Winkfield is a 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
Bracknell Forest is a unitary authority area in Berkshire, southern England. It covers the two towns of Bracknell and Sandhurst and the village of Crowthorne and also includes the areas of North Ascot, Warfield and Winkfield. The borough bor ...
unitary authority
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 governmen ...
of
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
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 ...
.
Geography
According to the
2011 Census, the
parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...
had a population of 14,998. The parish includes the
hamlets
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 lar ...
of Winkfield,
Maidens Green
Maiden's Green or Maidens Green is a small village in Berkshire, England, in the civil parish of Winkfield.
Geography
The settlement lies near to the A330 road, and is approximately north-east of Bracknell. Maiden's Green has a site of Special ...
, Winkfield Row,
Burleigh, Winkfield Street,
Chavey Down
Chavey Down is a hamlet partly in Ascot, Berkshire, England, and part of the civil parish of Winkfield. The settlement lies near to the A329 road, and is situated approximately west of Ascot Racecourse. It is located within the borough of Brac ...
,
Woodside,
Cranbourne and
Swinley
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 ...
, part of the village of
North Ascot
North Ascot is an area of Bracknell Forest in the county of Berkshire in England, with a few acres straddling the town of Ascot in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. It lies north of the A329 and west of the A332, adjoining the Ascot Ra ...
and the
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 ...
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 ...
s of
Forest Park
A forest park is a park whose main theme is its forest of trees. Forest parks are found both in the mountains and in the urban environment.
Examples Chile
* Forest Park, Santiago
China
*Gongqing Forest Park, Shanghai
* Mufushan National Fores ...
,
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 Con ...
and
The Warren The Warren, originally known as Warren House, is a Grade II listed building located in the parish of West Wickham and the postal district of Hayes, Greater London, England. Built in 1882 by Walter Maximilian de Zoete, the manor house is known for i ...
. The parish used to be slightly larger – additionally covering what is now
Bullbrook
Bullbrook is a suburb of Bracknell , in the English county of Berkshire, formerly part of the parish of Winkfield. It is named after the ''Bull Brook'' which runs through the area, although most of the brook now runs underground in culverts. Bull ...
,
Crown Wood
Crown Wood is a south-eastern estate of Bracknell in the English county of Berkshire, and formerly part of the parish of Winkfield.
Crown Wood was built during the late 1970s and is bounded in by Forest Park to the east, Harmans Water to the nort ...
and
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 ...
– and is said to have been one of the largest in
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 ...
.
History
There is evidence of human occupation in Winkfield in prehistoric times. From the Late
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 mostly appl ...
, this evidence becomes more substantial, although there is as yet no hard evidence of settlement until the early
Medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
era. Winkfield was recorded in the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
of 1086 as ''Wenesfelle'', and was recorded to have 20 households and 20
ploughland
The carucate or carrucate ( lat-med, carrūcāta or ) was a medieval unit of land area approximating the land a plough team of eight oxen could till in a single annual season. It was known by different regional names and fell under different forms ...
s, suggesting the area was a rich agricultural settlement.
William the Conqueror
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...
, in establishing his home at
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history.
The original cast ...
, also incorporated Winkfield into
Windsor Great Park
Windsor Great Park is a Royal Park of , including a deer park, to the south of the town of Windsor on the border of Berkshire and Surrey in England. It is adjacent to the private Home Park, which is nearer the castle. The park was, for many ...
, where it would remain until the 20th Century. At the west end of the village stands the
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 ...
church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* Chris ...
of
St Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...
's.
The principal lodge at Winkfield was
Foliejon Park
Foliejon Park is a manorial country house in the civil parish of Winkfield in the English county of Berkshire. The building has been listed as Grade II since 7 December 1966 and was the temporary residence of King Haakon VII during the Nazi oc ...
. There is some evidence that a great
tower
A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...
once stood in the grounds which would have been visible for many miles around Winkfield. Between March 1942 and the end of
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 ...
in June 1945 Foliejon Park was the residence of
Haakon VII of Norway
Haakon VII (; born Prince Carl of Denmark; 3 August 187221 September 1957) was the King of Norway from November 1905 until his death in September 1957.
Originally a Danish prince, he was born in Copenhagen as the son of the future Frederick V ...
and his son,
Crown Prince Olav
Olav V (; born Prince Alexander of Denmark; 2 July 1903 – 17 January 1991) was the King of Norway from 1957 until his death in 1991.
Olav was the only child of King Haakon VII of Norway and Maud of Wales. He became heir apparent to the Norw ...
. A 15th-century former
inn
Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway; before the advent of motorized transportation they also provided accommo ...
, the
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...
on Winkfield Street, is now a private residence. Winkfield's New Lodge was the home of
Princess Sophia of Gloucester
Princess Sophia of Gloucester (Sophia Matilda; 29 May 1773 – 29 November 1844) was a great-granddaughter of King George II of Great Britain and niece of King George III.
Life
Princess Sophia was born in Grosvenor Street, Mayfair. Her father w ...
, a niece of
King George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
. In the early 1960s, the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
aided a Canadian
satellite
A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...
mission
Alouette 1
''Alouette 1'' is a deactivated Canadian satellite that studied the ionosphere. Launched in 1962, it was Canada's first satellite, and the first satellite constructed by a country other than the Soviet Union or the United States. Canada was th ...
by providing the use of a ground station at Winkfield.
[ Part of Winkfield was incorporated into Bracknell New Town when it was decided to expand the town to fit a population of 60,000. Today the Bracknell neighbourhoods of Martins Heron, The Warren and Forest Park still exist in Winkfield Parish. In 1991, Winkfield became one of the seven districts of the Bracknell Forest Council unitary authority.
]
Sport and recreation
Winkfield has a King George's Field in
memorial
A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of a ...
to
King George V
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936.
Born during the reign of his grandmother Que ...
.
Education
Winkfield Row has a local primary school, Winkfield St Mary's Church of England Primary School, and a co-educational independent
preparatory school called
Lambrook
Lambrook is an independent preparatory school for 615 boys and girls, aged 3–13, set in of Berkshire countryside.
History
The school was founded in 1860 by Robert Burnside, in a large country house built in 1853 by William Budd. Burnside ini ...
, for both day and boarding pupils.
References
External links
{{authority control
Villages in Berkshire
Bracknell Forest
Civil parishes in Berkshire