Village in Berkshire, England
For other uses, see
Bray
.
Village and civil parish in England
Bray
, occasionally
Bray on Thames
, is a suburban village and
civil parish
in the English county of
Berkshire
. It sits on the banks of the
River Thames
, to the southeast of
Maidenhead
of which it is a suburb. The village is mentioned in the comedic song "
The Vicar of Bray
". Bray contains two of the eight three-
Michelin-starred
restaurants in the United Kingdom and has several large business premises including
Bray Studios
at
Water Oakley
, where the first series of
Hammer Horror
films were produced.
Geography
[
edit
]
The civil
parish
of Bray is far larger than the village itself and includes a number of other villages and
hamlets
over an area of 24.98 km
2
(9.64 sq mi). It had a population of 8,425 at the
2001 census
,
[2]
increasing to 9,110 at the
2011 census
.
[1]
Bray is a large parish, although its area has shrunk considerably since Maidenhead was detached. As well as the village, the parish contains a large number of villages and hamlets, which were originally scattered amongst the remains of the dense woodland of
Windsor Forest
that once covered the area. These include:
Braywick
,
Holyport
, Water Oakley,
Oakley Green
, Moneyrow Green, Stud Green, Foxley Green,
Touchen End
,
Braywoodside
and
Fifield
.
Exclusive houses on the river between Bray and
Maidenhead Bridge
have been referred to as Berkshire's 'Millionaires' row' in the national press.
[
citation needed
]
The flood risk of these houses has been decreased by the
Jubilee River
, a large drainage ditch dug between north Maidenhead and
Datchet
.
Monkey Island
, in the
Thames
, is associated with the
3rd Duke of Marlborough
, and houses two structures that he built and furnished with paintings of monkeys, and the
Grade I listed building
, Monkey Island Hotel.
[3]
The
ecclesiastical parish
shares the wide parish boundaries and is named Bray St Michael with
Braywoodside
.
[4]
History
[
edit
]
The first documented mention of Bray was as
Brai
in the
Domesday Book
of 1086.
Governance
[
edit
]
Since the redistribution of parliamentary boundaries, which took effect at the
2010 general election
, Bray has been in
Maidenhead
, the parliamentary constituency of former Prime Minister
Theresa May
. In terms of local government, it is in the Bray electoral ward of the
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead
.
Amenities
[
edit
]
Restaurants
[
edit
]
Bray contains two of the eight three-
Michelin-starred
restaurants in the
United Kingdom
:
[5]
The Fat Duck
is a restaurant run by chef
Heston Blumenthal
in the centre of Bray. The restaurant opened in 1995,
[6]
and has held a three-star Michelin Guide rating since 2004. In 2005, it was named the
best restaurant
in the world by
Restaurant
magazine
[7]
and in 2008, 2009 and 2010, Best Restaurant in the UK,
[8]
scoring a maximum 10 out of 10 in the
Good Food Guide
.
The Waterside Inn
was founded in 1972 by the brothers
Michel
and
Albert Roux
after their success with
Le Gavroche
. It is currently run by Michel's son,
Alain
and Frederic Poulette. The restaurant has three Michelin stars and in 2010 became the second restaurant outside
France
to retain all three stars for 25 years.
[9]
Transport
[
edit
]
Bray sits on the banks of the
River Thames
, one and a half miles (2.4 km) south of Maidenhead town centre and 5 miles (8 km) northwest of
Windsor
. The B3028 road runs through the centre of Bray, and the
A308
Maidenhead to Windsor road runs between Bray and the adjoining village of Holyport. The
M4 motorway
junction 8/9 is approximately 1 mile (2 km) from Bray, and
Maidenhead railway station
is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) away in Maidenhead town centre.
Notable buildings
[
edit
]
Parish church
[
edit
]
The
Church of England parish church
of
St Michael
was built in 1293, supposedly to replace a
Saxon
church at Water Oakley.
[10]
It has a number of sculptures which may have come from the earlier church, including a damaged
Sheela na Gig
. It is best known to
brass rubbers
for housing the superb
memorial brass
of 1378 to Sir John Foxley, the Constable of
Southampton Castle
, and his two wives. One of the local cottages has a tunnel which it is believed leads to the church and served as an escape route for clergymen. The current
Vicar of Bray
is the Reverend Ainsley Swift.
Almshouses
[
edit
]
The Jesus Hospital is a red-brick group of
almhouses
, founded in 1609 by William Goddard to house thirty-four of the aged poor of Bray and six of the
Worshipful Company of Fishmongers
, to which he belonged. A full-size effigy of Goddard stands over the entrance.
[11]
Jesus Hospital is now run by The
Donnington Hospital
Trust having been transferred from The Fishmongers Company in 2010.
Notable people
[
edit
]
Literature
[
edit
]
The village features as the home of the eponymous "
The Vicar of Bray
" in a satirical 18th-century song of that name. The titular character frequently changed his religious principles in order to remain in office throughout various reforming upheavals in the English church. The story was turned into an
opera
in 1882 and a film in 1937.
Edward Lear
makes reference to Bray in
More Nonsense Pictures, Rhymes, Botany, etc
:
[17]
"There was an old person of Bray,
Who sang through the whole of the day
To his ducks and his pigs,
Whom he fed upon figs,
That valuable person of Bray."
Nearest places
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"Civil Parish 2011"
.
Neighbourhood Statistics
. Office for National Statistics
. Retrieved
30 November
2016
.
- ^
Office for National Statistics :
Census 2001 : Parish Headcounts : Windsor and Maidenhead"
Archived
3 March 2016 at the
Wayback Machine
Retrieved 3 November 2010
- ^
Monkey Island Hotel
Historic England
.
"Details from listed building database (1319431)"
.
National Heritage List for England
. Retrieved
8 June
2013
.
- ^
The Church of England
"A Church Near You".
- ^
"The Michelin Guide"
. Retrieved
10 October
2021
.
- ^
"The Fat Duck (Awards section)"
. Fatduck.co.uk. Archived from
the original
on 14 September 2005
. Retrieved
26 August
2012
.
- ^
Kates, Joanne,
The Globe and Mail
(11 February 2006).
The mad, magic chemistry of England's Fat Duck
- ^
"Heston Blumenthal's Fat Duck tops Good Food Guide again"
. BBC. 11 August 2010
. Retrieved
26 August
2012
.
- ^
Kapur, Sonia (20 May 2010).
"Waterside Inn celebrates 25yrs of three-star quality"
.
Maidenhead Advertiser
. Archived from
the original
on 14 March 2012.
- ^
England (1849).
The ecclesiastical and architectural topography of England. Bedfordshire (Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Oxfordshire, Suffolk)
. p. 59
. Retrieved
27 September
2012
.
- ^
Ben-Amos, Ilana Krausman (17 March 2008).
The Culture of Giving: Informal Support and Gift-Exchange in Early Modern England
. Cambridge University Press. p. 185.
ISBN
978-0-521-86723-8
. Retrieved
27 September
2012
.
- ^
"Fat Duck website"
. Fatduck.co.uk. Archived from
the original
on 14 September 2005
. Retrieved
14 December
2008
.
- ^
"Rolf Harris and Val Doonican: Old pals reunite (From
Bucks Free Press
)"
. Bucksfreepress.co.uk. 31 October 2008
. Retrieved
8 August
2012
.
- ^
"Rolf Harris guilty of indecent assaults"
.
BBC News
. 30 June 2014.
- ^
"Rolf Harris jailed for five years and nine months"
.
BBC News
. 4 July 2014.
- ^
Keynes, Simon. "Regenbald the Chancellor (sic)".
Anglo-Norman Studies
.
X
: 222.
- ^
Lear, Edward (1872).
More Nonsense. Pictures, Rhymes, Botany, Etc
. London: Robert J. Bush.
External links
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Bray
.
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