Crowthorne is a large village 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 authority ...

in the Bracknell Forest district of south-eastern

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 Berk ...

, 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.City Population. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
/ref> Crowthorne is the venue of

Wellington College Wellington College may refer to: *Wellington College, Berkshire, an independent school in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England ** Wellington College International Shanghai ** Wellington College International Tianjin *Wellington College, Wellington, New Z ...

, a large co-educational boarding and day

independent school An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by local, state or national governments. In British Eng ...

, which opened in 1859, and of

Broadmoor Hospital Broadmoor Hospital is a high-security psychiatric hospital in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England. It is the oldest of the three high-security psychiatric hospitals in England, the other two being Ashworth Hospital near Liverpool and Rampton Secure ...

, one of England's three maximum-security

psychiatric hospital Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...

s, which lies on the eastern edge of the village.

History

Crowthorne was only a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

until

opened in 1859 and

in 1863.

Crowthorne railway station Crowthorne railway station is a railway station in the village of Crowthorne in Berkshire, England. The station is managed by Great Western Railway, who operate services on the North Downs Line from Reading to Guildford, Redhill and Gatwick ...

, originally Wellington College for Crowthorne Station, opened in 1860 and burgeoned quickly. In the 1960s, the Transport Research Laboratory established by the

UK Government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

as the Road Research Laboratory (RRL) opened in Crowthorne. It was privatised in 1996.

Geography

Crowthorne is part of the

Reading/Wokingham Urban Area The Reading Built-up Area or Reading/Wokingham Urban Area is a name given by the Office for National Statistics to a conurbation in Berkshire, England, with a population of 318,014. This was a significant decrease from the population according to ...

. It lies 4 miles (6.5 km) NNE of

Camberley Camberley is a town in the Borough of Surrey Heath in Surrey, England, approximately south-west of Central London. The town is in the far west of the county, close to the borders of Hampshire and Berkshire. Once part of Windsor Forest, Cambe ...

and some 5 miles (8 km) SSW of

Bracknell Bracknell () is a large town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, the westernmost area within the Greater London Built-up Area, Greater London Urban Area and the administrative centre of the Bracknell Forest, Borough of Bracknell Forest. It l ...

. The Crowthorne urban area spills over into the neighbouring parish of Wokingham Without. However, most of the housing is in Crowthorne parish, which is part of Bracknell Forest district. North of Crowthorne is Pinewood, which has a leisure centre, cafe and miniature railway.

Natural environment

The Crowthorne urban area adjoins several Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and local nature reserves: *

Heath Lake Heath Lake is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Berkshire. The SSSI is part of the Heathlake Local Nature Reserve, which is owned and managed by Wokingham District Council. Most of this lake is less than deep. It ...

along its northern edge, in Wokingham Without. *

Sandhurst to Owlsmoor Bogs and Heaths Sandhurst to Owlsmoor Bogs and Heaths is an biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on the northern outskirts of Sandhurst in Berkshire. Part of the SSSI is Wildmoor Heath nature reserve, which is managed by the Berkshire, Buck ...

form an SSSI to the south-east, mostly in Sandhurst.

Schools

Crowthorne houses

, a large co-educational boarding and day

, opened in 1859 as a monument to the

Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister of ...

(1769–1852), who had led British, Spanish and Portuguese forces to successive victories in the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

. It became fully coeducational in 2005. Edgbarrow is a

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

fed by five feeder schools: Hatch Ride Primary, New

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Hill, Crowthorne

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 ...

School, Wildmoor Heath (formerly Broadmoor Primary) and Oaklands Junior. There are some pre-preparatory and preparatory schools, nurseries and childcare centres for children between 3 months and 11 years old.

Aeronautics

C. F. Taylor grew into a large international aeronautical fabrications business, later part of

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 Marconi ...

. It was born in a shed of the Buckler premises in Heath Hill Road shortly after

World War II 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 opposin ...

. Metal craftsman C. F. Taylor single-handedly produced aluminium racing fairings for motorcycles and bodies for early Buckler cars.

Local societies and community groups

Crowthorne holds a biennial

carnival Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typi ...

, usually in early July, organised by the Crowthorne Carnival Association, with some individual events put up by local schools, groups and businesses. Crowthorne Amateur Theatrical Society was founded in 1978. The Crowthorne

Symphony A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...

Orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

, conducted by Robert Roscoe, gives three concerts a year, usually at

. It also holds an open workshop for full orchestra in September and a string workshop in May. The orchestra marked its 20th anniversary in 2011. The Crowthorne Natural History Group, founded in 1977, held its final meeting in 2013, due to a diminishing, ageing membership.

Sports

Crowthorne & Crown Wood

Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

Club was formed in January 2014 as a merger of two existing clubs. It plays its home games in the grounds of

and at Crown Wood's established base at St Sebastian's. It belongs to the Saturday League Cricket in the

League and Sunday Friendlies. In 2013, Crowthorne CC fielded two Saturday teams for the first time, along with a Sunday Team and a Midweek T20 team, while Crown Wood CC fielded two League teams and a youth set-up. The 1st XI gained promotion from Division 2 in 2013 after winning the League. Crown Wood's existing youth set-up continues under the merged club. AFC Crowthorne is one of the local

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

teams that play home games at Morgan Recreation ground. Crowthorne RFC is a local

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

club, which has played at New Nest, Lower Broadmoor Road, since its construction in 2019.

Notable residents

In order of birth: * William Chester Minor (1834–1920), major contributor of quotations to the ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...

'', c. 1872–1902 *

A. C. Benson Arthur Christopher Benson, (24 April 1862 – 17 June 1925) was an English essayist, poet and academic, and the 28th Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge. He wrote the lyrics of Edward Elgar’s '' Coronation Ode'', including the words of th ...

(1862–1925), essayist and scholar, was born at

. His father,

Edward White Benson Edward White Benson (14 July 1829 – 11 October 1896) was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1883 until his death. Before this, he was the first Bishop of Truro, serving from 1877 to 1883, and began construction of Truro Cathedral. He was previousl ...

, was its first headmaster. *

A. Duncan Carse Andreas Duncan Carse (1875/76–1938) was an English artist. Life Carse was born in 1875 or 1876 in Newcastle upon Tyne to Norwegian and Scottish parents. His two large works ''Birds of the Old World'' and ''Birds of the New World'' were sel ...

(1875 or 1876–1938), artistRoyal Academy Dictionary of Exhibitors: Summer Exhibition catalogue archives * Frank Sherwood Taylor (1897–1956), museum curator, died here. * Freeman Dyson (1923–2020), theoretical physicist and mathematician, born in the village *

Ronald Kray Ronald Kray (24 October 193317 March 1995) and Reginald Kray (24 October 19331 October 2000) were identical twins, identical twin brothers, gangsters and convicted criminals. They were the foremost perpetrators of organised crime in the East En ...

(1933–1995), English gangster, died in Broadmoor Hospital. * Sir Anthony Seldon (born 1953), headmaster of Wellington College, political author

References

External links

About the parishSt. Sebastians School
{{authority control Bracknell Forest Villages in Berkshire Civil parishes in Berkshire