Holyport (pronounced ''Hollyport'') is a suburban village in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Bray Bray may refer to: Places France * Bray, Eure, in the Eure ''département'' * Bray, Saône-et-Loire, in the Saône-et-Loire ''département'' * Bray-Dunes, in the Nord ''département'' * Bray-en-Val, in the Loiret ''département'' * Bray-et-Lû ...

(where at the 2011 Census the population was included), about south of

Maidenhead Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England. It lies on the southwestern bank of the River Thames, which at this point forms the border with Buckinghamshire. In the 2021 Census, ...

town centre in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

county of

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

Etymology

The name 'Holyport' originates from

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

'' horig'' + ''

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

'' meaning 'muddy market-town', although a local

folk etymology Folk etymology – also known as (generative) popular etymology, analogical reformation, (morphological) reanalysis and etymological reinterpretation – is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a mo ...

holds that the village was a stopping-off point for

pilgrim The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as ...

s travelling from

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

St David's St Davids or St David's (, , "Saint David, David's Welsh toponymy, house”) is a St David's Cathedral, cathedral City status in the United Kingdom, city in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It lies on the River Alun, Pembrokeshire, River Alun and is ...

.Mills, A.D: ''A Dictionary of English Place-Names'', page 177. Oxford University Press, 1991. The first element had become 'Holy-' by the end of the 14th Century.

Amenities

The village has a butcher, a newsagent, a grocery, a small café and a hairdresser as well as the post office and a doctor's surgery. Holyport has four public houses - The George, The Belgian Arms, The White Hart and The Jolly Gardener. Also in the village are Holyport

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

Primary School A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

Holyport College Holyport College is a coeducational state boarding and day secondary school, located in Holyport, Berkshire, England. It opened in 2014 and caters for students aged 11–19 years. It is sponsored by Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Pub ...

and Holyport Cricket Club. An hourly bus service operated by

Courtney Coaches Thames Valley Buses Limited, trading as Thames Valley Buses, is a bus company based in Bracknell, England. It was known as Courtney Buses until 2021. Founded in 1973, the company operates a network of commercial and contracted local bus services ...

connects the village to

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places *Detroit–Windsor, Michigan-Ontario, USA-Canada, North America; a cross-border metropolitan region Australia New South Wales *Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area Queen ...

and

. Holyport has a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

on the edge of the village,

Bray Pit Bray Pit is a nature reserve on the edge of the village of Holyport in Berkshire, England. The nature reserve was under the management of the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust, but as of December 2019 is no longer listed o ...

. There is also a village hall, Holyport Memorial Hall, tennis court, children's playground and playing field, all of which are owned and managed by the Holyport Community Trust, a Charitable Incorporated Organisation.

Sport and leisure

The village's football team Holyport F.C. plays in the

Hellenic Football League The Hellenic Football League, currently known as the uhlsport Hellenic Football League for sponsorship reasons, is an English men's association football, football league covering an area including the English Counties of the United Kingdom, cou ...

. Its cricket club plays in the Chilterns Cricket League on Saturdays and in friendlies against local clubs on Sundays. Holyport has one of the world's few

real tennis Real tennis – one of several games sometimes called "the sport of kings" – is the original racquet sport from which the modern game of tennis (also called "lawn tennis") is derived. It is also known as court tennis in the United Sta ...

courts, at the

Royal County of Berkshire Real Tennis Club The Holyport Real Tennis Club, formerly the Royal County of Berkshire Real Tennis Club, operates the real tennis court at Holyport, Berkshire, England. The court was built in 1889 by Sam Heilbut as part of his ''Holyport'' estate and is a Grad ...

, built in 1889. The Holyport Village Fair is held on the village green on the first Saturday in June every year. The fair was established to raise funds to build the Memorial Hall and held at Foxley Manor on 21st July 1945. It draws large crowds from the surrounding area and it is understood 2020-21 are the only two years since the fair's inception that it did not take place - due to Covid.

Notable residents

Holyport was the final residence of veteran

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

TV presenter

Frank Bough Francis Joseph Bough (; 15 January 1933 – 21 October 2020) was an English television presenter. He was best known as the host of BBC sports and current affairs shows including '' Grandstand'', '' Nationwide'' and '' Breakfast Time'', which he l ...

until his death in 2020.

Stirling Moss Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss (17 September 1929 – 12 April 2020) was a British racing driver and sports broadcasting, broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from to . Widely regarded as one of the greatest drivers to never win the Formula On ...

, the racing driver, lived in the village, and was a member of the Bray and Holyport

Scout Group A Scout group is a local organization used in some Scout organizations that groups a Scout troop or unit with other age programs, separate gender-based Scout troops and/or multiple Scout troops. A Scout group that groups Scouts with programs fo ...

In popular culture

Monty Python Monty Python, also known as the Pythons, were a British comedy troupe formed in 1969 consisting of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. The group came to prominence for the sketch comedy ser ...

filmed a

Maypole A maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various European List of folk festivals, folk festivals, around which a maypole dance often takes place. The festivals may occur on May Day, 1 May or Pentecost (Whitsun), although in some co ...

dance-related sketch on the green, the film ''

Happy is the Bride ''Happy Is the Bride'' is a 1958 black and white British comedy film written and directed by Roy Boulting and starring Ian Carmichael, Janette Scott, Cecil Parker, Terry-Thomas and Joyce Grenfell. It is based on the 1938 play '' Quiet Wedding'' ...

'' was shot here and in

, and

Joan Collins Dame Joan Henrietta Collins (born 23 May 1933) is an English actress, author and columnist. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Awards, a People's Choice Award, two Soap Opera Digest Awards and a Primetime Emm ...

filmed an advertisement in Holyport. The movie ''

One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing ''One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing'' is a 1975 comedy film set in the early 1920s, about the theft of a dinosaur skeleton from the Natural History Museum. The film was produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Buena Vista Distributi ...

'' was partly filmed in Holyport. A scene from the 1995

Mr. Bean ''Mr. Bean'' is a British sitcom created by Rowan Atkinson and Richard Curtis, produced by Tiger Aspect Productions and starring Atkinson as the title character. The sitcom consists of 15 episodes that were co-written by Atkinson alongside ...

episode, entitled 'Tee off Mr. Bean', was filmed on Holyport Green.

References

{{authority control Villages in Berkshire Bray, Berkshire