Colnbrook One-Place Study

Colnbrook was a town on the King’s Highway at the Buckinghamshire – Middlesex border, appearing on the Gough Map of 1370. The larger Buckinghamshire part is in a detached part of Langley Marish and in Horton parishes. The existence of Colnbrook is solely due the highway and the traffic that bought custom. Equivalent to a service station or truck-stop where accommodation, meals and stabling can be bought by the traveller.

Colnbrook has been the back-drop to national events with Queen Elizabeth I staying a night when she was a prisoner. Also Charles I received a petition at Colnbrook after the battle of Edgehill in 1642. Being on the route between London and Windsor, both royalty and those seeking patronage would pass through the town.

Colnbrook’s decline started with the improvement of coaches, reducing the need for so many stops in the late 1700s. The coaching days finished with the coming of the Great Western Railway in 1839. Other employment became more important with the expansion of Poyle Mills, less than a mile to the east.