Englefield Green
Englefield Green is a village of 7500 people in northern Surrey, UK. It is near the south eastern corner of Windsor Great Park, Royal Holloway, University of London and the towns of Egham, Old Windsor and Virginia Water. The village was built up in the mid 19th century and was originally known as New Egham, for its proximity to the larger Egham village. The village has a number of schools and several churches of different Christian denominations.
The last fatal duel in England took place on Priest Hill in 1852.
Air Forces Memorial
On the road towards the Brunel campus is the Air Forces Memorial which commemorates by name over 20,000 airmen and women who were lost in the Second World War during operations from bases in the United Kingdom and North and Western Europe, and who have no known graves. They served in Bomber, Fighter, Coastal, Transport, Flying Training and Maintenance Commands, and came from all parts of the Commonwealth. Some were from countries in continental Europe which had been overrun but whose airmen continued to fight in the ranks of the Royal Air Force. The names in their thousands are inscribed on panels in a courtyard. Many are Canadian.
The memorial sits on a hill overlooking an historic part of the Thames Valley where Magna Carta, enshrining basic freedoms in English law, was signed in 1215. The memorial was designed by Sir Edward Maufe with sculpture by Vernon Hill. The engraved glass and painted ceilings were designed by John Hutton and the poem engraved on the gallery window was written by Paul H Scott. It overlooks the River Thames on Cooper's Hill at Englefield Green between Windsor and Egham on the A328 (Priest Hill), 4 miles from Windsor and is well signposted as 'Air Force Memorial'.
The Memorial commemorates by name, inscribed on stone panels, some 20,389 airmen and women (including those of 207 Squadron) lost on operations from UK & NW European bases during WWII in the fight against tyranny.
All have no known grave.
Brunel University Runnymede Campus
Just north of the village is the Runnymede campus of Brunel University. At Runnymede, the halls of residence built in the Shoreditch College era were named after staff (Scrivens, Marshall, Bradley, Reed, Rowan). Existing buildings were named in the Royal Indian Engineering College era, such as President Hall (where the College president resided) and College Hall. These fine Victorian buildings were built by Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt, who had been Isambard Kingdom Brunel's architect for Paddington Station in London, and also for the famous Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge (now the Judge Institute). Corridors in President and College Halls were named after prominent British and Anglo-Indian figures, such as George Canning, Warren Hastings, Richard Wellesley and Charles Cornwallis.
Because of Runnymede's Brunel Design graduates' eminence in many new media and web industries in east London (particularly Shoreditch and Hoxton, the term "Shoreditch College" has sometimes become applied as a back-formation nickname for Brunel's Design school, perhaps independently of historical knowledge about the origins of the design school, but probably reinforced by the pre-existence of the name.
Bishopsgate School
Bishopsgate school, a private school for boys and girls aged 3 to 13, is in Englefield Green. This school was formally known as Scaithcliff. The most notable alumnus is Richard Branson founder of Virgin.