# Britwell > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Britwell > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Britwell.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britwell > Source revision: 1312252827 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Housing estate in Slough, Berkshire, England Human settlement in England Britwell Wentworth Avenue, Britwell Britwell Location within Berkshire Population 5,989 (2001) OS grid reference SU955825 Civil parish Britwell Unitary authority Slough Ceremonial county Berkshire Region South East Country England Sovereign state United Kingdom Post town Slough Postcode district SL2 Dialling code 01753 Police Thames Valley Fire Royal Berkshire Ambulance South Central UK Parliament Slough List of places UK England Berkshire 51°32′01″N 0°37′26″W / 51.5337°N 0.6238°W / 51.5337; -0.6238 **Britwell** is a residential [housing estate](/source/Housing_estate) and [civil parish](/source/Civil_parish) in the north west of [Slough](/source/Slough), [Berkshire](/source/Berkshire), [South East England](/source/South_East_England). It is about 23 miles (37 km) west of Charing Cross, the centremost point of [London](/source/London). The name Britwell derives from the old English *beorhtan wiellan* meaning 'bright, clear well'. ## History Shops and flats at the run-down heart of the Britwell estate in 2006. The buildings have since been demolished and replaced by low-rise housing. The place now known as the Britwell Estate was originally farm land. Modern-day Britwell, which has the well-defined geographic boundaries of Farnham Lane (in the north), Lower Britwell Road and Haymill Road (to the west), Whittaker Road and Northborough Road (south) and Long Readings Lane (east), was created as a large [overspill](/source/Overspill_estate) housing estate for [bombed-out Londoners](/source/London_overspill)[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] at the end of the [Second World War](/source/World_War_II). Britwell was one of a number of [London County Council](/source/London_County_Council) estates built at the time, with other estates in places including [Langley](/source/Langley%2C_Slough) and [Swindon](/source/Swindon). The first of 11,000 tenants arrived in August 1956 and were delighted with the "roomy and modern" houses, complete with large swivel windows – "a boon to housewives".[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] There was a dearth of amenities at first, but after the founding of the community association in 1959, the estate finally got a bus service into Slough, and a community centre in 1966. When the Britwell Estate was created, its postal address was [Farnham Royal](/source/Farnham_Royal), near Slough. The local authority at the time was [Eton Rural District Council](/source/Eton_Rural_District) in the county of [Buckinghamshire](/source/Buckinghamshire). In 1965, the London County Council was one of a number of authorities replaced by the [Greater London Council](/source/Greater_London_Council) (GLC). When the GLC was in turn abolished in 1986, the social housing on Britwell was transferred to Slough Borough Council. Mortgages issued by the GLC authority were transferred to the [Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames](/source/Royal_Borough_of_Kingston_upon_Thames). ## Government Following the [Local Government Act 1972](/source/Local_Government_Act_1972), Britwell was [transferred to Berkshire](/source/List_of_Buckinghamshire_boundary_changes), to form part of the borough of Slough. A [civil parish](/source/Civil_parishes_in_England) was established at that point for the part of the estate that had previously lain in the [Burnham](/source/Burnham%2C_Buckinghamshire) civil parish. The current [Parish Council](/source/Parish_councils_in_England) had 13 parish councillors and covers approximately 60% of the Britwell Estate. The Britwell Electoral [ward](/source/Ward_(politics)) included the parish area and extends westwards to the Five Points crossroads in Burnham. It has three borough councillors. The southern part of Long Readings Lane and the south side of Cowper Road became part of the Britwell ward for the first time in 2004 following a Boundary Commission review. The Parish Council have provided premises for use as a Neighbourhood Police Office within their parish ground; this is well used by the local beat team, PCSOs and community wardens. In 2018 the parish, and neighbouring [Wexham Court](/source/Wexham_Court), were scheduled for abolition in April 2019, but after an appeal by the parish councils and a judicial review the order was quashed and the parishes remain unchanged.[1][2] ## Geography Britwell has two [Local nature reserves](/source/Local_nature_reserve), the first is on the South Western border of the village called [Haymill Valley](/source/Haymill_Valley), and the other is on the northern border called [Cocksherd Wood](/source/Cocksherd_Wood).[3][4] ## In the media Britwell's row of shops featured as a backdrop in the [dystopia](/source/Dystopia) themed movie *[V for Vendetta](/source/V_for_Vendetta_(film))*.[5] Britwell has also featured in the ITV drama *[Torn](/source/Torn_(TV_series))*. The shops also represented 1970s [Belfast](/source/Belfast) in the film *[Titanic Town](/source/Titanic_Town_(film))* starring [Julie Walters](/source/Julie_Walters).[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] ## External links - [Britwell Parish Council](http://britwell-pc.org.uk/) - [St George's Church](http://www.stgeorgesbritwell.org/) - [Lynch Hill School Primary Academy](http://www.lhsprimaryacademy.org.uk/) ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["The Slough Borough Council (Reorganisation of Community Governance) Order 2019"](https://web.archive.org/web/20210624202636/http://s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/lgbce/Reviews/South%20East/Berkshire/West%20Berkshire/CGR/SloughCC-SloughCGR-2019-01-21.pdf) (PDF). [Local Government Boundary Commission for England](/source/Local_Government_Boundary_Commission_for_England). Archived from [the original](http://s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/lgbce/Reviews/South%20East/Berkshire/West%20Berkshire/CGR/SloughCC-SloughCGR-2019-01-21.pdf) (PDF) on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 13 May 2019. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Community Governance Review 2018, Judicial review"](https://www.slough.gov.uk/consultations-petitions/community-governance-review-2018/5?documentId=611&categoryId=20150). Slough Borough Council. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["Magic Map Application - Haymill Valley"](http://magic.defra.gov.uk/MagicMap.aspx?startTopic=Designations&activelayer=lnrIndex&query=REF_CODE%3D%271008944%27). Magic.defra.gov.uk. Retrieved 16 April 2017. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["Magic Map Application - Cocksherd Wood"](http://magic.defra.gov.uk/MagicMap.aspx?startTopic=Designations&activelayer=lnrIndex&query=REF_CODE%3D%271009271%27). Magic.defra.gov.uk. Retrieved 28 April 2017. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["Slough on Screen"](http://www.sloughhistoryonline.org.uk/ixbin/hixclient.exe?a=query&p=slough&f=generic_theme.htm&_IXFIRST_=1&_IXMAXHITS_=1&%3Dtheme_record_id=sl-sl-screen). Sloughhistoryonline.org.uk. Retrieved 16 April 2017. v t e Suburbs and areas of Slough Within the borough Britwell Chalvey Cippenham Colnbrook Ditton Huntercombe Langley Poyle Salt Hill Upton Wexham Court Windsor Meadows Outside the borough Burnham Wexham --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Britwell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britwell) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britwell?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.