Burnham was once a very important village. The Great West Road from London to Bath passed through the extensive parish of Burnham and as a result, in 1271, a Royal charter was granted to hold a market and an annual fair. However, when the first Maidenhead Bridge crossing the Thames opened c.1280, the road was diverted to the south of Burnham (the route of the modern A4), and Burnham fell into relative decline. The market was then transferred to Maidenhead.
Today the village is nearly contiguous with west Slough, though green-buffered by parkland. At the 2011 census the civil parish had a population of 11,630 and Burnham is the traditional village nucleus.[1]
The parish of Burnham included a number of communities: in the 18th century the liberties assessed for the poor rate were Burnham Town, East Burnham, Boveney, Britwell, Cippenham and Wood.[4] Boveney became a separate civil parish in 1866[5] Cippenham was transferred to Slough in 1930,[6] and therefore became part of Berkshire in 1974. Britwell was transferred to the borough of Slough and to Berkshire in 1974.
The current civil parish now includes Lent Rise, Rose Hill, East Burnham, Hitcham, Littleworth and Littleworth Common.
The village has a traditional High Street, with many buildings dating from the 18th and 19th century. There are two small supermarkets
and five pubs on or near the High Street,[7] and many small independent cafes and shops. At the south end of the High Street is a large park, which contains the community centre of Burnham Park Hall and a small public library.
Burnham Beeches National Nature Reserve, an area of 540 acres (220 ha) of protected ancient woodland, lies just north of the village. Owing to its proximity to Pinewood Film & TV Studios, Burnham and its surrounding areas (in particular Burnham Beeches) feature in films, notably main scenes in Carry On films and for the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
The major National Trust estate of Cliveden is about three miles northwest, in the neighbouring parish of Taplow. Dorneywood, currently the country home of the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, is in Burnham parish.
The River Thames is about two miles south and west of the village centre. The major rowing venue of Dorney Lake is nearby. There are three golf courses (Huntswood, Lambourne, Burnham Beeches) to the north and west of the village.
^Warminster, Phil; Wiltshire, Devises. "Old English Translator - Contact me". Old English Translator. lue Engine Web Development 2008-2017. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
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'Parishes: Burnham with Lower Boveney', in A History of the County of Buckingham: Volume 3, ed. William Page (London, 1925), pp. 165-184. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/bucks/vol3/pp165-184 [accessed 23 April 2016]
^GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, Boveney Ch/ParLib/CP through time | Census tables with data for the Parish-level Unit, A Vision of Britain through Time. URL: http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10093508 Date accessed: 23 April 2016.
