Great Hollands is a
suburb
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...
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 ...
in
Berkshire, England
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 ...
. It takes its name from a medieval
field-name 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 ...
parish, which it was previously in. Building of the estate began around 1967 as the town continued to expand.
The estate lies approximately south-west of the town centre, to the west of the
A3095 road
List of A roads in zone 3 in Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island an ...
. Great Hollands is in two
wards
Ward may refer to:
Division or unit
* Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward
* Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a priso ...
, Great Hollands North and Great Hollands South.
Facilities include a shopping centre, library, community centre, the William Twigg public house and Great Hollands Primary Schoo
There are a number of light industrial units near the shopping centre.
History
The development of Great Hollands neighbourhood was originally closely linked with the growth of the Bracknell company, Sperry, which was at the time Bracknell's largest employer. The only memory now left of this company is the concrete gyroscope, which is situated on one of the roundabouts on the Wokingham Road, opposite which Sperry's main building once stood. The site is now the Arlington Square Complex.
In the mid 1960s Sperry built an extension to its Bracknell factory so that the work of its Brentford branch could be transferred here. Houses were needed for employees, and, as a result, the development of Great Hollands neighbourhood had to be pushed ahead faster than was originally intended. The first houses were completed in 1967 but the acceleration in the building of the houses led to a longer than usual wait for the provision of other services and facilities. Great Hollands was, at that time, the furthest neighbourhood from the town and the bus service was somewhat inadequate.
Some of the first people to move to Great Hollands complained of the delay in the provision of a primary school, shops (especially a chemist) and public telephones. Temporary shops were provided (two houses in Abbotsbury were used - one a Londis store, and the other a newsagent). A community centre was improvised in converted premises (East Lodge).
The population of Great Hollands had passed the 3000 mark before the neighbourhood centre known today began to take shape. Sixteen shops opened during 1971, followed somewhat later by the William Twigg public house and, later still, by a primary school.
In its fully developed form, Great Hollands has a number of features which distinguish it from some of Bracknell's original housing estates. There was a large proportion of private housing built. The neighbourhood centre was planned more comprehensively and included a small amount of light industry. The primary school, a community centre and a branch of the library were all constructed.
In 1976 the town's first purpose-built health centre opened its doors in the Great Hollands neighbourhood centre.
Traffic segregation, which was originally started when
Wildridings
Wildridings is a suburb of Bracknell, in Berkshire, England.
The settlement lies between the A322 and A3095 roads, is approximately south-west of Bracknell town centre and is in the Wildridings and Central local council ward. Wildridings w ...
was constructed, was considerably extended along the same lines in Great Hollands.
The neighbourhood streets branched off a circular road called Ringmead and they were all named in alphabetical order: Abbotsbury, Ambassador, Appledore and so on ending with Yardley. Many of the names were very familiar ones to the Londoners who moved here as they were the old names of the London telephone exchanges.
References
External links
Great Hollands Community websiteGreat Hollands Local Councillor
{{Bracknell Forest
Bracknell