Bracknell
Bracknell is a
town in the
Bracknell Forest borough of the
English county of
Berkshire. It lies 18 km (11 miles) to the southeast of
Reading, 14 km (9 miles) southwest of
Windsor and 58 km (36 miles) west of
London. The town is surrounded, on the east and south, by the vast expanse of
Swinley and
Crowthorne Woods.
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.
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.
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, EasthampsteadThe 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.
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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.
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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,
Sun Microsystems and
Cognos.
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 -- since then, the building has had the 3M logo removed and been heavily vandalised inside. It is also due for demolition. The town was also the home of the
Met Office until
2003, when it relocated to
Exeter in Devon.
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.
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.
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
*
Bracknell Bees Ice Hockey Club*
Bracknell Forest Lions Club*
2nd Bracknell Scout Group - Scouting for Bullbrook & Warfield*Bracknell Sport and Leisure Centre
*Coral Reef Water Park
*The Downshire Golf Complex
*Esporta, the Royal County of Berkshire Club
*John Nike Bracknell Ski and Snowboard Centre
*The Look Out Discovery Centre
*
Brakenhale School*
Easthampstead Park School*
Garth Hill College*
Ranelagh Church of England School*
Bracknell Town Council*
Bracknell Forest Borough Unitary Authority*
Royal Berkshire History: Bracknell*
Change Bracknell*
Bracknell Christadelphians*
Chav Towns entry for Bracknell*
Welcome to Bracknell
