Coordinates: 51°29′01″N 0°31′20″W / 51.4835°N 0.5221°W
| Colnbrook | |
  Colnbrook
Colnbrook shown within Berkshire |
|
| OS grid reference | |
|---|---|
| Parish | Colnbrook with Poyle |
| Unitary authority | Slough |
| Ceremonial county | Berkshire |
| Region | South East |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | SLOUGH |
| Postcode district | SL3 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Royal Berkshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | Windsor |
| List of places: UK • England • Berkshire | |
Colnbrook is a large village in the unitary authority of Slough, in Berkshire, England. It has formed part of the Colnbrook with Poyle parish since 1995, previously having been part of Iver parish in Buckinghamshire (it was the county's southernmost point). It is situated 5.5 km (3.5 miles) southeast of central Slough, 9 km (5.5 miles) east of Windsor and 30 km (19 miles) west of London.
Colnbrook is in the Windsor constituency and its Member of Parliament is Adam Afriyie (Conservative).
Contents |
History
Mentioned in William the Conqueror's Domesday Book, Colnbrook is on the Colne Brook, a tributary to the river Colne, hence Colnbrook.[1] Coaching inns were the village's main industry. In 1106 the first one was founded by Milo Crispin, named The Hospice (now the Ostrich Inn). By 1577 Colnbrook had no fewer than ten coaching inns. Colnbrook's High Street was on the main London to Bath road and turn off point for Windsor and was used as a resting point for travellers.
One 17th century landlord, Jarman of the Ostrich Inn, installed a large trap door under the bed in the best bedroom located immediately above the inn's kitchen. The bed was fixed to the trap door and the mattress securely attached to the bedstead, so that when two retaining iron pins were removed from below in the small hours of the morning, the sleeping guest was neatly decanted into a boiling cauldron. In this way more than 60 of his richer guests were murdered silently and with no bloodshed. Their bodies were then disposed of in the Colne River. The murder of a wealthy clothier, Olde Cole, or Thomas of Reading, proved to be Jarman's undoing, in that they failed to get rid of Cole's horse, leading to their confessing. Jarman and his wife were hanged for robbery and murder.[2][3][4]
Colnbrook is also the place where Cox (a retired brewer) first grafted the Cox's Orange Pippin at his orchard named The Lawns. It was transferred to Berkshire from Buckinghamshire in 1995.
Transport
Colnbrook was in earlier times on the main road to Windsor by way of Slough, and had been a convenient halting-place for travellers before the introduction of railways.[2] Colnbrook has a railway line running into West Drayton, formerly carrying passenger traffic, today only carrying goods desired for the Heathrow airport extension (Terminal 5). This railway line formerly continued to Staines and there are plans to re-use the southern part of it for the Heathrow Airtrack rail link from Staines to Heathrow Airport.
See Colnbrook railway station for the former rail connection that closed in 1965.
Local bus services are operated by London United and First Group.
References
- ^ History of the Parish of Wraysbury, Ankerwycke Priory, and Magna Charta Island; with the History of Horton, and the town of Colnbrook, Bucks., G.W.J. Gyll, 1862, London: H. G. Bohn. Online version at Google Books OCLC: 5001532
- ^ a b The hundred of Stoke: Colnbrook, A History of the County of Buckingham: Volume 3. William Page (editor), 1925, pp. 246-249.
- ^ Sweet Thames Run Softly - Robert Gibbings
- ^ How Thomas of Reading was Murdered - Thomas Deloney
External links
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