Lightwater is a village in the

Surrey Heath Surrey Heath is a local government district with borough status in Surrey, England. Its council is based in Camberley. Much of the area is within the Metropolitan Green Belt. History The district was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Loc ...

district of Surrey, England, about southwest of central London. Immediately surrounding towns and villages include

Bagshot Bagshot is a town in the Surrey Heath borough of Surrey, England, approximately southwest of central London. In the past, Bagshot served as an important staging post between London, Southampton Southampton () is a port City status in th ...

Deepcut Deepcut is a village in the Borough of Surrey Heath in Surrey, England, approximately southwest of central London. The nearest towns are Camberley, Surrey ( to the north) and Farnborough, Hampshire (3 mi to the west). Deepcut is named ...

Windlesham Windlesham is a village in the Surrey Heath borough of Surrey, England, approximately south west of central London. Its name derives from the Windle Brook, which runs south of the village into Chobham, and the common suffix 'ham', the Old Engli ...

Camberley Camberley is a town in the Borough of Surrey Heath in Surrey, England, approximately south-west of Central London. The town is in the far west of the county, close to the borders of Hampshire and Berkshire. Once part of Windsor Forest, Cam ...

, and

West End, Woking West End is a village and civil parish in Surrey Heath, Surrey, England, approximately southwest of central London. It is midway between the towns of Camberley and Woking, to the west and east respectively. The River Bourne rises from its s ...

. It is bounded to the north-west by the M3 motorway and to the north-east by the "Lightwater Bypass" (A322). To the south-east it is bounded by the "Red Road" (B311), while to the south-west there are vehicle-testing tracks owned by the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in state ...

. The village is adjacent to junction 3 of the M3 motorway. The nearest railway station is at

, on the line between Ascot and

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alde ...

. Lightwater is part of the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

, which has a population of 17,000 and also includes the neighbouring village of

History

Development

Prior to development, the natural vegetation was part of the Surrey

heathland A heath () is a shrubland habitat (ecology), habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great B ...

as seen in Bagshot and

Chobham Common Chobham Common is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of Chobham in Surrey. It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I and a national nature reserve. It is part of the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area an ...

. The region has been inhabited since pre-historic times with

tumuli A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or '' kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones b ...

in the heathland to the south of the village. In modern times, Lightwater grew as a place with holiday homes in a

chalet A chalet (pronounced in British English; in American English usually ), also called Swiss chalet, is a type of building or house, typical of the Alpine region in Europe. It is made of wood, with a heavy, gently sloping roof and wide, well-supp ...

style for people living in London. Since 1960 it has grown rapidly, with housing estates proliferating in the area just north of Red Road and the military ranges around Greyspot.

Facilities

The town has full medical facilities and veterinary surgery, a

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...

pubs A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

, a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

, a range of shops and a petrol station.

Transport

Despite Lightwater being larger in size, the nearest railway station is at

. This reflects the fact that Bagshot used to be a more important town as a

staging post A stage station or relay station, also known as a staging post, a posting station, or a stage stop, is a place where exhausted horses could be replaced by fresh animals, since a long journey was much faster without delays when horses needed rest ...

on journeys from London to

Southampton Southampton () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire, S ...

and the

West Country The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Glouce ...

. Lightwater has grown in size as a dormitory settlement in recent times. In the adjacent 1890s map of the area, Bagshot is a notable town while Lightwater is noted as just a farm.

Lightwater Country Park

Lightwater has its own country park, with some of

, complete with "nature trail", together with a

leisure centre A leisure centre in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia (also called aquatic centres), Singapore and Canada is a purpose-built building or site, usually owned and operated by the city, borough council or municipal district council, where peopl ...

and visitors centre. The park has a view point, called High Curley, which gives views of about 250 degrees. From this point

Bracknell Bracknell () is a large town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, the westernmost area within the Greater London Urban Area and the administrative centre of the Borough of Bracknell Forest. It lies to the east of Reading, south of Maidenhe ...

Ascot Racecourse Ascot Racecourse ("ascot" pronounced , often pronounced ) is a dual-purpose British racecourse, located in Ascot, Berkshire, England, which is used for thoroughbred horse racing. It hosts 13 of Britain's 36 annual Flat Group 1 horse races a ...

, the London skyline and

Bagshot Park Bagshot Park is a royal residence located near Bagshot, a village south of Windsor. It is on Bagshot Heath, a tract of formerly open land in Surrey and Berkshire. Bagshot Park occupies within the designated area of Windsor Great Park. Th ...

can be seen to the west of the M3.

Sport

The local senior rugby club is Lightwater Rugby Club. The largest local junior badminton club, Swifts, is accredited as a Badminton England ''Premier Club'' and is based at Lightwater Leisure Centre.

References

External links

Lightwater website

{{authority control Villages in Surrey Surrey Heath