Binfield, Berkshire
Historical Description
Binfield, a small village and a parish in Berks. The village stands in Windsor Forest, 2½ miles N of Bracknell station on the L. & S.W.R., and 8½ NE of Wokingham, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Bracknell. The parish comprises 3489 acres; population, 1740. The Manor House, Binfield Park, Forest Lodge, Pope's Wood (now Arthurstone), The Grove, and Binfield Court are chief residences, and there are several other fine villas and mansions in this parish. Binfield was the early home of Pope, who speaks of his father's house here as- "My paternal cell, A little house, with trees a row, And, like its master, very low." Here Pope wrote great part of his early poems, and in a clump of beech trees, not far distant from the house, and still called Pope's Wood, stood a tree, now destroyed, bearing the inscription by Lord Lyttleton, "Here Pope sung." The Roman road, called the Devil's Highway, passed near the village, and an entrenchment there bears the name of Cæsar's camp. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford; commuted value, £805 with residence, in the gift of the Lord Chancellor. The church is a building of stone in the Perpendicular style. It is difficult to say when it was built; it was mentioned in the Taxatio of Pope Nicholas IV. in 1291. Norman remains were found during restoration. It has a picturesque square tower, was restored and enlarged in 1848, and further enlarged in 1859. St Mark's chapel-of-ease, a building of red brick, was erected in 1867, and is in the Early English style. There is also an undenominational chapel, built in 1875, and a working men's club, erected in 1885.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Berkshire | |
| Ecclesiastical parish | Binfield All Saints | |
| Hundred | Cookham | |
| Poor Law union | Easthampstead |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1538.
Churches
Church of England
All Saints (parish church)
The church of All Saints is a building of stone in the Perpendicular or Third Pointed style, and was probably built in the latter part of the reign of Edward II.: it consists of chancel with aisles, nave of four bays, north aisle, south porch, vestry and an embattled western tower, containing 6 bells and a clock; the bells were recast and rehung in 1910: in the chancel is a fine brass, with half-effigy, and inscription in Norman-French to Walter de Annesfordhe, a former rector, dated 1307: the north aisle was added by subscription and the church re-seated in 1848: in 1859 the north chancel-aisle was added by the late Mrs. Young, the chancel being at the same time restored at the expense of the Ven. James Randall, archdeacon of Berks and late rector, a vestry built, and other alterations made: the east window is stained: there are two memorial windows in the chancel to the family of the late rector: one at the east end of the south aisle to Mrs. Parker, another at the west end to C. Parker esq. and one in the north aisle to Mrs. Young: the pulpit of oak, handsomely carved, dates from 1628; attached to the pulpit is a very ancient hour-glass stand of iron curiously wrought with the arms of the Smiths' and Farriers' Companies of the City of London: in 1887 a memorial to the Ven. Archdeacon Randall, rector 1831-59, was added in the form of a beautiful carved oak reredos in three compartments; immediately below the reredos runs a bold altar-shelf of alsbaster, carved in high relief with shields and flowers: the walls on either side of the east window are filled with glass mosaics: the ancient piscina in the east wall still remains: the chancel is divided from the body of the church by a screen of light and very graceful ironwork, and similar side screens fill the arches on either side of the chancel: the original copy of Erasmus' paraphrase on the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, placed in the church by order of King Edward VI. in 1547, has been replaced and there is a framed list of the rectors from 1300 to 1859, placed in the church by the late Canon Edmund Savory M.A., rector 1859-1904; a new organ was provided in 1910 at a cost of £800; the church was restored in 1887 at a cost of £1,400, and affords 625 sittings.
St. Mark's Chapel
St. Mark's chapel of ease, erected by subscription in 1866, is a building of red brick, with stone facings, in the Early English style, and consists of chancel, nave, aisles and transepts; one aisle was added and the chapel restored in 1875-6, at a cost of over £598, and a reredos of oak was erected in 1897: there are 350 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Binfield was in Easthampstead Registration District from 1837 to 1937 and Windsor Registration District from 1937 to 1967
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Binfield from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Binfield (All Saints))
- Kelly's Directory of Berkshire, 1915
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Berkshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Binfield are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Berkshire papers online:
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitations of Berkshire 1532, 1566, and 1665-6 is available online.