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Bracknell is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Bracknell Forest in Berkshire, England. It lies to the southeast of Reading, southwest of Windsor and west of central London. The town has a population of 77,256 and is twinned with the German city of Leverkusen. The town is surrounded, on the east and south, by Swinley Woods and Crowthorne Woods. The urban area has absorbed parts of many local outlying areas including Warfield, Winkfield and Binfield, and is itself, along with Binfield, a component of the Greater London Urban Area as defined by the ONS. ==History== The name Bracknell is first recorded in a Winkfield Boundary Charter of AD 942 as ''Braccan heal'', and may mean "Nook of land belonging to a man called Bracca", from the Old English ''Braccan'' (genitive singular of a personal name) + ''heal, healh'' (a corner, nook or secret place).〔Mills, A. D: ''A Dictionary of English Place-Names'', page 46. Oxford University Press, 1991.〕 An early form of the town's name, ''Brakenhale'', still survives as the name of one of its schools. The town covers all of the old village of Easthampstead (though not all of the old parish) and the hamlet of Ramslade. Easthampstead has a very long history. There is a Bronze Age round barrow at Bill Hill. Easthampstead Park was a favoured royal hunting lodge in Windsor Forest and Catherine of Aragon was banished there until her divorce was finalised. was an English It was later the home of the Trumbulls who were patrons of Alexander Pope from Binfield.〔 To the north-east of the town is to be found the Quelm Stone, a standing stone, and to the south-west, just over the border in Crowthorne, is Caesar's Camp, an Iron Age hill fort. One of the oldest buildings in the town is the 'Old Manor' public house, a 17th-century brick manor house featuring a number of priest holes. Next door once stood the 'Hind's Head' coaching inn, where it is said Dick Turpin used to drink.〔 It is believed that there were once underground tunnels between the two, along which the famous highwayman could escape from the authorities.〔 Other surviving old pubs are the Red Lion and the Bull, all timber-framed and dating from before the 18th century. Oscar Wilde is said to have visited South Hill Park but this has never been verified. It is believed he wrote his short story; the Selfish Giant, whilst in the gardens. Furthermore he named a character Lady Bracknell in ''The Importance of Being Earnest''. The oldest place of worship in the town is the parish church of St Michael and St Mary Magdalene in Easthampstead. There has been a church there since Saxon times, although the present building dates from the mid 19th century, except for the lower portions of the Tudor tower. Holy Trinity Church near the town centre was built in 1851.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=A Church Near You - Find Church of England Church Locations, Services and Events )〕 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「Bracknell」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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