Marlston

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Marlston
Berkshire
Brockhurst School (Marlston House) - geograph.org.uk - 5841.jpg
Brockhurst and Marlston House School
Location
Grid reference: SU532718
Location: 51°26’34"N, 1°14’9"W
Data
Post town: Thatcham
Postcode: RG18
Dialling code: 01635
Local Government
Council: West Berkshire

Marlston is a hamlet in Berkshire, within the civil parish of Bucklebury.

The village s to be found south of the M4 motorway, approximately 3 miles northeast of Thatcham.

The area is the location of Brockhurst and Marlston House School, a large preparatory school.

The RAF flying ace Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader and his wife settled in the village after the war. Bader was immortalised in the book and film Reach for the Sky.

Name

The name 'Marlston' is first attested as Marteleston in 1242, and means "Martel's town or manor". Galfridus Martel held the manor in 1242.[1]

Brockhurst and Marlston House School

Brockhurst (boys) and Marlston House (girls) are independent and boarding twin schools, sharing the same estate. In 2012 they had 323 pupils from the ages three to thirteen.[2]

Brockhurst was founded in 1884 as a boys’ boarding prep school at Church Stretton in Shropshire, then moved to Marlston in 1945 and became co-educational in 1995. It has a wealth of facilities including 21 acres of games fields and a château in Gascony, in south-western France, where the pupils practise French.[3]

In 2009, Country Life magazine included Brockhurst and Marlston House School among the best countryside preparatory schools of Great Britain.[4]

Outside links

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References

  1. Eilert Ekwall, Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names, pp. 315 and 241.
  2. "Brockhurst and Marlston House School". The Royal Guardianship. http://www.royalguardianship.com/brockhurst-and-marlston-house-schools. Retrieved 15 December 2012. 
  3. Catt, John (2011). Which school? A directory of more than 2000 British independent schools (86th ed.). p. 58. 
  4. Davies, Simon (16 April 2009). "The Best Countryside Schools". Country Life Magazine. http://www.countrylife.co.uk/countryside/article/316786/The-best-countryside-schools.html. Retrieved 15 December 2012.