Warren Recreation Ground is named for Reginald Augustus Warren who moved to East Preston in the 1850s and took up residence in Preston Hall, the most impressive building in the vllage. He began buying up farms, buildings and land in the area, ultimately becoming a squire.
In the early 1800’s the buildings here were built as barns attached to Beehives, once one of the village’s ancient farms and now cottages. Its acreage included the field behind them – “barn field”. The larger of the barns was where corn was threshed by farm workers during the winter months and stored. Its high doors allowed wagons piled high with corn to pass through. The smaller barn was used for cattle. Their walls have local flints and their roofs were originally thatched. Eventually owned by the Warren family, the larger barn was fitted out in the 1920’s as a gymnasium and badminton court by Reginald Warren, with the adjacent “Fives Court” area for ball games. Later, his widow converted the smaller barn into a rifle range, this event being commemorated on the plaque on the wall behind the playground.
After Reginald Warren's death in 1911, his estate was broken up, some of it sold and other parts left to the village. In 1943, under the bequest of the Reverend Warren, the buildings and field passed to the Village for recreational purposes. The ensuing years saw activities such as furniture auctions, being held in them but it was 1981 that the smaller barn was converted into a village hall and named the Warren Room, which was opened that year. This event is recorded on the plaque by its entrance. A few years later the large barn was converted and named the Miller Barn, the name of the Council’s chairman at that time. The open space still homes tennis courts, a cricket ground and a children's playground.