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:::: () Binfield is a village and civil parish in the Bracknell Forest borough of Berkshire, England. According to the 2001 census it has a population of 7,475. The village lies north-west of Bracknell, north-east of Wokingham, south east of Reading and is located on the western most extremity of the Greater London Urban Area ==History== The name is derived from the Old English ''beonet'' + ''feld'' and means "open land where bent-grass grows".〔Gelling, M., ''The Place-Names of Berkshire'', vol. I, page 76. Cambridge University Press, 1973.〕 The surrounding forest was cleared after the Enclosure Act of 1813 when Forestal Rights were abolished and people bought parcels of land for agriculture; it was at this point that villages like Binfield expanded, when there was work for farm labourers. The local hundred of Beynhurst has a similar derivation. Billingbear is the north-western portion of Binfield parish, although Billingbear Park, near Shurlock Row, is over the border, in the parish of Waltham St Lawrence. The Stag and Hounds was reportedly used as a hunting lodge by Henry VIII and Elizabeth I and an elm tree outside it (the stump of which was finally removed in 2004 – it was ravaged by Dutch Elm Disease in the 1970s) was said to mark the centre of Windsor Forest. John Constable spent his honeymoon at the Rectory in 1816 and sketched 'All Saints Church' twice. It is also said to have been a refuge for a number of Parliamentary soldiers during the Civil War. The lodge became a coaching inn in 1727. The 18th-century travel writer, William Cobbett, once stayed there and wrote that it was "a very nice country inn". He called nearby Bracknell a "bleak and desolate" place. All Saints Church (7th century) is mostly mid-19th century, but has some ancient fittings. Of particular note is the 17th century hourglass and elaborate iron stand. It features the arms of the Farriers' Company of London. The famous poet, Alexander Pope, lived at Pope's Manor in Popeswood and sang in the church choir as a boy in the early 1700s. Binfield Manor was built in 1754 by Sir William Pitt (a distant cousin of Pitt the Elder, Earl of Chatham) at a cost of £36,000. It is currently owned by the Sultan of Brunei. The famous mathematician James Doran also originates from Binfield. In the 16th century, Reading was the tenth richest town in the country and the Abbots of Reading Abbey established a country seat at Elm Grove. Although the house has since been rebuilt, the street name Monk’s Alley (which runs westwards from Binfield House) survives from that association. White Gate, opposite, is a significant hall house dates from the 15th century. The Luck of Binfield always hung in Binfield Place, a mostly Jacobean Manor (partly of Henry VII's reign) with a mysteriously missing wing. It was a 17th-century bas-relief of a lady's head, said to pour misfortune upon any owner who removes it. The grounds of the manor are used every summer for a large party for locals, called "Party at the Place". Binfield House, similar in appearance to Horace Warpole's Strawberry Hill House near Twickenham (Grade II listed) was built in 1776 and for nearly 150 years was rented out to a number of tenants including the well known historian Catharina Macaulay Graham whose work was greatly admired by the 1st American President George Washington, and in 1788 she travelled to America to visit him. In the mid-19th century the house was used for at least 35 years as a small school. In 1928 it was purchased by Lady Knox who with her husband Major General Knox rebuilt and greatly extended the house under the guidance of the architect Nugent Cachemaille-Day. Binfield House was sold in 1974 to the then Bracknell District Council. Early maps show the much larger Binfield Park as Binfield House, so the name of Binfield House may have been different in the late 18th and into the middle part of the 19th century, although the map of 1883 certainly confirms the use of the name by then. Previously, the house may have been called 'Wyhtwicks' after its builder. Its grounds contain a small Ha-Ha, a half buried pillbox and a former walled kitchen garden. Two miles north of Binfield is Allanbay Park, a grade II listed country house set in parkland.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-489259-allanbay-park-binfield- )〕 It was the home of John Lycett Wills (1910–1999) and his wife Jean Elphinstone. Wills served as High Sheriff of Berkshire in 1958. Jean was a niece of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, and lady-in-waiting to her cousin, Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon. In 1955, Group Captain Peter Townsend stayed at Allanbay to avoid the press furore surrounding his relationship with the Princess. From the late 19th century to the 1960s, brick-making was an important industry in the area, with the Binfield Brick and Tile works at Amen Corner being an important employer – this is now the site of the (Coppid Beech Hotel ) and the (John Nike Leisuresport Complex ). The presence of large houses in the area, most of them without estates to support them, meant that many tradesmen could make a living in the village and Binfield continued to flourish until the development of Bracknell New Town. Binfield bricks were partly used to create the world famous Royal Albert Hall. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Binfield」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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