Holyport

Holyport
Berkshire
Village green, Holyport
Location
Grid reference:	SU895775
Location:	51°29’20"N, -0°42’36"W
Data
Post town:	Maidenhead
Postcode:	SL6
Dialling code:	01628
Local Government
Council:	Windsor and Maidenhead
Parliamentary constituency:	Windsor

Holyport (pronounced Hollyport) is a village in Berkshire, within the parish of Bray, about 2 miles south of Maidenhead.

Though small in size, Holyport has a small retail area, with a butcher, a newsagent, a grocery, a chemist and a hairdresser as well as a post office and doctor's surgery.

In addition to its shops, Holyport has four public houses - The George, The Belgian Arms, The White Hart and The Jolly Gardener, each established for many years.

Also in the village are Holyport Church of England Primary School and Holyport Cricket Club.

Name

The name Holyport is from the Old English horig port, meaning 'muddy market-town'. The first element had become 'holy' by the end of the 14th century.

Miscelany

Holyport is not as well known as its neighbour, Bray but has a few claims to fame of its own.

• One of the world's few real tennis courts (Royal County of Berkshire Real Tennis Club) is here, and at the club The Prince Edward first met his wife-to-be, Sophie Rhys-Jones
• Holyport was the home of the prestigious stables of Horace Smith, later known as Smith's Stables, where Queen Elizabeth II rode with her sister The Princess Margaret in their younger years. There, using a pair of gates set in the middle of a field, the two young princesses learned to open and close gates whilst on horseback.

On film and on television

• Monty Python filmed a Maypole dance related sketch on the green.
• Happy Is The Bride (film) was shot here and in Bray
• One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing was partly filmed in Holyport.
• A scene from the 1995 Mr Bean episode, entitled 'Tee off Mr Bean', was filmed on Holyport Green.

Sport and leisure

• Football: Holyport FC

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Holyport)