•  Binfield, Berkshire

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In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Binfield like this:

BINFIELD, a small village and a parish in Easthampstead district, Berks. The village stands in Windsor forest, 2½ miles N of Bracknell r. station, and 3½ NE of Wokingham; and has a post office under Bracknell. The parish comprises 3,207 acres. Real property, £7,341. Pop., 1,371. ...

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Houses, 270. The property is much subdivided. Binfield House, Binfield Park, and Pope's Wood are chief residences. The last was the early home of the poet Pope; who described it as

My paternal cell,
A little house, with trees a row,
And, like its master, very low.

The present house is mainly reconstruction and enlargement; but includes the room which is believed to have been the poet's study. Here Pope wrote great part of his early poems; and in the adjoining grounds 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. Value, £628.* Patron, the Lord Chancellor. The old church was of the time of Edward III.; had a picturesque square tower, was restored and enlarged in 1848, and further enlarged in 1859. The new church was built in 1867, and is in the early English style. There are a national school, and charities £82.

Binfield through time

Binfield is now part of Bracknell Forest district. Click here for graphs and data of how Bracknell Forest has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Binfield itself, go to Units and Statistics.

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