Virginia Water

Virginia Water
Aerial view of Virginia Water.
Virginia Water  Virginia Water shown within Surrey
Population	5,940 (2011 Census. Ward)[1]
OS grid reference	SU982679
District	Runnymede
Shire county	Surrey
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Virginia Water
Postcode district	GU25 4
Dialling code	01344
Police	Surrey
Fire	Surrey
Ambulance	South East Coast
EU Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	Runnymede and Weybridge
List of places UK England Surrey

Coordinates: 51°24′07″N 0°35′20″W / 51.402°N 0.589°W

Virginia Water is a commuter town in the Surrey section of the London urban area. It is home to the Wentworth Estate and the Wentworth Club, where the first Ryder Cup was played. The estate is situated in the Borough of Runnymede^[2] in Surrey, England, and the bodies of water stretching over the borders of Runnymede, Old Windsor and Sunninghill and Ascot.

The town takes its name from the lake in the nearby Windsor Great Park. The lake's name was transferred from a previous stream, which was probably named after the 'Virgin Queen', Elizabeth I.

The lake

Virginia Water Lake lies within Windsor Great Park. It was created from a body of water of the same name, originally little more than a stream, which existed from at least the 17th century and may well be named after Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen. The lake is mostly in Surrey, though the western extremities are in the civil parishes of Old Windsor and Sunninghill and Ascot in Berkshire.

Recently the shores of the lake have been used for lakeside scenes in the Harry Potter films and for the boat scenes in Robin Hood. The lake is also the site of the British record capture of a pike, weighing 58 lb 5oz.

During World War II, the lake was drained, as its recognisable shape was thought likely to provide enemy guidance at night to Windsor and to important military targets in the area.

The town

The 2001 census population of Virginia Water was 6,113.^[3] Many of the town's houses are situated on the Wentworth Estate home of the Wentworth Club which has four golf courses. The Ryder Cup was first played there. It is also home to the headquarters of the PGA European Tour, the professional golf tour. The estate reached the headlines in 1998 when General Augusto Pinochet was kept under house arrest in one of its houses prior to his extradition.^[4] Many entertainment personalities have or have had homes on the estate including Chris Squire, Sir Elton John, songwriter Bernie Taupin, Diana Dors, Russ Abbot, Cliff Richard, Bryan Forbes and his wife Nanette Newman and Sir Bruce Forsyth.^[5] Golfers who have or have had homes on the estate include Sir Nick Faldo, European Ryder Cup captain Bernard Gallacher, Sam Torrance, Sandy Lyle, Ernie Els and Thomas Bjørn. Ex-formula 1 team owner Eddie Jordan and boxer Prince Naseem Naseem Hamed also live on the Estate. The author and traveller Bill Bryson spent his early married life in the village.

Virginia Water is home to central London commuters. It is close to the M25, M4 and M3 motorways. The town has a four track railway station in the middle of the estate on the line between London Waterloo, Weybridge and Reading. Heathrow Airport is four miles to the north-east. The town has two rows of shops, although many inhabitants travel to the nearby towns of Kingston-upon-Thames, Ascot and Windsor for shopping. The towns of Sunningdale, Englefield Green and Ascot are the closest. Holloway Sanatorium, an asylum for the mentally ill, where the writer Bill Bryson worked upon first settling in England, was located near to the town but closed in the 1980s and was converted to private accommodation. A report from October 2015 listed Virginia Water as the most expensive town (excepting individual London boroughs) for property in the UK, having an average house price exceeding £1m.^[6]

Road transport

Virginia Water is located roughly in the area between the M25 and A30 south of Egham. It is under four miles from junction 13 of the M25 and under five miles from junction 11 of the M25. Junction 13 is, however, accessed far quicker (around six minutes as opposed to ten minutes for J11) due to the dual carriageways and higher speed limits on the A30 as opposed to the B roads to get to J11 at Chertsey.

Central London is most easily accessed with the M4 via M25 J13. However other parts of London would be better accessed using other routes, for example North London using the M40 via M25 and South West London via the M3 via M25 J11.

Railways

Frequent trains link Virginia Water railway station to London Waterloo, (For the City), Weybridge, Twickenham, (for a branch to Kingston upon Thames), Richmond, (for the District line and London Overground), Staines, (for the Windsor Branch), Feltham, (for a shuttle bus to Heathrow), Clapham Junction, (for Southern services to Brighton, Gatwick Airport and the South Coast), Vauxhall (for the West End and Victoria Line) and Reading. The nearest tube stations are Hatton Cross and Heathrow Terminal 5 station.

References

1. Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics Ward population 2011 http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=13694793&c=Virginia+Water&d=14&e=62&g=6469636&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&o=362&m=0&r=1&s=1476018503825&enc=1!title=Runnymede Ward population 2011 Check |url= value (help). Retrieved 9 October 2016. Missing or empty |title= (help)
2. "Runnymede Home Page".
3. "Virginia Water community website - your source for local information".
4. "Pinochet retreats to luxury estate". BBC News. 2 December 1998.
5. "Bruce Forsyth". The Observer. London. 12 December 2004.
6. Olivia Blair (26 October 2015). "The UK's first 'million pound towns' outside of London". The Independent.

External links

Media related to Virginia Water at Wikimedia Commons