Sunninghill, Berkshire

Sunninghillcite web|title = Sunninghill website|url = http://www.sunninghill.org.uk/index.html|accessdate = 2008-09-21] is a village in the civil parish of Sunninghill in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenheadcite web|title = Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead|url = http://www.rbwm.gov.uk/|accessdate = 2008-09-21] in the English shire county of Berkshire.

Location

It is south west and appx.convert|12|mi|km|0 from Heathrow Airport and convert|26|mi|km|0 from Central London. It is just outside Ascot, one of the UK's most famous locations for horse racing. It is close to Sunningdale, Bracknell, Windsor Great Park and Wentworth Golf Club. The town of Windsor is appx. convert|7|mi|km|0.

Junction 3 of the M3 motorway and the A30 road are within convert|1|mi|km|0 at Lightwater. M25 London Orbital motorway junctions 3 at Staines and 11 at Chertsey are both convert|7|mi|km|0.

The nearest railway stations are at Ascot and Sunningdale on the London Waterloo to Reading line.

Governance

The village is part of the of Sunninghill and Ascot Parish Council area with an office in Ascotcite web|title = Sunninghill and Ascot Parish Council details|url = http://www.rbwm.gov.uk/web/members_parish_councils.htm|accessdate = 2008-09-21] .

History

The name Sunninghill means " 'the home of Sunna's people' "cite web|title = Sunninghill website - history|url = http://www.sunninghill.org.uk/cgi-bin/gpp/faq.pl|accessdate = 2008-09-21] . The Parish Chuch was originally established about 890 AD and is Saxon in origin and there are records of people living in or near Sunninghill since the 12th century. At nearby Silwood Park, the Manor Sunninghill was settled in 1362 by John de Sunninghill, the first of numerous recorded residents of the area. The park is now a campus of Imperial College London, where "CONSORT", a small nuclear reactor for civilian scientific research, has been in use since 1964Fact|date=September 2008.

During World War II the village was home to the exiled King Zog of Albania, who lived in Bagshot Road for a few months in 1941.

The areas is mainly residential in nature, characterised by generally large dwellings set in their own grounds. Beatle John Lennon and his new wife Yoko Ono lived at the house known as Tittenhurst Park in London Road from 1969-71. Another Beatle, Ringo Starr then lived there till the late 1980s. In the 19th century the house was also the home of Thomas Holloway the Victorian businessman and philanthropist, the founder of Royal Holloway, London University in nearby Englefield Green and also Holloway Sanatorium also nearby in Virginia WaterCite book | author=Williams, Richard| authorlink= | coauthors= | title="Royal Holloway College, A Pictorial History" (first published October 1983) | date=1983 | publisher=Royal Holloway, University of London | location=Surrey | isbn=0-900145-83-8 | pages=page 6 - includes a picture of the house ca.1930] . Jane died in 1875, aged 61; Holloway died there on 26 December 1875, aged 83. They are buried in a family grave at Sunninghill churchyard.

Facilities

There is a Parish Church dedicated to St Michael and All Angelscite web|title = Sunninghill Parish Church |url = http://parishchurch.sunninghill.org.uk/|accessdate = 2008-09-21] .

References