7 'New' Shops Opened For Business In 1951

7 shops on Eton Wick Road

The 'new' shops, Eton Wick In 1951 the Eton Urban District Council built a parade of seven shops in what had been the Brewers (Meux) Field alongside the Shepherds Hut. Before these shops the village had been supplied by mobile traders and a few individual shops scattered throughout the community, most of which were adapted homes.

These traders served the village well and in many respects it was to be regretted that the new purpose built shops would in time displace the older businesses. The shops both old and new in Eton and Eton Wick at that time were service shops supplying daily essentials such as meat, fish, groceries, fruit and vegetables, and dairy, bakery and chemist products. By the end of the 20th century, this service trade was fast vanishing from the local streets, as car ownership and supermarkets became the norm.

The first businesses to take up occupancy in 1951 were (from the nearest shop in the photo): Barnes (wet fish and game), Arnold's (butchers), O'Flaherty (chemist), Clinch (bakery), Darville's (grocery), Anderson (newsagent and tobacco), and Bond (greengrocery). When Doreen Tarrant (née Clinch) retired, Darvilles expanded into this unit, the wet fish shop became a fish and chip shop (now also a Chinese take-away) and the butcher's became a hairdresser's salon.

Public Houses and Outings - The Shepherds Hut

Shepherds Hut Darts Team 1947/48

For many years the 'Hut' was well known for having a strong darts team. The team above, pictured with their trophies in 1947/8 are, from the left: George Mumford (village butcher), J Dalby, 'Joby' Milton (father of Pam Jaycock, pictured elsewhere in the book), Walter Stacey (Team Captain), George Giles, Wally Gregory (later to become landlord of the Grapes), Les Lovegrove, Albert Hood and Fred Millis.

A Shepherds Hut outing in the mid-1950s. 

The 'Hut' outings to the coast had a reputation for the generous dry and wet refreshments that were provided. Those enjoying the traditional stop en route are, front row from left to right: Walt Woolhouse, Albert Hood, Dennis Robson, Spike Robson (father), Landlord Bill Colbourne; Jim Marshall (Dorney Court Farm Ploughman) is between Spike and Bill, and on the extreme right is John North (Blue Bus driver); the man on the right wearing a top hat has not been identified. Bill Colbourne was landlord from 1932 to around 1960. 

An earlier (1912) Shepherds Hut group. 

At the back: Ted Hammerton, George Kirby and Jack Try. Second row: Jack Wilson, A Woolhouse, Jack Binfield, M Keen, Fred Pert, Fred Wilson (no relation to Jack), the man in the cap with a pipe is not identified, 'Pony' Moore and G Attride. Front row: Fred Stacey, Mr Hammerton (Sen.), Bill Stacey and Mr Porter. (Fred and Bill Stacey were the landlord's sons and Mr Hammerton their great uncle). Jack Try, following his 1914/18 War service discharge founded the Windsorian Coach Company. Fred Pert became the organising secretary of the newly formed Boys' Five a Side Football Competition for the sons of Discharged Sailors and Soldiers. 

The Shepherds Hut, c1920. 

The Staceys were landlords from 1899 to 1932. William Stacey died in November 1918. His widow kept the pub for a further fourteen years. Daughter Jennie Stacey, (later Harman) is in this photo. William Colbourne took over from Mrs Stacey. The pub became a Meux house, then Friary Meux, Ind Coope and, now, Fullers. 

Shepherds Hut Field, adjoining the pub belonged to the brewers, and was rented out for work horses. A Pelhams Funfair was held in it annually. In 1951 the Council built the parade of seven shops, followed some time later by the Princes Close housing development. A small portion of the field remains at the back of the pub. 

The Stacey family.

Left to right, starting at the back: Edith (daughter), Bill (son), Roger, Bill (father), Walter, Nora, Mrs Stacey (landlady from 1918 to 1932 following her husband's death), Jennie and Fred. During the same period, another Stacey widow, with her son Jack, ran the Grapes (now the Pickwick). 

Bill Colbourne

Bill became landlord of the Shepherds Hut in 1932 and kept a very popular house for approximately the next 25 years. Here he is pictured drawing free pints for the pub's day trippers to the coast. 'Jock' Lockhart is behind Bill with a glass of beer in his hand. Jock was an ex-Scots Guardsman, married to local girl Grace Harman, and worked for builders J T Ireland as a carpenter. 

Public Houses and Outings - The Shepherds Hut is an extract from A photographic history of Eton Wick & Eton 

The Parish Boundaries

As there were few accurate maps it became the custom, and was even ordered by Elizabeth I, to beat the bounds of the parish annually. These were often colourful occasions, full of hymn singing and chanting.  Marks were made appropriate trees and buildings and, where necessary, the procession took to the boats to follow the boundary in mid-Thames. Exactly when the parish boundary was first defined is not known, but the route taken in 1605 can still be recognised as basically that of the ecclesiastical boundary before the addition of Boveney in 1911. The parish was much smaller than that of the pre-1974 Eton Urban District and the present Town Council area. The 1605 perambulation is given below and where appropriate the modern place names have been added in brackets. It is difficult, however, to interpret what the surveyor meant by the farms, for the two farmhouses     mentioned did not lie near the parish boundary. Perhaps he only meant to imply the farmland.

The surveyor stated, 'Beginning at the Church (College Chapel) we go to Windsor Bridge and taking the lane (possibly Brocas Street) by the house of Robert Payne, we go along the Thameside up as far as Tyilstone Gate (possibly by Boveney Bridge or across the road opposite the Village Hall) and then to the farm of the King's now in the occupation of Matthew Bell (Mustians) from where we go to another in the Wick occupied by Henry Bell (Saddocks) and so we go into Little Common as far as Dragon Elm, we go along the North Field and Chalvey Ditch until we come to a bridge near College called Stone Bridge. Then encompassing the College land called Shooting Field, Wharf Close, the Playing Fields and the College, we come to the Church where we first began'.

A further account of a perambulation, this time of 1815, describes the procession as consisting of the Rev Mr Roper (as chaplain to the Provost), the Steward of the Manor, the parish officials, the charity children and inhabitants. Their day began with breakfast of roast and boiled beef provided by the Provost and Fellows, and they probably needed it, for although Eton is a comparatively small parish the walk and boat ride must have taken several hours.  At one point the procession 'went through the door of the house of William Lanfear and out through another. Almost certainly this was one of the Bell Farm cottages which stood until 1969 at the junction of Bell Lane and Alma Road. Their gardens straddled the boundary and in the nineteenth century they were sometimes included in the Census of Boveney and sometimes that of Eton.

This is an extract from The Story of a Village: Eton Wick 1217 to 1977 by Judith Hunter.

The Blue Bus Service

Until the Blue Bus Service started around 1922, villagers walked to Windsor, and schoolboys to Eton. If they were lucky they got a lift on a horse and trap, or cart. The first bus was quite small with a bench seat each side for the passengers. This, and subsequent buses up to the 1930s, were entered by steps and handrails at the back. The service was very popular as it ran at all times and in all weather. It frequently pulled up at any point between specified bus stops to pick up or drop off passengers and always found room for everybody. Late buses after the cinemas and shops closed were often packed with as many standing passengers squeezed together as were seated. In the mid-1930s, another service known as 'The Marguerite' (cream and brown livery) plied the same routes between Windsor Castle, Eton, Eton Wick, Dorney and, less frequently, to Maidenhead. The Marguerite service only lasted a few years. Ultimately the increase in family car ownership slowly forced the successful Blue Bus Service into decline.

Among the popular drivers with the Blue Bus Service there were, as well as Bert and his son, Ted Jeffries, John North, John Bell, Bill Mitchell and Gerry Austin. Gerry is pictured standing in front of one of the Blue Buses (the man on the left) in the photograph. During WWII, Gerry drove ambulance vehicles for London Transport, often bringing wounded servicemen from the docks. After the war he drove the Blue Buses, and then worked for the council, often sporting a top hat for special occasions.

Blue Bus Service proprietor,
Mr Bert Cole on his retirement in 1966.

End of the village based milk round

Pam Jaycock and Joan Cooley with the electric milk float.

In September 1993 Bill and Joan Cooley decided to retire from business of delivering milk to homes in Eton Wick. As they say in their letter they asked Express Dairy to take over their delivery round. Here are images of the letters announcing this change.

The Delivering Milk article gives more details about the history of the dairy men and women of Eton Wick. Click here to read the article.

Dorney Common anti-aircraft battery 1940-45.

Dorney Common anti-aircraft battery site plan. 

The first territorial anti-aircraft (ack-ack) unit arrived on the Dorney Common site in June 1940. Other local sites included the tower mounted 40mm on the Brocas, Eton. This photograph is of the 564(M) AA. Battery stationed on Dorney Common during 1943/4. The troop manning the 3.7 heavy ack-ack guns shot down a German ME 410 on the night of February 23/24th 1944. The raider crashed in High Wycombe. A number of the service personnel, male and female, married local villagers and set up home in Eton Wick. 

The Nissen huts of the Dorney Common anti-aircraft battery.

When the army left in 1946, the acute shortage of domestic homes caused demobilised local men to 'squat' and set up home in the disused huts. Their new homes and furniture were almost immediately ruined by the 1947 floods, when the residents were evacuated by boat. This picture was taken in March 1947. The huts were still occupied in the 1950s. 

Three of the war-time ATS girls in front of their Nissen hut home on Dorney Common. The camp and the 3.7 inch anti-aircraft guns were located along the brook, starting immediately adjacent to the south side of the Eton Wick cattle grid. 

The Armoury 

This was the only building of the wartime Dorney common ack-ack site 1940-45 that was within the boundary of Eton Wick. It stood in what is now the garden of No 22 Tilstone Close. After the army vacated the camp in 1945 this building was taken by Eton Urban Council for accommodation, the residents being Mr and Mrs McGill. 

The vacant huts of Dorney camp became squatter residence before coming under the control of Eton Rural Council. The camp buildings were removed in 1950 having been damaged by the 1947 flood and also having deteriorated beyond use, the land was then restored. 

P. L. KNIGHT ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY

Peter Leo Knight (Gunner No. 30958) - Ammunition Column - Royal Field Artillery - 29th Division.

Peter was born in 1888, and married an Eton girl, Ellen Eliza Sable, on August 5th 1911 when he was 23 years old. He apparently gave the army his parents' address at 108, High Street, Cheriton, Kent, and it is possible that Peter himself was a Kent man, because no local reference to him has been found until his wedding in 1911. It is believed that he and Ellen Eliza made their home at 4, Meadow Lane, Eton. Certainly his widow was living there after the war. There are a number of ponderable points to Peter's story, and the address is but one of them.

One month after the outbreak of the Great War, in September 1914, he was listed in the Parish Magazine as serving in the army. He had one son named Horace. # The Commonwealth War Graves Commission states that he chose to serve under the name of Knighton. There is no apparent reason for adopting a changed name, and this is yet another of the ponderable points.

Peter was a gunner on an ammunition column in the Royal Field Artillery with the 29th Division. This Division was the last of three which were formed in Britain at this time comprising troops of regular serving Battalions returned from overseas service. Half of the 29th's twelve Battalions were English and were the 2nd Royal Fusiliers, 1st Lancashire Fusiliers, 1st Border Regiment, 2nd Hampshires, 4th Worcesters, and 1st Essex. Like other Infantry Divisions they additionally had attachments of Artillery, Army Service Corp, medics etc.

The 29th Division was a famous Division in W.W.I and in April 1915 was the first to go ashore at Cape Helles, Gallipoli. On landing they were faced with strong barbed wire defenses and were mown down by Turkish guns while attempting to cut a way through. The Division artillery was inadequately supplied with shells and was consequently ineffective. Unfortunately the Gallipoli campaign was ill prepared, and by December of the same year the allies had decided to evacuate all the troops. Before this realistic decision was made the 29th had been moved up the west coast of the peninsula in support of a fresh attempt that was launched at Suvla Bay, in August 1915.

In September the allies agreed to send British and French troops to Salonika in Greece, taking two British and one French Division from Gallipoli in support of that country, which felt threatened by a German supported Bulgarian attack on neighbouring Serbia. Had the three Divisions been sent from Gallipoli the campaign there would have been seriously denuded of much needed men and resources. In the event just one British and one French Division was taken. The 29th Division remained on the peninsula until the end of December 1915 when the general evacuation took place.

Peter Knight was drowned on October 23rd 1915 when the transport ship H.T. Marquette was sunk in the Aegean Sea by a U-Boat. There were 99 lost in this incident and most of them were Indian troops. Perhaps this was a draft of men to re-inforce the 29th Division, in which case Peter had not actually served in action at Gallipoli. If he had served in that theatre of war, then he was en route to Salonika as part of the detachment. U-Boats had been very active in Aegean Sea lanes between Gallipoli and Greece, and on September 14th had torpedoed the British troop ship Royal Edward with the loss of 1,000 lives.

Peter is commemorated on the Mikra Memorial, Salonika, Greece. The memorial commemorates 478 missing and is situated in the Mikra British Cemetery, which itself contains 1,962 graves from the 1914-18 war. Peter was 27 years old.

Another small mystery concerns the Eton Wick Memorial. At the time of the dedication and unveiling service on March 13th 1920, Peter's name did not appear on the form of service and more importantly was not on the memorial. Probably this was due to having an Eton town home address. His name was added some months later, after consideration of the fact he had enlisted from Boveney.

Unfortunately the addition is not in alphabetical order, as were the original inscribed names, but appears at the foot of the west panel. His name is also on the Eton Church Gates. Peter left a widow and one son. His widow married again and became Mrs Brant.

Grave Registration Report

Panel List

Peter Knight's Commonwealth War Graves Commission page

Peter Knight's King & Country page

Peter Knight's page on Buckinghamshire  Remembers

This is an extract from Their Names Shall Be Carved in Stone 

and published here with grateful thanks to the author Frank Bond.