Tilehurst /ˈtaɪlhɜːrst/ is a village and civil parish on the outskirts of the town of Reading in the county of Berkshire, England.

It lies to the west of the centre of Reading; it extends from the River Thames in the north to the A4 road in the south.

Forster and Fitton possessed the manor until the turn of the century, when Elizabeth sold it to Henry Best and Francis Jackson.

[5] Over the space of five years, the manor passed from Best and Jackson to the son of Sir Thomas Crompton, then on to Dutch merchant Peter Vanlore.

[5] Page and Ditchfield write that in the early 18th century the manor was also owned by the family of John Kendrick, albeit for a short period.

[9][10] The manor was retained by the Blagrave family until the 1920s, after which it served as the clubhouse for the estate's golf course and was later converted into apartments.

[5] Some of the manor was later reinherited by the Stonors, though the majority was retained by the Fortescues until passing through marriage to the Wentworth family.

[5] In 1562 the manor was bought by John Bolney and Ambrose Dormer, after which it was passed into the family of Tanfield Vachell.

[4] The Great Western Main Line was built through Berkshire in 1841; Tilehurst railway station opened in 1882.

This gave the need for improved utilities; electricity arrived in the 1920s (replacing the gas that fuelled the area from 1906) and Tilehurst Water Tower was built in 1932.

This site was positioned between Westwood Road and Pierce's Hill and had served well as a venue for occasional local social events.

[17] The eastern end of the parish of Tilehurst around the workhouse and Prospect Park was incorporated into the borough of Reading in September 1887.

[22] The government decided instead to leave Reading's boundaries unchanged from when they had last been reviewed in 1911, placing the Tilehurst civil parish in Newbury district, which became West Berkshire in 1998.

Tilehurst is situated on a hill (approximately 100 metres (330 ft) AMSL), 3 miles (4.8 km) to the west of Reading.

[23] The land is steep to the west and south of the village; the gradient is smoother north (towards the River Thames) and east (descending towards Reading).

[4][23] Other areas of Tilehurst include Kentwood near the railway station in the north, Norcot in the east, Churchend around St Michael's parish church in the south, and Little Heath in the west.

Tilehurst has a Site of Special Scientific Interest just to the west of the village, called Sulham and Tidmarsh Woods and Meadows.

Kilns were established at Grovelands and Kentwood—both to the east of the settlement—with clay pits being dug on Norcot Hill in an area now known as The Potteries.

[30] The cable was also included on the 1940s Ordnance Survey New Popular Edition maps, labelled as an "aerial ropeway".

[33] The latter was more specifically named in the 1899 Pre-WWII 1:2,500 scale Berkshire map as "Norcot Kiln, Brick and Tile Works".

[53] The catchment areas of King's Academy Prospect and Theale Green Community School also cover parts of Tilehurst.