Together these villages form a civil parish situated beside the River Thames 2 miles (3 km) south of Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England.

[1] The A4155 main road linking Henley with Reading, Berkshire passes through the parish.

Shiplake village contains numerous Grade II listed buildings and monuments.Shiplake Cross is the sporting and community centre of the parish.

It consists of just five roads: Memorial Avenue, Orchard Close, Plough Lane, Plowden Way and Schoolfields.

[2] The other supposed origin is a mix of Saxon (Scip=ship) and Danish (Lack= to want or not to possess) 'lack of ships' and may relate to a Viking practice of sinking boats as a cache.

In 1869 the church was restored and enlarged to designs by the Gothic Revival architect GE Street.

These include Shiplake Court, an historic estate and country house beside the parish church that overlooks the Thames.

[16] Some of the college buildings are Grade II listed, including its "extraordinary"[11] water tower.

[18] Binfield Heath and Crowsley remain part of the Church of England parish of Shiplake, as does Eye and Dunsden to the south.

Shiplake has a small number of industrial, storage, retail, distribution and office units.

Shiplake College is an independent day and boarding school for boys aged 11–18 and girls aged 16–18, located just off the main A4155 Henley on Thames to Reading road by Saints Peter and Paul parish church.

The Wargrave & Shiplake Regatta was founded in 1867 and is held over an August weekend for non-racing shells (also known as Olympic or fine boats).