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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

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, Binfield, Warfield, and Winkfield. The b ...

unitary authority A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Geography

According to the 2011 census, the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

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. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...

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 Specia ...

, 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 Brack ...

, 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 R ...

and the

Bracknell Bracknell () is a 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 borough of Bracknell Forest. It lies to the east of Re ...

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

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 Fore ...

Martins Heron Martins Heron is a suburb of Bracknell west of London in Berkshire, England, Berkshire, England. Martins Heron and the neighbouring suburb The Warren, Bracknell Forest, The Warren are after a Parliamentary Boundary review in the Bracknell (UK Pa ...

and The Warren. 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. B ...

Crown Wood Crown Wood is a south-eastern estate of Bracknell in the England, 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, Bracknell Forest, Forest Pa ...

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 las ...

– and is said to have been one of the largest in Berkshire.

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 historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

, 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 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086 as ''Wenesfelle'', and was recorded to have 20 households and 20

ploughland The carucate or carrucate ( 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 of tax assessment. ...

s, suggesting the area was a rich agricultural settlement.

William the Conqueror William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...

, in establishing his home at

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a List of British royal residences, royal residence at Windsor, Berkshire, Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, about west of central London. It is strongly associated with the Kingdom of England, English and succee ...

, also incorporated Winkfield into

Windsor Great Park Windsor Great Park is a Royal Park of to the south of the town of Windsor, Berkshire, Windsor on the border of Berkshire and Surrey in England. It is adjacent to the private Home Park, Windsor, Home Park, which is nearer the castle. The park ...

, 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 State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

St Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under various titles such as virgin or queen, many of them mentioned in the Litany of Loreto. ...

's. The principal lodge at Winkfield was Foliejon Park. 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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in June 1945 Foliejon Park was the residence of

Haakon VII of Norway Haakon VII (; 3 August 187221 September 1957) was King of Norway from 18 November 1905 until his death in 1957. The future Haakon VII was born in Copenhagen as Prince Carl of Denmark. He was the second son of the Crown Prince and Crown Princess ...

and his son,

Crown Prince Olav Olav V (, ; born Prince Alexander of Denmark; 2 July 1903 – 17 January 1991) was King of Norway from 1957 until his death in 1991. Olav was born at Sandringham House in England, the only child of Prince Carl of Denmark and Princess Maud of Wa ...

. 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 accomm ...

, the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

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 fathe ...

, a niece of

King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...

. 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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

aided a Canadian

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

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 ...

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 memory of

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. George was born during the reign of his pa ...

. Winkfield also has a semi-professional football team: AFC Winkfield were formed in 2019 and currently play their home games at The Timbers in nearby

Virginia Water Virginia Water is a commuter village in the Borough of Runnymede in northern Surrey, England. It is home to the Wentworth Estate and the Wentworth Club. The area has much woodland and occupies a large minority of the Runnymede district. Its na ...

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, for both day and boarding pupils.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Berkshire Bracknell Forest Civil parishes in Berkshire