GORING GAP

The 'Goring Gap' is a geological feature located on the River Thames approximately 8 miles upstream from Reading near .
Half a million years ago the River Thames flowed on its existing course through Oxfordshire, but turned northeast in Hertfordshire eventually reaching the North Sea in East Anglia near Ipswich. At the end of the last ice age huge amounts of melt water entered the Thames causing it to cut a new route through the chalk at the site of the Goring Gap. The newly formed route entered Berkshire continuing to present day London before finally terminating in the North Sea. Geology and Soils Michael J Crawley
Today, the Goring Gap constricts the River Thames narrowing the otherwise broad river valley. Steep hills rise southwards to Lardon Chase, the nearest section of the Berkshire Downs while the Chiltern Hills rise to the north. The twin villages of Goring and Streatley straddle the River Thames at the Goring Gap.
The Goring Gap represents an important communications and transportation corridor accommodating a major road connecting Reading to Oxford along with the principal railway line west from London (Paddington).

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