Bagshot, Surrey
Encyclopedia
Bagshot is a small town in southeastern England
. It is situated in the northwest corner of Surrey
within the county's Surrey Heath
council district, close to the border with Berkshire
, and is also in the diocese
of Guildford
. In the past Bagshot served as an important staging post between London
, Southampton
and the West Country
. Evidence of this can been seen in some of the original coaching inn
s that are still there today.
The town is situated 43 km / 27 miles southwest of London
, adjacent to junction 3 of the M3 motorway and on the A30 road
, midway between Camberley
and Sunningdale
. Much of the surrounding land is owned by the Ministry of Defence
and is part of Windsor Great Park
, the area is in the Green Belt
that surrounds London. It is served by Bagshot railway station
.
Recent excavations have shown that settlements of Bagshot date back as far as pre-Roman, before these excavations it was thought that the earliest settlements in Bagshot were late Saxon. Late Bronze Age settlements have been identified in the area , and iron smelting appears to have been a major 'industry' in the locality.
Bagshot has had a Royal hunting lodge certainly through Stuart and Tudor times, now called Bagshot Park and is now the residence of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex
.
In Elizabethan times (late 16th century) Bagshot prospered due to its position on the main London to the West Country road (The Great South West Road, now classified as the A30). As with many villages on main coaching routes, Bagshot developed services, inns for the stagecoach passengers, and stables to provide the coaches with fresh horses. The prosperity of the Great South West Road created its share of highwaymen, one of the most notorious being William Davis, a local farmer who lived near what is known locally as the Jolly Farmer
roundabout. He was eventually caught at the White Hart Inn in Bagshot and later was hanged . Not one to avoid suspicion he always paid his debts in gold! It was after him that the pub was called the Golden Farmer. The Golden Farmer (now Jolly Farmer), was eventually sold to American Golf Discount Store, who still use the old building.
Burger King had plans to build a fast food restaurant there but has since been cancelled as the roundabout was considered too dangerous and was near Collingwood School.
(St. Anne's); Roman Catholic (Christ the King); Methodist, Evangelical
(Brook Church) and Jehovah's Witnesses
.
St Anne's Church is 120 years old and was built in a Gothic Revival
style under the patronage of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught who lived in the nearby Bagshot Park
. It is a building in red brick with stone detail under a slate
roof. There is a bell tower with a peal of eight bells. It is a grade II listed building and is situated in a conservation area
.
Curley Park Rangers, the youth football club, meet regularly and play on pitches in both Lightwater
and Bagshot. The CPR clubhouse is located at the Bagshot pitch.
White Hart Royals, the football team of the White Hart pub in Bagshot village, compete in the Camberley & District Sunday Football League.
Bagshot Cricket Club runs a number of adult and under 16 teams and complete in the Thames Valley League, the Three Counties League and the West Surrey Youth League.
Bagshot Tennis Club has four floodlit courts and fields teams in the Woking League.
Swinley Forest
, which borders Bagshot to the north, provides some of the best mountain biking in South-East England, with many off-road 'single-track' trails available as well as plenty of fire roads. Mountain biking is permitted with a permit and walking is free. Swinley Woods was considered as a venue for the mountain biking event of the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Other clubs and organisations include Bagshot Concert Band, the Surrey Heath Archaeology and Heritage Trust, Bagshot Gymnastics Club, Camberley and Bagshot Metal Detecting Club and local branches of the Scouts, Royal Air Forces Association
and Women's Institute. It is also a short distance from The National Clay Shooting Centre and the Bisley shooting ranges.
Bagshot library is situated on the High Street and in addition to the usual library services provides Story and 'Rhymetimes' for the local toddler community.
Lightwater Country Park is accessible by crossing the M3 footbridge.
Pennyhill Park Hotel
located at the far western edge of Bagshot is where the England rugby team
train. Bagshot Park
, home of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex
is located on the northern edge of the town. The A30 leaving Bagshot to the southwest for Camberley has a large roundabout on it called the Jolly Farmer
after a public house that used to stand in its centre, now used as a Golfing Store.
The local borough, Surrey Heath
, is mainly a Conservative
area and it has held a Conservative council for the past 50 years. Bagshot itself is, however, represented by two Liberal Democrat and one Conservative borough councillors.
Bagshot is working (2009/2010) on a Village Plan. The Bagshot Village Plan aims to pull together the people of Bagshot's collected hopes and concerns for the community and to set out a plan for making Bagshot an even better place to live and work.
On 7 March 2009 over 200 protestors demonstrated outside the Bagshot branch of Nationwide Building Society
, the town's only bank or building society, following the announcement by Nationwide that the branch will close on 22 May 2009 at 3pm.
In attendance were Michael Gove
MP
, the Mayor
and a number of councillors. Ms Carpenter, proprietor of the Bagshot Village Cafe spoke of the vital importance of the Bagshot branch of Nationwide to the town, pointing out that a sizable proportion of residents are reliant on the branch for their financial needs as they are unable to easily travel to neighbouring villages. She spoke too of the importance of the branch to the town's economy as shoppers rely on the Nationwide cash point (the only one on the high street) and shops rely on the branch for banking their daily takings. The speech was loudly applauded.
The protest continued for approaching an hour with numbers swelling continually. Signatures were gathered on a petition to Nationwide calling for a reversal of the decision, however it closed Saturday 6 June.
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...
. It is situated in the northwest corner of Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
within the county's Surrey Heath
Surrey Heath
Surrey Heath is a local government district with Borough status in Surrey, England. Its Council is based in Camberley. Much of the area is within the Metropolitan Green Belt....
council district, close to the border with 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 is also in the diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
of Guildford
Guildford
Guildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
. In the past Bagshot served as an important staging post between London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
and the West Country
West Country
The West Country is an informal term for the area of south western England roughly corresponding to the modern South West England government region. It is often defined to encompass the historic counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset and the City of Bristol, while the counties of...
. Evidence of this can been seen in some of the original coaching inn
Coaching inn
In Europe, from approximately the mid-17th century for a period of about 200 years, the coaching inn, sometimes called a coaching house or staging inn, was a vital part of the inland transport infrastructure, as an inn serving coach travelers...
s that are still there today.
The town is situated 43 km / 27 miles southwest of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, adjacent to junction 3 of the M3 motorway and on the A30 road
A30 road
The 284 miles A30 road from London to Land's End, historically known as the Great South West Road used to provide the most direct route from London to the south west; more recently the M3 motorway and A303 road performs this function for much of the route and only parts of A30 now retain trunk...
, midway between Camberley
Camberley
Camberley is a town in Surrey, England, situated 31 miles southwest of central London, in the corridor between the M3 and M4 motorways. The town lies close to the borders of both Hampshire and Berkshire; the boundaries intersect on the western edge of the town where all three counties...
and Sunningdale
Sunningdale
Sunningdale is a large village and civil parish in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England.-Location:Sunningdale is located close to the present border with Surrey, and is not far from Ascot, Sunninghill and Virginia Water. It is situated 24 miles west of London and 7...
. Much of the surrounding land is owned by the Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
and is part of Windsor Great Park
Windsor Great Park
Windsor Great Park is a large deer park of , to the south of the town of Windsor on the border of Berkshire and Surrey in England. The park was, for many centuries, the private hunting ground of Windsor Castle and dates primarily from the mid-13th century...
, the area is in the Green Belt
Green belt
A green belt or greenbelt is a policy and land use designation used in land use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighbouring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges which have a linear character and may run through an...
that surrounds London. It is served by Bagshot railway station
Bagshot railway station
Bagshot railway station serves the town of Bagshot, in the west of Surrey, England. The station, and all trains calling there, are operated by South West Trains. It is situated on the Ascot to Guildford line.-History:...
.
History
Bagshot has had a Royal hunting lodge certainly through Stuart and Tudor times, now called Bagshot Park and is now the residence of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex
Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex
Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex KG GCVO is the third son and fourth child of Elizabeth II and The Duke of Edinburgh...
.
In Elizabethan times (late 16th century) Bagshot prospered due to its position on the main London to the West Country road (The Great South West Road, now classified as the A30). As with many villages on main coaching routes, Bagshot developed services, inns for the stagecoach passengers, and stables to provide the coaches with fresh horses. The prosperity of the Great South West Road created its share of highwaymen, one of the most notorious being William Davis, a local farmer who lived near what is known locally as the Jolly Farmer
Jolly Farmer
The Jolly Farmer is a roundabout on the A30 between Camberley and Bagshot in Surrey, UK.Origins of the Jolly Farmer name date to the late 17th century when there was a highwayman called William Davies who worked on Bagshot Heath and allegedly only took gold from his victims. His identity was...
roundabout. He was eventually caught at the White Hart Inn in Bagshot and later was hanged . Not one to avoid suspicion he always paid his debts in gold! It was after him that the pub was called the Golden Farmer. The Golden Farmer (now Jolly Farmer), was eventually sold to American Golf Discount Store, who still use the old building.
Burger King had plans to build a fast food restaurant there but has since been cancelled as the roundabout was considered too dangerous and was near Collingwood School.
Churches
Bagshot has five churches: Church of EnglandChurch of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
(St. Anne's); Roman Catholic (Christ the King); Methodist, Evangelical
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
(Brook Church) and Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual...
.
St Anne's Church is 120 years old and was built in a Gothic Revival
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
style under the patronage of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught who lived in the nearby Bagshot Park
Bagshot Park
Bagshot Park is a royal residence located near Bagshot, a village south west of Windsor and approximately north east of Guildford . It is the current home of The Earl and Countess of Wessex. Bagshot Park is on Bagshot Heath, a fifty square-mile tract of formerly open land in Surrey and Berkshire...
. It is a building in red brick with stone detail under a slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
roof. There is a bell tower with a peal of eight bells. It is a grade II listed building and is situated in a conservation area
Conservation area
A conservation areas is a tract of land that has been awarded protected status in order to ensure that natural features, cultural heritage or biota are safeguarded...
.
Sport and leisure
Bagshot has two multi-purpose sports fields and a cricket field.Curley Park Rangers, the youth football club, meet regularly and play on pitches in both Lightwater
Lightwater
Lightwater is a village in the Surrey Heath district of Surrey, England about to the south-west of London. Immediately surrounding towns and villages include Bagshot, Deepcut, Windlesham, Camberley, and West End. The village is bounded to the north west by the M3 and to the north east by the...
and Bagshot. The CPR clubhouse is located at the Bagshot pitch.
White Hart Royals, the football team of the White Hart pub in Bagshot village, compete in the Camberley & District Sunday Football League.
Bagshot Cricket Club runs a number of adult and under 16 teams and complete in the Thames Valley League, the Three Counties League and the West Surrey Youth League.
Bagshot Tennis Club has four floodlit courts and fields teams in the Woking League.
Swinley Forest
Swinley Forest
Swinley Forest is a large expanse of English Crown Estate woodland mainly within the civil parishes of Windlesham in Surrey and Winkfield and Crowthorne in Berkshire.-Coverage:...
, which borders Bagshot to the north, provides some of the best mountain biking in South-East England, with many off-road 'single-track' trails available as well as plenty of fire roads. Mountain biking is permitted with a permit and walking is free. Swinley Woods was considered as a venue for the mountain biking event of the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Other clubs and organisations include Bagshot Concert Band, the Surrey Heath Archaeology and Heritage Trust, Bagshot Gymnastics Club, Camberley and Bagshot Metal Detecting Club and local branches of the Scouts, Royal Air Forces Association
Royal Air Forces Association
The Royal Air Forces Association, more often known as RAF Association, or simply RAFA, is a UK based charitable organization which provides care and support to serving and retired members of the "Royal Air Forces" and their dependents.The organisation, which was formed in 1943, receives no funding...
and Women's Institute. It is also a short distance from The National Clay Shooting Centre and the Bisley shooting ranges.
Bagshot library is situated on the High Street and in addition to the usual library services provides Story and 'Rhymetimes' for the local toddler community.
Lightwater Country Park is accessible by crossing the M3 footbridge.
Today
Pennyhill Park Hotel
Pennyhill Park is a 19th century five star country house hotel and spa in Bagshot, Surrey in the south east of England.Pennyhill Park is noteworthy for being the home training ground chosen for the England Rugby Team until the end of the 2011-12 season...
located at the far western edge of Bagshot is where the England rugby team
England national rugby union team
The England national rugby union team represents England in rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and Wales. They have won this championship on 26 occasions, 12 times winning the Grand Slam, making them the most successful team in...
train. Bagshot Park
Bagshot Park
Bagshot Park is a royal residence located near Bagshot, a village south west of Windsor and approximately north east of Guildford . It is the current home of The Earl and Countess of Wessex. Bagshot Park is on Bagshot Heath, a fifty square-mile tract of formerly open land in Surrey and Berkshire...
, home of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex
Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex
Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex KG GCVO is the third son and fourth child of Elizabeth II and The Duke of Edinburgh...
is located on the northern edge of the town. The A30 leaving Bagshot to the southwest for Camberley has a large roundabout on it called the Jolly Farmer
Jolly Farmer
The Jolly Farmer is a roundabout on the A30 between Camberley and Bagshot in Surrey, UK.Origins of the Jolly Farmer name date to the late 17th century when there was a highwayman called William Davies who worked on Bagshot Heath and allegedly only took gold from his victims. His identity was...
after a public house that used to stand in its centre, now used as a Golfing Store.
The local borough, Surrey Heath
Surrey Heath
Surrey Heath is a local government district with Borough status in Surrey, England. Its Council is based in Camberley. Much of the area is within the Metropolitan Green Belt....
, is mainly a Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
area and it has held a Conservative council for the past 50 years. Bagshot itself is, however, represented by two Liberal Democrat and one Conservative borough councillors.
Bagshot is working (2009/2010) on a Village Plan. The Bagshot Village Plan aims to pull together the people of Bagshot's collected hopes and concerns for the community and to set out a plan for making Bagshot an even better place to live and work.
Bagshot Bank Protest
Nationwide Building Society
Nationwide Building Society is a British building society, and is the largest in the world. It has its headquarters in Swindon, England, and maintains significant administration centres in Bournemouth and Northampton...
, the town's only bank or building society, following the announcement by Nationwide that the branch will close on 22 May 2009 at 3pm.
In attendance were Michael Gove
Michael Gove
Michael Andrew Gove, MP is a British politician, who currently serves as the Secretary of State for Education and as the Conservative Party Member of Parliament for the Surrey Heath constituency. He is also a published author and former journalist.Born in Edinburgh, Gove was raised in Aberdeen...
MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
, the Mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
and a number of councillors. Ms Carpenter, proprietor of the Bagshot Village Cafe spoke of the vital importance of the Bagshot branch of Nationwide to the town, pointing out that a sizable proportion of residents are reliant on the branch for their financial needs as they are unable to easily travel to neighbouring villages. She spoke too of the importance of the branch to the town's economy as shoppers rely on the Nationwide cash point (the only one on the high street) and shops rely on the branch for banking their daily takings. The speech was loudly applauded.
The protest continued for approaching an hour with numbers swelling continually. Signatures were gathered on a petition to Nationwide calling for a reversal of the decision, however it closed Saturday 6 June.