History of the Village of Binfield
in the Royal County of Berkshire
by David Nash Ford
B I N F I E L D
Berkshire
The name derives from
"Bent Grass Field". The local hundred
of Beynhurst has a similar derivation.
Billingbear is the north-western portion of
Binfield parish.
The Luck of Binfield
hangs in Binfield Place, a mostly Jacobean Manor
(partly Henry VII) with a missing wing. It is a
17th century bas-relief of a lady's head, said to
pour misfortune upon any owner who removes it. Binfield Manor was built in 1754, by
William Pitt the Elder (later Earl of Chatham),
at a cost of £36,000. He became Prime Minister
of Great Britain two years later, but still spent
much of his time in Binfield. John Constable (the
artist) stayed here on his honeymoon in 1816 and
twice sketched the church.
All Saints Church is mostly
mid-nineteenth century, but has some ancient
fittings. Of particular note is the 17th century
hourglass and elaborate iron stand. It features
the arms of the Farriers' Company of London. The
famous writer, Alexander Pope, lived at Pope's
Manor in Popeswood and sang in the church choir
as a boy in the early 1700s.
 The Stag and Hounds is the village's
most historic inn: part of it is 14th century. It
was a Royal hunting lodge used by Henry VIII and
Elizabeth I. The latter used to sit in her window
and watch the Maypole dancing on the green
outside. Being at the centre of Windsor Forest,
the inn may originally have been the headquarters
of the Royal gamekeepers. It is, in fact, said to
be at the exact centre of the old forest,
as marked by the eight hundred year old Centre
Elm which stands outside. The sad hollow
trunk is all that remains of this once great tree
- it was ravaged by Dutch Elm Disease in the 70s
- but you can still see where the forest poachers
are said to have cheekily hidden in times gone
by. It is also said to have been a refuge for
some of Cromwell's men during the Civil War. The
lodge became a coaching inn in 1727. The 18th
century travel writer, William Cobbett, once
stayed there and wrote that it was "a very
nice country inn". He called nearby
Bracknell a "bleak and desolate" place.
See also Binfield Hamlets.
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