Earley (/ˈɜːrli/ ⓘ UR-lee) is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Wokingham, Berkshire, England.

Its name is sometimes spelt Erleigh or Erlegh and consists of a number of smaller areas, including Maiden Erlegh and Lower Earley, and lies some 3 miles (5 km) south and east of the centre of Reading, and some 4 miles (6 km) northwest of Wokingham.

Traces of flimsy shelters from the Mesolithic were discovered at the site of the old power station at Thames Valley Park in north Earley.

In 1673 the estate was sold to Valentine Crome, and after many changes of ownership at the end of the 18th century, it belonged to William Matthew Birt, who was Governor General of the Leeward Islands.

In 1818 the property passed to the Rt Hon Edward Golding, MP for Downton in Wiltshire.

The course extended over an area now covered by Sutcliffe Avenue, Hillside Road and Mill Lane.

[10][11] The civil parish boundary was adjusted to match the new borough boundary eighteen months later in March 1889, with the part of Earley in the borough of Reading being transferred to the civil parish of Reading St Giles.

Two new primary schools were built, together with a large supermarket complex, which opened in 1979, and a sports centre.

An additional secondary school was planned roughly opposite the sports centre next to Rushey Way, possibly on the site next to the police station.

Despite its generally 19th- and 20th-century appearance, Earley has some remnants of its older past hidden in amongst the newer development.

The Borough of Reading lies to the west, the River Thames to the north-west, Woodley to the north-east, Winnersh to the east, and Arborfield and Shinfield to the south.

The name Lower Earley is however very old, having originally been applied to the low-lying land between the old Maiden Erlegh Estate and the River Loddon which runs along the eastern edge of the borough.

The 17 bus runs 24 hours a day from the junction at the Three Tuns, through Reading town centre, towards Tilehurst.

The park houses offices of many major companies including the UK headquarters of BG Group, Microsoft, ING Direct and SGI together with offices of Oracle Corporation, Computacenter, David Lloyd Leisure, Cybersource, JP Executive Recruitment, Open Text, Regus, Websense and Worktube CV.

One of the main industries located in Earley was Sutton Seeds, whose headquarters were in London Road, at the northern end of what was once the A329(M) motorway spur (now the A3290).

The building was partly taken over by the civil engineering consultancy Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners in June 1974, when it relocated from London.

[39] It was also the site of a pioneering main-service gas turbine electricity generator, this was a 56 MW machine driven by four Rolls-Royce Avon jet engines and was commissioned in 1965.

[42] The Roman Catholic church of Our Lady of Peace & Blessed Dominic Barberi is on the Wokingham Road.