Bray, Berkshire
Template:Short description {{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}} Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox UK place
Bray, occasionally Bray on Thames, is a village and civil parish in the Windsor and Maidenhead district, in the ceremonial county of Berkshire. It sits on the banks of the River Thames, to the southeast of Maidenhead with which it is contiguous. The village is mentioned in the comedic song "The Vicar of Bray". Bray contains two of the nine three-Michelin-starred restaurants in the United Kingdom and has several large business premises including Bray Studios at Water Oakley, where the first series of Hammer Horror films were produced.
Geography
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The civil parish of Bray is far larger than the village itself and includes a number of other villages and hamlets over an area of Template:Convert. It had a population of 8,425 at the 2001 census,<ref>Office for National Statistics : Census 2001 : Parish Headcounts : Windsor and Maidenhead" Template:Webarchive Retrieved 3 November 2010</ref> increasing to 9,110 at the 2011 census.<ref name=ONS/> Bray is a large parish, although its area has shrunk considerably since Maidenhead was detached. As well as the village, the parish contains a large number of villages and hamlets, which were originally scattered amongst the remains of the dense woodland of Windsor Forest that once covered the area. These include: Braywick, Holyport, Water Oakley, Oakley Green, Moneyrow Green, Stud Green, Foxley Green, Touchen End, Braywoodside and Fifield.
Exclusive houses on the river between Bray and Maidenhead Bridge have been referred to as Berkshire's 'Millionaires' row' in the national press.Template:Citation needed The flood risk of these houses has been decreased by the Jubilee River, a large drainage ditch dug between north Maidenhead and Datchet. Monkey Island, in the Thames, is associated with the 3rd Duke of Marlborough, and houses two structures that he built and furnished with paintings of monkeys, and the Grade I listed building, Monkey Island Hotel.<ref>Monkey Island Hotel Template:NHLE</ref> The ecclesiastical parish shares the wide parish boundaries and is named Bray St Michael with Braywoodside.<ref>The Church of England "A Church Near You".</ref>
History
The first documented mention of Bray was as Brai in the Domesday Book of 1086.
Governance
Since the redistribution of parliamentary boundaries, which took effect at the 2010 general election, Bray has been in Maidenhead. In terms of local government, it is in the Bray electoral ward of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.
Amenities
Restaurants
Bray contains two of the eight three-Michelin-starred restaurants in the United Kingdom:<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Fat Duck is a restaurant run by chef Heston Blumenthal in the centre of Bray. The restaurant opened in 1995,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and has held a three-star Michelin Guide rating since 2004. In 2005, it was named the best restaurant in the world by Restaurant magazine<ref name="toronto">Kates, Joanne, The Globe and Mail (11 February 2006). The mad, magic chemistry of England's Fat Duck</ref> and in 2008, 2009 and 2010, Best Restaurant in the UK,<ref name="BBC">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> scoring a maximum 10 out of 10 in the Good Food Guide. The Waterside Inn was founded in 1972 by the brothers Michel and Albert Roux after their success with Le Gavroche. It is currently run by Michel's son, Alain and Frederic Poulette. The restaurant has three Michelin stars and in 2010 became the second restaurant outside France to retain all three stars for 25 years.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Transport
Bray sits on the banks of the River Thames, Template:Convert south of Maidenhead town centre and Template:Convert northwest of Windsor. The B3028 road runs through the centre of Bray, and the A308 Maidenhead to Windsor road runs between Bray and the adjoining village of Holyport. The M4 motorway junction 8/9 is approximately Template:Convert from Bray, and Maidenhead railway station is Template:Convert away in Maidenhead town centre.
Notable buildings
Parish church
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} The Church of England parish church of St Michael was built in 1293, supposedly to replace a Saxon church at Water Oakley.<ref name="England1849">Template:Cite book</ref> It has a number of sculptures which may have come from the earlier church, including a damaged Sheela na Gig. It is best known to brass rubbers for housing the superb memorial brass of 1378 to Sir John Foxley, the Constable of Southampton Castle, and his two wives. One of the local cottages has a tunnel which it is believed leads to the church and served as an escape route for clergymen. The current Vicar of Bray is the Reverend Ainsley Swift.
Almshouses
The Jesus Hospital is a red-brick group of almhouses, founded in 1609 by William Goddard to house thirty-four of the aged poor of Bray and six of the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers, to which he belonged. A full-size effigy of Goddard stands over the entrance.<ref name="Ben-Amos2008">Template:Cite book</ref> Jesus Hospital is now run by The Donnington Hospital Trust having been transferred from The Fishmongers Company in 2010.
Notable people
- Sylvia Anderson (1927–2016) – Co-creator of the Thunderbirds puppet series and voice of Lady Penelope
- Ian Bairnson (1953–2023) – Scottish musician
- Heston Blumenthal (born 1966) – The TV chef runs The Fat Duck<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref> and The Hinds Head Hotel restaurants in Bray
- Rolf Harris (1930–2023) – Australian artist, musician, TV presenter<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Carol Kirkwood (born 1962) – BBC weather presenter lives here
- George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven (1892–1938) – buried in Bray Cemetery
- Michael Parkinson (1935–2023) – journalist and TV presenter
- Laurie Holloway (1938-2025) – pianist and composer
- Tony Prince (born 1944) – disc jockey
- Regenbald - Chancellor of King Edward the Confessor and King William the Conqueror, was vicar of Bray<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- Frank Schuster, music patron and friend of Elgar, at 'The Hut'<ref>Emma Midgley, 'The composer Elgar was a regular visitor to Berkshire', BBC Berkshire, 22 January, 2010</ref>
Literature
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} The village features as the home of the eponymous "The Vicar of Bray" in a satirical 18th-century song of that name. The titular character frequently changed his religious principles in order to remain in office throughout various reforming upheavals in the English church. The story was turned into an opera in 1882 and a film in 1937.
Edward Lear makes reference to Bray in More Nonsense Pictures, Rhymes, Botany, etc:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
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"There was an old person of Bray,
Who sang through the whole of the day
To his ducks and his pigs,
Whom he fed upon figs,
That valuable person of Bray."{{#if:|
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