Camberley

Camberley is a town in Surrey, England, situated 30 miles (48 km) south west of central London, in the corridor between the M3 and M4 motorways. Its population in 2001 was 47,123. The town lies on the border of both Hampshire and Berkshire, and there is a large intersection on the western edge of the town where all three counties converge.

1 History
2 Town
3 Transport
4 Education
5 Area
6 Suburbs
7 Famous People Past and Present
8 See also
9 External links

[edit] History

A settlement which became known as Yorktown grew up around the gates of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in the 19th century. It grew in size with the arrival of the branch-line railway (the main-line passes through nearby Deepcut but there is no stop).

Later, the Staff College was established to the east of the Academy, and a property speculator built the nearby Cambridge Hotel. The surrounding area became known as Cambridge Town, but was renamed "Camberley" (by analogy with neighbouring Frimley) in 1877 to avoid confusion with the better-known Cambridge in Cambridgeshire. (An apocryphal derivation cites the "River Cam" and "Amber Hill", but no features with these names exist in the area.)

Camberley grew to become the largest town in the area, and Yorktown is now regarded as part of Camberley.

[edit] Town

Most of Camberley's town centre is host to the Main Square shopping centre, a late 80s redevelopment anchored by stores such as House of Fraser and Woolworths. The High Street has a number of high street shops as well as bars and clubs, many of the latter being more recent additions. There are a number of secondary shopping streets including Park Street, Princess Way and parts of London Road. The town has its own public library, theatre (The Arts Link) and is home to the Surrey Heath Council offices. The town's only cinema, owned by Robin's Cinemas, and situated on London Road some distance from the town centre, closed in 2003. The Arena, a sports/leisure centre and pool facility, is found nearby.

After much debate and delay (plans having been discussed for over half a decade), construction started in May 2006 on a new seven acre mixed-use development west of Park Street. Named 'The Atrium', the new development will include residential, leisure and retail facilities, as well as a 900 space car park. There will be 217 'design-led' apartments divided into three areas within the complex (named Centro, Aspect and Courtyard). Fourteen new retail units will face directly onto Park Street, opposite the Main Square shopping centre. The intention is to pedestrianise and landscape Park Street for the new development. Leisure facilities are to include a 9 screen cinema, bowling alley, a health and fitness club and cafés and restaurants. The first phase of The Atrium is due to be completed by December 2007

The town is administered by Surrey County Council and Surrey Heath Borough Council. The parliamentary constituency is Surrey Heath and the MP is Michael Gove, a Conservative.

The Old Dean is a council housing estate on the outskirts of Camberley, most of which was built in the 1950s on the "Old Dean Common" for residents of heavily bombed Surrey-areas homeless after World War II. Many of the roads on that half of the Old Dean are named after those areas (the others are named after places on the common). There is a recent development which has expanded the Old Dean and provides more affordable housing.

Camberley was mentioned in the black-and-white film Lord of the Flies, loosely based on the William Golding novel. In this, the character Piggy claims that Camberley was formerly known as Cambridgetown, but changed its name following confusion with the town of Cambridge. The new name consisted of three parts; "Cam" was taken from the original name of Cambridgetown, "ber" was taken from the name of a nearby river, and "ley" was added on because it is a common ending for English town names. While the derivation is factually incorrect, the renaming of the town from Cambridge Town took place in the late 19th century for this very reason.

Sun Microsystems have their UK headquarters in Camberley, just off the M3.

The town is also host to a lively punk scene, with regular shows put on by a webzine called the underdogzine, several bands from the area have become relitavly large, including Fandangle, who are soon to tour with Less Than Jake, as well as Majestics and the Hundred Reasons.

[edit] Transport

Camberley railway station is situated south of the town centre on the Ascot to Guildford line. It is connected to London Waterloo, Guildford and Ascot by South West Trains. Nearby Blackwater station (situated perpendicular to the A30 on the border of Hampshire, Surrey and Berkshire) on the North Downs Line has direct services to Reading, Gatwick Airport and, again, Guildford.

The town is served by the following bus routes:

First No.194
Arriva Nos. 35,34
Stagecoach Nos. 1,2,3
Dickinsons Travel Nos. 500,501

Camberley can be reached by the A30 and lies between Junction 3 and Junction 4 of the M3 motorway.

There are two small airports nearby Farnborough Airfield at Farnborough and Blackbushe Airport. Farnborough Airfield is well known for its International Air Show. Heathrow is only 30 km (19 miles) away.

[edit] Education

There are a number of schools in Camberley, the largest Collingwood College, famous for being one of the largest in Surrey with over 2,000 pupils. Kings International College (formly France hill school) is also situated in Camberley. Other schools include Tomlinscote School and sixth Form College, Ravenscote Junior School, Watchetts Junior School, Crawley Ridge Junior School, Bristow First Infants School, Cordwalles Junior School and The Grove Primary School. The nearest universities are Royal Holloway, University of London which is situated 18 km (11 miles) east of Camberley in Egham, with the University of Surrey (at Guildford) and the University of Reading both being 25 km (16 miles) to the southeast and northwest respectively.

[edit] Area

The smaller town of Frimley, being so close to Camberley, is often thought to be a part of the town by many visitors to the area, although the two are clearly separated by the M3 motorway. Frimley has its own town centre, a major regional hospital (Frimley Park) and extensive suburban areas. In the 19th century, Yorktown and Camberley were in the Ecclesiatical Parish of Frimley. The neighbouring town of Blackwater, 3 km (2 miles) to the west is also considered by some to be a suburb of Camberley, however, it is actually situated in the Hart District of Hampshire.

[edit] Suburbs

Crawley Hill, Heatherside, Yorktown, Old Dean, Frimley Road district

[edit] Famous People Past and Present

Bros, late-1980's boy band
Five Star, 1980's pop group
Sam Brown, 1990's pop singer
Mark Kobayashi-Hillary
Graham Wynne
Anthony Wall
Donna Williams (Neopets)
Rick Wakeman, solo artist and ex-keyboard player with progressive rock band Yes
Spice Girls (Heatherside)
Reuben (band)
Graham Parker pop singer

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Camberley On The Net — The OFFICIAL Camberley Guide
Camberley Business Directory — A directory of Camberley based businesses.
Surrey Heath Council — Camberley's Local Council

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Category: Towns in Surrey

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Camberley

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