OS grid reference SU532718 Region South East Sovereign state United Kingdom Metropolitan county Berkshire | Metropolitan borough West Berkshire Country England Post town THATCHAM Dialling code 01635 | |
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Marlston is a hamlet in the English county of Berkshire, within the civil parish of Bucklebury (where the 2011 Census population was included).
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Map of Marlston Hermitage, Thatcham, UK
The settlement lies south of the M4 motorway, and is located approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) north-east of Thatcham.
The place-name Marlston is first attested as Marteleston in 1242, and means "Martel's town or manor". Galfridus Martel held the manor in 1242; Martel is a French nickname meaning "hammer", from the Old French martel (modern French marteau).
The area is the location of Brockhurst and Marlston House School, a large preparatory school.
World War II Royal Air Force flying ace (immortalised in the book and film Reach for the Sky) Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader and his wife settled in the village after the war.
Brockhurst and Marlston House School
Brockhurst (boys) and Marlston House (girls) are independent and boarding twin schools, sharing the same estate. In 2012 they had 323 pupils from the ages three to thirteen.
Brockhurst was founded in 1884 as a boys’ boarding prep school at Church Stretton in Shropshire, then moved to Broughton near Eccleshall, Staffordshire in 1942 and Marlston in 1945, becoming co-educational in 1995. The various facilities provided by the school include 21 acres of games fields, a sports hall, a swimming pool, tennis courts, arts and design studios, Information and communications technology suite and equestrian school. In addition, a château in Gascony, south-west France, where the pupils practise French.
In 2009, Country Life magazine included Brockhurst and Marlston House School among the best countryside preparatory schools of Great Britain.
Its pupils, while the school was at Church Stretton, included politicians Rab Butler and Julian Critchley.