EXTRACT FROM BERKSHIRE HISTORY

From the late 13th century, the parish contained two manors since the lands of the lord of the manor, William Banister, became divided between his two daughters. Constance took East Court, near the church, of which only a 17th century wall remains, and Agatha had West Court. East Court later passed into the hands of the Foxleys of Foxley Manor (Touchen End) and Bramshill Castle (Hampshire). They were bigwigs at the Royal Court in Windsor and have fine brass memorials in the Church at Bray. Their descendants sold up to the Pakenhams and it was probably Sir Edmund Pakenham's two daughters, Constance and Elizabeth, who are the subject of an old story about East Court. It is said that King Henry VIII was a frequent visitor to the manor since he had amorous designs on a daughter of the house. Her elder sister, however, was madly in love with the King herself and, in a fit of jealous rage, threw herself off the balcony in front of him in order to prevent her rival becoming Queen of England.

Today the most famous feature of the Ridges is the Wellingtonia Avenue, leading to Wellington College in Crowthorne. The superb double row of Wellingtonia trees was planted by John Walter (of Bearwood & The Times) as a monument to the 1st Duke of Wellington in 1869.

Extract from SEBA – branch of the National Trust

In 1911 the Bearwood Estate was put up for sale. Not national news perhaps but locally cataclysmic. This vast estate built up over the previous hundred years by the Walter family, for generations proprietors of The Times newspaper, covered an area stretching from Reading to Yateley. A sale map covering some "outlying parts" of the property covers most of Finchampstead from the junction of Finchampstead Road and Sandhurst Road down to the outskirts of Yateley and from The Railway line to west of the Village. This did, of course include The Ridges. The Walter family had built the road that runs across the crest of the hill to join with the great ceremonial planting of Wellingtonia Avenue.

Extract from WIKIPEDIA about Finchampstead

Finchampstead is a richly wooded area on the western edge of old Windsor Forest and once the centre of one of its divisional 'walkes' and 'bailiwicks'. It was the hunting place of Royalty and an old tale tells how King Henry VII brought his son, Prince Arthur, out onto the Ridges to see his bride, Catherine of Aragon, for the first time. His other son, Henry VIII, is said to have wooed two sisters at East Court Manor until one committed suicide in a fit of jealousy.