A look at where Emmer Green is in connection to Caversham, and why it all matters.
Naturally enough, the Caversham website includes information about Emmer Green. What’s relevant to one is generally relevant to the other and thus it’s fair enough to cover them both as one.
However, doing so is NOT to ignore Emmer Green in its own right. Far from it. It would be a great shame to see Emmer Green’s own identity forgotten.
But Where Is Emmer Green?
Emmer Green was once a distinct hamlet but pinning down just which streets and so on make up Emmer Green these days isn’t obvious. There are no boundaries – let alone checkpoints! But, referencing this Open Street Map –
– Emmer Green is roughly north of Surley Row/Rotherfield Way, but west of Peppard Road/Buckingham Drive – right up until South Oxfordshire boundary.
(Caversham Park Village – unhelpfully just showing as Caversham Park on the map – is built on some of what was once Caversham Park house’s grounds.)
But that is a rough outline. Caversham Park Village estate isn’t in Emmer Green, but Caversham Park (the house) is generally included. Indeed, Caversham Park (house and grounds) may well be why Emmer Green as a hamlet grew up in the first place.
Above, I said it would be a shame if Emmer Green’s identity is forgotten. I say that, not least, because I think we can all benefit both from living in a community and from being aware of that fact. It’s a way of fighting against the depersonalisation that comes with urban sprawls. It’s reassuring. And we humans find smaller communities more ‘relatable’ than larger ones.
Add in an awareness of the overall ‘look-and-feel’ of the place you live. Season with just a smidgen of knowledge about the history of where you live. Bingo! The feeling that you’re part of a community can easily expand to feeling a sense of belonging. And that matters. Pretty well all of us want to feel like we belong.
Incidentally, here’s a small Emmer Green specific page started here, but it’s pending a fair bit of development.
