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Water Oakley
Water Oakley is a hamlet on the River Thames in the civil parish of Bray in the county of Berkshire, England. It is the location of both Bray Studios and the Oakley Court Hotel. History It first appeared on maps around 1800. However, the name 'Oakley' is derived from the Old English ''ac-leah'' which translates as 'a clearing in an oak wood'. Local folklore suggests a Saxon church there was demolished around 1293 to build St Michael's Church in Bray. Geography Water Oakley has a site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) just to the north of the village, called Bray Pennyroyal Field Bray Pennyroyal Field is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest between Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire. This field is a filled in gravel pit next to the River Thames. It is the only site in the county for the nationally rare p .... References External links Royal Berkshire History: Water Oakley {{coord , 51.492, -0.674, type:city_region:GB, display=title Hamlets in Berks ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the River Severn. The river rises at Thames Head in Gloucestershire, and flows into the North Sea near Tilbury, Essex and Gravesend, Kent, via the Thames Estuary. From the west it flows through Oxford (where it is sometimes called the Isis), Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Henley-on-Thames and Windsor, Berkshire, Windsor. The Thames also drains the whole of Greater London. In August 2022, the source of the river moved five miles to beyond Somerford Keynes due to the heatwave in July 2022. The lower reaches of the river are called the Tideway, derived from its long tidal reach up to Teddington Lock. Its tidal section includes most of its London stretch and has a rise and fall of . From Oxford to th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Civil Parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of ecclesiastical parishes, which historically played a role in both secular and religious administration. Civil and religious parishes were formally differentiated in the 19th century and are now entirely separate. Civil parishes in their modern form came into being through the Local Government Act 1894, which established elected parish councils to take on the secular functions of the parish vestry. A civil parish can range in size from a sparsely populated rural area with fewer than a hundred inhabitants, to a large town with a population in the tens of thousands. This scope is similar to that of municipalities in Continental Europe, such as the communes of France. However, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bray, Berkshire
Bray, occasionally Bray on Thames, is a large suburban village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire. It sits on the banks of the River Thames, to the southeast of Maidenhead of which it is a suburb. The village is mentioned in the comedic song "The Vicar of Bray". Bray contains two of the eight three-Michelin-starred restaurants in the United Kingdom and has several large business premises including Bray Studios at Water Oakley, where the first series of Hammer Horror films were produced. Geography The civil parish of Bray is far larger than the village itself and includes a number of other villages and hamlets over an area of . It had a population of 8,425 at the 2001 census, increasing to 9,110 at the 2011 census. Bray is a large parish, although its area has shrunk considerably since Maidenhead was detached. As well as the village, the parish contains a large number of villages and hamlets, often greens, which were originally scattered amongst the remai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berkshire in 1957 because of the presence of Windsor Castle, and letters patent were issued in 1974. Berkshire is a county of historic origin, a ceremonial county and a non-metropolitan county without a county council. The county town is Reading. The River Thames formed the historic northern boundary, from Buscot in the west to Old Windsor in the east. The historic county, therefore, includes territory that is now administered by the Vale of White Horse and parts of South Oxfordshire in Oxfordshire, but excludes Caversham, Slough and five less populous settlements in the east of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. All the changes mentioned, apart from the change to Caversham, took place in 1974. The towns of Abingdon, Didcot, Far ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bray Studios (UK)
Bray Studios is a British film and television facility in Water Oakley near Bray, Berkshire. It is best known for its association with Hammer Film Productions. History Down Place Down Place, a large Thamesside house in the Berkshire hamlet of Water Oakley, was built in the 1750s for Richard Tonson, the Member of Parliament for Windsor and relative of publisher Jacob Tonson. After Tonson's death in 1772, the house was owned by the Dukes of Argyll and subsequently by John Barker Church. A later owner, Mr Hudleston, sold the property to Henry Harford in around 1807. The Harford family continued to occupy the house at the time of the 1901 census. At some point after this, the house was vacated except for the west wing where the Davies family resided. Subsequently, the main building largely fell into dereliction. Hammer Film Productions (1951–1970) In 1951, Hammer Film Productions bought Down Place, a location they had used in 1950 to film '' The Dark Light''. The premis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oakley Court
Oakley Court is a Victorian Gothic country house set in overlooking the River Thames at Water Oakley in the civil parish of Bray in the English county of Berkshire. It was built in 1859 and is currently a hotel. It is a Grade II* listed building that has been often used as a film location. Overview The Court was built in 1859 for Sir Richard Hall Say who married Ellen Evans of Boveney Court in 1857. He was appointed High Sheriff of Berkshire in 1864 and Justice of the Peace in 1865. In 1874 Oakley Court was sold to Lord Otho FitzGerald, then to a John Lewis Phipps and in 1900 to Sir William Beilby Avery of Avery Scales. In 1919 Ernest Olivier purchased the property together with of Berkshire woodland for £27,000. Sir Richard Hall-Say Richard Hall-Say built Oakley Court in 1859 two years after his marriage. He was born as Richard Hall in 1827. His father was Richard Hall, a merchant, but it was his mother Harriet Say that brought to him his great wealth. She was t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old English Language
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th century, and the first Old English literary works date from the mid-7th century. After the Norman conquest of 1066, English was replaced, for a time, by Anglo-Norman (a relative of French) as the language of the upper classes. This is regarded as marking the end of the Old English era, since during this period the English language was heavily influenced by Anglo-Norman, developing into a phase known now as Middle English in England and Early Scots in Scotland. Old English developed from a set of Anglo-Frisian or Ingvaeonic dialects originally spoken by Germanic tribes traditionally known as the Angles, Saxons and Jutes. As the Germanic settlers became dominant in England, their language replaced the languages of Roman Britain: Common Br ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anglo-saxons
The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened within Britain, and the identity was not merely imported. Anglo-Saxon identity arose from interaction between incoming groups from several Germanic peoples, Germanic tribes, both amongst themselves, and with Celtic Britons, indigenous Britons. Many of the natives, over time, adopted Anglo-Saxon culture and language and were assimilated. The Anglo-Saxons established the concept, and the Kingdom of England, Kingdom, of England, and though the modern English language owes somewhat less than 26% of its words to their language, this includes the vast majority of words used in everyday speech. Historically, the Anglo-Saxon period denotes the period in Britain between about 450 and 1066, after Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
St Michael's Church, Bray
St Michael's Church, Bray, is a Grade II* listed parish church in the Church of England in Bray, Berkshire. History The church dates from 1293, supposedly to replace a Saxon church at Water Oakley. It was partly rebuilt ca. 1500 and extensively restored 1857–82 by Thomas Henry Wyatt. It has a number of sculptures which may have come from the earlier church, including a damaged Sheela na Gig. The ecclesiastical parish shares the wide parish boundaries so is named Bray St Michael with Braywoodside. Monuments The church contains several brasses from the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries, notably that of 1378 to Sir John Foxley, the Constable of Southampton Castle. Other monuments are: *William Goddard of Philibert, d.1609, founder of Jesus Hospital, and Joyce Maunsell his wife, d.1622. *Mary Hanger (d.1738) sculpted by Peter Scheemakers. Vicars of Bray ''See'' The Vicar of Bray for the satirical description, or ''The Vicar of Bray (song)'' for the English folk song. * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Site Of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of Man. SSSI/ASSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in the United Kingdom are based upon them, including national nature reserves, Ramsar sites, Special Protection Areas, and Special Areas of Conservation. The acronym "SSSI" is often pronounced "triple-S I". Selection and conservation Sites notified for their biological interest are known as Biological SSSIs (or ASSIs), and those notified for geological or physiographic interest are Geological SSSIs (or ASSIs). Sites may be divided into management units, with some areas including units that are noted for both biological and geological interest. Biological Biological SSSI/ASSIs may ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bray Pennyroyal Field
Bray Pennyroyal Field is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest between Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire. This field is a filled in gravel pit next to the River Thames. It is the only site in the county for the nationally rare pennyroyal, which is listed in the British Red Data Book of vascular plants Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes () or collectively Tracheophyta (), form a large group of land plants ( accepted known species) that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They al .... The site is grazed by horses, a management regime which is thought to be beneficial to the plant. The site is private land with no public access. References {{SSSIs Berks Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Berkshire ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hamlets In Berkshire
A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. The word and concept of a hamlet has roots in the Anglo-Norman settlement of England, where the old French ' came to apply to small human settlements. Etymology The word comes from Anglo-Norman ', corresponding to Old French ', the diminutive of Old French ' meaning a little village. This, in turn, is a diminutive of Old French ', possibly borrowed from (West Germanic) Franconian languages. Compare with modern French ', Dutch ', Frisian ', German ', Old English ' and Modern English ''home''. By country Afghanistan In Afghanistan, the counterpart of the hamlet is the qala (Dari: قلعه, Pashto: کلي) meaning "fort" or "hamlet". The Afghan ''qala'' is a fortified group of houses, generally with its own commu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
