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From the Romans to The Beatles: A Brief History of Sunningdale
What have the Roman Emperor Claudius, a 16th century Pope, Queen Victoria and The Beatles got in common? They’ve all played a role in the development of Sunningdale from wild common land to the village we know today. Our Sunningdale community is bisected by the busy A30 road. Nearly 2,000 years ago one of Settlements sprang up in the area during Saxon times, and the name Sunning is thought to come from the Saxon Chief Sunna who controlled the entire Windsor Forest district in the fifth century. In the 12th century a nunnery, Broomhall Priory, was established at Sunningdale, but in 1521 after a number of financial difficulties it was suppressed and its estates seized by the Crown and granted to St John's College, Cambridge, although it required a formal Papal Bull from Clement VII. The core of the old village, then known as Sunninghill Common and later SunninghillDale coming under Old Windsor Parish, was established in the late 18th century with a scattering of cottages for agricultural and domestic workers on the big estates around the southern end of Windsor Forest. Much of the common land was enclosed for development in the early 19th century, and when the population grew to around 700 in the 1830s it was decided to build a church (rebuilt in 1887 in its present Grade II listed form) and create the ecclesiastical parish of Sunningdale. The railway arrived in 1856 connecting the village to both London and Reading (a proposed branch to Woking was unfortunately never built) and this led to a new flurry of house building, both around the old village and the A30/Chobham Road area. At the same time the big estates including Sunningdale Park, Coworth Park, Silwood Park and Broomfield Hall, flourished providing much work for Sunningdale people. Members of the Royal Family and the aristocracy lived in some of the big houses, and Queen Victoria and King Edward VII were regular visitors and guests at some of the grand Sunningdale addresses. In more recent times the famous names living in Sunningdale have been pop stars and showbiz and sporting celebrities - two of the Beatles, John Lennon and Ringo Starr, were among the trendsetters. The Sunningdale community has not just been divided by the A30, but until 25 years ago the road more or less marked the county boundary – so the Broomhall estate and other southern parts came within Surrey. In 1995 the whole of Sunningdale was brought together in Berkshire under the new unitary authority of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. ©Peter O’Kill 2010 Click here to see a selection of "Then and Now" pictures of Sunningdale. |
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