Bagshot is a town in the

Surrey Heath Surrey Heath is a local government district with borough status in Surrey, England. Its council is based in Camberley. Much of the area is within the Metropolitan Green Belt. History The district was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local ...

borough of

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, England, approximately southwest of central London. In the past, Bagshot served as an important

staging post A stage station or relay station, also known as a staging post, a posting station, or a stage stop, is a place where exhausted horses could be replaced by fresh animals, since a long journey was much faster without delays when horses needed rest ...

between London,

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

and the

West Country The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Gloucesters ...

, evidenced by the original

coaching inn The coaching inn (also coaching house or staging inn) was a vital part of Europe's inland transport infrastructure until the development of the railway, providing a resting point ( layover) for people and horses. The inn served the needs of tra ...

s still present in the town today. Much of the land surrounding Bagshot is owned by the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

. The village is adjacent to junction 3 of the M3 motorway. Bagshot railway station is on the line between Ascot and

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alders ...

and train services are run by South Western Railway Bagshot is part of the

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 ...

of Windlesham, which has a population of 17,000 and also includes the neighbouring village of

Lightwater Lightwater is a village in the Surrey Heath district of Surrey, England, about southwest of central London. Immediately surrounding towns and villages include Bagshot, Deepcut, Windlesham, Camberley, and West End, Woking. It is bounded to the n ...

History

The place-name 'Bagshot' is first attested in the Pipe Rolls of 1165, where it appears as ''Bagsheta''. It was the name of a wood, and may have meant 'Bacga's wood'. Recent excavations have shown that settlements of Bagshot date back as far as pre-Roman; before these excavations it was thought that the earliest settlements in Bagshot were late Saxon. Late

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

settlements have been identified in the area, and iron smelting appears to have been a major 'industry' in the locality. Bagshot at one time included a

Royal forest A royal forest, occasionally known as a kingswood (), is an area of land with different definitions in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The term ''forest'' in the ordinary modern understanding refers to an area of wooded land; however, the ...

. It had a Royal hunting lodge certainly through Stuart and Tudor times, now called

Bagshot Park Bagshot Park is a royal residence located near Bagshot, a village south of Windsor. It is on Bagshot Heath, a tract of formerly open land in Surrey and Berkshire. Bagshot Park occupies within the designated area of Windsor Great Park. The ...

, which is now the residence of

Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex and Forfar, (Edward Antony Richard Louis; born 10 March 1964) is a member of the British royal family. He is the youngest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the youngest sibl ...

. In Elizabethan times (late 16th century) Bagshot prospered due to its position on the main London to the West Country road (The Great South West Road, now classified as the A30). As with many villages on main coaching routes, Bagshot developed services, inns for the stagecoach passengers, and stables to provide the coaches with fresh horses.

Ann Nelson Ann Elizabeth Nelson (April 29, 1958 – August 4, 2019) was a particle physicist and professor of physics in the Particle Theory Group at the University of Washington from 1994 until her death. Nelson received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 200 ...

's "Exeter Telegraph" would stop for 20 minutes at Bagshot on its 17 hour journey to Devon. The prosperity of the Great South West Road created its share of

highwaymen A highwayman was a robber who stole from travellers. This type of thief usually travelled and robbed by horse as compared to a footpad who travelled and robbed on foot; mounted highwaymen were widely considered to be socially superior to fo ...

, one of the most notorious being William Davis, a local farmer who lived near what is known locally as the

Jolly Farmer The Jolly Farmer, formerly the Golden Farmer, is a former pub and roundabout on the boundary between Camberley and Bagshot in Surrey, England. The pub derives its name from a gold-robbing farmer, William Davies (or Davis) who spent years plunder ...

roundabout in Camberley. He was eventually caught at the White Hart Inn in Bagshot and later was hanged at the gallows in Gibbets Lane in Camberley. Not one to avoid suspicion, he always paid his debts in gold! It was after him that the pub was called the Golden Farmer. The Golden Farmer (now Jolly Farmer), was eventually sold to American Golf Discount Store, who still use the old building.

Churches

Bagshot has five churches:

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

(St. Anne's);

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

(Christ the King);

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

(Brook Church) and

Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ...

. St Anne's Church was built in 1884 in a

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style under the patronage of

Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (Arthur William Patrick Albert; 1 May 185016 January 1942), was the seventh child and third son of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He served as Gov ...

who lived in the nearby

. It is a building in red brick with stone detail under a

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

roof. The east window was dedicated in memory of Prince Arthur's youngest brother

Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, (Leopold George Duncan Albert; 7 April 185328 March 1884) was the eighth child and youngest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Leopold was later created Duke of Albany, Earl of Clarence, and Baron Arklow. ...

(d. 1884). There is a bell tower with a peal of eight bells. It is a

grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

and is situated in a

conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

Sport and leisure

Bagshot has two multi-purpose sports fields and a cricket field. Curley Park Rangers, the youth football club, meet regularly and play on pitches in both

and Bagshot. The CPR clubhouse is located at the Bagshot pitch. White Hart Royals, the football team of the White Hart pub in Bagshot village, compete in the Camberley & District Sunday Football League. Bagshot Cricket Club runs a number of adult and under 16 teams and complete in the Thames Valley League, the Three Counties League and the West Surrey Youth League. Bagshot Tennis Club has four floodlit courts and fields teams in the Woking League.

Swinley Forest Swinley Forest is a large expanse of Crown Estate woodland managed by Forestry England mainly within the civil parishes of Windlesham in Surrey and Winkfield and Crowthorne in Berkshire, England. Coverage Situated to the south-west of Windsor ...

, which borders Bagshot to the north, provides some of the best mountain biking in South-East England, with many off-road ' single-track' trails available as well as plenty of fire roads. Mountain biking is allowed with a permit and walking is free. Swinley Woods was considered as a venue for the mountain biking event of the 2012 Summer Olympics. Other clubs and organisations include Bagshot Concert Band, the Surrey Heath Archaeology and Heritage Trust, Bagshot Gymnastics Club, Camberley and Bagshot Metal Detecting Club and local branches of the

Scouts Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpacking ...

Royal Air Forces Association The Royal Air Forces Association (also called the RAF Association or RAFA) is the largest single service membership organization and the longest standing registered service charity that provides welfare support to the family of RAF members. Th ...

Women's Institute The Women's Institute (WI) is a community-based organisation for women in the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand. The movement was founded in Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada, by Erland and Janet Lee with Adelaide Hoodless being th ...

and Camberley Rifle & Pistol Club. It is also a short distance from The National Clay Shooting Centre and the Bisley shooting ranges. Bagshot library is situated on the High Street and in addition to the usual library services provides Story and 'Rhymetimes' for the local toddler community. Lightwater Country Park is accessible by crossing the M3 footbridge.

Today

Pennyhill Park Hotel Pennyhill Park Hotel is a 19th-century country house hotel and spa in Bagshot, Surrey in the south east of England. History The first historical reference to Pennyhill Park's land relates to when the site was used as a warning beacon point in ...

located at the far western edge of Bagshot is where the England rugby team train.

, home of

is located on the northern edge of the town. The A30 leaving Bagshot to the southwest for Camberley has a large roundabout on it called the

after a public house that used to stand in its centre, now used as a Golfing Store. The local borough,

, is mainly a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

area and it has held a Conservative council for the past 50 years. Bagshot itself is, however, represented by two

Liberal Democrat Several political party, political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democracy, liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties ...

and one Conservative borough councillors.

Notable people

Steve Backshall Stephen James Backshall (born 21 April 1973) is an English naturalist, explorer, presenter and writer, best known for BBC TV's ''Deadly 60''. His other BBC work includes being part of the expedition teams in ''Lost Land of the Tiger'', ''Lo ...

(1973–), naturalist and television presenter

References

External links

About Bagshot Village

The origins of Bagshot

Bagshot Village
* {{authority control Villages in Surrey Surrey Heath English royal forests