Colnbrook is a village in the

Slough Slough () is a town and unparished area in the unitary authority of the same name in Berkshire, England, bordering west London. It lies in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the ...

district in

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 Ber ...

, England. It lies within the historic boundaries of

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-e ...

, and straddles two distributaries of the

Colne Colne () is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England. Located northeast of Nelson, north-east of Burnley, east of Preston and west of Leeds. The town should not be confused with the unrelated Colne ...

, the Colne Brook and

Wraysbury River The Wraysbury River is an anabranch of the River Colne to the west of London. Course The river leaves the Colne at West Drayton and runs under the M4 motorway then close to Longford when it passes under the M25 motorway. A branch then feeds t ...

. These two streams have their confluence just to the southeast of the village. Colnbrook is centred southeast of

town centre, east of Windsor, and west of central London. Colnbrook forms the greater 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 authorit ...

of Colnbrook with Poyle (see also

Poyle Poyle is a largely industrial and agricultural area in the unitary authority of Slough, in the ceremonial county of Berkshire, England (of which it is the easternmost settlement). It is located west of Charing Cross in London and immediately ...

). Junctions of the M4 and M25 are near the village. To the east is Longford, London, and

Bedfont Bedfont is a suburb in the London Borough of Hounslow, approximately west of Charing Cross. Originally a distinct village, Bedfont has a large central conservation area around Bedfont Green. The majority of the housing was built at a time of an ...

and

Stanwell Stanwell is a village close to two of the three main towns in the Borough of Spelthorne, Surrey, about west of central London. A small corner of its land is vital industrial land serving Heathrow Airport – most of the rest is residential ...

which abut the south of London

Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others be ...

. Colnbrook with Poyle is a suburban parish with significant industrial units, logistical premises and open land. The parish was created on 1 April 1995 as an amalgamation of Colnbrook from Iver to the north and the smaller Poyle from an unparished area of

to the south-east. At the 2011 census the whole civil parish had a population of 6,157 living in 2,533 homes.2011 Census
/ref>

History

Mentioned in William the Conqueror's

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 ...

, Colnbrook is on the Colne Brook, a tributary of the River Colne, hence ''Colnbrook''.''History of the Parish of

Wraysbury Wraysbury is a village and civil parish in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in England. It is under the western approach path of London Heathrow airport. It is located on the east bank of the River Thames, roughly midway between Winds ...

, Ankerwycke Priory, and Magna Charta Island; with the History of Horton, and the town of Colnbrook, Bucks.'', G. W. J. Gyll, 1862, London: H. G. Bohn
Online version at Google BooksOCLC: 5001532
/ref>

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 tr ...

s were the village's main industry. In 1106 the first one was founded by Milo Crispin, named ''the Hospice'' (subsequently the 'Ostrich', probably by way of corruption of the original name), the third oldest in England. By 1577 Colnbrook had no fewer than ten

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 tr ...

s. Colnbrook's High Street was on the main London to

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

road and turn off point for Windsor and was used as a resting point for travellers. One 14th-century landlord, Jarman of the ''Ostrich Inn'', installed a large trap door under the bed in the best bedroom located immediately above the inn's kitchen. The bed was fixed to the trap door and the mattress securely attached to the bedstead, so that when two retaining iron pins were removed from below in the small hours of the morning, the sleeping guest was neatly decanted into a boiling cauldron. In this way more than 60 of his richer guests were murdered silently and with no bloodshed. Their bodies were then disposed of in the River Colne. The murder of a wealthy clothier, Olde Cole or Thomas of Reading, proved to be Jarman's undoing in that he failed to get rid of Cole's horse, leading to his confessing. Jarman and his wife were hanged for robbery and murder.''The hundred of Stoke: Colnbrook, A History of the County of Buckingham: Volume 3.''
William Page (editor), 1925, pp. 246-249. The inn is reportedly haunted and has been subject to investigations by the Sussex Paranormal Research Group and ''

Most Haunted ''Most Haunted'' is a British paranormal reality television series. Following complaints, the broadcast regulator, Ofcom, ruled that it was an entertainment show, not a legitimate investigation into the paranormal, and "should not be taken s ...

''. On an episode of " Ghosthunters International" that aired on 21 July 2010, it is mentioned that the Jarman murders at the Ostrich Inn were the inspiration for the story of " Sweeney Todd." Colnbrook is also the place where Richard Cox (a retired brewer), in 1825, first grafted the

Cox's Orange Pippin Cox's Orange Pippin, in Britain often referred to simply as Cox, is an apple cultivar first grown in 1825, at Colnbrook in Buckinghamshire, England, by the retired brewer and horticulturist Richard Cox. Though the parentage of the cultivar i ...

apple at his orchard named ''The Lawns''. A traditional

coaching Coaching is a form of development in which an experienced person, called a ''coach'', supports a learner or client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance. The learner is sometimes called a ''coa ...

history has led to no fewer than four inns or

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 ...

s remaining, three in Colnbrook, one in Poyle.

Administrative history

Colnbrook has a complicated administrative history. The village was historically divided by the Colne Brook between the

ancient 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. ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

in the east, and the parishes of Horton and

Langley Marish Langley, also known as Langley Marish, is a suburb of Slough in Berkshire, South East England. It is east of the town centre of Slough, and west of Charing Cross in Central London. It was a separate civil parish until the 1930s, when the buil ...

in the west. The parish

vestries A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquially ...

provided traditional poor relief and road maintenance but lay in the 19th century in different Poor Law Unions. Stanwell became part of

Staines Rural District Staines Rural District was a rural district of Middlesex in England from 1894 to 1930. It was created in 1894 replacing the 1875-created Staines rural sanitary district. It co-governed with varying degrees of input from the civil parish counci ...

in 1894 and

Staines Urban District Staines was a local government district from 1894 to 1974 named after the English town of Staines. Background, functions and boundaries Apart from the town of Staines itself which included a few rural pockets aside from its large moor until the ...

in 1930. The Buckinghamshire parishes joined

Eton Rural District Eton Rural District was a rural district in the administrative county of Buckinghamshire, England, covering an area in the south-east of the county. It was named after but did not contain Eton, which was an urban district. History The distri ...

in 1894. In 1965 the eastern part of Colnbrook was transferred to

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

with the rest of Staines Urban District. In 1974 Staines Urban District was absorbed into the new

borough of Spelthorne Spelthorne is a local government district and borough in Surrey, England. Its council is based in Staines-upon-Thames; other settlements in the area include Ashford, Sunbury-on-Thames, Shepperton, Stanwell and Laleham. Spelthorne borders th ...

. In 1974 most of the parish of Horton was transferred to the new borough of

Windsor and Maidenhead The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead is a Royal Borough of Berkshire, in South East England. It is named after both the towns of Maidenhead and Windsor, the borough also covers the nearby towns of Ascot and Eton. It is home to Windsor ...

, but the western part of Colnbrook remained in Buckinghamshire and was added to the parish of Iver, in the South Bucks district. Colnbrook was finally united on 1 April 1995, when the present combined parish of Colnbrook with Poyle was formed and added to the borough of Slough in

. That was the county's last boundary change before

Berkshire County Council The Council of the Royal County of Berkshire, also known as the Berkshire County Council, was the top-tier local government administrative body for Berkshire from 1889 to 1998. The local authority had responsibilities for education, social servi ...

was abolished to be replaced by 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 ...

. When the county council was abolished in April 1998 the borough became more important for local government; however a Berkshire Fire and Rescue service persists, as do ceremonial roles, judicial roles and sporting competitions.

Geography

Colnbrook (with Poyle) is at the eastern end of the borough of Slough and is directly west of the

M25 motorway The M25 or London Orbital Motorway is a major road encircling most of Greater London. The motorway is one of the most important roads in the UK and one of the busiest. Margaret Thatcher opened the final section in 1986, making the M25 the lon ...

which separates it from

in the

London Borough of Hillingdon The London Borough of Hillingdon () is the largest and westernmost borough in West London, England. It was formed from the districts of Hayes and Harlington, Ruislip-Northwood, Uxbridge, and Yiewsley and West Drayton in the ceremonial county ...

in Greater London and the

in Surrey. Elevations vary between 22 and 20m

Above Ordnance Datum In the British Isles, an ordnance datum or OD is a vertical datum used by an ordnance survey as the basis for deriving altitudes on maps. A spot height may be expressed as AOD for "above ordnance datum". Usually mean sea level (MSL) is used ...

with the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

at 17m AOD south at Staines which is where the natural rivers generally drain toward. The river is unusual for its regional park (and walk) and seven mouths ( distributaries).

Economy

The town's industrial estates are important in fields such as transportation, food and drinks manufacture, warehousing and distribution and despite almost all being in

, landlords have mostly preferred to let premises under the name Colnbrook – but not all, such as

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance bar, temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pembe ...

.Example industrial estate business address listing in the parish
(Poyle) Beside the

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness Greatness is a concept of a state of superiority affecting a person or object in a particular place or area. Greatness can also be attributed to individuals who possess a natural ability to be better than al ...

boundary and a historic part of

which forms the southern part of London

, it is also equidistant between nearby accessible junctions of the M4 and M25 and a suburban parish with significant industrial/logistical buildings and open land.Grid square map

Ordnance survey Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was a ...

website

Politics

Colnbrook is in the Windsor constituency and its Member of Parliament is

Adam Afriyie Adam Mensah Osei Afriyie (born 4 August 1965) is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Windsor since 2005. He is a member of the Conservative Party. Early life The son of an English mother and a Ghanaian fa ...

(

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 in ...

Demography

At the 2011 census the whole civil parish had a population of 6,157 living in 2,533 homes, giving a density of 10.9 people per hectare (approximately a quarter of the density of the borough as a whole and just under one half of the average for England).

Transport

Colnbrook was before the M4 along the Roman-origin A4 (previously the Bath road) as well as to Windsor or

Maidenhead Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England, on the southwestern bank of the River Thames. It had an estimated population of 70,374 and forms part of the border with southern Bu ...

by way of

, and had been a convenient halting-place for travellers before the introduction of railways. Local bus services are operated by London United who run services from the main village to

Hounslow Hounslow () is a large suburban district of West London, west-southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hounslow, and is identified in the London Plan as one of the 12 metropolitan centres in ...

and

First Berkshire & The Thames Valley First Beeline Buses, trading as First Berkshire & The Thames Valley, is a bus operator providing services in and around Slough. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup. History In January 1986 Alder Valley North Limited, later renamed, The Berk ...

who run the remainder of the services.

Abandoned railway

Colnbrook has a disbanded railway line running into

West Drayton West Drayton is a suburban town in the London Borough of Hillingdon. It was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex and from 1929 was part of the Yiewsley and West Drayton Urban District, which became part of Greater London in 1965. Th ...

, formerly carrying passenger traffic, then for carrying materials for building Heathrow Airport Terminal 5. Colnbrook railway station was closed in 1965 under the

Beeching Axe The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the ...

. This railway line formerly continued to

Staines-upon-Thames Staines-upon-Thames is a market town in northwest Surrey, England, around west of central London. It is in the Borough of Spelthorne, at the confluence of the River Thames and Colne. Historically part of Middlesex, the town was transferred t ...

. Efforts are periodically made to re-use the southern part of it for a

Heathrow Airtrack Heathrow Airtrack was a proposed railway link in the United Kingdom which would link Heathrow Airport in west London to London Waterloo railway station in Central London. The line, as proposed by BAA, would run from across the suburbs of ...

rail link from the counties south of London to Heathrow Airport.

Nearest places

References

External links

Colnbrook with Poyle Parish Council website

Colnbrook Views ''- news and discussion portal for residents of Colnbrook with Poyle''

Colnbrook Village Website ''- no longer updated''
* http://www.colnbrookbaptistchapel.co.uk * {{authority control Villages in Berkshire Slough