Bracknell is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Bracknell Forest in Berkshire, England. It lies 18 kilometres (11 mi) to the south-east of Reading, 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) southwest of Windsor and 53 kilometres (33 mi) west of London. The town has a population of 50,131.
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.