
| OS grid reference | TQ005795 |
| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Slough |
| Postcode district | SL3[2] |
| Dialling code | 01753 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Royal Berkshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | Langley Village |
| 51°30′21″N0°33′09″W / 51.5059°N 0.5526°W /51.5059; -0.5526 | |
Langley, also known asLangley Marish, is an area ofSlough inBerkshire, England. It is two miles (3 km) east of Slough town centre and 18 miles (29 km) west ofCharing Cross inCentral London. It was a separatecivil parish and village until the 1930s, when the built-up part of Langley was incorporated into Slough. Langley was in thehistoric county ofBuckinghamshire, being transferred to the administrative county of Berkshire in 1974.
The place-name Langley derives from theMiddle English wordlang, meaning long, andlea, a wood or clearing. Langley was formed of a number ofclearings: George Green, Horsemoor Green, Middle Green, Sawyers Green and Shreding Green. They became the sites for housing which merged into one village centred on the parish church in St Mary's Road. The clearings are remembered in the names of streets or smaller green fields.
Marish orMaries commemorates Christiana de Marecis who held the manor for a short time in the reign ofEdward I.[3]
TheChurch of St Mary the Virgin is in theChurch of Englanddiocese of Oxford. The church is a Grade Ilisted building[4] and houses theKedermister Library, given by Sir John Kedermister (or Kederminster), who also endowed the surviving almshouses of 1617 in the village. Other surviving almshouses include the Seymour Almshouses (1679–1688), given by Sir Edward Seymour who was aSpeaker of the House of Commons, and those founded in 1839 by William Wild in Horsemoor Green.
The courtierHenry Norris owned a house, "Parlaunt" or "Leving", at Langley Marish. The property was forfeited to the crown when he was executed in May 1536. When Henry marriedAnne of Cleves in 1540, furnishings from Parlaunt were taken toOatlands Palace. There are no remains of this manor house.[5]
Sir John Kedermister's house,Langley Park (bought byCharles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough) was demolished and rebuilt to designs byStiff Leadbetter, starting in 1756 and completed in the year of his death, 1758.[6]
TheLangley Academy secondary school opened in 2008 and was designed by architectsFoster + Partners.
TheHawker Aircraft Company bought Parlaunt Farm at Langley in 1938 and built a major factory and airfield there. Over 9,000 military aircraft were manufactured at the site especially theHurricane duringWorld War II and also theTempest andSea Fury. The final Hurricane built (a MkIIC serialled PZ865, which still flies today with theBattle of Britain Memorial Flight) was completed here on 27 July 1944 and named 'Last of The Many' in a special ceremony. Retiring Chief Test PilotP W S 'George' Bulman made the first flight of this the aeroplane on this occasion – he having made the first flight of the prototype fromBrooklands almost nine years earlier.
TheHawker Tornado (1940),Typhoon (1940),Tempest (1942),Fury (1944),Sea Fury (1945), and theGeneral Aircraft Hamilcar X tank-carrying glider (1945) all made their first flights from Langley. Postwar, the aerodrome was also used byAirwork Services,British South American Airways andAirflight[7] for aircraft maintenance work.
The Hawker factory closed in 1958 having also manufacturedHawker Hunter fighters and earlier jet prototypes. Production and staff were transferred to the flight test airfield atDunsfold Aerodrome and the parent Hawker factory inKingston-on-Thames (nowKingston upon Thames), both in Surrey. Little of the factory or airfield remain today although the area's aviation past is remembered in street-names such asSpitfire Close andHurricane Way. A marker stone was unveiled by theAirfields of Britain Conservation Trust on 5 October 2019.[8]
TheFord Motor Company opened a commercial vehicle component factory at Langley Airfield in 1949, and then bought the entire site from Hawker Siddeley in 1959. The former aircraft factory was re-used for commercial vehicle manufacture and theFord Transit was built here until production was transferred toFord's Southampton plant atSwaythling,Southampton, and later theFord Cargo. The Langley factory became part ofIveco in 1986 but finally closed in September 1997. Demolished a year later by Gregory Demolition, the site is now redeveloped with new housing, offices and warehousing (includingRoyal Mail'sHeathrow Worldwide Distribution Centre, which services nearbyHeathrow Airport).
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Langley Carnival is held annually on the second Saturday in July at the Langley Park Memorial Recreation Ground.
The Cable Corporation, based at Langley, was the first[citation needed] cable company in the world to offer voice, video and data services to business and residential users.
Langley is reputed to be haunted by a ghost in a yellow coat.[9]
Langley railway station, which includes anIsambard Kingdom Brunel period building, is on theGreat Western Main Line toLondon Paddington.Great Western Railway operate a half-hourly service in each direction. In July 2012, theDepartment for Transport announced plans to build theWestern Rail Approach between Langley andIver stations.
On 15 December 2019, Langley station became part of theElizabeth line with services operated underTfL Rail branding until 24 May 2022. Due to the addition of the Elizabeth line, the station was upgraded to include three new lifts along with a new ticket hall, new ticket office and new ticket gates.
Langley forms part of theunparished area of Slough. It therefore has no separate parish or community council, but is governed directly bySlough Borough Council.
Langley was formerly a separate parish, also known as Langley Marish or Langley Marsh.[10] From 1835 the parish formed part of theEtonPoor Law Union. When parish and district councils were established under theLocal Government Act 1894, the parish of Langley was given a parish council and was included in theEton Rural District. Following significant development in the southern part of the parish adjoining Slough, the area south of theGrand Union Canal (including the parish church and old village centre of Langley), was transferred into the parish andurban district ofSlough on 1 April 1930. The residual, more rural, part of the parish north of the Grand Union Canal continued to be administered as a parish called Langley for another four years before being finally abolished, with most of the northern rural area being transferred into the parish ofWexham on 1 April 1934, and smaller areas being transferred at the same time to the parishes ofFulmer andIver.[11] In 1931 the parish had a population of 1180.[12]
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