Arborfield Cross

Arborfield Cross is a village in the civil parish of Arborfield and Newland in the Borough of Wokingham in the English county of Berkshire.

Location
It is situated at what was a cross-roads but is now a roundabout on the A327 road, 3 miles south-east of Reading, 3 miles west of Wokingham, and half a mile to the east of the smaller village of Arborfield. Recently, both Arborfield and Arborfield Cross have become collectively known as Arborfield, there are no signs marking the boundary of Arborfield Cross.

Amenities
There is a mixture of housing, ranging from beautiful 15th century cottages through to modern housing. The local public house, the Swan, closed its doors in 2019. The Bull Inn is another popular restaurant in the village. There is a village store and a garage where drivers can get their cars washed. One Saturday every summer there was, until 2010, a charity gig in the park: Rock in the Rec.

Royal Connection
In the winter of 1924, The Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII and Duke of Windsor), suffered a heavy fall at the first fence of a race for Lord Cavan's Cup held at the Arborfield Cross Point-to-Point meeting. The Prince, who was known for his daredevil horsemanship, something that his father George V tried to stop, was concussed for approximately half an hour. This led to questions being raised in the House of Commons as to the safe wellbeing of the Prince, and the Prime Minister writing to the Prince on 19 March 1924 appealing to the Prince to give up competitive riding. A subsequent letter to the Prince from his father, dated 30 March 1924, asked for similar but confirmed the Prince could still enjoy hunting and playing polo.