Lightwater
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Lightwater | |
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  Lightwater shown within Surrey |
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| Population | 6,691[1] |
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| OS grid reference | |
| District | Surrey Heath |
| Shire county | Surrey |
| Region | South East |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Lightwater |
| Postcode district | GU18 |
| Dialling code | 01276 |
| Police | Surrey |
| Fire | Surrey |
| Ambulance | South East Coast |
| European Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | Surrey Heath |
| List of places: UK • England • Surrey | |
Lightwater is a village in the Surrey Heath district of Surrey, England about 27 miles to the south-west of London. Immediately surrounding towns and villages include Bagshot, Deepcut, Windlesham and West End. The village is bounded to the north west by the M3, to the north east by the Lightwater bypass. To the south east, it is bounded by the Red Road whilst to the south west there is the vehicle testing tracks owned by the Ministry of Defence.
Prior to development, the natural vegetation was part of the Surrey heathland as seen in Bagshot and Chobham Common. The region has been inhabited since pre-historic times with tumuli in the heathland of Grayshott to the south of the village.
In modern times, Lightwater grew as a place with holiday homes in a chalet-style for people living in London. Since 1960 it has grown rapidly with housing estates growing in the area just north of Red Road and the military ranges around Greyspot.
The village has full medical facilities and veterinary surgery, its own library, pubs, post office and bank, a range of shops and petrol station.
Despite Lightwater being larger in size, the nearest train station is located in Bagshot. This reflects the fact that Bagshot used to be a more important town lying as a staging post on the London / Portsmouth road. Lightwater has grown in size as a dormitory settlement in recent times. In the adjacent 1890s map of the area, Bagshot is a notable town whilst Lightwater is noted just as a farm.
At present, there are delays in obtaining planning permission in the area due to the issue over ground nesting birds.[2]
[edit] Lightwater Country Park
Lightwater has its own country park, with some one hundred acres of heathland, complete with "nature trail", together with a leisure centre and visitors centre.
The park has a view point, called Curley Hill, which gives views of about 250 degrees. From this point Bracknell, Ascot Racecourse, Bagshot Park can be seen to the west of the M3.
Towards the north east, planes landing at Heathrow can be spotted, together with the high rise buildings of the City of London and Canary Wharf. To the east, the taller building of Woking are visible together with the North Downs. Despite surveying a heavily built up area, the vista is overwhelmingly green.
