Windlesham

File:Chertsey Road, Windlesham - geograph.org.uk - 166281.jpg is visible.]]

The neighbourhood has yielded bronze implements, now in the Archaeological Society's Museum, Guildford, and a number of Neolithic flints.

Windlesham was once a small community within Windsor Great Park, built as a remote farming settlement around undulating heath, similar to Sunninghill. At Ribs Down in the north in private Updown Court (now called Oakwood) and adjoining gardens, land reaches 99 metres above sea level with a minimum descent (notch/col) of 31 metres, ranking 35th of 36 Surrey hills listed in the national hill-climbing database and the tallest private hill in Surrey.[http://www.hills-database.co.uk/downloads.html Database of British and Irish Hills] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180805042151/http://www.hills-database.co.uk/downloads.html |date=5 August 2018 }} Retrieved 6 March 2015

This corner of the county appears, from absence of notice in the Domesday Book of 1086, to have been very sparsely inhabited.{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42990&strquery=windlesham |title=Parishes: Windlesham |editor=H.E. Malden |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |year=1911 |work=A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 3 |access-date=25 October 2012}} Of Windlesham, Malden wrote:

{{Infobox UK legislation

| short_title = {{visible anchor|Windlesham Inclosure Act 1812}}

| type = Act

| parliament = Parliament of the United Kingdom

| long_title = An Act for inclosing Lands in the Parish of Windlesham, in the County of Surrey.

| year = 1812

| citation = 52 Geo. 3. c. clxvi

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| royal_assent = 9 June 1812

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| original_text = https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/Geo3/52/166/pdfs/ukla_18120166_en.pdf

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{{quote|The old road had been the source of great prosperity in Bagshot till it was superseded by the railway. Thirty coaches a day passed through, and there were many inns, since closed. The most interesting history of the place is in connexion with Windsor Forest, and its bailiwick in Surrey. The tenure of Bagshot in the Red Book of the Exchequer is per serjentiam veltrariae, i.e. providing a leash of hounds. The later history is full of the exploits of highwaymen, who found the wild country hereabouts specially favourable for their purposes.

The Inclosure Act of 1812{{efn|Windlesham Inclosure Act 1812 (52 Geo. 3. c. clxvi)}} inclosed much of Bagshot Heath, and also inclosed the common fields of Windlesham. Inclosure had begun before, for in 1768 the lords of the manors and the freeholders gave land inclosed from the waste for charitable purposes. }}

Windlesham Manor appears among the manors granted to Westminster by Edward the Confessor in his foundation charter. It was apparently transferred to the small local Broomhall Convent at an unknown date.

Newark Priory had a grant of land in Windlesham in 1256, and had the advowson (right to appoint the vicar) of the church.

Joan Rawlyns, Prioress of Broomhall, made a voluntary surrender of the property of her house in 1522 before the 1538 Dissolution of the Monasteries. In the next year Windlesham was granted to St. John's College, Cambridge, who still held it in 1911

In 1911, the village was, due to Surrey Heath, described as almost entirely modern, in much the same way as Wentworth, Surrey's landscape was tamed approximately at the turn of the 20th century, being naturally heather, gorse and fern and ideal for grass and laid out evergreen trees.

Windlesham Arboretum is connected by footpath to the edge of the village centre but on the opposite side of the M3 motorway. In July 2007 in Windlesham, the most expensive house in the world, Oakwood (previously named 'Updown Court'), was valued at £75m ($138m (USD). This 103-room mansion has {{convert|58|acre}} of gardens and landscaped woodlands.{{cite news |last=Conradi |first=Peter |author2=Helen Davies |date=15 July 2007 |title=The most expensive house in Britain? |url=http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/buying_and_selling/article2063732.ece |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100530070308/http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/buying_and_selling/article2063732.ece |archive-date=30 May 2010 |access-date=11 April 2010 |work=The Sunday Times}}

The Lilly Research Centre, built in 1967, was located in the north of the village, but the site has since been acquired by UCB. The BOC Group was based in the village, but was bought by Linde plc (Linde AG of Germany) in September 2006. Linde have also since moved on, to be replaced by Gordon Murray Group.

There are three schools in Windlesham: Windlesham Village Infant School, Woodcote House School and Fernways School. Other nearby schools include Valley End C of E Infant School (Valley End, Chobham) and Hall Grove School (Bagshot).

Windlesham Field of Remembrance is owned, funded and run by the village community via a board of volunteer trustees. The land was purchased from Admiral Cochrane in 1950 as a permanent memorial to the men and women of the village who lost their lives in the two World Wars, and is the site for the village's Remembrance Day ceremony. It consists of both open space and mature woodland and includes a play area. Many village events take place on the field, including the annual Village Fete. The field is also used by the village's football and cricket clubs. Other groups in the village include Windle Valley Runners and Windlesham Drama Group.{{cn|date=December 2024}}

An annual Pram Race, in which teams race around the village stopping at every pub, happens every Boxing Day and raises money for local charities. Windlesham was the first village to become hedgehog friendly village,{{cite web|url=http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/hedgehog-awareness-week-brian-backs-12909208|title=Hedgehog Awareness Week: Brian May backs Windlesham's bid to become Surrey's first 'hedgehog-friendly' village|website=Surrey Live|date=19 April 2017|access-date=17 November 2018|archive-date=17 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181117105323/https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/hedgehog-awareness-week-brian-backs-12909208|url-status=live}} and is reported to be one of a handful of such villages in the United Kingdom.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-39678329|title=The village that made itself hedgehog friendly|website=BBC News|date=22 April 2017|access-date=17 November 2018|archive-date=26 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170426092832/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-39678329|url-status=live}}

• Mukhtar Ablyazov, Kazakhstani exile, government minister and bank chairman, alleged perpetrator of "one of largest frauds to appear before a court in the UK". Had UK asylum status removed and fled to France {{cite web |title=The UK's kleptocracy problem: How servicing post-Soviet elites weakens the rule of law |url=https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/2022-01/2022-01-17-uk-kleptocracy-problem-heathershaw-mayne-et-al.pdf |access-date=24 February 2022 |work=Russia and Eurasia Programme|date=8 December 2021 }}
• Edward Baigent was an early immigrant to Nelson, New Zealand and he was later elected to its Parliament.{{cite web |title=BAIGENT, Edward |url=http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kiwiadams/2/48122.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120306091004/http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kiwiadams/2/48122.html |archive-date=6 March 2012 |access-date=3 July 2011 |publisher=Rootsweb |df=dmy-all}}{{cite book |last=Wilson |first=James Oakley |title=New Zealand parliamentary record, 1840-1984 |publisher=V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer |year=1985 |edition=4 |location=Wellington |page=181 |oclc=154283103 |orig-year=First ed. published 1913}}
• Lin Blakley, EastEnders star, previously lived there.{{when|date=December 2024}}
• Brian Blessed, actor, adventurer and broadcaster; current resident.
• Agatha Christie, crime writer, lived at Ribsden, but later moved to Winterbrook near Wallingford in Oxfordshire, and is buried in Cholsey churchyard.
• Elizabeth II lived in Windlesham Moor at one time shortly after her marriage before moving to Clarence House. After she became Queen she moved to Buckingham Palace.{{Cite web |title=60 Facts |url=http://www.royal.gov.uk/HMTheQueen/TheQueenandspecialanniversaries/DiamondAnniversary/60facts.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151008194238/http://www.royal.gov.uk/HMTheQueen/TheQueenandspecialanniversaries/DiamondAnniversary/60facts.aspx |archive-date=8 October 2015 |website=royal.gov.uk}}
• George Job Elvey, organist, died at The Towers.
• Sir Nick Faldo, golfer, previously lived there.{{when|date=December 2024}}
• Sean Fitzpatrick, New Zealand rugby player, was a long-term resident.{{cn|date=December 2024}}
• Jessica Henwick, actress
• Glenn Hoddle, former England football manager.{{cn|date=December 2024}}
• Sir Joseph Hooker F.R.S., scientist, at The Camp
• Dr Brian May, composer, guitarist and astrophysicist, member of the rock band Queen, and his wife, actress Anita Dobson.
• Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Little Mix member, and footballer Andre Gray lived in Windlesham until 2021/2.{{cn|date=December 2024}}
• Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai, has a property on Westwood Road in Windlesham.
• Andrew Ridgeley, musician of Wham!, was born in the nursing home that was along Hatton Hill, Windlesham.{{cn|date=December 2024}}
• Sarah, Duchess of York Queen Elizabeth II purchased Birch Hall on Church Road in 1997 as a future home for the Duchess and her daughters following the end of her marriage, but they never took up residence. {{cite web |title=Revealed: £1.5million home Princess Beatrice and Eugenie turned down from the Queen Sarah Ferguson rejected the gift on her daughters' behalves |url=https://www.hellomagazine.com/homes/2020103099988/princess-beatrice-eugenie-house-birch-hall-inside-photos/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031100045/https://www.hellomagazine.com/homes/2020103099988/princess-beatrice-eugenie-house-birch-hall-inside-photos/ |archive-date=31 October 2020 |access-date=30 October 2020 |website=Hello Magazine|date=30 October 2020 }}

Image:St Saviour Wikipedia.jpg

Valley End is a hamlet and chapelry in the Borough of Surrey Heath in Surrey, England, {{convert|0.5|mi}} east of Windlesham, so similarly is about 15 minutes drive from the South West Main Line at Woking to the southeast and from Sunningdale on the Waterloo to Reading Line to the north.

Valley End has two churches, St Saviour[http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-287170-church-of-st-saviour-chobham British Listed Buildings] which was built in 1867{{Cite web |url=http://www.chobham.net/news/87-news/village-articles/8-st-saviour-history |title=Chobham Village Website |access-date=25 October 2012 |archive-date=19 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120619161238/http://chobham.net/news/87-news/village-articles/8-st-saviour-history |url-status=live }} by the English architect George Frederick Bodley and Emmanuel Baptist Church.{{Cite web |url=http://www.emmanuelbaptistchurch.co.uk/ |title=Emmanuel Baptist Church |access-date=25 October 2012 |archive-date=6 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130106091351/http://www.emmanuelbaptistchurch.co.uk/ |url-status=live }} St Saviour's is built in red and brown brick with stone dressed windows. The interior is a simple mixture of brick and stone. There is a Holy Communion service every Sunday at 9am.{{Cite web |url=http://www.chobhamchurch.co.uk/diary.html |title=St Lawrence and St Saviour Church Diary |access-date=25 October 2012 |archive-date=30 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120730091241/http://www.chobhamchurch.co.uk/diary.html |url-status=live }}

Valley End School was founded in 1859 by the Hon. Julia Bathurst of Hyams Hall, Windlesham.{{Cite web |url=http://www.valleyend.surrey.sch.uk/Prospectus/About%20our%20school.htm |title=Valley End School History |access-date=25 October 2012 |archive-date=24 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324051556/http://www.valleyend.surrey.sch.uk/Prospectus/About%20our%20school.htm |url-status=live }}

The Valley End Cricket Club was founded in 1895.{{Cite web |url=http://www.vecc.org.uk/content.asp?ContentId=1233 |title=Valley End Cricket Club History |access-date=25 October 2012 |archive-date=24 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324051556/http://www.vecc.org.uk/content.asp?ContentId=1233 |url-status=live }}

See Bagshot for this developed part of the civil parish, which has the greatest concentration of homes, shops and businesses compared to Windlesham and Lightwater.

See Lightwater for this developed part of the civil parish

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist|2}}

{{Commons category|Windlesham}}

• [http://www.windleshamfor.com/ Windlesham Field of Remembrance]

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20071025014840/http://www.surreycc.gov.uk/sccwebsite/sccwspublications.nsf/591f7dda55aad72a80256c670041a50d/1c602ea59c869c9180256e600054b26c/$FILE/Town%20populations.pdf Population figures (PDF)]
• [http://www.windleshamchurch.org.uk/ St John the Baptist Church, Windlesham]
• [http://www.updowncourt.com/default.asp Updown Court]
• [http://www.pramrace.com/index.html Pram Race]
• [http://windleshamcc.sports.officelive.com/default.aspx Windlesham Cricket Club]
• [http://www.windlevalley.com Windle Valley Runners]

{{Surrey Heath}}

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Category:Villages in Surrey

Category:Surrey Heath

Category:Civil parishes in Surrey