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Bracknell

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Bracknell is a town in the Bracknell Forest borough of the English county of Berkshire. It lies 12 miles (20 km) to the east of Reading and 9 miles (14 km) south-west of Windsor. The town is surrounded, on the east and south, by the vast expanse of Swinley and Crowthorne Woods.

Contents

Local government

Bracknell was made a civil parish in its own right in 1955. It has a town council. Under the Local Government Act 1972, the entire Easthampstead Rural District became the Bracknell District on April 1, 1974. It was granted Borough status, when it changed its name to Bracknell Forest in 1988.

Geography

The town covers areas previously in the parishes of Easthampstead, Warfield, Binfield and Winkfield. The town's centre lies just north of the Railway Station with completely pedestrianized and much under-cover shopping around Princess Square, Charles Square and the Broadway. There are 'out-of-town' shops, a multi-screen cinema and ten pin bowling complex at the Peel Centre. Just to the west are the Western and Southern Industrial Estates, either side of the railway line. There are many residential suburbs (see settlement table below) of varying dates, the oldest being Priestwood and, of course, Easthampstead Village. The former RAF Staff College buildings are at Harmans Water. The south-eastern corner of the town remains rural at present (but see below), around Peacock Farm, Easthampstead Park and the wooded Yew Tree Corner. There are large ponds at Farley Wood and the Easthampstead Mill Pond between Great Hollands and Wildridings, and two lakes at South Hill Park. The Bull Brook emerges above ground just within the bounds of the suburb of Bullbrook.

History

Bracknell is a Saxon word meaning 'Bracken-covered Hiding Place'. One of the oldest buildings in the town is the 'Old Manor' public house, a 17th century brick manor house featuring a number of priest holes. Next door once stood the 'Hind's Head' coaching inn, where it is said Dick Turpin used to drink. In 1723, the Grenadier Guards had a battle with the infamous bandits called the 'Wokingham Blacks' near the town. Percy Bysshe Shelley lived here for a very short time in 1813.

See main article, Easthampstead
The town covers all of the old village of Easthampstead (though not all of the old parish) and the hamlet of Ramslade. Easthampstead has a very long history. Easthampstead Park was a favoured Royal hunting lodge in Windsor Forest and Catherine of Aragon was banished there until her divorce was finalised. It was later the home of the Trumbulls who were patrons of Alexander Pope from Binfield.

New town

Charles Square, Bracknell
Enlarge
Charles Square, Bracknell

Bracknell was designated a new town in 1949, in the aftermath of the Second World War. The site was originally a village-cum-small town in the civil parish of Warfield in the Easthampstead Rural District. Very little of the original Bracknell is left. The location was chosen over White Waltham, an alternative possibility, because the Bracknell site avoided encroaching on good quality agricultural land. It had the additional advantage of being on a railway line. The town centre is a 1960s design, and considered by many to be in need of a major refurbishment. The Borough Council is therefore working in partnership with the Bracknell Regeneration Partnership (Legal & General and Schroders) to regenerate the town centre.

A feature of a number of the estates that causes great confusion for outsiders and newcomers alike is the fact that streets only have names, not titles - in Birch Hill, Crown Wood, Great Hollands and others there is no 'Road', 'Avenue', 'Street', just 'Frobisher', 'Jameston', 'Juniper', 'Jevington'. The residential streets are, however, named in alphabetical order starting in Great Hollands, with As, through Ds, such as Donnybrook, in Hanworth, Js, such as 'Jameston' and 'Jevington' in Birch Hill, and beyond. But there is exception for streets in the Wimpy Homes area of Bracknell, Streets such as Hornby Avenue and Packenham Road are present here. The town has expanded way beyond its intended size into farmland to the south. Major expansion is again proposed, to the west of the town at Peacock Farm, and a new neighbourhood on former Ministry of Defence RAF Staff College site near the town centre.

Business

The Pub "The Red Lion" and the 3M Building
Enlarge
The Pub "The Red Lion" and the 3M Building

The town was successful in attracting high-tech industries, and has become home to companies such as Fujitsu (formerly ICL), Hewlett-Packard, Siemens, Honeywell, and Novell. Its success subsequently spread into the surrounding Thames Valley or M4 corridor, attracting IT firms such as DEC (subsequently Hewlett-Packard), Microsoft, Oracle Corporation, Dell, and Sun Microsystems.

The most visible landmark in the town centre is Winchester House, formerly owned by 3M and informally known as the 3M building as it had the 3M logo in illuminated red letters in a prominent place at the top of the building. It is a twelve storey building and it can be seen from over a mile away. It used to house the company's UK headquarters before being abandoned in favour of new premises in Farley Wood on the town's northern edge in 2004. The town was also the home of the Met Office until 2003.

Arts

In the south of the town is South Hill Park, a mansion dating from 1760, although much rebuilt, that now houses a large Arts Centre. The Wilde Theatre was opened in 1984, named after Oscar Wilde who created the character "Lady Bracknell" in his play The Importance of Being Earnest.

Transport

Bracknell has two railway stations: Bracknell and Martins Heron on the main line between London's Waterloo station and Reading, originally built by the London and South Western Railway and now operated by South West Trains. As a consequence of the frequent service on this line, Bracknell is now a major commuter centre with its residents travelling in both directions (westwards to Reading and eastwards to London).

The town has good road links and is situated at the end of the A329(M), mid-way between Junction 3 of the M3 and Junction 10 of the M4 motorways.

Trivia

In 2004, research into smoking habits in Britain by the consultancy firm CACI found that, on average, Bracknell's inhabitants spent less money on cigarettes each year than people from any other area of the country. ff

Sport and leisure

Schools

External links


Settlements in Bracknell Forest
Towns: Bracknell | Crowthorne | Sandhurst
Civil parishes: Binfield | Warfield | Winkfield
Bracknell suburbs: Birch Hill | Bullbrook | Crown Wood | Easthampstead | Farley Wood | Great Hollands | Hanworth | Harmans Water | Home Park | Martins Heron | Priestwood | Quelm Park | Temple Park | Warfield Park | Whitegrove | Wick Hill | Wildridings | Wooden Hill
Other villages and hamlets: Amen Corner | Billingbear | Brock Hill | Brookside | Burleigh | Chavey Down | College Town | Cranbourne | Forest Park | Hawthorn Hill | Hayley Green | Jealott's Hill | Lawrence Hill | Little Sandhurst | Maiden's Green | Moss End | Newell Green | North Ascot | Nuptown | Owlsmoor | Popeswood | Swinley | Warfield Street | The Warren | West End | Winkfield Row | Winkfield Street | Woodside

 

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