Bracknell () is a large town and
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 authorit ...
in
Berkshire,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, the westernmost area within the
Greater London Urban Area
The Greater London Built-up Area, or Greater London Urban Area, is a conurbation in south-east England that constitutes the continuous urban sprawl of London, and includes surrounding adjacent urban towns as defined by the Office for National Sta ...
and the administrative centre of the
Borough of Bracknell Forest. It lies to the east of
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...
, south of
Maidenhead, southwest of
Windsor
Windsor may refer to:
Places Australia
* Windsor, New South Wales
** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area
* Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland
**Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...
and west of central
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
.
Originally a market village and part of the Windsor Great Forest, Bracknell experienced a period of huge growth during the mid-20th century when it was declared a
new town. Planned at first for a population of 25,000, Bracknell New Town was further expanded in the late 1960s to accommodate a population of 60,000. As part of this expansion, Bracknell absorbed many of the surrounding hamlets including
Easthampstead
Easthampstead is a former village and now a southern suburb of the town of Bracknell in the English county of Berkshire, although the old village can still be easily identified around the Church of St Michael and St Mary Magdalene. This building ...
, Ramslade and Old Bracknell. As of 2021, Bracknell Forest has an estimated population of around 113,205 (Census 2021). It is a commercial centre and the UK headquarters for several technology companies.
The town is surrounded by
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 Winds ...
(up to Winkfield Row) and
Crowthorne
Crowthorne is a large village and civil parish in the Bracknell Forest district of south-eastern Berkshire, England. It had a population of 6,711 at the 2001 census, which rose to 6,902 at the 2011 census. A 2020 estimate put it at 7,808. Cr ...
Woods on the east and south. The urban area has absorbed parts of many local outlying areas including
Ascot,
Warfield
Warfield is a village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire and the borough of Bracknell Forest.
History
Warfield was originally an Anglo-Saxon settlement and is recorded in the Domesday Book as ''Warwelt'' ic The name is beli ...
,
Winkfield
Winkfield is a village and civil parish in the Bracknell Forest unitary authority of Berkshire, England.
Geography
According to the 2011 Census, the parish had a population of 14,998. The parish includes the hamlets of Winkfield, Maidens ...
and
Binfield
Binfield is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England, which at the 2011 census had a population of 8,689. The village lies north-west of Bracknell, north-east of Wokingham, and south-east of Reading at the westernmost extremity of ...
.
History
![Holy Trinity Church, Bracknell - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Holy_Trinity_Church%2C_Bracknell_-_geograph.org.uk_-_107896.jpg)
The name Bracknell is first recorded in a Winkfield Boundary Charter of AD 942 as ''Braccan heal'', and may mean "Nook of land belonging to a man called Bracca", from the
Old English
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 c ...
''Braccan'' (genitive singular of a personal name) + ''heal, healh'' (a corner, nook or secret place). An early form of the town's name, ''Brakenhale'', still survives as
the name of one of its schools. The town covers all of the old village of
Easthampstead
Easthampstead is a former village and now a southern suburb of the town of Bracknell in the English county of Berkshire, although the old village can still be easily identified around the Church of St Michael and St Mary Magdalene. This building ...
(though not all of the old parish) and the hamlet of
Ramslade.
There is a
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 prin ...
round barrow at Bill Hill.
Easthampstead Park
Easthampstead Park is a Victorian mansion in the civil parish of Bracknell in the English county of Berkshire. It is now a conference centre.
Location
Since the demise of Easthampstead parish, the house has been located in the western extreme ...
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
Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century. An exponent of Augustan literature, ...
from Binfield.
To the north-east of the town, in the suburb of
Quelm Park
Quelm Park is a suburb of Bracknell, in Berkshire, England.
The settlement lies west of the A3095 road, south of the Bracknell Northern Distributor Road "Harvest Ride" and is approximately north of Bracknell town centre.
It takes its name fro ...
, is the Quelm Stone, a
standing stone, and to the south-west, just over the border in
Crowthorne
Crowthorne is a large village and civil parish in the Bracknell Forest district of south-eastern Berkshire, England. It had a population of 6,711 at the 2001 census, which rose to 6,902 at the 2011 census. A 2020 estimate put it at 7,808. Cr ...
, is
Caesar's Camp, an
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...
hill fort
A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...
.
One of the oldest buildings in the town is the 'Old Manor'
public house
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...
, a 17th-century brick
manor house
A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...
featuring a number of
priest hole
A priest hole is a hiding place for a priest built into many of the principal Catholic houses of England, Wales and Ireland during the period when Catholics were persecuted by law. When Queen Elizabeth I came to the throne in 1558, there were se ...
s.
Next door once stood the 'Hind's Head' coaching inn, where it is said
Dick Turpin
Richard Turpin (bapt. 21 September 1705 – 7 April 1739) was an English highwayman whose exploits were romanticised following his execution in York for horse theft. Turpin may have followed his father's trade as a butcher ea ...
used to drink.
It is believed that there were once tunnels between the two, along which the famous
highwayman could escape from the authorities.
Other surviving old pubs are the Red Lion and the Bull, both timber-framed and dating from before the 18th century.
The oldest place of worship in the town is the
parish church
A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...
of
St Michael and St Mary Magdalene in
Easthampstead
Easthampstead is a former village and now a southern suburb of the town of Bracknell in the English county of Berkshire, although the old village can still be easily identified around the Church of St Michael and St Mary Magdalene. This building ...
. There has been a church there since
Saxon times, although the present building dates from the mid 19th century, except for the lower portions of the Tudor tower.
Holy Trinity Church near the town centre was built in 1851.
New town
Bracknell was designated a
new town on 17 June 1949, in the aftermath of the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
. The site was originally a village ''cum'' small town in 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 authorit ...
of
Warfield
Warfield is a village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire and the borough of Bracknell Forest.
History
Warfield was originally an Anglo-Saxon settlement and is recorded in the Domesday Book as ''Warwelt'' ic The name is beli ...
in the
Easthampstead Rural District
Easthampstead is a former village and now a southern suburb of the town of Bracknell in the English county of Berkshire, although the old village can still be easily identified around the Church of St Michael and St Mary Magdalene. This building ...
. Very little of the original Bracknell is left. The location was preferred to
White Waltham, which was also considered, because the Bracknell site avoided encroaching on good quality agricultural land. It had the additional advantage of being on a railway line.
The new town was planned for 25,000 people; it was intended to occupy over of land in and around 'Old Bracknell', in the area now occupied by Priestwood, Easthampstead, Bullbrook and Harmans Water. The existing town centre and industrial areas were to be retained with new industry brought in to provide jobs. The town has since expanded far beyond its intended size into farmland to the south.
The New Town was planned on the neighbourhood principle, with a series of neighbourhoods each with a population of around 10,000 with (no more than around five minutes walk away) a church, a small parade of shops, a primary school, small business space, a community centre and a pub. The plans included pedestrianisation, the construction of a ring road around the town centre, and segregation of industrial areas from residential areas.
A feature of some of the estates is that streets only have names, not
odonym
A street name is an identifying name given to a street or road. In toponymic terminology, names of streets and roads are referred to as hodonyms (from Greek ‘road’, and ‘name’). The street name usually forms part of the address (t ...
s – in
Birch Hill
Birch Hill is a southern suburb of Bracknell, originally part of the now-defunct civil parish of Easthampstead, in the English county of Berkshire. Although Birch Hill is a separate ward in Bracknell Town Council it is combined with Hanworth to ...
, 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 in
Great Hollands
Great Hollands is a suburb of Bracknell in Berkshire, England. It takes its name from a medieval field-name of Easthampstead parish, which it was previously in. Building of the estate began around 1967 as the town continued to expand.
The est ...
and
Wildridings, with As, through Ds, such as Donnybrook, in
Hanworth
Hanworth is a district of West London, England. Historically in Middlesex, it has been part of the London Borough of Hounslow since 1965. Hanworth adjoins Feltham to the northwest, Twickenham to the northeast and Hampton to the southeast, with ...
, Js, such as 'Jameston', 'Juniper' and 'Jevington' in
Birch Hill
Birch Hill is a southern suburb of Bracknell, originally part of the now-defunct civil parish of Easthampstead, in the English county of Berkshire. Although Birch Hill is a separate ward in Bracknell Town Council it is combined with Hanworth to ...
.
Regeneration
Because of Bracknell's age, it was decidedby the local authorities that it should undergo renovation. Designs and plans were submitted and rejected first time round. The council went for a second attempt and were accepted, work was due to commence early in 2008 but due to the global credit crisis, the plans were postponed. The cost is estimated at around £750 million. The regeneration will provide brand new services, a completely redeveloped town centre, 1,000 new homes and new police and bus stations.
The Borough Council continues to work in partnership with the Bracknell Regeneration Partnership (comprising Legal and General and Schroder) to regenerate the town centre.
The first stage of the redevelopment began with the opening of a new
Waitrose
Waitrose & Partners (formally Waitrose Limited) is a brand of British supermarkets, founded in 1904 as Waite, Rose & Taylor, later shortened to Waitrose. It was acquired in 1937 by employee-owned retailer John Lewis Partnership, which still se ...
store in December 2011. By June 2013 shops in the northern part of the town in Broadway and Crossway had been vacated. Demolition of the new town's old retro-futuristic,
Brutalist central area then began in September 2013, and was completed in December of the same year. Construction of the new centre began in February 2015. On 4 September 2015, it was announced that the new development would be known as
The Lexicon. The Lexicon opened on 7 September 2017, comprising of new retail space, a 12-screen cinema which includes a
4DX
4DX is a 4D film format developed by CJ 4DPlex, a subsidiary of South Korean cinema chain CJ CGV. It allows films to be augmented with various practical effects, including motion-seats, wind, strobe-lights, simulated-snow, and scents. First i ...
screen, restaurants and cafes, completely new paving and public realm and 1300 parking spaces as well as improved access by public transport, the council having substantially refurbished the bus station in 2015.
The scheme won at the Revo Awards 2018: Gold in the Re:new category and Best of the Best in the Re:turn category. Shortlisted for the Planning Awards 2017 in the Regeneration category, the scheme won Development of the Year at the 2018 Thames Valley Property Awards. The town saw visitor numbers of 16m in its first year (compared with around 4-5m prior to the town centre's demolition). The town centre rose in the retail rankings to number 33 (from 255 before redevelopment). In January 2019, the town had risen again to 29 in the retail rankings.
A second retail centre, the Peel Centre, managed by
Land Securities
Land Securities Group plc is the largest commercial property development and investment company in the United Kingdom. The firm became a real estate investment trust (REIT) when REITs were introduced in the United Kingdom in January 2007. It is ...
, has 2 car parks, a leisure area called ''The Point''. and includes stores Such as
The Range,
Sports Direct
Frasers Group plc (formerly known as Sports Direct International plc) is a British retail, sport and intellectual property group, named after its ownership of the department store chain House of Fraser. The company is best known for trading pre ...
and
New Look. The Point includes an
Odeon multiplex 10-screen cinema and a bowling alley.
Bracknell is the first post-war New Town centre to have been substantially regenerated and represents a significant exemplar development.
Demography
According to the Office for National Statistics in 2018 there were 121,676 people in Bracknell Forest.
According to the 2011 Census.
94% of Bracknell residents can speak English. The second language being Nepalese, at 0.90%, followed by Polish at 0.70%, Tagalog/Filipino at 0.30% and French and Spanish, both at 0.30%.
61% of residents identify themselves as Christian. The second most common belief is 'none', with 35% of residents choosing this in the census, in third place is Hinduism at 1.61%, followed by Islam at 1.13% and Buddhism at 0.73%.
The demonym for a person from Bracknell is Bracknellian.
Business
![Easthampstead Park - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Easthampstead_Park_-_geograph.org.uk_-_114767.jpg)
The town is home to companies such as
3M,
Panasonic
formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka. It was founded by Kōnosuke Matsushita in 1918 as a lightbulb ...
,
Egnyte
Egnyte is a software company headquartered in Mountain View, California. It sells cloud-based content security, compliance, and collaboration tools for businesses. Egnyte was founded in 2007 with a focus on modernized file servers, but it has si ...
,
Fujitsu (formerly
ICL),
Dell,
HP Inc.
HP Inc. is an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California, that develops personal computers (PCs), printers and related supplies, as well as 3D printing solutions.
It was formed on Novembe ...
,
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
The Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (HPE) is an American multinational information technology company based in Spring, Texas, United States.
HPE was founded on November 1, 2015, in Palo Alto, California, as part of the splitting of the ...
,
Micron Technology,
Brocade Communications Systems
Brocade is an American technology company specializing in storage networking products, now a subsidiary of Broadcom Inc. The company is known for its Fibre Channel storage networking products and technology. Prior to the acquisition, the compan ...
,
Siemens (originally
Nixdorf),
Riverbed
A stream bed or streambed is the bottom of a stream or river (bathymetry) or the physical confine of the normal water flow ( channel). The lateral confines or channel margins are known as the stream banks or river banks, during all but flood ...
,
Honeywell
Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building technologies, performance ma ...
, Intercall,
Broadcom
Broadcom Inc. is an American designer, developer, manufacturer and global supplier of a wide range of semiconductor and infrastructure software products. Broadcom's product offerings serve the data center, networking, software, broadband, wirel ...
,
Avnet Technology Solutions,
Novell,
Honda
is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...
and Kleenway, a
Royal Warrant holding chimney sweeping company based in Neuman Crescent.
The Southern Industrial Area houses the head office of
Waitrose
Waitrose & Partners (formally Waitrose Limited) is a brand of British supermarkets, founded in 1904 as Waite, Rose & Taylor, later shortened to Waitrose. It was acquired in 1937 by employee-owned retailer John Lewis Partnership, which still se ...
. The site which houses the Waitrose head office also houses the central distribution centre. Waitrose has operated from the town since the 1970s, with a recently added supermarket in the town centre in 2011.
Manufacturing industry has largely disappeared since the 1980s. Former significant sites included Clifford's Dairy in Downshire Way and
British Aerospace
British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. Formed in 1977, in 1999 it purchased Marcon ...
(originally
Sperry Gyroscope Sperry may refer to:
Places
In the United States:
* Sperry, Iowa, community in Des Moines County
* Sperry, Missouri
* Sperry, Oklahoma, town in Tulsa County
* Sperry Chalet, historic backcountry chalet, Glacier National Park, Montana
*Sperry Glaci ...
) now occupied by Arlington Square, a 22-acre (8 ha) business park of which the first stage was completed in 1995. The Thomas Lawrence brickworks on the north side of the town was famous for 'red rubber' bricks to be found in the
Royal Albert Hall and
Westminster Cathedral
Westminster Cathedral is the mother church of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. It is the largest Catholic church in the UK and the seat of the Archbishop of Westminster.
The site on which the cathedral stands in the City o ...
, and in restoration work at
10 Downing Street and
Hampton Court Palace.
In the town centre was the 12-storey Winchester House, formerly owned by
3M who moved to new premises in
Farley Wood on the town's northern edge in 2004. The building was demolished and has been replaced with a large block of flats The town was also the home of
Racal
Racal Electronics plc was a British electronics company that was founded in 1950.
Listed on the London Stock Exchange and once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, Racal was a diversified company, offering products including voice loggers and ...
and
Ferranti Computer Systems Ltd. The
Met Office maintained a large presence in the town until 2003, when it relocated to
Exeter in Devon; however, the junction of the A329 and A3095 is still named the "Met Office Roundabout". Many businesses are located on the town's three industrial areas.
Easthampstead Park in the southern suburb of Easthampstead was a conference centre owned by Bracknell Forest Borough Council. In 2019 an agreement was made between the local authority and a hotel group, Active Hospitality. The building is now leased to the company and has reopened as a hotel
Local government
Bracknell was made a
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 authorit ...
in its own right in 1955. Under the
Local Government Act 1972, the entire Easthampstead Rural District became the Bracknell District on 1 April 1974. In 1988, it was granted
borough
A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
History
In the Middle A ...
status, and it changed its name to Bracknell Forest. When Berkshire
County Council
A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries.
Ireland
The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irel ...
was abolished on 1 April 1998 (and the
non-metropolitan county
A non-metropolitan county, or colloquially, shire county, is a county-level entity in England that is not a metropolitan county. The counties typically have populations of 300,000 to 1.8 million. The term ''shire county'' is, however, an unoffi ...
was reclassified as a
ceremonial county), Bracknell Forest became one of the six
unitary authorities
A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governme ...
which together make up Berkshire. Bracknell Forest Borough Council's offices are at Time Square in Market Street.
Geography
The town covers areas previously in the parishes of
Easthampstead
Easthampstead is a former village and now a southern suburb of the town of Bracknell in the English county of Berkshire, although the old village can still be easily identified around the Church of St Michael and St Mary Magdalene. This building ...
,
Warfield
Warfield is a village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire and the borough of Bracknell Forest.
History
Warfield was originally an Anglo-Saxon settlement and is recorded in the Domesday Book as ''Warwelt'' ic The name is beli ...
,
Binfield
Binfield is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England, which at the 2011 census had a population of 8,689. The village lies north-west of Bracknell, north-east of Wokingham, and south-east of Reading at the westernmost extremity of ...
and
Winkfield
Winkfield is a village and civil parish in the Bracknell Forest unitary authority of Berkshire, England.
Geography
According to the 2011 Census, the parish had a population of 14,998. The parish includes the hamlets of Winkfield, Maidens ...
. The town's centre lies just north of the
railway station
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...
with completely pedestrianised and much undercover shopping around Princess Square, Charles Square and the Broadway. There are 'out-of-town' shops, a multiscreen 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
Easthampstead is a former village and now a southern suburb of the town of Bracknell in the English county of Berkshire, although the old village can still be easily identified around the Church of St Michael and St Mary Magdalene. This building ...
village.
The former
RAF Staff College
The RAF Staff College may refer to:
*RAF Staff College, Andover (active: 1922 to 1940 and 1948 to 1970)
*RAF Staff College, Bulstrode Park
The RAF Staff College, Bulstrode Park, was a satellite staff college for the Royal Air Force based at Buls ...
buildings in
Harmans Water
Harmans Water is a suburb of Bracknell, in the English county of Berkshire, formerly part of the parish of Winkfield. It takes its name from ''Harman's Water Lake'', long gone. Building of the estate began around 1960 and was the fourth and last ...
, now closed, was part of the
Joint Services Command and Staff College
Joint Services Command and Staff College (JSCSC) is a British military academic establishment providing training and education to experienced officers of the Royal Navy, Army, Royal Air Force, Ministry of Defence Civil Service, and serving offic ...
. From 2008, the site was redeveloped for housing by Wimpey, with an estimated 730 houses. The south-western corner of the town remains rural around Easthampstead Park and the wooded Yew Tree Corner. However, a new housing development called
Jennett's Park
Jennett's Park is a suburb of Bracknell in the English county of Berkshire. It is a recent development with the first residents moving there in 2007. It is in Great Hollands North ward of Bracknell Forest Council.
The development lies approximat ...
is currently being built (from 2007) at Peacock Farm and on part of what was historically the grounds of Easthampstead Park. There are large ponds at
Farley Wood and the Easthampstead Mill Pond between
Great Hollands
Great Hollands is a suburb of Bracknell in Berkshire, England. It takes its name from a medieval field-name of Easthampstead parish, which it was previously in. Building of the estate began around 1967 as the town continued to expand.
The est ...
and
Wildridings, and two lakes at
South Hill Park
South Hill Park is a English country house and its grounds, now run as an arts centre. It lies in the Birch Hill estate to the south of Bracknell town centre, in Berkshire.
History
Construction by Watts
The original South Hill Park mans ...
. The ''Bull Brook'' emerges above ground just within the bounds of the suburb of
Bullbrook.
Culture
In the south of the town is
South Hill Park
South Hill Park is a English country house and its grounds, now run as an arts centre. It lies in the Birch Hill estate to the south of Bracknell town centre, in Berkshire.
History
Construction by Watts
The original South Hill Park mans ...
, a
mansion dating from 1760, although much rebuilt, that now houses a large
arts centre
An art centre or arts center is distinct from an art gallery or art museum. An arts centre is a functional community centre with a specific remit to encourage arts practice and to provide facilities such as theatre space, gallery space, venues fo ...
. 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
''The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People'' is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious ...
''. South Hill Park has been home to a number of major music festivals over the years:
* 1975 – 1990s
Bracknell Jazz Festival
The Bracknell Jazz Festival was a major showcase for British modern jazz in the 1980s. The festival was known for attracting a largish audience for free improvisation, modern jazz composition and all kinds of British modern jazz in general.
Ho ...
* 1970s – 1980s Bracknell Folk Festival ("The Handsome Mouldiwarp Festival")
* 1988 –
Womad
WOMAD ( ; World of Music, Arts and Dance) is an international arts festival. The central aim of WOMAD is to celebrate the world's many forms of music, arts and dance.
History
WOMAD was founded in 1980 by English rock musician Peter Gabriel, w ...
Festival
* 1980s – 1990s – Bracknell Music Festival / South Hill Park Festival
* 2000s – 2013 – Big Day Out festival, a free, annual
World Music and
acoustic/
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fo ...
festival
Bracknell has been used in the filming of many TV shows and films, such as ''
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' is a 1997 fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. The first novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series and Rowling's debut novel, it follows Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, a youn ...
'' (
Martins Heron
Martins Heron is a suburb of Bracknell west of London in Berkshire, England. Martins Heron and the neighbouring suburb The Warren are after a Parliamentary Boundary review in the Bracknell constituency – until 2010 they were in the Windsor Co ...
) and ''
Time Bandits
''Time Bandits'' is a 1981 British fantasy adventure film co-written, produced, and directed by Terry Gilliam. It stars Sean Connery, John Cleese, Shelley Duvall, Ralph Richardson, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Michael Palin, Peter Vaug ...
'' (
Birch Hill
Birch Hill is a southern suburb of Bracknell, originally part of the now-defunct civil parish of Easthampstead, in the English county of Berkshire. Although Birch Hill is a separate ward in Bracknell Town Council it is combined with Hanworth to ...
). Bracknell is given the name 'Laxton' in the TV detective series
Pie in the Sky
Pie in the sky, an idiom meaning an impossible or unlikely idea or plan as well as an empty wish or promise.
Pie in the sky may refer to:
* ''Pie in the Sky'' (TV series), a UK television series about a police officer turned restaurateur
* ''Pie ...
and Waterside Park was used for the exterior of the police HQ in the same series. Bracknell has also featured in the 1991
Roger Daltrey
Roger Harry Daltrey (born 1 March 1944) is an English singer, musician and actor. He is a co-founder and the lead singer of the rock band The Who.
Daltrey's hit songs with The Who include " My Generation", " Pinball Wizard", " Won't Get Fooled ...
film ''
Buddy's Song''.
''
The Offence
''The Offence'' is a 1973 British crime neo noir drama film directed by Sidney Lumet, based upon the 1968 stage play ''This Story of Yours'' by John Hopkins. It stars Sean Connery as police detective Johnson, who kills suspected child mol ...
'' (1972), a psychological thriller with
Sean Connery and
Ian Bannen
Ian Edmund Bannen (29 June 1928 – 3 November 1999) was a Scottish actor with a long career in film, on stage, and on television. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in '' The Flight of the Phoenix'' (1965), the first ...
, was filmed in Bracknell. There are scenes in the town centre, on Broadway, Charles Square and Market Street. The flat for Connery's character was filmed at the
listed
Listed may refer to:
* Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm
* Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic
* Endangered species in biology
* Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...
Point Royal, and the bulk of the outdoor scenes were taken around Wildridings, specifically Arncliffe, Crossfell, Mill Pond and Mill Lane.
The wages snatch scene in ''
Villain
A villain (also known as a " black hat" or "bad guy"; the feminine form is villainess) is a stock character, whether based on a historical narrative or one of literary fiction. ''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'' defines such a character ...
'' (1971), a gangster film with
Richard Burton
Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s, and he gave a memorable pe ...
, was filmed in Ellesfield Avenue on the Southern Industrial Estate outside the former Clark Eaton glass factory, with the ICL tower block (under construction at the time) visible in the background; after the robbery the gang make their getaway along Peacock Lane nearby and hijack a car at the junction with the footpath from Tarmans Copse (now Osprey Avenue on the
Jennett's Park
Jennett's Park is a suburb of Bracknell in the English county of Berkshire. It is a recent development with the first residents moving there in 2007. It is in Great Hollands North ward of Bracknell Forest Council.
The development lies approximat ...
estate).
Bracknell is featured in the
PlayStation 3
The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on November 11, 2006, in Japan, November ...
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
''
Resistance: Fall of Man'' set in 1951, as the location at which power conduits travel deep underground
South East England
South East England is one of the nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It consists of the counties of Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Berkshi ...
to power the Chimeran fortresses. It also featured in the sequel ''
Resistance 2
''Resistance 2'' is a 2008 science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, ...
'' in a similar role.
The BBC show
The Wrong Mans is set almost entirely in Bracknell.
''
Tracy Beaker'' actress
Dani Harmer
Danielle Jane Harmer (born 8 February 1989) is an English actress, television personality, and former singer. She is best known for her lead role as Tracy Beaker in the CBBC series ''The Story of Tracy Beaker'' (2002–2006), '' Tracy Beaker R ...
was brought up in Bracknell.
During the 1960s, author
J.M. Coetzee lived in the town and worked for an IT company.
Artist Kerry Lemon was commissioned to create a number of site-specific artworks for the Lexicon town centre development. Her work includes a series of 36 unique botanical paving slabs in granite and brass designed to create a nature trail through the town centre; 15
gobo lights projecting moth drawings in light onto the pavements below; 5 cast
jesmonite birch leaf benches with hand sculpted solid brass insects and painted brass leaf veins.
Twinning
Bracknell is twinned with
Leverkusen
Leverkusen () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, on the eastern bank of the Rhine. To the south, Leverkusen borders the city of Cologne, and to the north the state capital, Düsseldorf.
With about 161,000 inhabitants, Leverkusen is o ...
in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, an arrangement which has existed since 1973. It was originally twinned with
Opladen
Opladen, now a district of Leverkusen, used to be the capital of the Rhein-Wupper-Kreis (Rhine-Wupper-District) until 1975. Opladen station is located northeast from Cologne on the railway to Wuppertal. It is also on the Autobahn A3. Population ...
, which was incorporated into Leverkusen in a 1975 local government reorganisation. Each town has a square named after the other.
Transport
Rail
The town of Bracknell has two railway stations,
Bracknell and
Martins Heron
Martins Heron is a suburb of Bracknell west of London in Berkshire, England. Martins Heron and the neighbouring suburb The Warren are after a Parliamentary Boundary review in the Bracknell constituency – until 2010 they were in the Windsor Co ...
, both of which are on the
Waterloo to Reading Line, built by the
London and South Western Railway
The London and South Western Railway (LSWR, sometimes written L&SWR) was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Originating as the London and Southampton Railway, its network extended to Dorchester and Weymouth, to Salisbury, Exeter ...
and now operated by
South Western Railway. Bracknell is a commuter centre with its residents travelling in both directions (westwards to
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...
and eastwards to
London Waterloo).
Road
The town has good road links and is situated at the end of the
A329(M)
The A329(M) is a motorway in Berkshire, England. It is 4 miles (6.4 km) long and runs from the west of Bracknell to the north west of Winnersh. It is one of a small number of parts of the motorway system in England that are managed by ...
motorway, midway between Junction 3 of the
M3 and Junction 10 of the
M4 motorways. A proposed motorway link between the M3 and the M4 to be called the
M31 would have passed to the west of the town centre, but only the section that is now the A329(M) and the A3290 was built.
Bus
Bracknell bus station serves the town of Bracknell. The bus station is on The Ring in the Town Centre across the road from
Bracknell railway station
Bracknell railway station serves the town of Bracknell in Berkshire, England. It is down the line from .
The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by South Western Railway. It is on the Waterloo to Reading line.
History
The sta ...
. The bus station consists of three long shelters each with three stands.
Bus services go from Bracknell as far afield as
Crowthorne
Crowthorne is a large village and civil parish in the Bracknell Forest district of south-eastern Berkshire, England. It had a population of 6,711 at the 2001 census, which rose to 6,902 at the 2011 census. A 2020 estimate put it at 7,808. Cr ...
, Camberley, Wokingham,
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...
,
Maidenhead,
Windsor
Windsor may refer to:
Places Australia
* Windsor, New South Wales
** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area
* Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland
**Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...
and Slough. Local bus services are provided by Thames Valley Buses and Reading Buses, who also provide the Green Line Coaches, Green Line services to Green Line Coach Station, London Victoria and Heathrow Central bus station, Heathrow Airport.
Air
Heathrow Airport is east of Bracknell, accessible by train from Bracknell railway station. Green Line operates a bus from Heathrow Airport to Bracknell. Courtney Buses also services this route.
Blackbushe Airport in Yateley is the nearest general aviation airport located southwest of Bracknell.
Sport and leisure
Bracknell Town F.C. are members of the Isthmian League South Central Division, and play their home matches at Larges Lane. The Bracknell Bees, Bracknell Bees Ice Hockey Club are former national champions, who currently play in the National Ice Hockey League, NIHL National League. The Bracknell Blazers were the 2009 British Baseball Federation, BBF National League champions. The town is also represented by teams playing rugby, Bracknell RFC hockey and cricket.
The town has a large leisure centre, the Bracknell Leisure Centre, and the Coral Reef Indoor water park, Water Park. A golf course, the Downshire Golf Complex. Two tennis Clubs, the Bracknell Lawn Tennis Club and Esporta, the Royal County of Berkshire Club. There are of Crown Estate woodland at the Look Out Discovery Centre.
A number of organisations are active in the area. These consist of an Army Cadet Force detachment (7 Platoon Bracknell) and the Air Training Corps (2211 Squadron), St John Ambulance in England, Saint John Ambulance Cadets and the Bracknell Forest Lions Club, which was formed in 1968 to help those in need.
Bracknell Lions Club
Education
The area has various schools including St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, The Brakenhale School, Garth Hill College, King's Academy Easthampstead Park and Ranelagh Church of England School. Bracknell and Wokingham College of further education is also based in the area.
The Silwood Park campus of Imperial College London is east of Bracknell town centre. The University of Reading is northwest, and Royal Holloway College is east.
Notable people
Dani Harmer
Danielle Jane Harmer (born 8 February 1989) is an English actress, television personality, and former singer. She is best known for her lead role as Tracy Beaker in the CBBC series ''The Story of Tracy Beaker'' (2002–2006), '' Tracy Beaker R ...
(born 8 February 1989) - actress and television personality who starred in The Story of Tracy Beaker
See also
*Columbia Centre
References
External links
Bracknell Town Council
Video of portion of town centre before its demolition in 2013, focusing on Crossway House
{{Authority control
Bracknell,
Towns in Berkshire
New towns in England
Civil parishes in Berkshire
New towns started in the 1950s