Editing Langley, Berkshire (section)

==History==

===Notable buildings===
[[File:Seymour Almshouses, Langley Marish Geograph-2309314-by-Stefan-Czapski.jpg|thumb|Seymour Almshouses]]
The [[St Mary the Virgin Church, Langley|Church of St Mary the Virgin]] is in the [[Church of England]] [[diocese of Oxford]]. The church is a Grade I [[listed building]]<ref>{{cite web |title=The Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Langley Marish. (Grade I Listing) |url=http://www.sloughmuseum.co.uk/st_maries_langley.htm |publisher=Slough Museum |access-date=26 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080704191421/http://www.sloughmuseum.co.uk/st_maries_langley.htm |archive-date=4 July 2008 }}</ref> and houses the [[Kedermister Library]], given by Sir John Kedermister (or Kederminster), who also endowed the surviving almshouses of 1617 in the village. Other surviving almshouses include the Seymour Almshouses (1679–1688), given by Sir Edward Seymour who was a [[Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)|Speaker of the House of Commons]], and those founded in 1839 by William Wild in Horsemoor Green.

The courtier [[Henry Norris (courtier)|Henry Norris]] owned a house, "Parlaunt" or "Leving", at Langley Marish. The property was forfeited to the crown when he was executed in May 1536. When Henry married [[Anne of Cleves]] in 1540, furnishings from Parlaunt were taken to [[Oatlands Palace]]. There are no remains of this manor house.<ref>[[Thomas P. Campbell]], ''Henry VIII and the Art of Majesty: Tapestries at the Tudor Court'' (Yale, 2007), p. 260.</ref>

Sir John Kedermister's house, [[Langley Park, Buckinghamshire|Langley Park]] (bought by [[Charles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough]]) was demolished and rebuilt to designs by [[Stiff Leadbetter]], starting in 1756 and completed in the year of his death, 1758.<ref>A domed temple in the park, {{circa|1740}}, attributed to [[Roger Morris (1695–1749)|Roger Morris]], no longer exists; {{cite book |last=Colvin |first=H.M. |author-link=Howard Colvin |title=A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600–1840 |year=1997 |orig-year=1954 |edition=3rd |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |location=New Haven |isbn=0-300-07207-4 }}: ''s.v.'' "Leadbetter, Stiff", "Morris, Roger".</ref>

The [[Langley Academy]] secondary school opened in 2008 and was designed by architects [[Foster + Partners]].

===Langley Airfield===
The [[Hawker Aircraft|Hawker Aircraft Company]] bought Parlaunt Farm at Langley in 1938 and built a major factory and airfield there. Over 9,000 military aircraft were manufactured at the site especially the [[Hawker Hurricane|Hurricane]] during [[World War II]] and also the [[Hawker Tempest|Tempest]] and [[Hawker Sea Fury|Sea Fury]]. The final Hurricane built (a MkIIC serialled PZ865, which still flies today with the [[Battle of Britain Memorial Flight]]) was completed here on 27 July 1944 and named 'Last of The Many' in a special ceremony. Retiring Chief Test Pilot [[George Bulman (pilot)|P W S 'George' Bulman]] made the first flight of this the aeroplane on this occasion – he having made the first flight of the prototype from [[Brooklands]] almost nine years earlier.

The [[Hawker Tornado]] (1940), [[Hawker Typhoon|Typhoon]] (1940), [[Hawker Tempest|Tempest]] (1942), [[Hawker Sea Fury|Fury]] (1944), [[Hawker Sea Fury|Sea Fury]] (1945), and the [[General Aircraft Hamilcar]] X tank-carrying glider (1945) all made their first flights from Langley. Postwar, the aerodrome was also used by [[Airwork Services]], [[British South American Airways]] and [[Airflight]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dunnell |first1=Ben |title=The Tudor's Reign |journal=Aeroplane Monthly |date=September 2022 |volume=50 |issue=593 |page=69}}</ref> for aircraft maintenance work.

The Hawker factory closed in 1958 having also manufactured [[Hawker Hunter]] fighters and earlier jet prototypes. Production and staff were transferred to the flight test airfield at [[Dunsfold Aerodrome]] and the parent Hawker factory in [[Municipal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames|Kingston-on-Thames]] (now [[Kingston upon Thames]]), both in Surrey. Little of the factory or airfield remain today although the area's aviation past is remembered in street-names such as ''Spitfire Close'' and ''Hurricane Way''. A marker stone was unveiled by the [[Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust]] on 5 October 2019.<ref>{{cite web |title=Langley (Parlaunt Park) (Slough) |url=https://www.abct.org.uk/airfields/airfield-finder/langley-parlaunt-park-slough/ |website=Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust |access-date=11 March 2023}}</ref>

===Ford factory===
The [[Ford of Britain|Ford Motor Company]] opened a commercial vehicle component factory at Langley Airfield in 1949, and then bought the entire site from Hawker Siddeley in 1959. The former aircraft factory was re-used for commercial vehicle manufacture and the [[Ford Transit]] was built here until production was transferred to [[Ford Southampton plant|Ford's Southampton plant]] at [[Swaythling]], [[Southampton]], and later the [[Ford Cargo (Europe)|Ford Cargo]]. The Langley factory became part of [[Iveco]] in 1986 but finally closed in September 1997. Demolished a year later by Gregory Demolition, the site is now redeveloped with new housing, offices and warehousing (including [[Royal Mail]]'s [[Heathrow Worldwide Distribution Centre]], which services nearby [[Heathrow Airport]]).

===Miscellaneous===
[[File:Langley - "Red Lion" public house (geograph 7275780).jpg|thumb|The Red Lion public house, St Mary's Road]]
Langley Carnival is held annually on the second Saturday in July at the Langley Park Memorial Recreation Ground.

The Cable Corporation, based at Langley, was the first{{citation needed|date=February 2015}} cable company in the world to offer voice, video and data services to business and residential users.

Langley is reputed to be haunted by a ghost in a yellow coat.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ash |first=Russell |date=1973 |title=Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain |publisher=Reader's Digest Association Limited |page=267 |isbn=9780340165973 }}</ref>