The name Bracknell is first recorded in a Winkfield Boundary Charter of AD
942 as Braccan heal, and may
mean "Nook of land belonging to a man called Bracca", from the Old
English Braccan (genitive
singular of a personal name) + heal,
healh (a corner, nook or secret place). An early form of the town's
name, Brakenhale, still
survives as the name of one of its schools. The town covers all of the old
village of Easthampstead
