• Support Wokingham Today
  • Get the print edition
  • Sign up for our daily newsletter
Wednesday, June 11, 2025
Wokingham.Today
  • HOME
  • MY AREA
    • All
    • Arborfield
    • Barkham
    • Beech Hill
    • Binfield
    • Bracknell
    • Charvil
    • Crowthorne
    • Earley
    • Emmbrook
    • Finchampstead
    • Grazeley
    • Henley
    • Hurst
    • Lower Earley
    • Norreys
    • Reading
    • Remenham
    • Riseley
    • Shinfield
    • Sindlesham
    • Sonning
    • Spencers Wood
    • Swallowfield
    • Three Mile Cross
    • Twyford
    • Wargrave
    • Winnersh
    • Wokingham
    • Wokingham Without
    • Woodley
    • Woosehill
    • Yateley
    Clive Jones being sworn in as MP for Wokingham on Tuesday. Pic: BBC.

    MP: ‘Protect free school meals out of term time’

    Wokingham MP, Clive Jones. Pic: Andrew Batt.

    MP calls for more evening trains

    MP Yuam Yang outside the takeaway.

    MP says sorry for social media post

    Noise and floodlighting would impact the location, it was argued. Pic: Andrew Batt.

    Earley sports pitch plans in the floodlight

    The restaurant promises to be a 'vibrant' location and social hub.

    Date set for new restaurant opening

    Berkshire Football awards.

    Football in Berkshire shortlist revealed

    Party in the Park 2025. Pic by Stewart Turkington.

    Rain didn’t dampen party spirits as Elms Field hosts Wokingham’s Party in the Park

    Longshot Lane in Bracknell. Pic: Google.

    More fines for heavy vehicles

    Wokingham MP Clive Jones Picture: Andrew Batt

    MP to talk about his first year

  • SPORT
    • All
    • Binfield FC
    • Reading FC
    Noise and floodlighting would impact the location, it was argued. Pic: Andrew Batt.

    Earley sports pitch plans in the floodlight

    Berkshire Football awards.

    Football in Berkshire shortlist revealed

    Chem Campbell

    Reading FC miss out on transfer target to fellow League One club

    Mark Bowen

    Former head of football at Reading FC lands new job

    Peter Markwick

    It’s top of the championship for Wokingham racing driver

    1871 EVENTS PRESENTS: Jimmy Quinn

    Reading FC legend Jimmy Quinn to share his memories of title success and Wembley heartbreak

    Reading FC

    Reading FC to host Swindon Town and Oxford United in pre-season friendlies

    Reading FC fans

    Reading FC chairman Rob Couhig gives update on season ticket sales

    Golf Picture: Pixabay

    Unique Golf Club celebrates 50th anniversary with publication of a history book

  • READING FC
  • COMMUNITY
    Clive Jones being sworn in as MP for Wokingham on Tuesday. Pic: BBC.

    MP: ‘Protect free school meals out of term time’

    MP Yuam Yang outside the takeaway.

    MP says sorry for social media post

    Noise and floodlighting would impact the location, it was argued. Pic: Andrew Batt.

    Earley sports pitch plans in the floodlight

    The restaurant promises to be a 'vibrant' location and social hub.

    Date set for new restaurant opening

    Berkshire Football awards.

    Football in Berkshire shortlist revealed

    Longshot Lane in Bracknell. Pic: Google.

    More fines for heavy vehicles

    Wokingham MP Clive Jones Picture: Andrew Batt

    MP to talk about his first year

    There's support for people with dementia, at a singing Memory Lane cafe in Tilehurst and Wokingham. Picture: Remi Walle via Unsplash

    Carers afternoon in Twyford offers information and fun

    Blackcroft Farm, between Arborfield and Farley Hill,

    Plans for 650 homes near Arborfield revealed

  • LIFESTYLE
    • All
    • Food
    • Health
    • Obituaries
    • People
    MP Yuam Yang outside the takeaway.

    MP says sorry for social media post

    The restaurant promises to be a 'vibrant' location and social hub.

    Date set for new restaurant opening

    Party in the Park 2025. Pic by Stewart Turkington.

    Rain didn’t dampen party spirits as Elms Field hosts Wokingham’s Party in the Park

    Wokingham MP Clive Jones Picture: Andrew Batt

    MP to talk about his first year

    MICHAEL TATLOW DARLISON

    Jenni Donato.

    Wokingham businesswoman nominated for award

    Ascot Top Hats is based in Wokingham.

    Ten tips for a top day at Royal Ascot

    Over 350,000 people in the region had been treated for seven common conditions without the need to visit a GP since the programme was launched in January last year.

    Pharmacy First initiative sees over 350,000 consultations in first year

    Thames Valley Air Ambulance Picture: MICHAEL MOLLOY

    Thames Valley Air Ambulance urges people to ‘summer safely’

  • WHAT’S ON
    • All
    • Arts
    • Entertainment
    1871 EVENTS PRESENTS: Jimmy Quinn

    Reading FC legend Jimmy Quinn to share his memories of title success and Wembley heartbreak

    RaW Sounds celebrates five years of championing local music

    Party in the Park on Saturday.

A balcony view.

    Get ready for Party in the Park

    Marvellous is a tribute act festival. Pic: WBC.

    A Marvellous tribute at Dinton

    Double Standards

    New play ‘Double Standards’ at South Streets Art Centre to explore hypocrisy in dating

    Wokingham Pride

    Could you help Wokingham Pride 2025?

    REVIEW: “Three Hens In A Boat” at The Watermill Theatre

    Siren RG1

    Siren RG1 to mark first anniversary with weekender celebration

    Wellington Farm Shop

    Wellington Farm Shop celebrates its 20th anniversary

  • JOBS
  • ADVERTISE
  • CONTACT
No Result
View All Result
Wokingham.Today
No Result
View All Result
Home Community

IN THE COMMUNITY: The hidden chalk mines of Emmer Green discovered by Wargrave Local History Society

by Guest contributor
January 20, 2024
in Community, People
An Emmer Green mine tunnel Picture: Rob Wallace

An Emmer Green mine tunnel Picture: Rob Wallace

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Wargrave Local History Society’s January meeting was a well-illustrated presentation on Chalk, Caverns and Commandos by retired geophysicist Rob Wallace.

It was about the formation 94 million years ago of the chalk that lies below the Thames Valley, and the uses these deposits and the workings were put to in later times.

He explained that the time scales used by geologists are different to those in ‘normal’ use – to most people 1,000 years is a long time, but geologically it is ‘recent’, and ‘a million years’ is not very long for geologists.

The Thames Valley area was quite different 94 million years ago, with shallow warm water like the present Florida Keys.

Into the large areas of quite shallow relatively static water, layers of chalk were laid down, made of microscopic marine creatures forming millions of fossils which settled on the bottom eventually making significant thicknesses of chalk.

In the UK the oldest rocks are to the north and west, with younger ones to the south and east.

Related posts

Man wanted in connection with three burglaries in Wokingham and Winnersh

Police provide update on minibus crash where six-year-old boy was killed

For the area to the south east of a line drawn from Flamborough Head, in Yorkshire, to the Dorset coast, the underlying strata is chalk, with younger rocks overlying the chalk in some areas and the local area (including Wargrave and Emmer Green) is on the upper chalk layer, formed when the area was a sub-tropical coastal marsh, and the chalk is very clean with very little grit or wood derived particles in it.

At the end of the Ice Age, water from melting glaciers spread a lot of material like gravels and clays, and iron oxide, some of which were left above the chalk.

Rob then told the history of how these were used locally. In Tudor times, brick making increased – using silica, clay, lime, iron oxide and magnesia which could all be found locally in the chalk or younger rocks above it, and Reading became famous therefore for their production – Thomas Hardy in Jude the Obscure calling Reading Aldbrickham – with the last brickworks staying in operation until 1967.

In the mid-Victorian era, a local brickworks could produce half a million bricks a year, but that represented only 100-200 houses, so Reading needed many such places.

One of the mines providing chalk for brick making was located at Milestone Wood, at Emmer Green, running under Kiln Road, with an extensive range of tunnels in the upper chalk strata. This is very white and clean with some layers of flint, about 20m below the surface.

Although the chalk is hard, miners working by candlelight could remove the rock using hammer and chisel without needing explosives – some of their tools being found in the tunnels.

There is no water in the mine – the tunnels being high above the river level.

As in many such caves, there is graffiti on the walls, the earliest date written there being 1776, the names including various notable Reading citizens.

In the late 1930s, it became obvious war would soon break out, and plans to save national treasures well away from possible enemy targets.

The ‘Peppard Road disused mine’ is mentioned as a place to store some National Archives and maybe Berkshire Archives.

Few people were needed to look after it, and it was safe from enemy bombs. Winston Churchill believed that auxiliary units of commandos would be necessary to fight a guerilla campaign against any invading forces, and is possible that a Nissen hut in the tunnels was for one of these units. They had modern armaments and supplies of explosives, intending to slow down an enemy advance.

Although there were a number of bases for auxiliary units, there is no formal record of where they were.

The brickworks associated with the mine appears to have ceased working during the 1950s, and the mine remained dormant for another 20 years or so, until the 89th Reading Scouts set about finding what lay beneath their Scout hut.

For more information about the society, or a more detailed report, visit the website at: www.wargravehistory.org.uk

PETER DELANEY

Keep up to date by signing up for our daily newsletter

We don’t spam we only send our newsletter to people who have requested it.

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Tags: berksBerkshirechalk minesemmer greenLocal NewsUK Newswargrave local history societyWokinghamwokywoky berkswoky berkshire
Previous Post

Reading Phoenix Choir to hold come and sing day for Mozart’s Requiem

Next Post

IN THE COMMUNITY: Inner Wheel dances for 100 years

FOLLOW US

POPULAR THIS WEEK

Police Picture: Pixabay

Woman sexually assaulted by teenager outside Morrisons in Bracknell

June 6, 2025

Independent Remuneration Panel is looking for Volunteers

June 10, 2025
Cllr Pauline Jorgensen

FROM THE OPPOSITION: Supporting our Hong Kong Chinese community

June 9, 2025
Claire Chappell's donated locks will be made into real hair wigs for young people who have lost their own. Picture: Claire Chappell

Claire’s hair today, gone tomorrow, for little princesses

June 9, 2025
Hurst Bowling Club, in an idyllic village setting, is England's second oldest club, and possibly its friendliest. Pictures: Emma Merchant

Why ‘England’s friendliest bowling club’ needs a new clubhouse

June 6, 2025
Chem Campbell

Reading FC miss out on transfer target to fellow League One club

June 10, 2025

ABOUT US

Wokingham Today is dedicated to providing news online across the whole of the Borough of Wokingham. It is a Social Enterprise, existing to support the various communities in Wokingham Borough.

Wokingham.Today is a Social Enterprise and aims to ensure that everyone within the Borough has free access to independent and up-to-date news. However, providing this service is not without costs. If you are able to, please make a contribution to support our work.

CONTACT US

[email protected]

Keep up to date with our daily newsletter

We don’t spam we only send our newsletter to people that have subscribed

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

  • Support Us
  • Book Advertising
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Get the Print Edition
  • Sign up for our daily newsletter

The Wokingham Paper Ltd publications are regulated by IPSO – the Independent Press Standards Organisation.
If you have a complaint about a  The Wokingham Paper Ltd  publication in print or online, you should, in the first instance, contact the publication concerned, email: [email protected], or telephone: 0118 327 2662. If it is not resolved to your satisfaction, you should contact IPSO by telephone: 0300 123 2220, or visit its website: www.ipso.co.uk. Members of the public are welcome to contact IPSO at any time if they are not sure how to proceed, or need advice on how to frame a complaint.

No Result
View All Result
  • HOME
  • MY AREA
    • Arborfield
    • Barkham
    • Beech Hill
    • Binfield
    • Bracknell
    • Charvil
    • Crowthorne
    • Earley
    • Emmbrook
    • Finchampstead
    • Grazeley
    • Henley
    • Hurst
    • Lower Earley
    • Norreys
    • Reading
    • Remenham
  • COMMUNITY
  • LIFESTYLE
  • SPORT
  • READING FC
  • OBITUARIES
  • WHAT’S ON
  • JOBS
  • PHOTOS
  • ADVERTISE WITH US
  • CONTACT US
  • WHERE TO GET THE PRINT EDITION
  • SUPPORT US

© 2022 - The Wokingham Paper Ltd - All Right Reserved.