Sunninghill

About

Sunninghill means 'the home of Sunna’s people'.  Most of the development around the large country houses of the 18th century was accelerated by the discovery of health-giving salt springs and rapidly increased with the advent of the railway in 1841.

Today Sunninghill is a favoured residential district in an area noted for its natural beauty.  Many of the larger houses have now been demolished although there are some historic smaller homes in the parish, notably the farmhouse at Silwood Park and the Cedars close to Sunninghill Church where Sir Walter Scott wrote his poem 'Marmion'.

The Parish Church is on a slight hill to the north of the London Road and is dedicated to St Michael and All Angels.  The Georgian Gothic exterior hides what remains of the original late-Norman church given to the nuns of Bromhall in Windsor Forest by King John in 1200.

The three bells in the rather unusual embattled tower are dated 1662, 1705 and 1867.  The south chapel was erected in memory of Thomas Holloway, the founder of Royal Holloway, University of London, whose family tomb can be seen in the churchyard.