Egham

Egham
Surrey
Egham High Street
Location
Grid reference:	TQ008712
Location:	51°25’44"N, -0°32’52"W
Data
Population:	5,724  (2001)
Post town:	Egham
Postcode:	TW18, TW20
Dialling code:	01784
Local Government
Council:	Runnymede
Parliamentary constituency:	Runnymede and Weybridge

Egham is a small town in north-western Surrey on the River Thames.

It considered to be part of the London commuter belt, and is well placed on the railway and the M25 motorway.

Geography

Nearby are Englefield Green and Virginia Water in Surrey, Sunningdale, Windsor Great Park, Old Windsor and Windsor itself in Berkshire and across the river in Middlesex is Staines. The area on the Surrey bank between Egham and Staines town centres is known as Egham Hythe.

South of Egham at Thorpe, Surrey is Thorpe Park, Britain's first ever theme park; founded on old, flooded gravel pits on the theme of water and watercraft, it is today a large theme park of miscellaneous rides and attractions.

Churches

St John's Church Egham is on Church Road and is an evangelical Anglican church in the Diocese of Guildford.

History

Early history

Egham predates AD 666, when Chertsey Abbey was founded, for in the Abbey's first charter it was given estates which included that of Ecga Ham ("Ecga's hamlet"), from which the name "Egham" comes.

Egham appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as Egeham. It was held by Chertsey Abbey. Its Domesday assets were: 15 hides; 12 ploughs, 120 acres of meadow, woodland, herbage and pannage worth 75 hogs. It rendered £30 10s 0d.

The village of Egham was previously an ancient parish covering 7,435 acres in the counties of Berks and Surrey; incorporating Egham, Egham Hill, Coopers Hill, Englefield Green, Virginia Water, Shrubs Hill, Runnymede, Egham Hythe, and a considerable portion of Windsor Great Park.

The manor of Egham, which includes Runnymede belonged formerly, and in 1215, to Chertsey Abbey, and after the Dissolution of the Monasteries it became the property of the Crown, though granted to various tenants (holders) at different times.

King John Sculpture

Magna Carta

The Magna Carta was sealed at nearby Runnymede in 1215, and is commemorated by a memorial, built in 1957 by the American Bar Association, at the foot of Cooper's Hill. A Sculpture portraying King John and Baron Fitzwalter in the act of sealing the Magna Carta is also located in Church Road in the centre of town.

Egham at one time held horse races which took place at the Runnymede meadow, which interfered with the Inclosure Act of 1814 (54 G. III, c. 153), and the consequent award made in 1817, which divided up the meadow, as the Act stipulated that any enclosures which should interfere with the holding of Egham races at the end of August upon on its usual course must be removed every year. In 1836 the races was presided over by William IV, who gave a plate to be run for at the meeting, which coincided with festivities at Windsor for his daughter's marriage. The races ceased in 1884.

The principal properties were 'Egham Park', and 'Egham Wick'.

More recently Egham was centre to two national issues. On 12 September 2007 a case of foot-and-mouth disease was found in Egham, 12 miles from the previous outbreak found in early August 2007. As of December, 2008, Egham is at the centre of a controversy due to possible traffic impact on the 3 level crossings in the town which will be affected by Heathrow Airtrack.

Sights around the town

Royal Holloway's world-famous Founder's building

• Cooper's Hill is a small rise, immortalised in verse by such luminaries as John Denham (in Cooper's Hill) and Alexander Pope (in Windsor Forest). It has excellent views over the Middlesex towns towards London and towards Windsor and the Surrey Hills, as well as being a place of quiet contemplation and reflection The Magna Carta memorial stands here.
• Runnymede is a long, broad, green meadow along the River Thames. Here in 1215 King John was brought by the barons to place his seal upon Magna Carta. Today it is fine place to wander and picnic of summer's day. The Magna Carta Memorial is here, and the J F Kennedy Memorial.
• Another memorial, at the top of the hill in nearby Englefield Green commemorates all Commonwealth air force personnel killed in Second World War. It was the first new-built British building to be listed in the post-war era.
• Royal Holloway, University of London is a college of the University of London situated off the A30 road between Egham and Englefield Green; an impressively imposing building.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Egham)

• Egham town
• St John's Church, Egham
• Magna Carta Essays
• Bibliography of local history
• Egham Hythe, St Paul's Church and Edward Budgen