ASCOT  , a

village in the Wokingham parliamentary division of Berkshire, England, famous for its race-meetings . Pop. of parish of Ascot Heath (1901), 1927 . The station on the South-Western railway, 29 M . W.S.W. of London, is called Ascot and Sunninghill; the second name belonging to an adjacent town-ship with a population (civil parish) of 4719 . The race-course is on Ascot Heath, and was laid out by order of Queen Anne in 1711, and on the 11th of August in that year the first meeting was held and attended by the queen . The course is almost exactly 2 M. in circumference, and the meetings are held in June . The principal race is that for the Ascot Gold Cup, instituted in 1807 . The meeting is one of the most fashionable in England, and is commonly attended by members of the royal family . Tne royal procession, for which the meeting is peculiarly famous, was initiated by George IV. in 182o . See R . Herod, Royal Ascot (London, 1900) .