Winnersh is a large suburban village and civil parish in the borough of Wokingham in Berkshire, England. The village is located around 2 miles (3.2 km) northwest of Wokingham town centre around 4 miles (6.4 km) southeast of central Reading. It is roughly bounded by the M4 motorway to the south, the A329(M) motorway to the north, and the River Loddon to the west. The parish extends beyond the M4 to cover the estate village of Sindlesham.
The name "Winnersh" comes from the Old English words winn meaning meadow or pasture and ersc (or earsh) meaning stubble field or park. This implies that Winnersh consisted of cultivated areas of land centuries ago. It has been mentioned in documents since the late 12th century as a description of the area. Winnersh was originally one of the four "Liberties" of the parish of Hurst.
Winnersh was largely developed during the railway age. The South Eastern Railway built the North Downs Line in 1849, but the station now known as Winnersh was not opened until 1910, and was originally named "Sindlesham and Hurst Halt", so clearly Winnersh as a village did not exist in the form that it is today (the station is fairly central in the current village). The station was renamed Winnersh Halt in 1930.
Housing and then light industry followed the railway, and now Winnersh has two stations, Winnersh and Winnersh Triangle, the latter also being the name of the industrial estate that it serves. Modern Winnersh exists mostly as a dormitory town and forms part of the seven mile long urban corridor along the A329 between Wokingham and Reading.
Today the centre of the area is best known by the "Winnersh Crossroads", the junction of the A329, (Wokingham-Reading road), and the B3030 (Sindlesham-Hurst road). Much of modern Winnersh includes areas that were formerly parts of the villages of Sindlesham and Merryhill Green. Most of Merryhill Green was destroyed by the construction of the A329(M).