Crowthorne | |
---|---|
The shops in Duke's Ride near Crowthorne Station | |
Location within Berkshire | |
Population | 7,806 (2021 Census) [1] |
OS grid reference | SU841641 |
Civil parish |
|
District |
|
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | CROWTHORNE |
Postcode district | RG45 |
Dialling code | 01344 |
Police | Thames Valley |
Fire | Royal Berkshire |
Ambulance | South Central |
UK Parliament | |
Crowthorne is a village and civil parish in the Bracknell Forest district of south-eastern Berkshire, England. [3] It had a population of 7,806 at the 2021 census. [1] Crowthorne is the venue of Wellington College, a large co-educational boarding and day independent school, which opened in 1859, and of Broadmoor Hospital, one of England's three maximum-security psychiatric hospitals, which lies on the eastern edge of the village. [4]
Crowthorne was only a hamlet until Wellington College opened in 1859 and Broadmoor Hospital in 1863. [4] Crowthorne railway station, originally Wellington College for Crowthorne Station, opened in 1860 and burgeoned quickly. In the 1960s, the Transport Research Laboratory established by the UK Government as the Road Research Laboratory (RRL) opened in Crowthorne. [4] It was privatised in 1996. [5]
Crowthorne is part of the Reading/Wokingham Urban Area. It lies 4 miles (6.5 km) NNE of Camberley and some 5 miles (8 km) SSW of Bracknell. The Crowthorne urban area spills over into the neighbouring parish of Wokingham Without. [4] However, most of the housing is in Crowthorne parish, which is part of Bracknell Forest district. [4] North of Crowthorne is Pinewood, which has a leisure centre, cafe and miniature railway. [6] [7] [8]
The Crowthorne urban area adjoins several Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and local nature reserves:
Crowthorne houses Wellington College, a large co-educational boarding and day independent school, opened in 1859 as a monument to the Duke of Wellington (1769–1852). It became fully coeducational in 2005. Edgbarrow is a secondary school there are 5 primary schools: Hatch Ride Primary, New Scotland Hill, Crowthorne Church of England School, Wildmoor Heath (formerly Broadmoor Primary) and Oaklands Junior. There are some pre-preparatory and preparatory schools, nurseries and childcare centres for children between 3 months and 11 years old.
C. F. Taylor grew into a large international aeronautical fabrications business, later part of British Aerospace. It was born in a shed of the Buckler premises in Heath Hill Road shortly after World War II. Metal craftsman C. F. Taylor single-handedly produced aluminium racing fairings for motorcycles and bodies for early Buckler cars. [11]
Crowthorne holds a biennial carnival, usually in early July, organised by the Crowthorne Carnival Association, with some individual events put up by local schools, groups and businesses. [12] Crowthorne Amateur Theatrical Society was founded in 1978. [13] The Crowthorne Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Robert Roscoe, gives three concerts a year, usually at Wellington College. It also holds an open workshop for full orchestra in September and a string workshop in May. The orchestra marked its 20th anniversary in 2011. [14] The Crowthorne Natural History Group, founded in 1977, held its final meeting in 2013, due to a diminishing, ageing membership. [15]
Crowthorne & Crown Wood Cricket Club was formed in January 2014 as a merger of two existing clubs. It plays its home games in the grounds of Wellington College and at Crown Wood's established base at St Sebastian's. It belongs to the Saturday League Cricket in the Berkshire League and Sunday Friendlies. In 2013, Crowthorne CC fielded two Saturday teams for the first time, along with a Sunday Team and a Midweek T20 team, while Crown Wood CC fielded two League teams and a youth set-up. The 1st XI gained promotion from Division 2 in 2013 after winning the League. Crown Wood's existing youth set-up continues under the merged club. [16]
AFC Crowthorne is one of the local football teams that play home games at Morgan Recreation ground.
Crowthorne RFC is a local rugby union club, which has played at New Nest, Lower Broadmoor Road, since its construction in 2019.
In order of birth:
The Royal County of Berkshire, commonly known as simply Berkshire, is a ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London to the east, Surrey to the south-east, Hampshire to the south, and Wiltshire to the west. Reading is the largest settlement and the county town.
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 borough borders Wokingham and the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead in Berkshire, and also parts of Surrey and Hampshire.
Wokingham is a market town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, 37 miles (60 km) west of London, 7 miles (11 km) southeast of Reading, 8 miles (13 km) north of Camberley and 4 miles (6 km) west of Bracknell. It is the main administrative centre of the wider Borough of Wokingham.
Sandhurst is a town and civil parish in the Bracknell Forest borough in Berkshire, England. It is in the south eastern corner of Berkshire, and is situated 32 miles (51 km) west-southwest of central London, 2.5 miles (4.0 km) north west of Camberley and 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Bracknell. Sandhurst is known worldwide as the location of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Despite its close proximity to Camberley, Sandhurst is also home to a large and well-known out-of-town mercantile development. The site is named "The Meadows" and has a Tesco Extra hypermarket and a Marks & Spencer, two of the largest in the country. A large Next clothing and homeware store is open on the site of the old Homebase.
Bracknell is a town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, the westernmost area within the Greater London Urban Area and the administrative centre of the borough of Bracknell Forest. It lies 11 miles (18 km) to the east of Reading, 9 miles (14 km) south of Maidenhead, 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Windsor and 25 miles (40 km) west of central London. Bracknell is the third largest town in Berkshire.
The Borough of Wokingham is a local government district with borough status in Berkshire, England. It is named after its main town, Wokingham. Other places in the district include Arborfield, Barkham, Charvil, Earley, Finchampstead, Hurst, Sonning, Remenham, Ruscombe, Shinfield, Twyford, Wargrave, Three Mile Cross, Winnersh, Spencers Wood and Woodley. The population of Wokingham is 177,500 according to 2021 census.
Finchampstead is a village and civil parish in the Wokingham Borough in the shire of Berkshire, England. Its northern extremity is 2 miles (3 km) south of Wokingham, 5 miles (8 km) west of Bracknell, 8 miles (13 km) south-east of Reading, and 34 miles (55 km) west of Central London. It is an affluent area, with the village ranking as Britain's 31st wealthiest. It has a high standard of living and is rated as one of the most desirable places to live in the United Kingdom.
Bracknell is a constituency in Berkshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by James Sunderland, a Conservative. It was created for the 1997 general election, largely replacing the abolished county constituency of East Berkshire.
Easthampstead is a former village and now a southern suburb of the town of Bracknell in the English county of Berkshire, although the old village can still be easily identified around the Church of St Michael and St Mary Magdalene. This building houses some of the finest stained glass works of Sir Edward Burne-Jones.
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.
Edgbarrow School is a secondary Academy School in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England. The school is the main state secondary school in the area, and includes Edgbarrow Sixth Form College. It previously held the title of a Business and Enterprise College as a specialist school.
Broadmoor to Bagshot Woods and Heaths is a 1,696.3-hectare (4,192-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Berkshire and Surrey that extend from a minority of the parish of Crowthorne including around Broadmoor Hospital in the west to Bagshot south-east, Bracknell north-east, and Sandhurst, south. It is part of the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area. Two nature reserves which are managed by the Surrey Wildlife Trust are in the SSSI, Barossa nature reserve and Poors Allotment. Broadmoor Bottom, which is part of Wildmoor Heath, also falls within the SSSI; this reserve is managed by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust.
Caesar's Camp is an Iron Age hill fort around 2,400 years old. It is located just in Crowthorne civil parish to the south of Bracknell in the English county of Berkshire. It falls within the Windsor Forest and is well wooded, although parts of the fort have now been cleared of some trees. The area is managed by the Forestry Commission but owned by Crown Estate, and is open and accessible to the public. The hill fort covers an area of about 17.2 acres and is surrounded by a mile-long ditch, making it one of the largest in southern England.
The Berkshire Young Musicians Trust is a music education charity operating in Berkshire, United Kingdom.
Sandhurst to Owlsmoor Bogs and Heaths is an 85.8-hectare (212-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on the northern outskirts of Sandhurst in Berkshire. Part of the SSSI is Wildmoor Heath nature reserve, which is managed by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust. and the SSSI is part of Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area.
The Broadmoor Sirens were a series of thirteen warning sirens based in towns and villages surrounding Broadmoor Hospital in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England. They were first installed in 1952 and are based on air raid sirens with the intention of warning residents living near the high-security psychiatric hospital of an escaped patient.
Wildmoor Heath is a 91-hectare (220-acre) nature reserve south of Crowthorne in Berkshire. It is managed by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust. The reserve is part of two Sites of Special Scientific Interest: Wildmoor Heath itself is part of Sandhurst to Owlsmoor Bogs and Heaths and a separate area called Broadmoor Bottom is part of Broadmoor to Bagshot Woods and Heaths.