Bisley, Surrey
Encyclopedia
Bisley is a large village in Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, which is notable for rifle
Rifle
A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...

 shooting. Bisley's immediate neighbours are West End, Chobham
Chobham, Surrey
Chobham is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Surrey Heath in Surrey, England, about 15 minutes drive from the London railway line stations at Woking to the south and Sunningdale to the north...

 and Knaphill
Knaphill
Knaphill is an urban village in Surrey, UK. To the east is Woking, to the west, eventually, is Aldershot, while to the south and north on the A322 – which forms its effective western border – are Brookwood, and Bisley, respectively. Some of the village is set on a hill, hence the...

.

History

The name 'Bisley' was first recorded in the 10th century as 'Busseleghe'. It is derived from the old English words 'Bysc', meaning bush
Shrub
A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

es, and 'Leah', a clearing
Clearing
Clearing may refer to:* Glade , a tract of land with few or no trees in the middle of a wooded area* Deforestation, the clearing away of trees to make farmland* Clearing , the process of settling a transaction after committing to it...

. Therefore, it means the 'clearing where bushes grow'.

In medieval times, the village lay on the edge of the Chertsey Abbey
Chertsey Abbey
Chertsey Abbey, dedicated to St Peter, was a Benedictine monastery located at Chertsey in the English county of Surrey.It was founded by Saint Erkenwald, later Bishop of London, in 666 AD and he became the first abbot. In the 9th century it was sacked by the Danes and refounded from Abingdon Abbey...

 estate. The 13th century church, St John the Baptist, was donated to the village by the Abbey monks over 600 years ago. The church features a medieval bell and a 15th century porch which is said to have been built from a single oak tree. A nearby spring was once known as the 'Holy Well of St John the Baptist', and was said to have medicinal powers. Its waters were used for local baptism
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...

s until the early 20th century.

Actor Barry Evans attended Bisley boys' school which was an orphanage
Orphanage
An orphanage is a residential institution devoted to the care of orphans – children whose parents are deceased or otherwise unable or unwilling to care for them...

 run by The Shaftesbury Homes.

Current

Bisley is also home to Bisley C of E Primary School. This school is situated in the centre of the village and its logo is a frog. It was described as delivering a satisfactory education to students in its recent Ofsted
Ofsted
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills is the non-ministerial government department of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools In England ....

 report.

On Queen's Road, near Snowdrop Way, you will find the largest manufacturer of office furniture in the U.K. and one of the largest in the European Union, Bisley Office Furniture. Founded in 1931 by Freddy Brown, a tradesman sheet metal worker, who started his one man business repairing damaged cars in a garage in St Johns, Woking, Surrey. In 1941 the company moved to its present site in Bisley, Surrey when a 400 square metre manufacturing facility was built and various wartime defence contracts were undertaken. It was responsible for designing and manufacturing the first containers to be dropped by parachute, which were widely used by airborne forces throughout the war. Today, it is a leading manufacturer of filing cabinets, which are renowned worldwide.

Coldingley Prison
Coldingley (HM Prison)
HM Prison Coldingley is a Category C men's prison, located in the village of Bisley, in Surrey, England. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service.-History:In 1991 Coldingley was hailed as a flagship prison in England...

 - a Category C
Prison security categories in the United Kingdom
There are four prisoner security categories in the United Kingdom used to classify every adult prisoner for the purposes of assigning them to a prison. The categories are based upon the severity of the crime and the risk posed should the person escape....

 prison - is also situated in Bisley, and a number of the local estates were originally built to house prison officers.

Bisley is now a thriving village and house prices are high. This includes on the Flowers Estate development (the road names are flower names, with one for each letter of the alphabet) which benefits from a very big playing field.

Rifle range

In 1890, the village became the location for the UK's National Rifle Association Championships which moved there from Wimbledon
Wimbledon, London
Wimbledon is a district in the south west area of London, England, located south of Wandsworth, and east of Kingston upon Thames. It is situated within Greater London. It is home to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and New Wimbledon Theatre, and contains Wimbledon Common, one of the largest areas...

. The competition is hosted by the NRA on its Bisley ranges - land owned by the Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....

. Bisley hosted most of the shooting events in the 1908 Olympic Games
Shooting at the 1908 Summer Olympics
Shooting at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London saw fifteen shooting events. Most of the events were held at Bisley, Surrey while the trap shooting events were held at Uxendon.-Medal summary:-Medal table:-References:...

, and all the shooting for the 2002 Commonwealth Games
Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 and takes place every four years....

. During the 2012 Olympic Games the shooting
Shooting at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Shooting competitions at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London are scheduled to be held from 28 July to 5 August at the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich. Fifteen events are expected to be included with 390 athletes expected to take part...

 will be held at the Royal Artillery Barracks
Royal Artillery Barracks
The Royal Artillery Barracks at Woolwich in South East London is the "home" of the Royal Artillery. It is famous for having the longest continuous building facade in the UK as well as for having the largest parade square of any UK barracks.-History:...

, Woolwich
Woolwich
Woolwich is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.Woolwich formed part of Kent until 1889 when the County of London was created...

.

Colt
Colt's Manufacturing Company
Colt's Manufacturing Company is a United States firearms manufacturer, whose first predecessor corporation was founded in 1836 by Sam Colt. Colt is best known for the engineering, production, and marketing of firearms over the later half of the 19th and the 20th century...

, the US firearm
Firearm
A firearm is a weapon that launches one, or many, projectile at high velocity through confined burning of a propellant. This subsonic burning process is technically known as deflagration, as opposed to supersonic combustion known as a detonation. In older firearms, the propellant was typically...

s manufacturer, sold since 1894 the Bisley Model equipped with English styled target grips and shot low pressure ammunition.

It is also the location of The Operational Shooting Competition
Army Operational Shooting Competition
The Army Operational Shooting Competition , is the British Army's premier shooting competition. Part of the Central Skill at Arms Meeting , it is based at the headquarters of the National Rifle Association at Bisley Camp, in Brookwood, Surrey...

, in which members of the British army compete for the coveted Queen’s Medal for Shooting Excellence
Queen’s Medal for Shooting Excellence
Her Majesty The Queen’s Medal for Shooting Excellence also referred to as The Queen's Medal for Champion Shot, is a British military decoration awarded to the champion of the Operational Shooting Competition and the Joint Service Central Skill-At-Arms Meeting...

.

Sport

Bisley is home to Bisley All Stars FC, who are currently a Sunday League club playing in the Surrey & Hants Border League Division 4. They play their home matches at Bisley Recreation Ground

At the Lord Roberts Centre (upstairs) is a purpose built Inline Inline Hockey
Inline hockey in the UK
Inline hockey and skater hockey are team sports, similar to ice hockey. In the UK, there are two main associations that govern inline hockey. The British Inline Puck Hockey Association govern the sport with rules using a Puck...

Rink which is used for league and national events by BiSHA and BiPHA.

Further reading

  • Rosemary F. Cooper St. John the Baptist Church, Bisley: A Guide and Short History

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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