Virginia Water

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Virginia Water is a large village, a lake and, originally, a stream, the village being in the borough of Runnymede in Surrey and the bodies of water stretching over the borders of Runnymede, Windsor and Sunninghill, both in England.

The village takes its name from the lake which is 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.

1 The lake
2 The village
3 See also
4 External reference

[edit] The lake

Virginia Water lake 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 for Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen, although this is not certain. The lake itself was begun in 1746 by William, Duke of Cumberland who was then Ranger of the Park. Few details are recorded of the building of the lake, however it has been suggested that Prisoners-of-war from the recent Jacobite risings, who were encamped at the nearby Breakheart Hill, were involved. The original lake was much smaller than the current form, and was destroyed in a flood in 1768. In 1780 Paul and Thomas Sandby began construction of a much larger lake at the site, and went on to add an artificial waterfall, Meadow Pond and Obelisk Pond. The lake is mostly in Surrey, though the western extremities are in the civil parish of Sunninghill in Berkshire.

Recently the lake has been used by the crews for the Harry Potter films for lakeside scenes, as there is a high population of midges in Scotland, where the vast majority of the films outdoor scenes are filmed.

[edit] The village

Virginia Water village has an adult population of 4,814. The village's residents are more elderly and substantially more wealthy, on average, than the nation as a whole, making it one of the wealthiest locations in England. Many of the village's houses are large detached homes situated on the private Wentworth Estate close to the famous Wentworth Club which has four golf courses. Wentworth is also home to the headquarters of the PGA European Tour, the world's second-richest professional golf tour (after the USA's PGA TOUR). The estate hit the headlines in 1998 when General Augusto Pinochet was kept under house arrest in one of its houses prior to his extradition [1]. Edward VIII and Sarah Ferguson are former famous residents. Many well-known entertainment personalities have also have had homes on the Wentworth Estate - for example, Elton John, Russ Abbott, Elizabeth Hurley and Bruce Forsyth. World-class golfers with homes on the Estate include Ernie Els and Thomas Bjørn.

Virginia Water is also home to many commuters. It is close to the M25 and M3 motorways. The village also has a 4 track railway station in the middle of the village on the line between London Waterloo, Weybridge and Reading. Heathrow Airport is located eight miles to the north-east. The village supports two rows of shops, although many inhabitants travel to the nearby towns of Staines, Ascot and Windsor for shopping. The towns of Egham, Englefield Green and Old Windsor are also nearby.