Bracknell is a town in the Bracknell Forest
borough of the English county of Berkshire. It lies 18 km (11 miles) to
the south-east of Reading, 16 km (10 miles) southwest of Windsor and 47
km (30 miles) west of London. The town is surrounded, on the east and
south, by the vast expanse of Swinley Woods and Crowthorne Woods. The
town has absorbed parts of many local outlying areas including Warfield,
Winkfield and Binfield.
The town covers areas previously in the
parishes of Easthampstead, Warfield, Binfield and Winkfield. The town's
centre lies just north of the Railway 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 being Priestwood and, of
course, Easthampstead Village. The former RAF Staff College buildings,
now closed and part of the Joint Services Command and Staff College,
were at Herman Water. The south-eastern corner of the town remains rural
at present (but see below), around Peacock Farm, Easthampstead Park and
the wooded Yew Tree Corner. There are large ponds at Farley Wood and the
Easthampstead Mill Pond between Great Hollands and Wildridings, and two
lakes at South Hill Park. The Bull Brook emerges above ground just
within the bounds of the suburb of Bullbrook.
Bracknell is a Saxon word meaning
'Bracken-covered Hiding Place'. One of the oldest buildings in the town
is the 'Old Manor' public house, a 17th century brick manor house
featuring a number of priest holes. Next door once stood the 'Hind's
Head' coaching inn, where it is said Dick Turpin used to drink. It is
believed that there were once underground tunnels between the two, along
which the famous highwayman could escape from the authorities. In 1723,
the Grenadier Guards had a battle with the infamous bandits called the
'Wokingham Blacks' near the town. Percy Bysshe Shelley lived here for a
very short time in 1813.