White Waltham

White Waltham is a village and civil parish, 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Maidenhead, in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the English county of Berkshire. It has a population of 2,875,^[1] and is the location of White Waltham Airfield.

Extent

In the south, the parish includes Paley Street and Littlefield Green. White Waltham village sits in the mid-west of the parish. To the north east is Woodlands Park, on the edge of Maidenhead, and the Maidenhead Business Park. In the north east corner of the parish is Woolley Green and in the north west, Littlewick Green.

History

The area is made up of many manors and a number of good country houses survive, such as Waltham Place with its organic farm and gardens which are open to the public. The parish church of St Mary dates from Norman times, but has many 13th century and Victorian features. Sir Constantine Henry Phipps, Lord Chancellor of Ireland , was buried at St. Mary in 1723. Thomas Hearne was born at Littlefield Green in 1678. Acquiring the patronage of the local lord of the manor, Francis Cherry, he rose to become assistant-keeper of the Bodleian Library in Oxford and the author of many important works.

After World War II, White Waltham was proposed as a possible development location for a new town to rehouse Londoners made homeless by The Blitz. However, it was decided in 1949 to use the alternative location of Bracknell, as the White Waltham site would have encroached on good quality agricultural land, and was not located on a railway.

References

External links

• Royal Berkshire History: White Waltham
• White Waltham School
• White Waltham Village Association