| Bracknell | |
|---|---|
| Town andcivil parish | |
     Clockwise from top: Skyline of Bracknell, Holy Trinity Church, Market Street and shops, Lily Hill Park andthe Lexicon | |
  Bracknell Location withinBerkshire | |
 Interactive map of Bracknell | |
| Population | 60,057 (2021 Census)[1] |
| OS grid reference | SU870693 |
| Civil parish |
|
| Unitary authority | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Areas of the town (2011 census BUASD) | |
| Post town | BRACKNELL |
| Postcode district | RG12, RG42 |
| Dialling code | 01344 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Royal Berkshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| UK Parliament | |
| 51°24′58″N0°44′56″W / 51.416°N 0.749°W /51.416; -0.749 | |
Bracknell (/ˈbræknəl/) is a town andcivil parish inBerkshire, England, the westernmost area within theGreater London Urban Area and the administrative centre of the borough ofBracknell Forest. It lies 11 miles (18 km) to the east ofReading, 9 miles (14 km) south ofMaidenhead, 10 miles (16 km) southwest ofWindsor and 25 miles (40 km) west of centralLondon. Bracknell is the third largest town in Berkshire.
The name Bracknell is derived from the SaxonBraccan Heal orBraccan Heale, first recorded in a charter boundary of 942 AD.[2] In the Middle Ages, Bracknell developed into two small market villages, Old Bracknoll and New Bracknoll. By the 19th century, the two Bracknells had combined into a single market town, which was an important centre of local industry, most notably for its brick trade. In the 20th century, Bracknell experienced a period of rapid growth after it was declared aNew Town. Planned at first for a population of 25,000, Bracknell New Town was further expanded in the 1960s to accommodate a population of 45,000. During this time, Bracknell absorbed many of its surrounding villages includingEasthampstead, Ramslade and Old Bracknell. As of 2021, Bracknell Forest has an estimated population of around 113,205. Today, the town is a busy commercial centre within the so-calledSilicon Thames Valley and the UK headquarters for several technology companies.
Bracknell is bordered to the south bySwinley Forest and byCrowthorne Woods to the south-east and south. Its neighbouring villages ofBinfield,Warfield andWinkfield are part of the borough of Bracknell Forest and are gradually becoming absorbed into the Bracknell metropolitan area. To the east, the urban area joins up withAscot to form a continuous conurbation that extends to Central London.
The name Bracknell is first recorded in a Winkfield Boundary Charter of AD 942 asBraccan heal, and may mean "Nook of land belonging to a man called Bracca", from theOld EnglishBraccan (genitive singular of a personal name) +heal, healh (a corner, nook or secret place).[3] An early form of the town's name,Brakenhale, still survives asthe name of one of its schools. The town covers all of the old village ofEasthampstead (though not all of the old parish) and the hamlet ofRamslade.
There is aBronze Ageround barrow at Bill Hill.Easthampstead Park was a favoured royal hunting lodge in Windsor Forest andCatherine of Aragon was banished there until her divorce was finalised. It was later the home of theTrumbulls who were patrons ofAlexander Pope from Binfield.[citation needed]
To the north-east of the town, in the suburb ofQuelm Park, is the Quelm Stone, astanding stone,[4] and to the south-west, just over the border inCrowthorne, isCaesar's Camp, anIron Agehill fort.
One of the oldest buildings in the town is the 'Old Manor'public house, a 17th-century brickmanor house featuring a number ofpriest holes. Next door once stood the 'Hind's Head' coaching inn, where it is saidDick Turpin used to drink. It is believed that there were once tunnels between the two, along which the famoushighwayman could escape from the authorities.[citation needed] Other surviving old pubs are the Red Lion and the Bull, both timber-framed and dating from before the 18th century.
The oldest place of worship in the town is theparish church ofSt Michael and St Mary Magdalene inEasthampstead. There has been a church there sinceSaxon times, although the present building dates from the mid 19th century, except for the lower portions of the Tudor tower.[citation needed] Holy Trinity Church near the town centre was built in 1851.[5]
Bracknell was designated anew town on 17 June 1949,[6] in the aftermath of theSecond World War. The site was originally a small market town in thecivil parish ofWarfield in theEasthampstead Rural District. Very little of the original Bracknell is left. The location was preferred toWhite Waltham, which was also considered, because the Bracknell site avoided encroaching on good quality agricultural land. It had the additional advantage of being on a railway line.
The new town was planned for 25,000 people; it was intended to occupy over 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) of land in and around 'Old Bracknell', in the area now occupied by Priestwood, Easthampstead, Bullbrook and Harmans Water. The existing town centre and industrial areas were to be retained with new industry brought in to provide jobs.[7] The town has since expanded far beyond its intended size into farmland to the south.
The New Town was planned on the neighbourhood principle, with a series of neighbourhoods each with a population of around 10,000 with (no more than around five minutes walk away) a church, a small parade of shops, a primary school, small business space, a community centre and a pub. The plans included pedestrianisation, the construction of a ring road around the town centre, and segregation of industrial areas from residential areas.[8][9]
A feature of some of the estates is that streets only have names, notodonyms – inBirch Hill, Crown Wood,Great Hollands and others there is noRoad,Avenue,Street, just 'Frobisher', 'Jameston', 'Juniper', 'Jevington'. The residential streets are, however, named in alphabetical order inGreat Hollands andWildridings, with As to Ds, such as Donnybrook, inHanworth, Js, such as 'Jameston', 'Juniper' and 'Jevington' inBirch Hill.
Bracknell Development Corporation commissioned a history of the New Town, published in 1981, entitledBracknell: The making of our New Town, by Henry and Judith Parris.
Because of Bracknell's age, it was decided in 1995[10] by the local authorities that it should undergo renovation. Designs and plans were submitted and rejected first time round. The council went for a second attempt and were accepted, work was due to commence early in 2008 but due to the global credit crisis, the plans were postponed. The cost was estimated at £750 million. The regeneration would provide brand new services, a completely redeveloped town centre, 1,000 new homes and new police and bus stations.[11][12]
The first stage of the redevelopment began with the opening of a newWaitrose store in December 2011. By June 2013 shops in the northern part of the town in Broadway and Crossway had been vacated. Demolition of the new town's old retro-futuristic,Brutalist central area then began in September 2013, and was completed in December of the same year. Construction of the new centre began in February 2015. On 4 September 2015, it was announced that the new development would be known asThe Lexicon.[13] The Lexicon opened on 7 September 2017, comprising 600,000 sq ft (56,000 m2) of new retail space, a 12-screen cinema which includes a4DX screen, restaurants and cafes, completely new paving and public realm[clarification needed] and 1300 parking spaces as well as improved access by public transport, the council having substantially refurbished the bus station in 2015.[14]
The scheme won at the Revo Awards 2018: Gold in the Re:new category and Best of the Best in the Re:turn category.[15] Shortlisted for the Planning Awards 2017 in the Regeneration category, the scheme won Development of the Year at the 2018 Thames Valley Property Awards. The town saw visitor numbers of 16m in its first year (compared with around 4-5m prior to the town centre's demolition). The town centre rose in the retail rankings to number 33 (from 255 before redevelopment). In January 2019, the town had risen again to 29 in the retail rankings.
A second retail centre, the Peel Centre, managed byLand Securities, has 2 car parks, a leisure area calledThe Point. and includes stores Such asThe Range,Sports Direct andNew Look. The Point includes anOdeon multiplex 10-screen cinema and a bowling alley.[16]
Bracknell is the first post-war New Town centre to have been substantially regenerated and represents a significant exemplar development.
According to the Office for National Statistics in 2018 there were 121,676 people in Bracknell Forest.[17]
According to the 2011 Census.[18]
94% of Bracknell residents can speak English. The second language being Nepalese, at 0.90%, followed by Polish at 0.70%, Tagalog/Filipino at 0.30% and French and Spanish, both at 0.30%.[19]
61% of residents identify themselves as Christian. The second most common belief is 'none', with 35% of residents choosing this in the census, in third place is Hinduism at 1.61%, followed by Islam at 1.13% and Buddhism at 0.73%.[citation needed][20]
The demonym for a person from Bracknell is Bracknellian.[21]
The town is home to companies such as3M,Panasonic,Egnyte,Fujitsu (formerlyICL),Dell,HP Inc.,Hewlett Packard Enterprise,Micron Technology,Brocade Communications Systems,Siemens (originallyNixdorf),Riverbed,Honeywell, Intercall,Broadcom,Avnet Technology Solutions,Bird Technologies,Novell, andHonda.
The Southern Industrial Area houses the head office ofWaitrose.[22] The 70-acre (280,000 m2) site houses the central distribution centre. Waitrose has operated from the town since the 1970s with its old store based at Birch Hill Shopping Centre until closure with a new store opened in the town centre in 2011.
Manufacturing industry has largely disappeared since the 1980s. Former significant sites includedRacal Communications in Western and London Road, Clifford's Dairy in Downshire Way andBritish Aerospace (originallySperry Gyroscope) now occupied by Arlington Square, a 22-acre (8.9-hectare) business park[23] of which the first stage was completed in 1995. The Thomas Lawrence brickworks on the north side of the town was famous for 'red rubber' bricks to be found in theRoyal Albert Hall andWestminster Cathedral, and in restoration work at10 Downing Street andHampton Court Palace.
In the town centre was the 12-storey Winchester House, formerly owned by3M who moved to new premises inFarley Wood on the town's northern edge in 2004. The building was demolished and has been replaced with a large block of flats[24] The town was also the home ofRacal andFerranti Computer Systems Ltd. TheMet Office maintained a large presence in the town until 2003, when it relocated toExeter in Devon; however, the junction of the A329 and A3095 is still named the "Met Office Roundabout". Many businesses are located on the town's three industrial areas.
Easthampstead Park in the southern suburb of Easthampstead was a conference centre owned by Bracknell Forest Borough Council. In 2019 an agreement was made between the local authority and a hotel group, Active Hospitality. The building is now leased to the company and has reopened as a hotel[25]
Bracknell was made acivil parish in its own right in 1955, forming Bracknell Parish Council, later renamedBracknell Town Council. Under theLocal Government Act 1972, the entire Easthampstead Rural District became the Bracknell District on 1 April 1974. In 1988, it was grantedborough status, and it changed its name to Bracknell Forest. When BerkshireCounty Council was abolished on 1 April 1998 (and thenon-metropolitan county was reclassified as aceremonial county), Bracknell Forest became one of the sixunitary authorities which together make up Berkshire. Bracknell Forest Borough Council's offices are at Time Square in Market Street.[26]
The town covers areas previously in the parishes ofEasthampstead,Warfield,Binfield andWinkfield. The town's centre lies just north of therailway station with completely pedestrianised and much undercover shopping around Princess Square, Charles Square and the Broadway. There are 'out-of-town' shops, a multiscreen cinema and ten pin bowling complex at the Peel Centre. Just to the west are the Western and Southern industrial estates, either side of the railway line. There are many residential suburbs (see settlement table below) of varying dates, the oldest beingPriestwood and, of course,Easthampstead village.
The formerRAF Staff College buildings inHarmans Water, now closed, was part of theJoint Services Command and Staff College. From 2008, the site was redeveloped for housing by Wimpey, with an estimated 730 houses. The south-western corner of the town remains rural around Easthampstead Park and the wooded Yew Tree Corner. A newer housing development calledJennett's Park was built (from 2007) at Peacock Farm and on part of what was historically the grounds of Easthampstead Park. There are large ponds atFarley Wood and the Easthampstead Mill Pond betweenGreat Hollands andWildridings, and two lakes atSouth Hill Park. TheBull Brook emerges above ground just within the bounds of the suburb ofBullbrook.
In the south of the town isSouth Hill Park, amansion dating from 1760, although much rebuilt, that now houses a largearts centre. The Wilde Theatre was opened in 1984, named afterOscar Wilde who created the character 'Lady Bracknell' in his playThe Importance of Being Earnest, which was also the inaugural production at the theatre in April of that year.[27] South Hill Park has been home to a number of major music festivals over the years:[28]
Bracknell has been used in the filming of many TV shows and films, such asHarry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Martins Heron) andTime Bandits (Birch Hill).[29] Bracknell is given the name 'Laxton' in the TV detective seriesPie in the Sky and Waterside Park was used for the exterior of the police HQ in the same series. Bracknell has also featured in the 1991Roger Daltrey filmBuddy's Song.
The Offence (1972), a psychological thriller withSean Connery andIan Bannen, was filmed in Bracknell. There are scenes in the town centre, on Broadway, Charles Square and Market Street. The flat for Connery's character was filmed at thelisted Point Royal, and the bulk of the outdoor scenes were taken around Wildridings, specifically Arncliffe, Crossfell, Mill Pond and Mill Lane.
The wages snatch scene inVillain (1971), a gangster film withRichard Burton, was filmed in Ellesfield Avenue on the Southern Industrial Estate outside the former Clark Eaton glass factory,[30] with the ICL tower block visible in the background; after the robbery the gang make their getaway along Peacock Lane nearby and hijack a car at the junction with the footpath from Tarmans Copse (now Osprey Avenue on theJennett's Park estate).
Bracknell is featured in thePlayStation 3video gameResistance: Fall of Man set in 1951, as the location at which power conduits travel deep undergroundSouth East England to power the Chimeran fortresses. It also featured in the sequelResistance 2 in a similar role.
The BBC showThe Wrong Mans is set almost entirely in Bracknell.
Tracy Beaker actressDani Harmer was brought up in Bracknell.[31]
During the 1960s, authorJ. M. Coetzee lived in the town and worked for an IT company.[32]
Artist Kerry Lemon was commissioned to create a number of site-specific artworks for the Lexicon town centre development. Her work includes a series of 36 unique botanical paving slabs in granite and brass designed to create a nature trail through the town centre; 15gobo lights projecting moth drawings in light onto the pavements below; 5 castjesmonite birch leaf benches with hand sculpted solid brass insects and painted brass leaf veins.[33]
Bracknell is twinned withLeverkusen inGermany, an arrangement which has existed since 1973. It was originally twinned withOpladen, which was incorporated into Leverkusen in a 1975 local government reorganisation. Each town has a square named after the other.[34][35] Leverkusen is home to a Bracknell-themed pub called 'Bracknellstube'.[36]
Local news and television programmes are provided byBBC South &ITV Meridian fromHannington andBBC London andITV London fromCrystal Palace. The town's local radio stations areBBC Radio Berkshire,Heart South andGreatest Hits Radio South. Local newspapers that cover Bracknell areReading Chronicle, and Bracknell News.[37]
The town of Bracknell has two railway stations,Bracknell andMartins Heron, both of which are on theWaterloo to Reading Line, built by theLondon and South Western Railway and now operated bySouth Western Railway. Bracknell is a commuter centre with its residents travelling in both directions (westwards toReading and eastwards toLondon Waterloo).
The town has good road links and is situated at the end of theA329(M) motorway, midway between Junction 3 of theM3 and Junction 10 of theM4 motorways. A proposed motorway link between the M3 and the M4 to be called theM31 would have passed to the west of the town centre, but only the section that is now the A329(M) and the A3290 was built.[citation needed]
Bracknell bus station serves the town of Bracknell. The bus station is on The Ring in the Town Centre across the road fromBracknell railway station. The bus station consists of three long shelters each with three stands.
Bus services go from Bracknell as far afield asCrowthorne,Camberley,Wokingham,Reading,Maidenhead,Windsor andSlough. Local bus services are provided byThames Valley Buses andReading Buses, who also provide theGreen Line services toLondon Victoria andHeathrow Airport.
Heathrow Airport is 13 miles (21 kilometres) east of Bracknell. Green Line operates a bus from Heathrow Airport to Bracknell. Courtney Buses also services this route.[38]Blackbushe Airport inYateley is the nearest general aviation airport located 15 miles (24 kilometres) southwest of Bracknell.[39]
Bracknell Town F.C. are members of theSouthern Football League Premier Division South, and play their home matches at Bottom Meadow,Sandhurst. TheBracknell Bees Ice Hockey Club are former national champions, who currently play in theNIHL National League. The Bracknell Blazers were the 2009BBF National League champions. The town is also represented by teams playing rugby,Bracknell RFC;[40] hockey, South Berkshire Hockey Club;[41] and cricket, Bracknell Cricket Club.[42]
The town has a large leisure centre, theBracknell Leisure Centre, and theCoral Reef Waterworld. A golf course, the Downshire Golf Complex. Two tennis Clubs, the Bracknell Lawn Tennis Club[43] and Esporta, the Royal County of Berkshire Club. There are 2,600 acres (1,100 hectares) of Crown Estate woodland at the Look Out Discovery Centre.[44]
A number of organisations are active in the area. These consist of an Army Cadet Force detachment (7 Platoon Bracknell)[45] and theAir Training Corps (2211 Squadron),Saint John Ambulance Cadets and the Bracknell Forest Lions Club, which was formed in 1968 to help those in need.[46]
The area has various schools including St Joseph's Catholic Primary School,The Brakenhale School,Garth Hill College,King's Academy Easthampstead Park andRanelagh Church of England School.Bracknell and Wokingham College of further education is also based in the area.
TheSilwood Park campus ofImperial College London is five miles (eight kilometres) east of Bracknell town centre. TheUniversity of Reading is 8 mi (13 km) northwest, andRoyal Holloway College is 8 mi (13 km) east.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
| Unitary authorities | |
|---|---|
| Major settlements (cities in italics) | |
| Topics | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Geographic | |
| Other | |
