The Sonning Works are a gravel works owned by Lafarge

Lafarge

Lafarge is a French industrial company specialising in four major products: cement, construction aggregates, concrete and gypsum wallboard. In 2010 the company was the world's second-largest cement manufacturer by mass shipped behind Holcim.-History:...

, located near Sonning Eye

Sonning Eye

Sonning Eye is a hamlet on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, in the civil parish of Eye & Dunsden, at the very southernmost tip of Oxfordshire.- Overview :...

, Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

Overview

The gravel

Gravel

Gravel is composed of unconsolidated rock fragments that have a general particle size range and include size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. Gravel can be sub-categorized into granule and cobble...

 works is positioned on the south side of the B478 Playhatch Road between Playhatch

Playhatch

Playhatch is a hamlet in the civil parish of Eye & Dunsden in South Oxfordshire, England, about northeast of Reading, Berkshire.-Overview:Before 1866, Playhatch formed part of the Oxfordshire section of Sonning civil parish....

 to the west and Sonning Eye on the River Thames

River Thames

The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...

 to the east. To the west and north is Berry Brook

Berry Brook

The Berry Brook is a stream close to Sonning Eye in the flood plain of the River Thames, in southern Oxfordshire, England.The stream flows northeast from close to the Redgrave-Pinsent Rowing Lake, parallel with the A4155 Henley Road ourt of Caversham, Reading towards Henley-on-Thames. It flows...

, which joins the River Thames at Hallsmead Ait

Hallsmead Ait

Hallsmead Ait is an island in the River Thames in Berkshire, England. It is on the reach above Shiplake Lock near Lower Shiplake.The island is large and triangular shaped, forming a pair with The Lynch, a similar shaped island. It is uninhabited and covered with a wide variety of trees...

 to the northeast.

Gravel has been extracted from the River Thames

River Thames

The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...

 floodplain between Caversham

Caversham, Berkshire

Caversham is a suburb and former village in the unitary authority of Reading, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, within the royal county of Berkshire, on the opposite bank from the rest of Reading...

, a suburb of Reading

Reading, Berkshire

Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....

, and Sonning Eye for much of the second half of the 20th century. The facility was previously owned by Redland plc

Redland plc

Redland plc was a leading British building materials business. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.-History:...

 before it was taken over by the French firm Lafarge in the late 1990s. The gravel pits are permanently flooded as a set of artificial lakes known as Caversham Lakes

Caversham Lakes

Caversham Lakes is a set of lakes created through gravel extraction between the suburb of Caversham in Reading, Berkshire and the hamlet of Sonning Eye in Oxfordshire, just north of the River Thames.- Overview :...

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Sports

To the southwest is the Redgrave-Pinsent Rowing Lake, formed from former gravel pit

Gravel pit

Gravel pit is the term for an open cast working for extraction of gravel. Gravel pits often lie in river valleys where the water table is high, so they may fill naturally with water to form ponds or lakes. Old, abandoned gravel pits are normally used either as nature reserves, or as amenity areas...

s extracted by the works in the past. Also located here are facilities for sailing

Sailing

Sailing is the propulsion of a vehicle and the control of its movement with large foils called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and sometimes the keel or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to move the boat relative to its surrounding medium and...

 at Reading Sailing Club and waterskiing. Princess Margaret and her husband Lord Snowdon waterskied here during the 1960s. In addition, there is fishing

Fishing

Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....

 in the artificial lake.

Sonning Regatta

Sonning Regatta

Sonning Regatta is the regatta of the village of Sonning in Berkshire and the hamlet of Sonning Eye in Oxfordshire, England, on the north and south banks of the River Thames.- History :The original Regatta was interrupted by World War II...

is held every two years on the river here near the sailing club or on the lake if the weather is bad.