Bracknell

Holy Trinity, built in 1851

The name Bracknell is first recorded in a Winkfield Boundary Charter of AD 942 as Braccan heal, and may mean "Nook of land belonging to a man called Bracca", from the Old English Braccan (genitive singular of a personal name) + heal, healh (a corner, nook or secret place).[1] An early form of the town's name, Brakenhale, still survives as the name of one of its schools. The town covers all of the old village of Easthampstead (though not all of the old parish) and the hamlet of Ramslade.

There is a Bronze Age round barrow at Bill Hill. Easthampstead Park was a favoured royal hunting lodge in Windsor Forest and Catherine of Aragon was banished there until her divorce was finalised.[2] It was later the home of the Trumbulls who were patrons of Alexander Pope from Binfield.[2]

To the north-east of the town is to be found the Quelm Stone, a standing stone,[3] and to the south-west, just over the border in Crowthorne, is Caesar's Camp, an Iron Age hill fort.[4]

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.[5] Next door once stood the 'Hind's Head' coaching inn, where it is said Dick Turpin used to drink.[5] It is believed that there were once tunnels between the two, along which the famous highwayman could escape from the authorities.[5] Other surviving old pubs are the Red Lion and the Bull, all timber-framed and dating from before the 18th century.

The oldest place of worship in the town is the parish church of St Michael and St Mary Magdalene in Easthampstead. There has been a church there since Saxon times, although the present building dates from the mid 19th century, except for the lower portions of the Tudor tower.[6] Holy Trinity Church near the town centre was built in 1851.[7]

Because of Bracknell's age, it was decided 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 is estimated at around £750 million. The regeneration will provide brand new services, a completely redeveloped town centre, 1,000 new homes and new police and bus stations.[12][13]

The Borough Council continues to work in partnership with the Bracknell Regeneration Partnership (comprising Legal and General and Schroder) to regenerate the town centre.

The first stage of the redevelopment began with the opening of a new Waitrose store in December 2011. By June 2013 shops in the northern part of the town in Broadway and Crossway had been vacated. Demolition of this area then began in September 2013, and was completed in December 2013. Construction of new shops, restaurants, and a Cineworld cinema began in February 2015. On 4 September 2015 it was announced that the new development would be known as The Lexicon.[14] The Lexicon opened on 7 September 2017. The Lexicon comprises 600,000 ft² of new retail, a new 12-screen cinema (including a 4DX screen), new restaurants and cafes, completely new paving and public realm and 1300 new parking spaces as well as improved access by public transport (the council having substantially refurbished the bus station in 2015).[15]

The scheme won at the Revo Awards 2018: Gold in the Re:new category and Best of the Best in the Re:turn category.[16] 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.

Bracknell is the first post-war New Town centre to have been substantially regenerated and represents a significant examplar development.

According to the 2011 Census.[17]

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%.[18]

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%.[19]

The demonym for a person from Bracknell is 'Bracknellian'.[20]

Easthampstead Park Conference Centre

The town is home to companies such as 3M, Panasonic, Egnyte, Fujitsu (formerly ICL), Dell, HP Inc., Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Micron Technology, Brocade Communications Systems, Siemens (originally Nixdorf), Riverbed, Honeywell, Intercall, Broadcom, Avnet Technology Solutions, Novell, Honda and Kleenway, a Royal Warrant holding chimney sweeping company based in Neuman Crescent.[21]

The Southern Industrial Area houses the head office of Waitrose.[22] The 70-acre (280,000 m²) site which houses the Waitrose head office also houses the central distribution centre. Waitrose has operated from the town since the 1970s, with a recently added supermarket in the town centre in 2011.

Manufacturing industry has largely disappeared since the 1980s. Former significant sites included Clifford's Dairy in Downshire Way and British Aerospace (originally Sperry Gyroscope) now occupied by Arlington Square, a 22-acre (8 ha) 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 the Royal Albert Hall and Westminster Cathedral, and in restoration work at 10 Downing Street and Hampton Court Palace.

In the town centre was the 12-storey Winchester House, formerly owned by 3M who moved to new premises in Farley Wood on the town's northern edge in 2004. The building was demolished and is to be replaced with blocks of flats[24] The town was also the home of Racal and Ferranti Computer Systems Ltd. The Met Office maintained a large presence in the town until 2003, when it relocated to Exeter 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 a civil parish in its own right in 1955. Under the Local Government Act 1972, the entire Easthampstead Rural District became the Bracknell District on 1 April 1974. In 1988, it was granted borough status, and it changed its name to Bracknell Forest. When Berkshire County Council was abolished on 1 April 1998 (and the non-metropolitan county was reclassified as a ceremonial county), Bracknell Forest became one of the six unitary 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 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 in Harmans Water, now closed, was part of the Joint Services Command and Staff College. This site is now, as of 2008, being redeveloped for housing by Wimpey, with an estimated 730 houses on the college's former site. The south-western corner of the town remains rural around Easthampstead Park and the wooded Yew Tree Corner. However, a new housing development called Jennett's Park is currently being built (from 2007) at Peacock Farm and on part of what was historically the grounds of Easthampstead Park. 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.

South Hill Park lies in Bracknell and houses an arts centre

In the south of the town is South Hill Park, a mansion dating from 1760, although much rebuilt, that now houses a large arts centre. The Wilde Theatre was opened in 1984, named after Oscar Wilde who created the character 'Lady Bracknell' in his play The Importance of Being Earnest. South Hill Park has been home to a number of major music festivals over the years:[27]

• 1975 – 1990s Bracknell Jazz Festival
• 1970s – 1980s Bracknell Folk Festival ("The Handsome Mouldiwarp Festival")
• 1988 – Womad Festival
• 1980s – 1990s – Bracknell Music Festival / South Hill Park Festival
• 2000s – 2013 – Big Day Out festival, a free, annual World Music and acoustic/folk festival

Bracknell has been used in the filming of many TV shows and films, such as Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Martins Heron) and Time Bandits (Birch Hill).[28] Bracknell is given the name 'Laxton' in the TV detective series Pie 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 1991 Roger Daltrey film Buddy's Song.

The Offence (1972), a psychological thriller with Sean Connery and Ian 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 the listed 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 in Villain (1971), a gangster film with Richard Burton, was filmed in Ellesfield Avenue on the Southern Industrial Estate outside the former Clark Eaton glass factory,[29] with the ICL tower block (under construction at the time) 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 the Jennett's Park estate).

Bracknell is featured in the PlayStation 3 video game Resistance: Fall of Man set in 1951, as the location at which power conduits travel deep underground South East England to power the Chimeran fortresses. It also featured in the sequel Resistance 2 in a similar role.

The BBC show The Wrong Mans is set almost entirely in Bracknell.

Tracy Beaker actress Dani Harmer was brought up in Bracknell.

Artist Kerry Lemon (www.kerrylemon.co.uk/NATURA) was commissioned to create a number of site specific artworks for the Lexicon town centre development. Her work includes a series of 36 x unique botanical paving slabs in granite and brass designed to create a nature trail through the town centre; 15 x unique gobo lights projecting Kerry's moth drawings in light onto the pavements below(Hand drawn from specimens held in the Dumbleton Collection, Reading Museum); 5 x cast jesmonite birch leaf benches with hand sculpted solid brass insects and painted brass leaf veins; highly tactile light beacon created from cast plants and lit by solar panels and Electric substation cladding, featuring hand drawn plants and cyanotype prints of town centre flora. The commemorative plaque for the opening of the Lexicon was also designed by Kerry Lemon.

Bracknell Town F.C. are members of the Isthmian League South Central Division, and play their home matches at Larges Lane. The Bracknell Bees Ice Hockey Club are former national champions, who currently play in the NIHL National League. The Bracknell Blazers were the 2009 BBF National League champions. The town is also represented by teams playing rugby, Bracknell RFC[33] hockey[34] and cricket.[35]

The town has a large leisure centre, the Bracknell Leisure Centre, and the Coral Reef Water Park. A golf course, the Downshire Golf Complex. Two tennis Clubs, the Bracknell Lawn Tennis Club[36] and Esporta, the Royal County of Berkshire Club. There are 2,600 acres (11 km²) of Crown Estate woodland at the Look Out Discovery Centre.[37]

A number of organisations are active in the area. These consist of an Army Cadet Force detachment (7 Platoon Bracknell)[38] and the Air Training Corps (2211 Squadron), Saint John Ambulance Cadets and the Bracknell Forest Lions Club, which was formed in 1968 to help those in need.[39]

Ranelagh Church of England School

The area has various schools including St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, The Brakenhale School, Easthampstead Park School, Garth Hill College and Ranelagh Church of England School. Bracknell and Wokingham College of further education is also based in the area.

The Silwood Park campus of Imperial College London is 5 miles (8.0 km) to the east of Bracknell town centre. The University of Reading is 8 miles (13 km) to the northwest, and Royal Holloway College 8 miles (13 km) to the east.

• Columbia Centre

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bracknell.

• Bracknell Town Council
• Video of portion of town centre before its demolition in 2013, focusing on Crossway House