Jealott's Hill is a village in the county 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 ...

, within 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 authority ...

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 ...

. The settlement is on the A3095 road approximately north 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 nearest railway station is in . The name of the hill is reported to have derived from the surname of a 14th-century landowner, Roger Jolyl. This name evolved into "Joyliff's Hill" and then, on Henry Walter's ''Map of Windsor Forest, 1823'', became "Jealous Hill". This changed again to "Jealot's Hill" on

John Snare John Snare (christened 31 July 1808 born c.1811, died 10 January 1884) was a bookseller and publisher from Reading, England, whose life was dominated by the discovery at a country house auction in 1845 of a hitherto lost Diego Velázquez painti ...

's 1846 map and by the 1920s the modern spelling was established.

Syngenta research site

Jealott's Hill is home to Syngenta's largest

research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...

site which includes a large agricultural research greenhouse at and a farm. , Syngenta employed around 800 people there. The site was formed in 1927 by the amalgamation of three farms, Hawthorndale, Nuptown and Jealott's Hill itself. Jealott's Hill House was built in 1928 and officially opened on 28 June 1929 as the offices, laboratory and library of

Imperial Chemical Industries Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain. It was formed by the merger of four leading British chemical companies in 1926. Its headquarters were at M ...

Agricultural Research Station An agricultural experiment station (AES) or agricultural research station (ARS) is a scientific research center that investigates difficulties and potential improvements to food production and agribusiness. Experiment station scientists work with f ...

; initially the research focused on

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...

fertilizers A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...

in grassland management. In 1936, the Hawthorndale Biological Laboratories were opened in the converted

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word '' manse'' originally defined a property l ...

building of the former farm. Research there involved the biological evaluation of chemicals as potential

pesticides Pesticides are substances that are meant to control pests. This includes herbicide, insecticide, nematicide, molluscicide, piscicide, avicide, rodenticide, bactericide, insect repellent, animal repellent, microbicide, fungicide, and lampric ...

. The site is now called Jealott's Hill International Research Centre. In 2007, the site was recognised by the

Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society (professional association) in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the Ro ...

as a National Chemistry Landmark and awarded a

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...

in recognition of 80 years of scientific research which led to global developments in agriculture. Jealott's Hill House 2018-1

References

Villages in Berkshire Warfield {{Berkshire-geo-stub