Warfield
Encyclopedia
Warfield is a village
and civil parish in the English
county of Berkshire
and the Borough of Bracknell Forest
.
in the centre of the parish, but the West End, Newell Green, Warfield Street and Hayley Green area just to the south is generally referred to as 'Warfield'. To the north are the hamlets of Hawthorn Hill
, Jealott's Hill
, Moss End
and Nuptown
. In the south of the old parish, Wick Hill and Priestwood
were amongst the earliest suburb
s of the new town
of Bracknell
, in which parish they now lie. The High Street area of Bracknell itself was originally in Warfield parish. Warfield Park is an area of residential park homes
. New housing developments in Warfield have taken place since the 1980s and include Whitegrove
, Quelm Park
and Lawrence Hill.
The stream known as The Cut
runs through the centre of the parish, eventually joining the River Thames
at Bray
. The Bull Brook runs into The Cut, just south-east of the church. There are a number of small ponds and other bodies of water in the parish, notably the ominously named 'Drown Boy Pond' at Jealott's Hill and the lake at Warfield Park. There were springs in the Holly Spring area. Cabbage Hill is perhaps the largest hill in the parish, from which there are excellent views of Bracknell.
of Bracknell Forest
, Warfield has a parish council consisting of thirteen councillor
s. There is also a Warfield Action Group.
settlement and is recorded in the Domesday Book
as Warwelt [sic]. The name is believed to have originated from the Old English wær + feld, meaning 'Open land by a weir'. The medieval church is one of the finest in Berkshire
, particularly noted for its Decorated Period chancel with beautiful carvings and 'Green Men
'. There are several memorials
to the Stavertons who lived at the old manor house
in the moat at Hayley Green. This was replaced, in the Georgian period, by Warfield House alias Warfield Grove, the home of Admiral Sir George Bowyer
and, later, the political writer, Sir John Coxe Hippisley
. Another fine old country house was Warfield Park. In the 18th century, it was the home of John Walsh
, the Secretary to Lord Clive
and an amateur scientist
, and later to his descendants the Lords Ormathwaite
. It was pulled down in 1955. There was formerly much brickworking in the south of the parish, most notably under the Lawrence family who made the bricks for 10 Downing Street
there. The last of the brickworks were pulled down in the 1990s to make way for the housing development, Lawrence Hill. A memorial to the brickworks was put in place near the original site.
to Bill Hill. Warfield is served by bus routes 53 and 53A, run by Thames Travel
; routes 153, 162 and 192, run by First Berkshire & The Thames Valley
; and Courtney Coaches
routes 153 (Sundays only) and 199 (Wednesdays and Fridays only).
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
and civil parish in the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
county of Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
and the Borough of Bracknell Forest
Bracknell Forest
Bracknell Forest is a unitary authority and borough in Berkshire in southern England. It covers the towns of Bracknell, North Ascot, Sandhurst, Crowthorne and surrounding villages and hamlets.-History:...
.
Geography
Warfield is a mostly rural parish made up of a number of small settlements. Warfield Village consists of the few houses around the parish churchParish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
in the centre of the parish, but the West End, Newell Green, Warfield Street and Hayley Green area just to the south is generally referred to as 'Warfield'. To the north are the hamlets of Hawthorn Hill
Hawthorn Hill, Berkshire
Hawthorn Hill is a hamlet in Berkshire, England, within the civil parish of Warfield.The settlement lies at the junction of the A3095 and A330 roads, and is approximately north of Bracknell....
, Jealott's Hill
Jealott's Hill
Jealott's Hill is a village in Berkshire, England, within the civil parish of Warfield.The settlement lies near on the A3095 road and is approximately north-east of Bracknell. It is home to Syngenta's largest R&D site in the world, and houses Europe's largest greenhouse at 4,000 square metres...
, Moss End
Moss End
Moss End is a hamlet in Berkshire, England, within the civil parish of Warfield.The settlement lies on the A3095 road and is approximately north of Bracknell....
and Nuptown
Nuptown
Nuptown is a hamlet in Berkshire, England, and part of the civil parish of Winkfield.The settlement lies near to the A330 road, and is located approximately north-east of Bracknell...
. In the south of the old parish, Wick Hill and Priestwood
Priestwood
Priestwood is a suburb of Bracknell, Berkshire about northwest of the town centre.The Church of England parish church of Saint Andrew was designed by the architect H.G.W. Drinkwater in a simple Gothic Revival style and built in 1888. St...
were amongst the earliest suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
s of the new town
New town
A new town is a specific type of a planned community, or planned city, that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed in a previously undeveloped area. This contrasts with settlements that evolve in a more ad hoc fashion. Land use conflicts are uncommon in new...
of Bracknell
Bracknell
Bracknell is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Bracknell Forest in Berkshire, England. It lies to the south-east of Reading, southwest of Windsor and west of central London...
, in which parish they now lie. The High Street area of Bracknell itself was originally in Warfield parish. Warfield Park is an area of residential park homes
Prefabricated home
Prefabricated homes, often referred to as prefab homes, are dwellings manufactured off-site in advance, usually in standard sections that can be easily shipped and assembled....
. New housing developments in Warfield have taken place since the 1980s and include Whitegrove
Whitegrove
Whitegrove or Warfield Green is a suburb of Bracknell in the English county of Berkshire. It stands within the bounds of the civil parish of Warfield.The settlement lies north of the A329 road and is approximately north-east of Bracknell town centre....
, Quelm Park
Quelm Park
Quelm Park is a suburb of Bracknell, in Berkshire, England.The settlement lies west of the A3095 road, south of the Bracknell Northern Distributor Road "Harvest Ride" and is approximately north of Bracknell town centre....
and Lawrence Hill.
The stream known as The Cut
The Cut, Berkshire
The Cut in Berkshire is a river in England that rises in North Ascot, Berkshire. It flows for around , through the rural Northern Parishes of Winkfield, Warfield and Binfield in Bracknell Forest on its way down to Bray, where it meets the River Thames just above Queens Eyot Island on the reach...
runs through the centre of the parish, eventually joining the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
at Bray
Bray, Berkshire
Bray, sometimes known as Bray on Thames, is a village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire. It stands on the banks of the River Thames, just south-east of Maidenhead. It is famous as the village mentioned in the song The Vicar of Bray...
. The Bull Brook runs into The Cut, just south-east of the church. There are a number of small ponds and other bodies of water in the parish, notably the ominously named 'Drown Boy Pond' at Jealott's Hill and the lake at Warfield Park. There were springs in the Holly Spring area. Cabbage Hill is perhaps the largest hill in the parish, from which there are excellent views of Bracknell.
Local government
As well as being administered by the unitary authorityUnitary authority
A unitary authority is a type of local authority that has a single tier and is responsible for all local government functions within its area or performs additional functions which elsewhere in the relevant country are usually performed by national government or a higher level of sub-national...
of Bracknell Forest
Bracknell Forest
Bracknell Forest is a unitary authority and borough in Berkshire in southern England. It covers the towns of Bracknell, North Ascot, Sandhurst, Crowthorne and surrounding villages and hamlets.-History:...
, Warfield has a parish council consisting of thirteen councillor
Councillor
A councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council.Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman.-United Kingdom:...
s. There is also a Warfield Action Group.
History
Warfield was originally an Anglo-SaxonAnglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
settlement and is recorded in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
as Warwelt [sic]. The name is believed to have originated from the Old English wær + feld, meaning 'Open land by a weir'. The medieval church is one of the finest in Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
, particularly noted for its Decorated Period chancel with beautiful carvings and 'Green Men
Green Man
A Green Man is a sculpture, drawing, or other representation of a face surrounded by or made from leaves. Branches or vines may sprout from the nose, mouth, nostrils or other parts of the face and these shoots may bear flowers or fruit...
'. There are several memorials
Church monument
A church monument is an architectural or sculptural memorial to a dead person or persons, located within a Christian church. It can take various forms, from a simple wall tablet to a large and elaborate structure which may include an effigy of the deceased person and other figures of familial or...
to the Stavertons who lived at the old manor house
Manor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
in the moat at Hayley Green. This was replaced, in the Georgian period, by Warfield House alias Warfield Grove, the home of Admiral Sir George Bowyer
Sir George Bowyer, 5th Baronet
Admiral Sir George Bowyer, 5th and 1st Baronet was a British naval officer and politician.Bowyer was the third son of Sir William Bowyer, 4th Baronet and born in Denham, Buckinghamshire...
and, later, the political writer, Sir John Coxe Hippisley
John Coxe Hippisley
Sir John Coxe Hippisley, 1st Baronet , was a British diplomat and politician who pursued an ‘unflagging, though wholly unsuccessful, quest for office’ which led King George III of Great Britain to describe him as ‘that busy man’ and ‘the grand intriguer’.-Early life and overseas appointments:Born...
. Another fine old country house was Warfield Park. In the 18th century, it was the home of John Walsh
John Walsh (scientist)
John Walsh was a British scientist and Secretary to the Governor of Bengal.John was son of Joseph Walsh, Secretary to the Governor of Fort St. George and cousin to Nevil Maskelyne, the Astronomer Royal, and his sister Margaret, the wife of Lord Clive.He entered the English East India Company at a...
, the Secretary to Lord Clive
Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive
Major-General Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive, KB , also known as Clive of India, was a British officer who established the military and political supremacy of the East India Company in Bengal. He is credited with securing India, and the wealth that followed, for the British crown...
and an amateur scientist
Scientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
, and later to his descendants the Lords Ormathwaite
Baron Ormathwaite
Baron Ormathwaite, of Ormathwaite in the County of Cumberland, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 16 April 1868 for Sir John Walsh, 2nd Baronet, the long-standing former Member of Parliament for Sudbury and Radnorshire. The family descended from William Benn, of...
. It was pulled down in 1955. There was formerly much brickworking in the south of the parish, most notably under the Lawrence family who made the bricks for 10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street, colloquially known in the United Kingdom as "Number 10", is the headquarters of Her Majesty's Government and the official residence and office of the First Lord of the Treasury, who is now always the Prime Minister....
there. The last of the brickworks were pulled down in the 1990s to make way for the housing development, Lawrence Hill. A memorial to the brickworks was put in place near the original site.
Transport
The main road through Warfield is the B3034, from BrooksideBrookside, Berkshire
Brookside is a village in Berkshire, England, within the civil parish of Winkfield.The settlement lies east of the A332 road and is approximately north of Ascot Racecourse....
to Bill Hill. Warfield is served by bus routes 53 and 53A, run by Thames Travel
Thames Travel
Thames Travel is a bus operator based in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, in England. It is the third largest bus company in the county It operates a fleet of around 34 vehicles, and employs 75 staff. Running services across the Thames region, the company carries approximately 1.25 million passengers a year...
; routes 153, 162 and 192, run by First Berkshire & The Thames Valley
First Berkshire & The Thames Valley
First Berkshire & The Thames Valley is a bus operator serving Bracknell, Slough and Wokingham, in England. It is part of First Group, a major bus and train operator with a turnover of nearly £2.5 billion a year and 62,000 employees across the UK and North America...
; and Courtney Coaches
Courtney Coaches
Courtney Coaches are a bus operator baseed in Bracknell, Berkshire, England. They operate a network of commercial and contracted local bus services and school buses in and around Bracknell and Maidenhead...
routes 153 (Sundays only) and 199 (Wednesdays and Fridays only).
Education
- Building Blocks Nursery
- Paws Nursery
- Plus Three Nursery
- Possums Nursery
- Warfield CofE Primary SchoolWarfield Church of England Primary SchoolWarfield Church of England Primary School is a Bracknell Primary School, located in the Parish of Warfield, England. Being a Church of England school, it has a strong Christian ethos.- History :...
- Whitegrove Primary School
- Sandy Lane Primary School
- Meadowbrook Montessori SchoolMontessori methodMontessori education is an educational approach developed by Italian physician and educator Maria Montessori. Montessori education is practiced in an estimated 20,000 schools worldwide, serving children from birth to eighteen years old.-Overview:...
Sport and leisure
- Frost Folly Country Park
- The Library is in Whitegrove
- Memorial Ground and Play Area
- Rainbows and Brownies at the Brownlow Hall
- Six pubsPublic houseA public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
: The Three Legged Cross, the New Leathern Bottle, the Shepherd's House, the Plough and Harrow, the Cricketers, the Yorkshire Rose - Bowmen of Warfield Archery Club
- Warfield Cricket Club
- Warfield Players
- Warfield Women's Institute
- Warfield Fete each Summer
- Warfield Produce Show held annually
- Warfield Pumpkin Show every September at the Plough and Harrow
- Whitegrove Summer (July) and Christmas Fete (Dec) held every year