Marlston
Marlston | |
Brockhurst and Marlston House School |
|
Marlston Marlston shown within Berkshire | |
OS grid reference | SU532718 |
---|---|
Metropolitan borough | West Berkshire |
Metropolitan county | Berkshire |
Region | South East |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | THATCHAM |
Postcode district | RG18 |
Dialling code | 01635 |
Police | Thames Valley |
Fire | Royal Berkshire |
Ambulance | South Central |
EU Parliament | South East England |
UK Parliament | Berkshire |
Marlston is a hamlet in the English county of Berkshire, within the civil parish of Bucklebury.
The settlement lies south of the M4 motorway, and is located approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) north-east of Thatcham.
The place-name 'Marlston' is first attested as 'Marteleston' in 1242, and means 'Martel's town or manor'. Galfridus Martel held the manor in 1242; 'Martel' is a French nickname meaning 'hammer', from the Old French 'martel' (modern French 'marteau').[1]
The area is the location of Brockhurst and Marlston House School, a large preparatory school.
WW2 RAF flying ace (immortalised in the book and film Reach for the Sky) Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader and his wife settled in the village after the war.
Brockhurst and Marlston House School
Brockhurst (boys) and Marlston House (girls) are independent and boarding twin schools, sharing the same estate. In 2012 they had 323 pupils from the ages three to thirteen.[2]
Brockhurst was founded in 1884 as a boys’ boarding prep school at Church Stretton in Shropshire, then moved to Marlston in 1945 and became co-educational in 1995. The various facilities provided by the school include 21 acres of games fields, a sports hall, a swimming pool, tennis courts, arts and design studios, ICT suite and equestrian school. In addition, a château in Gascony, south-west France, where the pupils practice French.[3]
In 2009, the Country Life Magazine included Brockhurst and Marlston House School among the best countryside preparatory schools of Great Britain.[4]
References
- ↑ Eilert Ekwall, Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names, pp. 315 and 241.
- ↑ "Brockhurst and Marlston House School". The Royal Guardianship. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
- ↑ Catt, John (2011). Which school? A directory of more than 2000 British independent schools (86th ed.). p. 58.
- ↑ Davies, Simon (16 April 2009). "The Best Countryside Schools". Country Life Magazine. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
External links
Media related to Marlston at Wikimedia Commons