This photograph was taken c1960. Back row (heads only visible): Mrs Slaymaker, Mrs Gardner, Miss Majorie Morris, Mrs Lily Jacobs (probably) Third row: Mrs Sophie Chamberlain, Mrs Jacobs, Miss Mary Ayres, Mrs Brown, unidentified Second row: Mrs Harris, Mrs Woodley, Mrs Paice, unidentified. The child is believed to be A. Higgins, grandson of Mrs Woodley. Front row: Mrs G Kelly, Mrs Dobson.
This article was first published in A Pictorial History of Eton Wick & Eton.
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| Map of 1797 copied from The Story of a Village: Eton Wick 1217 - 1977 |
The first half of the 19th century brought further house building including the Parsonage, Bell Farm Cottages, Harding Cottages and Prospect Place. Most of these were rented to working class tenants. As the century progressed more houses were built some on the gardens of the cottages facing the Great Common. These included Hope Cottages, Palmers Place and others.
The largest development began in 1880’s on some of the land
of Bell Farm where Boveney Newtown grew with Alma, Inkerman and Northfield roads,
and Moores Lane. The development was beyond the western edge of the Parish of
Eton which at that time was Bell Lane. As recorded in the 1881 census when
there were there household it grew and grew. By 1911 there were 125 households,
two more than Eton Wick.
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| Ordnance Survey Map 1899 courtesy of National Library of Scotland |
By 1899 there were two distinct communities with the land south of Alma Road and west of the Eton Parish mostly undeveloped. A few houses were on the south side of the Eton Wick Road including the Shepherds Hut and Victoria Road was outlined. The 1925 map shows further development south of Alma Road.
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| Ordnance Survey Map 1925 courtesy of National Library of Scotland |
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| Ordnance Survey Map 1932 courtesy of National Library of Scotland |
The inter war years saw some development south of Alma Road including a few houses in Tilstone Avenue and Close.
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| Map showing rights under the Commons Registration Act of 1965 copied from The Story of a Village: Eton Wick 1217 - 1977 |
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| Ordnance Survey Map 1968 courtesy of National Library of Scotland |
The 1968 map reveal the limits of the village development
with Haywards Mead, Princes Close, Queens Road and Cornwall Close filling the
remaining available land on the south side of the Eton Wick Road. The final major development in the village was on the wheatbutts in the 1970's.
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| Ordnance Survey Map 2023 courtesy of National Library of Scotland |
The latest OS map of 2023 show how the village development has been restrained by the Lammas Land and Commons. The number of households was also limited by the single road that restricts potential for evacuation in the case of flooding. The experience of the Thames floods of 2014 showed that the Jubilee River did protect the village. There has been more house building allowed including particularly in Princes Close, Queens Road and Victoria Road.
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| Enclosure Map courtesy of the Berkshire Records Office. |
Both Slough to the north and Windsor to the south have both grown as enclosure acts were passed for the Manor of Upton cum Chalvey, 1819 and the Manor of Windsor Forest, 1817. If the 1826 Bill to enclose the Manor of Eton cum Stockdale and Colenorton had not been rejected Eton Wick would probably have become part of Slough.
Albert was born on Boxing Day 1912. He had a younger brother
Thomas, and two sisters named Annie and Joan. The family home was at 7, Bell
Cottages, Alma Road, Boveney Newtown. As with the majority of Eton Wick lads,
he attended the village infants school until he was seven years old, and on
April 13th 1920 he registered at Eton Porny School where he continued his
elementary education until he was 14. On leaving school he was apprenticed to
Goddards of Eton as a carpenter and cabinet maker. Upon completion of his
apprenticeship he was employed by Eton College as a qualified tradesman.18th Century Cottager in the Wick
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| 1797 Village map courtesy of Dr Judith Hunter's Story of a Village |
The early years of the Century were hard for families getting their subsidence from the land and for those few families living in the Wick the daily toil brought its woes and ill health. Prey to diseases as smallpox, diphtheria, influenza, and tuberculosis to say nothing of accidents. There was also a high risk to women dying in childbirth. Cottages built in Eton Wick were timbered framed with infilling of brick and cob. The floors of stone slab or compacted earth covered with rush mats with an open wood burning fireplace and lighting by candle or perhaps an oil lamp provided warmth and lighting in the small dim rooms.
Clothing was mainly home made by wives and daughters of the family and a variety of footwear such as leather boots, canvas shoes, wooden sandals and clog type shoes dependant on the family financial status was worn by those working on the land.
The more successful farmer or small holder no doubt could afford to buy foot-ware but often for the poorer it would be hand me downs or go barefoot.
With a water supply from well, pond or river health and cleanliness were two factors that suffered. Fleas and head lice were prevalent. The passing years brought slow improvement.
During the century to those living in Eton and Eton Wick, trade increased in Eton with new premises opening with tailors and dress makers, boot and shoemakers, together with other trades. These were family businesses where young people from Eton Wick found employment, and with the change in their financial fortune left the land to the more successful farmer.
By the year 1830 there were approximately seventy professional business services and shops in the Eton High Street supplying local needs and hand made goods to the London shops.
The increasing local trade and wealth gave rise to house building in Eton Wick as the century drew to its close continuing during the 19th and 20th centuries until all available land free of lammas rights or common land within the Wick had been taken for building.
This was part of the script for a talk given by John Denham at a meet of the Windsor & District University of the Third Age in 2003.
IT
IS now satisfactorily established that this generation can hold its head high
on the subject of floods. We can now no longer have the " Wellington
" flood, as that of 1852 is called, cast in our teeth. We have seen with
our own eyes the highest of the century; in fact it is even probable that this
has been higher than the historic flood of 1774, recorded in the buttery of
College Hall, the measurement of which is reckoned from the floor of the
cellar,— and since that time it is believed that the floor has been raised. It
is a remarkable coincidence that the last three high floods—those of 1852,
1875, 1894—have all been at their highest on November 17th. On that day, in
1852, the great Duke of Wellington was buried, and it is recorded that rain
had then fallen every day since his death. On a previous occasion, the exact
date of which we cannot determine, he was returning to the Queen in a coach
and four, and his horses were carried off their legs between Fifteen Arch Bridge
and Beggar's Bridge. In those days sanitary matters were of little account, and
the outside world did not, on the news of the rising water, at once jump at the
conclusion that the boys would either be drowned or die of a pestilence; and in
1852, with the exception of a few houses, the School placidly pursued. its
usual course, though with limited amusements.
This
year on Thursday evening, the 15th Nov., the water was half-way up Brocas Lane,
and the lane between Winter's and South Meadow could only be reached in a punt
; moreover telegrams from Oxford and Reading made it clear that there was the
certainty of a heavier flood impending, although the result must have exceeded
all calculation: at the same time, had this only been fully realised on Thursday,
or even Friday morning, much confusion and want of organization might have
been avoided. On Friday morning the water was slowly finding its way into the
street down the Vicarage Lane, and rose rapidly all day, soon sweeping away
planks which had been placed for pedestrian traffic. By the time it was dark,
the street from Halliday's shop to the Local Board offices was only passable in
carts, and in Eton we were practically on an island.
There
was a very brilliant moon,-and the present writer, making his rounds at io
o'clock, found the road dry as far as Barnes' Pool; the water, which was coming
down Mr. Hale's passage, satisfied as it seemed with the wreck of Mr. Benson's
house ran steadily away down the drain. The stream was running very strong down
Baldwin's Shore. Mr. Vaughan's house we believe had gone home. Mr. Luxmoore's
only means of communication with the world was by a ladder into the Chapel
yard. How the hinges of those gates leading into that solitary wilderness must
have creaked and groaned when their rest was disturbed.
The
house on which we once read in gigantic letters of Eton blue "50 not
out" is now a stronghold of wet-bobs, and the famous blues who inhabit it
were certainly in their element; the water must have been over a foot in the
pupil-rooms and was just running into the rest of the house. At the end of
Keate's lane a powerful man was making great efforts to keep the drains clear,
which, on the authority of one who saw them working, were eventually the means
of arresting the entire inundation of the College. Rumour says that all night
long did this undaunted spirit work, defending his position with a broom
against an incessant fire of Euclids and small books, intended to prevent the
escape of the water and so precipitate the breaking up of the School. We could
only get as far as the corner of Judy's passage when the water was pouring
through the gate into Mr. Donaldson's garden. Mr. Durnford was working hard
getting up carpets, and none too soon, for on the next day the water was four inches
over the whole of his ground floor. There was a punt stationed for the night at
the end of Mr. Mitchell's passage, and the last thing we saw was a little knot
of Masters gazing at the water on the Slough Road, which prevented them going
further than the stile into the Field. The moon made the scenes very vivid.
There was no wind, but a low roar coming from the river by the weir, and from
the water rushing over the Slough Road and through Fifteen-arch Bridge.
It
is necessary to realise that at Upper Hope the river divided, the mass of the
water keeping its usual course, but a great stream poured through Cuckoo-weir,
thence through the arches along the bottom of Warre's field over the Eton Wick
Road, which formed the first cataract. All across the Slads and Babylon the
water was deep and broken but ran on steadily across Mesopotamia and Jordan to
the second cataract on the Slough Road. It carried away the palings of Upper
Club, two being taken right across the Playing Fields, knocking down the iron
rails of Ward's cottage. Old Ward slept that night with the water pouring
through the house deep enough to actually wet the mattress. The flood went on
its course through Datchet, to lose itself on the great stretch of low-lying
land between Datchet and Wraysbury.
We
shall most of us remember the morning of Saturday. All those who were in early
school heard the notice which came round, but the first sign that the school
had broken up was the headmaster in cap and gown escorted by a figure in
complete armour of waterproof. From a very early hour, in fact as soon as it
was light, we had been watching the proceedings, and had observed the masterly
preparations for immediate evacuation, conducted by adjacent householders. An
eminent exponent of natural science had been heard to express his opinion that
Barnes Pool Bridge was bound to be blown up, and it was very reassuring to find
him at the post of danger watching the wonderful scene of confusion which
began about 9 o'clock.
Everyone
had to send a telegram and get an answer, and not even the urgent demand for
journey money could make the bank open before lo. The South-Western line was
blocked, the train having had to come through Datchet on Friday night with the
water a few inches from the level of the top of the platform. The Slough road
was unsafe, so the stream of cabs, carts and punts up the street to get to
Windsor Station lasted the whole morning, and the cabmen must have voted that
the flood should become an annual institution.
After
the school had gone, we, who were left, settled down to three days steady work
of relief in the town, distributing coals, soup and bread, which everyone was
most generous in providing.
Private
enterprise was first in the field, but the local authorities soon came to the
front, and a great effect was produced by a large cart full of supplies, hauled
up the street with the Chairman of the Local Board and one of his colleagues,
borne as it were in triumph, like the gods of Peace and Plenty. Drinking water
was also a serious difficulty and had to be taken in barrels from the College
pump.
In
the afternoon the Queen drove as far as the bridge and offered to send carts
from the farms to carry people, and to deliver supplies. This was an admirable
thought, and indeed no better suggestion could have been made.
The
poor people were all most patient, spending their-- days looking out of their
upper windows, and thankful and grateful for anything that was brought them.
The Spectator was right in saying that one of the best effects of this great
flood was in bringing all classes together.
The
weather throughout was beautiful and the strange effects of the water,
especially as seen from Boveney and Dorney, were very memorable. The nights
were gloomy and made more so by the failure of the gas, which gave out in Eton
on Sunday night.
The
most successful light we saw was a flaming torch, a relic of the jubilee
procession; these in any number would have been most useful.
Many
are the deeds of heroism, real and imaginary, recorded in the few days when the
water was at its highest, and though we have not space for them individually,
we feel we cannot conclude without venturing to sincerely congratulate those
who had so narrow an escape under Fifteen arch bridge, on Saturday, November
17th.
This
article was published in The Eton College Chronicle 6th, December 1894.
The Village landscape was like the majority of Berkshire and Buckinghamshire in years leading up to the 18th century one of open fields, commons and other waste land with small tenant farmers, cottagers and squatters utilizing a rented un-enclosed strip of land from the Lord of the Manor or exercising a common right to graze their pigs, geese or maybe a cow upon the common land. During the late 17th and early 18th century improvements in animal husbandry and the harvest of arable crops gave impetus to enclosure of land by landlords and the Government. These changes in farming practice at that time could have led to later developments that would have made Eton Wick Urban in the late 20th century, an urban sprawl but for the opposition of the villagers and the influence of Eton College in the Houses of Parliament.
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| Queen Anne, King George 1st, King George 2nd and King George 3rd The first four monarchs of Great Britain after the Union of England and Scotland in 1707 |
The 18th Century had commenced and closed with England at war with France. Queen Anne succeeded to the throne in 1702 to be followed by George 1st in 1714, George 2nd in 1727 and George 3rd in 1760. Technical innovation during the century brought vast changes to the way of life. The introduction of the flying shuttle to speed the pace of handloom weaving, followed by the efficiency in the use of steam power but some of the main advancement during the century was in agriculture. One Historian calculated that in the early 1700's each person engaged in farming fed 1.7 persons and by the end of the century one agricultural worker fed 2.5 persons. The late 1600's and early 1700's saw improvements in use of the soil which gave increased cereal and root crops leading to better fed cattle to produce more dung thereby increasing more yield from the land, also the improved yield of grain and the introduction of the turnip root crop allowed cattle to be winter rather than slaughtered for lack of winter feed.
This together with new agricultural tools, like Jethro Tull's development of his seed drill, were
publicized in books such as the Annals of Agriculture by one Arthur Young in 1784 to be read by the progressive farmer and landowner. It also led to the birth of the agricultural engineering industry which also spawned the industry's catalogues for seeds, plants, and machinery. Similar books were published by Eton Printer and Bookseller, Joseph Pote, one title being 'Gentleman's Farriery, (or, a practical treatise, on the diseases of horses). The book was written by J. Bartlet and first published in 1753.Landowners realised that to achieve higher output and returns from the land, enclosure of the open fields and the abandonment of the strip as the fundamental unit of tenancy, together with the common lands would be a necessary part of these improvements. No doubt news of these technical developments and the expanding international and local trade were talked of and marvelled at here about as like today, but for the village tenant farmer and cottager it was still the sweat of his brow that tilled the ground, sowed the crops and husband the animals for much of the century, but the threat of enclosure must have been an increasing worry, probably being the main talking point for the tenant farmer and commoner of Eton Wick. The implications for those who leased their land from an absence landlord, would see it as having a disastrous effect for their livelihood with no redress and no-one to stand up for them.
At first legal enclosure was obtained by a Chancery Degree but this was superseded by the introduction of acts of Parliament in the eighteenth century.
The procedure for an Enclosure Act did not require the agreement of tenants but did require enough money to pay lawyers' and surveyors' fees, and for the planting of hedges and fences, roads etc. after the bill was passed.
This was generally a formality as the Enclosure Commissioners surveying the land generally favoured those wishing to enclose and Parliament followed their recommendations. A general Enclosure Act was passed by Parliament in 1801 but by then more than 1,300 enclosure acts had been passed since 1760.
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| The Parish plan showing field names. |
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| The common fields, meadows and The Commons. |
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| The strips on common fields. |
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| The Hamlet of Eton Wick 1797 showing strips, ownership, tenants and acreage. |
How and Why did this play an important role in the history of Eton Wick?
Apart from the two commons, Eton Little and Eton Great there are Lammas lands which influence what can and cannot be done with the land within Eton and Eton Wick. The Lammas rights over much of the meadow and cultivated land in Eton and Eton Wick are a legacy from the Saxons and are a rare survival in this age. It was the right of those entitled householders to graze so many head of cattle in the fields once the corn had been gathered thereby fertilizing the land in the most natural way possible , from August 1st to October 31st.
How many Commoners with these rights and residing in the village at the time is not known.
Lammas Day was the first day of August (the Gule of August) until 1752. With the change to the Gregorian Calendar in September 1752 Lammas day 1753 fell on the 13th of August on which it was customary to consecrate bread made from the first ripe corn of harvest. (In Scotland it is one of the QUARTER DAYS.). Lammas Land (also Half Year Land) was common meadow on which manorial tenants were allowed to graze their livestock from Lammas Day until the next sowing.
Lammas Day: August 1st until 1752
Lammas Day: August 13th from 1753
The strip was the fundamental unit of cultivation and tenancy in the open field system. Information from Collier's map of 1743 shows that Lord of the Manor, Abraham Wessell was the largest landowner in the parish with College, second. There were four open fields, the Hyde, North Field, South Field and West Field, the latter so named apparently because It lay west of Eton rather than on the west side of the parish; in later centuries it appears to have been renamed Stonebridge Field. Each field was divided into strips, and these grouped Into furlongs or pieces with distinctive names such as Long Furlong, Middle Furlong, Stone hul (hill), Long Wythebedde, Broken Furlong and Rossey piece. There was also land known simply as Village land'. No hedges or fences divided these strips and furlongs but, although each open field was planted with the same crops like cereal, beans etc. The different alignment of the furlongs gave the fields a patchwork appearance. The holdings of each man or woman, either owned or rented, were scattered throughout the fields and meadows. It is thought that originally each strip could be ploughed in one day and that the strips of land had been shared between the fields and its furlongs. Within the parish of Eton/ Eton Wick but mostly in Eton Wick there were six small holdings of only one strip each and two holdings of three strips possibly by cottagers, who are named as Oakley and Widow Griffin.
The rights of pasturage and to subsistence farm the land was crucial to the village householder and his family, therefore an ever a watchful eye was kept for any encroachment by those wishing to increase the small land holding around their farmstead or home. A complaint was brought against Henry Bell of Bell Farm in 1605 for enclosing several pieces of the King's waste including so pieces of Lammas Land. He also built eight cottages that did not go well with the parishioners. They claimed that the buildings took away privileges and benefits of the common. It appears that Bell got away with his transgression.
There were some wooded areas especially around Saddocks Farm with fully grown trees and coppice. The use of the timber seems to have been controlled by the crown as a later tenant of Saddocks Farm was given the right to take timber for the repair of farm carts and buildings. An elm tree was supplied from Eton Wick in the mid 1400's for the refurbishment of the Eton church tower.
The large open expanse of land without fences except where necessary, on the outer edges was divided into many strips. Exchanging ones worked strips with others so as to make one’s parcel of land larger and more convenient to work did take place as is shown by a detailed description of eighteen scattered acres owned by Sir William Stratton, exchanged for sixteen acres with John Jourdelay thus giving both more compact and manageable units. In the closing years of the eighteenth-century Crown Commissioners overseeing the enclosure of land showed interest in the enclosure of Eton's common and Lammas lands. estimated to cover three quarters of the parish. They did not consider it of any urgency taking no action until John Penn, Lord of the Manor of Stoke Poges bought the Manor of Eton in 1793.
He, having succeeded against heavy opposition over the enclosure of Stoke Common then denied many poor families their right by custom of using the Common to gather wood for fuel which provoked more resentment against him. Bearing this in mind and wishing calm the situation Penn sought a compromise, in his planned bill to Parliament for enclosure at Eton, he specifically excluded the Eton Great Common from his proposed Bill. However, his Bill presented to Parliament did not take account of his oversight of not having consulted with the Crown or giving them an opportunity to appoint their own Enclosure Surveyor. Problems arose when trying to fairly rearrange and adjust strips and plots of land to formed compact blocks, such a difficulty occurred with the rearrangement of the land bordering Manor and Saddocks Farms.
This hic-cup in the proceedings may have delayed Penn's plans a little because Officers of the Crown belatedly became aware of Penn's plans and realized it was too late to do any-thing except oppose the Bill.
Enclosure not only drew battle lines between landowners; but also, townsfolk and villagers took up the fight as they became worried at the prospect of losing their rights of pasturage, eventually therefore they took the only course open them, they presented a petition to Parliament. They protested that the Bill would diminish the livelihood of the inhabitants by depriving them the use of the Lammas lands, thereby increasing the burden on the Poor Rate.
Over one hundred and eighty people signed the petition or made their mark if they could not write, and among who were Joseph and Phillip Tarrant, John Atkins and Thomas Goddard and others from Eton Wick.
Other parishes had presented petitions, often in vain, as Parliament was made up of powerful land-owning families together with the new industrial magnates and Ecclesiastical gentry who tended to think in terms of protecting their own interests. As tithe- owners the Provost and Fellows of Eton College had shown interest in John Penn's proposed Bill, but it is possible that at the last moment they had considered the fact that being considerable leaseholders from the Crown their loyalty maybe called into question. As many old Etonians were Members of Parliament there is the possibility that College had some influence in managing the vote, but this is speculation, and cannot be proven as the records were lost when the Houses of Parliament were burnt down.
It was his own land: yet when the case was tried at Aylesbury, he was ordered to pull them down because they were built on laminas land. When in the middle of the nineteenth century the Crown once more became interested in enclosure, the College was opposed to it and the Penn estates were 'in circumstances that rendered it difficult’.
in 1902 seventy-six years after the rejection of John Penn’s Enclosure Bill the Crown negotiated with the Lord of the Manor to overcome the inconvenience of the scattered strips and holdings. Lammas and pasturage were also exchanged, but rights were untouched. Some householders still exercised their rights to graze a horse or cow on the common or on other peoples' field into the 1920's from August 1st to October 31st.
The rights still exist though most people lost theirs through the Commons Registration Act of 1965. To some people the rights have become an inconvenient anachronism, while to the majority it is just something that has nothing to do with them but the lammas lands and the two commons were registered under the Commons Registration Act of 1965. This should mean that only by another Act of Parliament can this land be released for building thus protecting the village from speculative property developers and urban sprawl.
This was part of the script for a talk given by John Denham at a meet of the Windsor & District University of the Third Age in 2003.
