Дорни: английская деревня на Темзе

the village in England

Dorney is a village and civil parish in the Unitary Authority of Buckinghamshire, England, bordering on the River Thames to the west and south, and bisected by the Jubilee River. In 2011 it had a population of 752. It is 2.3 mile (4 km) west of neighbouring Eton, which is a slightly larger parish. It includes a grade I listed manor house, Dorney Court, as well as the largest rowing lake in the south of England, Dorney Lake. Altogether water accounts for 13% of Dorney, the highest proportion in Buckinghamshire.

The village is on the north bank of the River Thames on very gently sloping land towards the river and inchoate streams which were mostly joined into the Jubilee River, mainly on gravel underlain soil. Eton is 2.3 mile (4 km) east, the centre of which directly faces Windsor across the Thames. Slough, which is linked by two roads forming a rectangle with Dorney, is 3.7 mile (6 km) ENE. Dorney has Dorney Lake, where alongside Holme Pierrepont in England major rowing events take place, such as at the 2012 Summer Olympics and annually in events such as the Wallingford, Marlow and Metropolitan Regattas. The Olympic games also hosted canoeing events there which continue to take place occasionally. In the south east Dorney Common is a large traditional grassed common, roughly triangular, which is an SSSI. Owing to the continued use of the land for grazing, the common offers panoramic views of Windsor Castle 2 and a half miles to the east.

In local administration Dorney's community meets at a civil parish council for minor upkeep, community events and recreational matters and is surrounded to the south, east and west by the non metropolitan county of Berkshire, with a narrow border along its north (with Taplow and Burnham) further towards the heart of Buckinghamshire. This anomaly of forming a salient just like Iver dates to the Local Government Act 1972, which came into force on 1 April 1974 – the village had been originally included in Berkshire in its Bill, but an amendment to keep it in Buckinghamshire was proposed by local MP Ronald Bell and accepted by the government. The village was in an area affected by a postal county anomaly, in that until the redundancy of these in 1996 under the Royal Mail national addressing system, Royal Mail ensured better delivery to write "Dorney [Buckinghamshire], WINDSOR, Berkshire, SL4 ". It is now acceptable to write instead the more correct "Dorney, WINDSOR, SL4 ", or even "Dorney, WINDSOR, Buckinghamshire, SL4 ".

None of the properties in Dorney Reach are listed in terms of architecture, however a central cluster in the other, closer two parts of the village are, giving 15 in total. Although the church was 'restored' so somewhat unrecognisable in terms of obscuring its medieval decoration (this took place in the 19th century), the chancel and nave date from the 12th century, the tower was built about 1540, and the north or Garrard chapel and the porch were added in the 17th century. A second country house takes its name from the parish, but is just over its northeastern border, Dorneywood, which is in a high listed building category and which is used as home (and entertainment or state reception venue) for a senior member of the Government, usually a Secretary of State or other Minister of the Crown.

The village has no railway station. A regular bus timetable operates to Windsor and Slough. The village is partly bounded by the north by the M4 motorway where there is a junction just after the road north from the village meets the A4 Bath Road for Slough 'West'. This access to London Heathrow Airport and the city itself and has meant that Dorney is since its construction accessible to city commuters as well as Thames Valley commuters.

A majority of the inhabitants in 2011 (62.8%) described themselves as Christian – if this is reflective of UK trends, and in the absence of a Roman Catholic church then likely this implies a sizeable majority are Anglican whether they attend church or not – its sole parish church is of this denomination and is dedicated to Saint James. More than 2% of the population are Hindu, Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist.

+ 2011 Published Statistics: Population, home ownership and extracts from Physical Environment, surveyed in 2005Output areaHomes owned outrightOwned with a loanSocially rentedPrivately rentedOtherkm2 roadskm2 waterkm2 domestic gardenskm2 domestic buildingskm2 non domestic buildingsUsual residents km2Civil parish 96 104 31 46 4 0.098 0.728 0.301 0.035 0.017 752 5.45