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Virginia Water

Coordinates: 51°24′07″N 0°35′20″W / 51.402°N 0.589°W / 51.402; -0.589
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(Redirected from Virginia Park (Surrey))
For the lake, see Virginia Water Lake.

Virginia Water
Station Approach
Virginia Water is located in Surrey
Virginia Water
Virginia Water
Location within Surrey
Area5.71 sq mi (14.8 km2) (2011, Ward)[1]
Population5,940 (2011, Ward)[1]
• Density1,040/sq mi (400/km2)
Protected areasMetropolitan Green Belt, Thames Basin Heaths
OS grid referenceSU982679
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townVIRGINIA WATER
Postcode districtGU25
Dialling code01344
PoliceSurrey
FireSurrey
AmbulanceSouth East Coast
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Surrey
51°24′07″N 0°35′20″W / 51.402°N 0.589°W / 51.402; -0.589

Virginia Water is a commuter village in the Borough of Runnymede in Surrey, England. It is home to the Wentworth Estate and the Wentworth Club. The area has much woodland and occupies a large minority of the Runnymede district. Its name is shared with the lake on its western boundary within Windsor Great Park. Virginia Water has excellent transport links with London–Trumps Green and Thorpe Green touch the M3, Thorpe touches the M25, and Heathrow Airport is 7 miles (11 km) northeast.

Many of the detached houses are on the Wentworth Estate, the home of the Wentworth Club which has four golf courses.[2] The Ryder Cup was first played there. It is also home to the headquarters of the PGA European Tour, the professional golf tour.

In 2011 approximately half of the homes of the postcode district, which is narrower than the current electoral ward, were detached houses. In 2015 Land Registry sales data recorded Virginia Water's single postcode district as the most expensive as to the value of homes nationwide.

Etymology

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The village is named after the nearby artificial Virginia Water Lake, which forms part of Windsor Great Park.

History

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Early history

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The area is believed to have been traversed by the Devil's Highway, a Roman road running from London to Silchester in Hampshire.[3] According to a 1983 article by Nicholas Fuentes, the defeat of Boudica’s revolt by the Romans in AD 60/61 may have occurred in Virginia Water. He argued that the topography between Callow Hill and Knowle Hill corresponds with descriptions by Tacitus, with the battlefield situated near the site of the present-day railway station.[4]

Modern history

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Christ Church Virginia Water was completed in 1838 and established as a parish the same year.[5]

In 1805, a mansion was constructed for Edward Pakenham, the brother-in-law of the Duke of Wellington, which now forms the club house of the Wentworth Club.[3] Ramón Cabrera, 1st Duke of Maestrazgo, an exiled Carlist general, purchased the house in 1850.[3]

To the east of the lake is the Clockcase tower, a Grade I listed, triangular belvedere built in the Great Park during the 1750s.[6] It is three-storey Gothic style construction.[6] George III made it into an observatory and Queen Victoria occasionally had tea there.[6] The building is inaccessible to the public, lying within a private part of the park, and remains under the ownership of the Royal Estate.[6]

Virginia Park

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Entrance to Virginia Park

Virginia Park is a gated housing development occupying the site of the former Holloway Sanatorium, a mental asylum constructed in 1885 to the design of William Henry Crossland. This was a private institution where patients paid for their own treatment.[7] In 1948, it was taken over by the newly established National Health Service, and closed in the early 1980s, experiencing frequent vandalism in the aftermath.[7]

In 2000, the building and grounds were converted into private sector housing by a developer, Octagon.[8] Octagon produced 23 residences in the main building and built 190 new houses and apartments on the grounds.[9] Properties are expensive and typically reach beyond the £1 million mark.[7]

The main building is Grade I listed, the highest category of recognition and protection.[10] The sanatorium chapel is Grade II* listed, meaning in a constrained mid-tier of the statutory scheme.[11] The gated estate includes a spa, gymnasium, multi-purpose sports hall, and all-weather tennis court.[7]

Wentworth Estate

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Main article: Wentworth Estate
A manicured street on the estate

1,750 square kilometres (680 sq mi) of Virginia Water is owned by a members' trustee body, known as the Wentworth Estate. Founded in the 1920s, this estate comprises private sector houses, luxury apartments, woodland, several golf courses and a leisure club. It also includes part of the River Bourne, Chertsey.

The estate, due to its high walls and electric gates, has been compared to a "fortified suburb" found more commonly in South Africa and a place "where money disappears from view".[12] Famous residents have included Elton John, Bruce Forsyth, Diana Dors and various professional golfers.[12] Properties on the estate are regarded as "super prime" and have sold for as much as £50 million.[12]

In 1998, the estate received significant media attention when one of its properties became the location where former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was placed under house arrest following his arrest in London and contested extradition.[13]

Geography

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Physical geography

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The River Bourne runs from the artificial Virginia Water Lake through the long southern half of Virginia Water.

Housing and socio-economic geography

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The 2011 census stated that the Virginia Water postcode district (post town) had the following dwellings, thus making up the relative proportions shown: [14]

Type Number Proportion
Whole house or bungalow: Detached 1,175 49.9%
Whole house or bungalow: Semi-detached 478 20.3%
Whole house or bungalow: Terraced (including end-terrace) 247 10.5%
Flat, maisonette or apartment: Purpose-built block of flats or tenement 346 14.7%
Flat, maisonette or apartment: Part of a converted or shared house (including bed-sits) 52 2.2%
Flat, maisonette or apartment: In a commercial building 33 1.4%
Caravan or other mobile or temporary structure 26 1.1%

Government data in terms of sales of homes from Autumn 2014 to 2015 showed Virginia Water to be the most expensive post town nationally (i.e. excluding any part of London). The recent averaged sold price for its homes was just over £1.1m.[15]

Transport

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Roads

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The M3 motorway is adjacent to Virginia Water.

Railways

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Virginia Water railway station runs frequent South Western Railway trains to London Waterloo, Weybridge, Twickenham, Richmond, Staines, Feltham, Clapham Junction, Vauxhall and Reading.

Education

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Christ Church Infant School was built by the National Society in 1843. In 2020, due to loss of intake, Surrey County Council earmarked the school for closure, with attendees planned to move to consolidated Englefield Green Infant School by 2023.[16][17]

St Ann's Heath Junior School is on Sandhills Lane. Trumps Green Infant School is on Crown Road.[18][19]

Notable people

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Main category: People from Virginia Water

References

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  1. ^ a b "Runnymede Ward population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Archived from the original on 20 March 2017. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  2. ^ "Virginia Water community website - your source for local information". Archived from the original on 29 December 2003. Retrieved 13 January 2004.
  3. ^ a b c "The History of Virginia Water". Wentworth Lifestyle. Retrieved 10 July 2025.
  4. ^ Fuentes, Nicholas (1983). "Boudicca Revisited". London Archaeologist. 4 (12): 311–317.
  5. ^ "Parishes: Egham British History Online". www.british-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 10 June 2025.
  6. ^ a b c d Historic England. "THE ROYAL ESTATE, WINDSOR: VIRGINIA WATER (INCLUDING FORT BELVEDERE AND THE CLOCKCASE), Grade I park and garden listing (1001177)". National Heritage List for England.
  7. ^ a b c d Atkins, David (2 August 2020). "Surrey's former asylums and mental hospitals and what they are now". SurreyLive. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  8. ^ Compton, Nick (5 April 2012). "Welcome to 'Fortress London'". Evening Standard. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  9. ^ Saltmarsh, Abigail (11 August 2009). "In England, a Victorian Town House". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  10. ^ Historic England. "Building at Virginia Park, former Sir T. Holloway Sanatorium (1189632)". National Heritage List for England.
  11. ^ Historic England. "Chapel at Virginia Park, former Sir T. Holloway Sanatorium (1119659)". National Heritage List for England.
  12. ^ a b c Anthony, Andrew (22 May 2022). "'The haves and have-yachts': on the trail of London's super-rich". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  13. ^ "Pinochet retreats to luxury estate". BBC News. 2 December 1998. Archived from the original on 16 July 2004. Retrieved 13 January 2004.
  14. ^ https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/query/asv2htm.aspx Key Statistic KS401EW - Dwellings, household spaces and accommodation type by postcode district
  15. ^ Olivia Blair (26 October 2015). "The UK's first 'million pound towns' outside of London". The Independent. Archived from the original on 20 August 2016. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  16. ^ "Virginia Water infant school to close as its no longer financially viable - Surrey Live". 11 November 2020. Archived from the original on 14 January 2021. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  17. ^ "School History – Christ Church Infant School". Archived from the original on 21 February 2020. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  18. ^ "St Ann's Heath Junior School". GOV.UK. Retrieved 11 July 2025.
  19. ^ "Trumps Green Infant School". GOV.UK. Retrieved 11 July 2025.
  20. ^ "Exclusive interview: Susie Amy on her starring role in Fatal Attraction". Great British Life. 16 March 2022. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  21. ^ "Oligarchs under EU and US sanctions linked to £200m in UK property". TheGuardian.com. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  22. ^ "Oligarchs under EU and US sanctions linked to £200m in UK property". The Guardian. 14 March 2022. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  23. ^ "The UK's kleptocracy problem: How servicing post-Soviet elites weakens the rule of law" (PDF). Russia and Eurasia Programme. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 January 2022. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  24. ^ Harris, Roy (21 February 1985). "Mizzled". London Review of Books. 07 (3). Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  25. ^ Historic England. "tomb of Ramón Cabrera, 1st Duke of Maestrazgo and of the Duchess (1028903)". National Heritage List for England.
  26. ^ "Gilbert Cannan : Biography". Archived from the original on 18 July 2012. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
  27. ^ "Deaths", The Times, 28 February 1942, p. 6
  28. ^ "Virginia Water: the village where houses cost £1m and up". The Week. Archived from the original on 12 May 2018. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  29. ^ "Joan Adeney Easdale". Helga Kaschl: Frauen in Virginia Woolfs Hogarth Press 1917-1941. Archived from the original on 25 June 2018. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  30. ^ "Obituary: Percy Fletcher". The Musical Times. 73 (1076): 944–944. 1932. ISSN 0027-4666.
  31. ^ James Wyatt (September 2023). "Virginia Water in the 1960s". Runnymede (North Edition). community-life.co.uk. p. 10-11.
  32. ^ "BRUCE FORSYTH ENTERPRISES LIMITED". Companies House. 4 April 2022.
  33. ^ "Sky Sports presenter Kirsty Gallacher from Virginia Water, Berkshire, admits to drink-driving on way to Windsor Castle". Slough & South Bucks Observer. 4 September 2017.
  34. ^ Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature. Merriam-Webster. 1995. ISBN 9780877790426.
  35. ^ "Frank Lampard wanted to be judged the same as any other manager at Chelsea – and now he has been". inews. 4 May 2022.
  36. ^ "Naseem Hamed: Prince returns to give the kiss of life". independent newspaper. 28 November 2010.
  37. ^ Nicholas Faith (12 November 2002). "Lord Haslam". Obituary. The Independent. Retrieved 2 February 2009.[dead link]
  38. ^ Geoffrey Goodman, Haslam, Robert , Baron Haslam (1923–2002), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Oxford University Press, Jan 2006; online edn, Jan 2009, accessed 5 Feb 2012
  39. ^ Obituary by Julian Chrysostomides, The Independent, 17 March 2006, accessed 31 May 2012
  40. ^ "The jet set enclave of Virginia Water". The Times. 14 October 2011.
  41. ^ "Gulnara Karimova: How Uzbek president's daughter built a £200m property empire". BBC News. 13 March 2023.
  42. ^ "sanctioned Russian oligarchs linked to £800m worth of UK property". BBC News. 16 April 2022. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
  43. ^ "How Red Bull's next British star earned a fast-track to F3". Autosport. 19 February 2024. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  44. ^ "BRUCE FORSYTH ENTERPRISES LIMITED". Companies House. 13 January 2023.
  45. ^ "Deaths". The Times. 15 April 1947. p. 1.
  46. ^ James Wyatt (September 2023). "Virginia Water in the 1960s". Runnymede (North Edition). community-life.co.uk. p. 10-11.
  47. ^ "From the archives: An obituary of Vaslav Nijinsky". The Guardian. 10 April 1950.
  48. ^ O'Grady, Paul (2008). At My Mother's Knee ... and Other Low Joints. London: Bantam Press. pp. 251–270. ISBN 978-0-593-05925-8.
  49. ^ "Inquest into the death of Alexander Perepilichny day 7" (PDF). judiciary.uk.
  50. ^ "UK mansion once occupied by Rama VII for sale". Bangkok Post. 29 July 2023.
  51. ^ "Sir Cliff Richard on why he'll always love Surrey, 50 years in show business and staying in shape". Great British Life. 4 April 2022.
  52. ^ "Sir Cliff Richard fails in conservatory appeal". Surrey Live. 4 April 2022.
  53. ^ "Ex-Chelsea striker Andriy Shevchenko says he'll take refugee children from Ukraine into his Surrey home". SurreyLive. 15 March 2022.
  54. ^ "An English Estate Asks $40 Million". Wall Street Journal. 29 November 2017. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  55. ^ "Fitness guru Joe Wicks 'blown away' after collecting MBE at Windsor Castle". The Independent. 4 April 2022.
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Media related to Virginia Water at Wikimedia Commons

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