The first written record of the name was in The Register of St Osmund, which is housed in the archives of Salisbury Cathedral.
The document states that St Osmund visited Sonning and says: "Osbertus de Woodleghe holds a dwelling house and yard and is able to pasture his pigs on the Lord of the Manor's woods".
[3] The 1550 Survey of Sonning, housed in Berkshire Record Office, includes the first modern spelling of the name Woodley.
The adjoining house of Bulmershe Court, otherwise Woodley Lodge, was built in 1777 by James Wheble.
People lost their rights to cut furze for fuel, catch rabbits and pasture their animals on Bulmershe Heath.
[3] Woodley Lodge, later known as Bulmershe Court, was bought by Henry Addington, who lived there every summer 1790–1801.
Addington was the Captain Commandant of Woodley Yeomanry, a volunteer cavalry regiment formed by gentlemen and wealthy farmers who owned horses.
[5] The 1847 Kelly's Directory of Berkshire described Woodley as " a scattered village and consists principally of farm houses.
There is a market for fat cattle, held at Loddon Bridge every Monday, which is well attended by butchers from Reading and the vicinity".
Pauline Gower, later Commander of the Women's Air Transport Auxiliary, earned her pilot's licence there in September 1930.
The company name was Phillips and Powis until 1943 when it was changed to Miles Aircraft Ltd. Two of the firm's most famous aeroplanes were the Magister and the Master which were used for basic training of RAF pilots.
In the years before the war numerous aviators visited Woodley, including Charles Lindbergh and Amy Johnson;[2] Douglas Bader lost his legs in a flying accident on the airfield in 1931.
[citation needed] Bader was taken to the Royal Berkshire Hospital and operated on by the chief surgeon Mr Joyce.
From 1935 a civilian flying school was operated by the Philips and Powis company, where trainees were prepared for service in the RAF.
By 1939 Phillips and Powis had 1,000 employees and major extensions to the factory and an impressive new 'art deco' headquarters designed by Guy Morgan were officially opened by Air Minister Sir Kingsley Wood on 27 January 1939.
When war broke out that September, the airfield and factory buildings were camouflaged and the grass runways were disguised by false hedges.
In 1940 the company was awarded a Spitfire repair and service contract and at the height of World War Two there was a 24-hour 7 day working week and 5,000 employees and many dispersed production and storage sites around the local area.
By early the 1960s the aerodrome was little-used and all flying finally ceased soon after the Handley Page (Reading) Ltd aircraft factory closed in 1962-63.
[2] Church of St John the Evangelist was designed by Henry Woodyer,[11] paid for by Robert Palmer of Holme Park and built in 1873.
Primary schools include ones at Highwood, Beechwood, St Dominic's Roman Catholic, Rivermead, Woodley Church of England, Southlake and Willow Bank.
Woodley has a site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) just to the east of the town, called Lodge Wood and Sandford Mill[12] The town has three local nature reserves, and they are called Alder Moors, Highwood and Lavells Lake.
The club runs a youth section, Woodley Town Kestrels, with boys and girls teams from under-7 to under-17 age groups.
The Society has added Redlands, a local lake in Hurst, and a stretch of the River Loddon that flows close to the east of Woodley and Earley.