Burnham | |
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St Peter's parish church |
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Burnham shown within Buckinghamshire | |
Area | 19.84 km2 (7.66 sq mi) |
Population | 11,630 (2011 census) |
• Density | 586/km2 (1,520/sq mi) |
OS grid reference | SU9282 |
Civil parish |
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District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | Slough |
Postcode district | SL1 |
Dialling code | 01628 |
Police | Thames Valley |
Fire | Buckinghamshire |
Ambulance | South Central |
EU Parliament | South East England |
UK Parliament | |
Burnham is a village and civil parish that lies north of the River Thames in the South Bucks District of Buckinghamshire, on the boundary with Berkshire, between the towns of Maidenhead and Slough. It is served by Burnham railway station in the west of Slough on the main line between London Paddington and Reading. The M4 motorway passes through the south of the parish.
The toponym is derived from the Old English for "homestead on a stream". It was first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Burneham, when the manor was held by Walter FitzOther.
Burnham was once a very important village. The road from London to Bath (now the A4) passed through the extensive parish of Burnham and as a result, in 1271, it received a Royal charter to hold a market and an annual fair. However, when the bridge crossing the Thames in Maidenhead opened the road was diverted away from Burnham, which fell into relative decay. The market was then transferred to Maidenhead.
Today the village is mostly contiguous with Slough and green-buffered within its own areas. At the 2011 census the civil parish had a population of 11,630 and Burnham is the traditional village nucleus.