| Static Image Name: | Daffodils in Ambarrow Court - geograph.org.uk - 709473.jpg |
| Static Image Caption: | Daffodills in Ambarrow Court |
| Country: | England |
| Official Name: | Sandhurst |
| Civil Parish: | Sandhurst[1] |
| Shire District: | Bracknell Forest |
| Region: | South East England |
| Shire County: | Berkshire |
| Population: | 20,383 |
| Population Ref: | (2021 Census) |
| Constituency Westminster: | Bracknell |
| Post Town: | SANDHURST |
| Postcode District: | GU47 |
| Postcode Area: | GU |
| Dial Code: | 01344 |
| Dial Code1: | 01276 |
| Dial Code2: | 01252 |
| Os Grid Reference: | SU836618 |
| Coordinates: | 51.349°N -0.8°W |
Sandhurst is a town and civil parish in the Bracknell Forest borough in Berkshire, England. It is in the south eastern corner of Berkshire, and is situated 32miles west-southwest of central London, 2.5miles north west of Camberley and 5miles south of Bracknell. Sandhurst is known worldwide as the location of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (often referred to simply as "Sandhurst", "The Academy" or "The RMA"). Despite its close proximity to Camberley, Sandhurst is also home to a large and well-known out-of-town mercantile development. The site is named "The Meadows" and has a Tesco Extra hypermarket and a Marks & Spencer, two of the largest in the country.[2] [3] A large Next clothing and homeware store is open on the site of the old Homebase.[4]
Sandhurst is in South East England near the junction of Berkshire, Hampshire and Surrey. The town has four main districts, from west to east: Little Sandhurst, Sandhurst (central) and College Town, with Owlsmoor to the northeast. North of the town are Edgbarrow Woods and a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) called Sandhurst to Owlsmoor Bogs and Heaths which includes the nature reserve of Wildmoor Heath.[5] [6] To the east is Broadmoor Bottom, an expanse of heathland together with fir tree plantations. This backs onto the high-security Broadmoor Hospital.
Sandhurst is bordered, on the south, by the River Blackwater, and several of the Yateley Lakes along its course are within the parish, notably Trilakes with its country park. This is also the county boundary with Hampshire at Blackwater. The town of Crowthorne is to the north, the village of Finchampstead to the west, and Camberley, across the Surrey county boundary, is on its southeastern side. This is the closest sizeable town, though Sandhurst is also only 9.5km (05.9miles) south of the new town of Bracknell. The soil is sandy, with a subsoil of sand and gravel.
Sandhurst lies just off the A30, which is 3.4miles away from junction 4 of the M3 motorway. It is also located 10miles from the M4, via the Crowthorne bypass (A3095) to Bracknell and the A329(M) towards Reading.
Sandhurst railway station is a stop on the North Downs Line; trains are operated by Great Western Railway. Services run between Gatwick, Guildford and Reading.[7]
Stagecoach South operates bus route 3 between Yateley and Camberley every 15 minutes except on Sundays; alternate services extends to and from Aldershot.[8]
Sandhurst has representation through several tiers of government – town council, unitary authority, and parliamentary (UK). Its Town Council is divided into four wards, Central Sandhurst, Little Sandhurst, College Town and Owlsmoor, all represented by twenty-four councillors. It is also part of the Bracknell Forest District. The ancient parish of Sandhurst also covered Crowthorne, until this became an ecclesiastical parish in its own right in 1874 and a civil parish in 1894. The current Mayor of Sandhurst is Councillor Parm Panesar.[9]
The name of the village is Anglo-Saxon and originates from the sandy soils and the hurst (a wooded eminence) of the area.[10] In the early 14th century records, Sandhurst appears as part of the township of Sonning, a large minster parish spreading over much of eastern Berkshire, which later became a hundred when its villages obtained their own churches.[11] These lands belonged to the Bishops of Salisbury. There were two manors in Sandhurst: ‘Hall’ in the grounds of what is now the Royal Military Academy and ‘Sandhurst’ on the site of Sandhurst Lodge. Nothing remains of the original buildings. The first mention of the village of Sandhurst is to be found in the Exchequer Rolls of Henry II in 1175 where the receipt of one mark for the Villata de Sandhurst is recorded.[12]
In the early modern era, Sandhurst parish was a small farming community on the very edge of Windsor Forest, Sandhurst Walke being an important forest division subject to forest laws.[11] Locals had the right to cut turf, bracken, heather and wood that was primarily cultivated to feed the forest deer. These were hunted by Royal parties from a hunting lodge in the vicinity of Hart's Leap Road.[11] A number of disputes are on record, showing how Sandhurst people sometimes took more resources than was allowed. Farming has always remained a major part of village life here and some defunct farms are still remembered in the names of housing estates, roads and even a restaurant: Sandhurst Farm, Snaprails, Caves Farm, Ambarrow Farm, College Farm, Rectory Farm, Beech Farm and Rackstraws Farm. In the mid-16th century, William, Lord Sandys, the Lord Chancellor to King Henry VIII, owned a supposed manor called 'Buckhurst' in the area between College Town and Central Sandhurst.
Life changed very little in Sandhurst until the 19th century when large sections of land were sold for the building of the Royal Military College, which moved from Marlow in 1813. The railway arrived in 1849 and a number of large country residences were subsequently erected in the area: amongst them, Harts Leap, Forest End, St Helens Upland, The Warren, Longdown Lodge, Ryefield, Snaprails, and Ambarrow Court. Sandhurst Lodge was erected in about 1858 by Robert W. Gibson and leased to John Walter, of the Times Newspaper, and then Sir William Farrer, solicitor to Queen Victoria and The Duke of Wellington. Perry Hill and The Ceders came later. Only a few remain today. The others have been demolished and land developed.
Such large houses and institutions, including the Broadmoor Hospital and Wellington College in nearby Crowthorne, led to a great expansion of the local population as people moved into the area looking for work. Further residential housing was erected for these workers, as well as more schools for their children, more places of worship and other community resources. Until Sandhurst Comprehensive – now Sandhurst School – was built in 1969 in Owlsmoor, Secondary-age pupils were sent to Edgbarrow School in Crowthorne, Forest Grammar School for boys in Winnersh or Holt School for girls in Wokingham. From the late 1950s to the 80s, large housing estates have been built creating the conglomerate town of today from the original four villages of College Town, Central Sandhurst, Little Sandhurst and Owlsmoor.
St Michael's Church of England School, Little Sandhurst, was opened in 1862 and other schools followed in quick succession: