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Virginia Water Lake | |
---|---|
Location | Berkshire |
Coordinates | 51°24′40″N0°36′10″W / 51.41111°N 0.60278°W |
Type | artificial lake |
Primary inflows | River Bourne |
Primary outflows | River Bourne |
Basin countries | United Kingdom |
Settlements | Virginia Water |
Virginia Water Lake lies on the southern edge of Windsor Great Park, in the borough of Runnymede in Surrey and the civil parishes of Old Windsor and Sunningdale in Berkshire, in England. It is a man-made lake taking its name from a natural body of water of the same name. There is a village of Virginia Water which stretches out to the east of the lake. The grounds of the lake, nearby Fort Belvedere, and the Clockcase are all Grade I listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. [1]
Virginia Water Lake was originally little more than a stream, which existed from at least the 17th century and may well be named after Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen, although this is not certain. The lake itself was begun in 1746 by William, Duke of Cumberland who was then Ranger of the Park. His own regiment, the 23rd Regiment of Foot, undertook the construction. [2] The original lake was much smaller than the current form, and was destroyed in a flood in 1768. In 1780 Paul and Thomas Sandby began construction of a much larger lake at the site, and went on to add an artificial waterfall, Meadow Pond and Obelisk Pond.
Among the lakeside features are the 30-metre-high (100 ft) high Canadian totem pole, carved by Mungo Martin, Henry Hunt, and Tony Hunt Sr., commemorating the centenary of British Columbia, and a collection of ornamental Roman ruins, transported from the site of Leptis Magna (modern-day Al-Khums) in 1816 and installed at Virginia Water in 1826. [3] In 2022, the Libyan government questioned the legality of the ruin's acquisition and asked for them to be returned. [4]
In 1834, a miniature sailing frigate, the Royal Adelaide , was constructed at Sheerness for King William IV, was dismantled and transported overland to Virginia Water where it was reassembled and launched for sail training of the royal princes. It was fully rigged, was 50 feet (15 m) long and 15 feet (4.6 m) in beam, displacing 50 tons burden, and was armed with 22 working miniature cannons. It was broken up in 1877 but the guns were donated to the Royal Yacht Squadron at Cowes Castle. [5]
During World War II, the lake was drained, as its obvious shape provided enemy guidance at night to Windsor and other important military targets in the area.
The River Bourne provides the water for the lake and it exits the lake at the eastern end after the cascading waterfall. The circuit around the lake is about 4.5 miles (7.2 km), about half is paved and the other half is a "natural" path both providing easy walking conditions even with a pram or pushchair. [6]
The Virginia Water Visitor Centre opened in 2013, designed by Stanton Williams. It was nominated for the 2015 Royal Institute of British Architects South East Awards. [7]
The lake has been used for lakeside scenes for the Harry Potter films. The Scottish alternative was deemed unsuitable due to the number of midges. The Lake was also used for scenes in the 2014 film Into The Woods . It was also used as the scene for the drone strike attack scenes in the 2019 action thriller movie Angel Has Fallen .
Windsor may refer to:
The Serpentine is a 40-acre (16 ha) recreational lake in Hyde Park, London, England, created in 1730 at the behest of Queen Caroline. Although it is common to refer to the entire body of water as the Serpentine, the name refers in the strict sense only to the eastern half of the lake. Serpentine Bridge, which marks the boundary between Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, also marks the Serpentine's western boundary; the long and narrow western half of the lake is known as the Long Water. The Serpentine takes its name from its snakelike, curving shape, although it only has one bend.
Windsor is a historic market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British monarch. The town is situated 21.8 miles (35.1 km) west of Charing Cross, central London, 5.8 miles (9.3 km) southeast of Maidenhead, and 15.8 miles (25.4 km) east of the county town of Reading. It is immediately south of the River Thames, which forms its boundary with its smaller, ancient twin town of Eton. The village of Old Windsor, just over 2 miles (3 km) to the south, predates what is now called Windsor by around 300 years. In the past, Windsor was formally referred to as New Windsor to distinguish the two.
Sunningdale is a large village with a retail area and a civil parish in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. It takes up the extreme south-east corner of Berkshire, England. It has a railway station on the (London) Waterloo to Reading Line and is adjoined by green buffers including Sunningdale Golf Club and Wentworth Golf Club. Its northern peripheral estates adjoin Virginia Water Lake.
Egham is a town in the Borough of Runnymede in Surrey, England, approximately 19 miles (31 km) west of central London. First settled in the Bronze Age, the town was under the control of Chertsey Abbey for much of the Middle Ages. In 1215, Magna Carta was sealed by King John at Runnymede, to the north of Egham, having been chosen for its proximity to the King's residence at Windsor. Under the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the early 16th Century, the major, formerly ecclesiastical, manorial freehold interests in the town and various market revenues passed to the Crown.
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 name is shared with the lake on its western boundary within Windsor Great Park. Virginia Water has excellent transport links with London–Trumps Green and Thorpe Green touch the M3, Thorpe touches the M25, and Heathrow Airport is 7 miles (11 km) northeast.
Virginia is a state in the United States of America.
The Bois de Boulogne is a large public park that is the western half of the 16th arrondissement of Paris, near the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly-sur-Seine. The land was ceded to the city of Paris by the Emperor Napoleon III to be turned into a public park in 1852.
Runnymede is a water-meadow alongside the River Thames in the English county of Surrey, and just over 20 miles (32 km) west of central London. It is notable for its association with the sealing of Magna Carta, and as a consequence is, with its adjoining hillside, the site of memorials. Runnymede Borough is named after the area, Runnymede being at its northernmost point.
The Parc des Buttes Chaumont is a public park situated in northeastern Paris, France, in the 19th arrondissement. Occupying 24.7 hectares, it is the fifth-largest park in Paris, after the Bois de Vincennes, Bois de Boulogne, Parc de la Villette and Tuileries Garden.
Windsor Great Park is a Royal Park of 2,020 hectares, including a deer park, to the south of the town of Windsor on the border of Berkshire and Surrey in England. It is adjacent to the private 265 hectares Home Park, which is nearer the castle. The park was, for many centuries, the private hunting ground of Windsor Castle and dates primarily from the mid-13th century. Historically the park covered an area many times the current size known as Windsor Forest, Windsor Royal Park or its current name. The park is managed and funded by the Crown Estate, and is the only royal park not managed by The Royal Parks. Most parts of the park are open to the public, free of charge, from dawn to dusk, although there is a charge to enter Savill Garden.
Windsor (/ˈwɪnzə/) is a constituency in Berkshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2005 by Adam Afriyie of the Conservative Party. It was re-created for the 1997 general election after it was abolished following the 1970 general election and replaced by the Windsor and Maidenhead constituency.
Fort Belvedere is a Grade II* listed country house on Shrubs Hill in Windsor Great Park, in Surrey, England. The fort was predominantly constructed by Jeffry Wyatville in a Gothic Revival style in the 1820s.
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 Racecourse, Heatherwood Hospital and the village of Burleigh.
The Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard from 1788 to 1853 in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, at the site of the current Royal Military College of Canada.
Cheapside describes a close triangle of roads in the civil parish of Sunninghill and Ascot and ecclesiastical parish of Sunninghill in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England which includes a school and had a Methodist chapel. It is a cluster of houses, bungalows and cottages with small gardens for the county which contrasts with large houses with large gardens and small farms covering most of the rest of Sunninghill. It is marked on maps as the area north and east of Silwood Park and south of Sunninghill Park. Harewood Lodge followed by Titness House to its immediate east are of similar 18th century construction and have sometimes been recorded as in the Cheapside locality.
The River Bourne or the Chertsey Bourne is in Berkshire and Surrey; it runs from sources in Windsor Great Park and Swinley Forest through to the River Thames.
The Colne Brook is a river in England that is a distributary of the River Colne which runs from Uxbridge Moor, there forming the western border of Greater London, to the River Thames just below Bell Weir Lock in Hythe End, Wraysbury, Berkshire.
Lieutenant Colonel Sir Malcolm Donald Murray was a British Army officer and courtier.
Royal Adelaide was a royal yacht, designed as a miniature sailing frigate, which was built in 1833 and launched in the following year on the orders of King William IV of the United Kingdom, for use on Virginia Water Lake in Windsor Great Park in Surrey, England.