Two Photographs of Eton Wick Road Around 1900

These two photographs were taken by the Rev. Demaus, who was village curate at the turn of the century, and an enthusiastic glass plate photographer as these pictures demonstrate. They are used by the kind permission of his son. These scenes of life on the Eton Wick Road (taken near the Three Horseshoes, the upper one looking east and the lower photo west), can be compared with other photographs of the area in the book.

Note the unmetalled and very dusty road, lack of pavements, the horse drawn traders' traffic and the style of dress. The upper photograph shows Lovell's shop and Post Office (Ada Cottage). Both photos show the great oak tree that once stood in front of the Three Horseshoes. The lower photo shows the bay window of the Horseshoes, much as it is today, and likewise the Palmer Place terrace. There is no shop at Wellmans Cottages (later to become Thames View Stores).

In these photographs c1900 there are no street lights. These were to come later, initially two when gas first came to the village and by the 1930s when there were 44 lights between the Slads and Dorney Common Gate. The elm trees in the background are lining Brown's lane (now part of Common Road).

This article was first published in A photographic history of Eton Wick & Eton.

Farmhouses and Cottages

   At the close of the Middle Ages many houses in the village, the homes of ordinary villagers, would have been poor affairs, huts which could be built or demolished in a day.  But not all, for those who could afford it built in timber with an infilling of wattle and daub.  Bell Farm has already been mentioned and there were certainly others, though none has survived.  It is difficult to be sure which modern houses now stand on their sites. However, the Tudor-Stuart period from about 1550 to 1640 was a time of prosperity for a considerable portion of the population. In the country this meant the landowners, the farmers and the more successful cottagers. They left their mark on the countryside in the very pleasing shape of many new or enlarged homes. Eton Wick shared in this building boom.   Exactly how many houses were built or improved is not known, but at least eight cottages were built in the years immediately prior to 1605 when this was reported to the Crown Commissioners.      Unfortunately it has not proved possible to identify these cottages, but ten timber-framed houses survived into this century and five are still standing today.

   Bell Farm was almost certainly enlarged by the Bell family, who lived there in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They were undoubtedly responsible for the addition of the great chimney stack on the west, and for the parlour on the north side with its own stack. The fireplace of the parlour, with its lovely Tudor arch, was rediscovered in the 1950's. No longer was it necessary for the smoke to swirl around the rafters before finding its way out through a hole in the roof. The old hall could be ceiled over, giving another upstairs room, and a new staircase was built. One can still see many of the old beams and roof trusses in the bedrooms, and an original medieval window with two delightful trefoil lights has survived, though it must have been blocked ever since the parlour was built.

   The Bell family was a large and prosperous one, farmers and gentlemen as their wills and other records testify. Their names are frequently found in deeds and parish records for over a hundred years until the second half of the seventeenth century when all mention of them ceases in connection with Eton Wick except in the past tense.  At the height of their importance locally they owned property in Eton town and were the owners and not the tenants of Bell Farm. A Joan Bell leased 'a fishery in the chapel waters at Boveney in 1578 and a Richard Bell was still in possession of this some thirty years later. In 1605 Henry Bell was tenant of Saddocks Farm and his brother Matthew of Mustians. About 1600 Henry Bell bought the manor house at Chalvey which he still owned in 1612 though not when he died. In 1641 there was a Thomas Bell at Chalvey and about the same time different members of the Bell family were farming Bell, Saddocks and Mustians Farms. The farmhouse of the last stood on the south side of Common Lane, but its land stretched into Eton Wick.

   Of the five timber buildings only Little Common Farmhouse still shows its timber frame. It must have been built in the seventeenth century when, so it was thought, there was a shortage of timber because of the increased use of charcoal (for iron-smelting) and for shipbuilding. This meant that the house wrights not only left wider spaces between the vertical posts but also made greater use of odd shaped pieces of wood and re-used old timbers.  In Little Common Farmhouse the curved timbers on the front and back of the house have clearly been used before for each has a series of narrow groves along its length. Until the house was enlarged this century it had probably remained little altered , with its two rooms up and down and one large chimney. It was probably never the home of a farmer until recent times, but that of a husbandman or smallholder who rented his few acres in the common fields.

   On the other side of the Little Common is the house known as Long Close. It is now encased in bricks, its timber frame and its beaten earth floor was not covered until after the First World War. Even then in the living room red tiles were laid directly on to the earth until this was altered in the 1970's. Beams can now only be seen in the ceilings, but many more were exposed during those alterations; the thin red bricks of a chimney breast suggested that it was built or enlarged during the Tudor period.

   On the south side of the Great Common stands Crown Farmhouse, probably the oldest house in the village still used as a farmhouse. Despite the name its connections with the Crown Estates was quite short, merely from 1864 to 1932. Its timber frame is visible only on the inside, but the thick studs and beams, low ceilings and absence of jettying all indicate it was built in the early seventeenth century.  Since then, as the fortunes of its owners and tenants prospered it was altered or enlarged and encased in a shell of plaster and warm red bricks. Some of these alterations undoubtedly took place when it was occupied by one of the Tarrant family. A Robert Tarrant first became tenant about 1800 and one or more of the family have lived there for most of the years since. They have lived in Eton Wick for over two hundred years, the earliest discovered reference to them occurring in the parish registers for the year 1763. Today scores of old farming and household objects, maps and photographs adorn the walls or are put away in cupboards, linking the present family with its predecessors.

   The fifth of the timber-framed houses is Saddocks Farm. A great deal is known about this farm and house. The name is first associated with Eton Wick in a deed of 1539 when a Robert Sadocke , yeoman, of New Windsor occupied a messuage (house, outbuildings, garden, etc) and lands in the Wick. At this date the property seems to have been owned by Eton College, but in the reigns of Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, Robert was leasing the farm from the Crown. In the archives of Eton College there is a draft of a grant from the College to King Henry VIII of property including several acres of land, four messuages and a cottage.  One of these was the Christopher Inn in Eton, two were in Windsor, another in the tenure of John Butler in *le Weke' and the fourth was occupied by Robert Saddock. The grant is dated 1546. In 1584 a deed was drawn up concerning a messuage and garden in le Wyk' described as a 'parcel of Eton (Royal) Manor, lately bought of Eton College and annexed to the Honour of Windsor'. None of these properties has positively been identified as Saddocks, but it is certain that the College was selling to the Crown and it seems likely that the land and house soon to be known as Saddocks Farm was included.  It was undeniably Crown property from the seventeenth century on wards until it was sold in about 1940.

   As Crown property it was subject to a number of surveys, but in spite of, or maybe because of these, the house presents a tantalising mystery. Three surveys of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries suggest that the whole layout of the farmyard and garden was changed about the turn of the century and the house rebuilt in a new position; yet within the present farmhouse, so clearly built in Georgian times, is a much smaller cottage. It consists of two rooms up and down with a downstairs room height of only 6 ft 4 in. The mystery deepens when attention is paid to the earlier survey of the estates of the late King Charles I under the direction of Oliver Cromwell. At this date the Royal Manor consisted of three tenanted farms, Saddocks, Mustians and the Christopher though it is not clear whether the innkeeper was also the farmer.  There were three houses and a cottage belonging to Saddocks and the detailed description of them suggests that they had been built at different periods. The first two, with their timber and earthen walls, and each with a hall, kitchen and buttery and three chambers above, may well have already been at least two hundred years old in 1650.  The third house appears to be larger and newer, for its walls were of timber and brick and there were six rooms downstairs, including a parlour, very much a status symbol for the small farmer.   But, most intriguing, the small cottage was described as 'built with timber and flemish walls'; if  this meant flemish bond,  the construction of this  cottage was very much 'avant garde' for this method of laying bricks did not come into general use until the second half of the seventeenth century.

   Where were these buildings? It is frustrating that none can be identified with certainty. It is possible that the cottage is Little Common Farmhouse for it is thought that this was once part of the Crown Estate, or Saddocks Farmhouse itself.

    Of the five houses that have been demolished this century much less is known and no photographs or plans of them have been found. Three of them formed one building and may originally have been one substantial cottage that was subdivided to form three tiny cottages, each with only one room upstairs and one room down.  When this might have happened has not been discovered, but various deeds and maps suggest it had occurred before the end of the eighteenth century.  To the east of Crown Farm once stood a pair of cottages, though only one survived into the twentieth century.  According to the Royal Commissioners on Historical Monuments this was built early in the seventeenth century. Whether it was ever a farmhouse before Mr. Bunce owned it in the 1920's seems doubtful; in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it was part of Crown Farm and was sometimes occupied by a farm worker. Even less has been discovered about the last of the known timber-framed houses. It stood just west of the Greyhound Inn on a plot of land which stretched from the common to Eton Wick Road. It once belonged to Bell Farm, but in the nineteenth century it was sold and became known as Hardings Cottage, a name it shared with several others owned by the same Eton family.

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

W.W. Payne - Royal Scots

Walter William Payne (Sergeant No. 12050) - 11th Battalion Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment) - 27th Brigade - 9th Division

Billy to parents and friends, lived at 2, Prospect Place, Eton Wick. This row of tiny cottages with only one room upstairs and one down was situated between The Three Horse Shoes and The Grapes (now The Pickwick) public houses. The 10 cottages were some of the oldest homes in the village at that time, and they originally shared one well, one pump and one toilet. A toilet block, about 20 yards behind the houses, and piped water had probably improved conditions before the Payne family moved there in 1905.

Billy was born on December 20th 1893 and attended the Clewer St. Stephen's School until moving to Eton Wick at 11 years of age. He then attended Eton Porny and left school at Christmas 1907 when he was 14 years old. For the next six years he was in the employ of Sir Courtauld Thompson until he joined the army at the outbreak of war in 1914. He enlisted in Edinburgh, presumably because he chose to serve in a Scottish Regiment.

Initial training with the 11th Battalion, Royal Scots was at Borden near Aldershot, until May 1915 when they embarked for France. They were involved in the Battle of Loos fighting four months later, when many casualties were sustained. On September 27th the British released chlorine gas, but a change of wind blew the gas back into the advancing troops causing other casualties. Billy Payne achieved quick promotion, yet only had another six months life ahead. By then he had attained the rank of sergeant.

The early months of 1916 brought intense reinforcement of arms and men in readiness for the forthcoming Somme offensive. At this time the heaviest fighting was between the Germans and the French at Verdun. Even so the British policy was one of constant night raids into enemy positions, and regular artillery bombardments. Billy was engaged on one of these patrols through Ploegsteert Wood on March 12th 1916 when he was killed. The wood continued to be partly held by the enemy for another year, until in 1917 they were driven out, only to be back in possession again in April 1918.

The local newspaper reported Sergeant Payne's death and the Parish Magazine of April 1916 stated:

Obituary - Walter W. Payne - "Dear Mr Payne, doubtless by this time you will have heard the terrible news of the death of your gallant son. It is my duty during this war to experience many partings, and I always find that the Almighty for his good reason takes the best first. I feel absolutely convinced that he is in absolute happiness at the present time; it is not for him we sorrow, but for the people he leaves behind him. I feel his loss greatly, and I thought so highly of him that I intended to get him a commission. He was always such a sunny cheerful person, and one for whom I had the greatest admiration. He died as he lived - Splendidly." So wrote the Colonel of Sgt W.W. Payne.

Seven months later the November Parish Magazine printed:

Eton Wick - The Tablet in memory of the late Sergeant Walter Payne, given by his late employer, Sir Courtauld Thompson as a token of esteem, was dedicated by the vicar at a memorial service held on Wednesday October 11th 1916. The tablet bears the inscription - "Praise God for Walter Payne, Sergeant, The Royal Scots, killed in France 12th March 1916 aged 22. A brave Englishman who won respect and affection from all. His Colonel recommended him for a commission, and wrote - He died as he lived - Splendidly'. A Belgian flag belonging to the late Sergeant has been presented to the church by his parents, and is now placed in position near the memorial.

The Windsor & Eton Express printed:

(Photo Helen Renshaw)

In Memoriam Payne - Walter William. In loving memory of our dear "Billy" of the 11th Battalion, Royal Scots, killed in action on 12.3.16 while on patrol in Ploegsteert Wood, Belgium. Buried in Rifle Cemetery Belgium.

Later we read:

He was one of those people who are faithful in all they do, a good son, a good servant, a good soldier and a good Christian. He enlisted in August 1914 and his fear during training was that there would be no fighting left for him. At the very moment he was killed, he might have been safe at the base after being in hospital, but wrote: "I must get back to the boys." There was something peculiarly loveable about him, and his frank, fearless looks were a true index of his character. Our sympathy goes to his parents in the loss of their only child, but we also share with them their pride in his good life and the gallant death by which he has gone to his God, R.I.P.

The Rifle Cemetery (Warneton) is one of several in Ploegsteert Wood, not far from Armentieres. It is a small cemetery containing 230 burials from the Great War and apart from one Canadian they are all from the United Kingdom. Walter "Billy" Payne was not married. In addition to his personal memorial in the village church, he is also commemorated on the Eton Wick Memorial and on the Eton Church Memorial Gates.

CWGC Graves Registration Report Form

CWGC Rifle House Cemetery Plan, Warneton

Walter Payne's Commonwealth War Graves Commission page

Walter Payne's King & Country page

Walter Payne'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.

Michelin published a series of illustrated guides to the battlefield in memory of their their employees who died for their country. The series includes Ypres and the Battles of Ypers.

Charities of the Parish of Eton - The Baldwin's Bridge Trust

The other early parish charity was the Baldwin's Bridge Trust. The original bridge must have been built by the early Middle Ages, but the Trust to ensure its maintenance was not founded until the year 1592. Thirteen parishioners made up the original trustees and among them were three members of the Bell family, Henry, John and Matthew, all possibly from the Wick. In the centuries since other members of the village have served, both as trustees and Bridgemaster (Chairman of the Trust); William Woolhouse in the eighteenth century, Edward Pote Williams in the nineteenth and Mrs Florence Wilson in 20th century.

The income of the Trust comes from the rent of houses built on land owned by the Trust just south of the bridge in Eton High Street. The trustees are empowered to spend the money on repairing the bridge and its surface or erecting a new one when necessary, and to spend any excess money 'in such ways as seem to be best and to the most advantage of the inhabitants and parishioners of Eton'.  For many decades there was apparently no balance to spend, in fact not until 1668 when the apprenticeship fees of four boys were paid. There followed another long period of inactivity until the middle of the eighteenth century, when for a short period bundles of flax were bought and given to needy parishioners for spinning. This was not a very common method of giving help, but had been tried for many years with varying degrees of success in Windsor. In 1714 and 1764 twenty six families were given gifts of food and later in the century £20 was expended on the poor. At the turn of the century flour and faggots were given to the workhouse and a few years later clothing and blankets were sent to cottagers suffering from the floods.  As the century progressed the number and variety of causes helped by the Trust increased considerably. Many of the old causes are now  irrelevant to the modern way of life, but numerous clubs and societies have benefited from financial help from the Trust, and in 1947 many people were grateful for contributions from it to alleviate the damage caused by the floods of that year.

Since 1773 the trustees have also been responsible for disposing of the interest from the £150 left in the will of Joseph Benwell, and since 1787 for the interest from Joseph Pote's legacy. The way in which Benwell's money is spent is at the discretion of the trustees and was usually expended in providing coals for elderly people. On the other hand Joseph Pote directed that the income from his legacy should be spent twice yearly on bread to be given to poor parishioners attending particular church services. For well over sixty years the terms of the will were complied with literally, but during the last century this became unpractical and instead the bread was distributed to the houses of the poor. Today, with the change in the value of money, the combine income from the two legacies is too small to do even that. In recent years further donations have been received and they, together with money from the Baldwin Bridge Trust itself, is used so that over a hundred senior citizens each year at Christmas receive a voucher which can be spent at one of three shops in the parish selling not only bread but also other groceries.

A history of the Baldwin's Bridge Trust of Eton was published in 1976 by F.I. Wilson. Mrs Wilson became Bridgemaster in 1956, the first woman to be appointed to the post.

A list naming most of the Bridgemaster can be found on the Baldwin's Bridge Trust website 

Charities of the Parish of Eton

Charities established before modern times were almost always based on parishes; the incumbent and churchwardens frequently being made responsible for their administrations. Several ancient Eton charities still exist and because of these even today the boundaries of the old ecclesiastical parish has a relevance, for the money and gifts paid out from the old charities can only be given to those residing within that parish. The greater part of Eton Wick lying west of the Village Hall is outside the old Eton Parish.

The earliest known benefactors were both Provosts, Henry Bost (1477-1504) and Roger Lupton (1504-1535), whose legacies provided that 13s 4d and 10s should each year be given to the poor of Eton. Many of the other donors were Provosts, Fellows and Masters of Eton College, notably Dr Henry Godolphin, who founded the almshouses in 1695, and Mark Anthony Porny, whose will made possible the establishment of the Porny School in 1813. Although both buildings are in the town, people from Eton Wick are of course eligible to go to both, and the Porny Bibles given to prize -winning children at Eton Wick School are the modern practical compromise for the gifts of bibles and prayer books once given to all Porny school leavers of good character.

Money left as legacies was often invested in Consuls or property so that the interest and rents could be used for the benefit of the poor after the necessary deductions for expenses and taxes.  In 1612 the Provost, Henry Savile, and ten other feoffees or trustees for the poor of Eton, including Matthew Bell of the Wick, purchased two houses in Windsor. This became the basis of the trust known as the Eton Poor Estate. The money for this came from legacies, and further gifts made it possible later in the century to buy land in Langley Marish and in 1716 'all that messuage and close of land known as Wheatbutts'. Wheatbutts remained the property of the trust until sold at public auction by Mr Vaughan, himself a well remembered benefactor of the village.

Account books and deeds have survived from the early seventeenth century and show clearly how the income was spent.  Each year £2 was given to the overseers of the poor to be distributed as bread or vouchers while the rest was used to help individuals in times of need, to help clothe boys just starting work, to pay the rent of the almshouses and to apprentice boys to a good master. Two or three hundred years ago apprenticeship involved far more than it does today. Indentures had to be signed and a premium paid by the boy's parents or some charitable body such as the Poor Estate. In the seventeenth century the premium could be as much as £ 5 and tradesmen and farmers as well as poor parents availed themselves of the charity. The master promised to teach the boy his trade and to house and feed him for the full seven years of his apprenticeship. In the archaic language of the indenture the boy agreed not only to serve his master well and keep his secrets but to refrain from playing unlawful games and contracting marriage. So must have read the indenture of Francis Cox of Eton Wick, who was apprenticed to Joseph Piper, basket maker of Eton. Three years later his younger brother, John, was apprenticed to a 'joyner' of Pall Mall, London.

Of the people who received help in times of distress, Elizabeth Fennel can be recognised as living in the Wick. In 1725 she had been a widow for several years when she was allowed £1 by the Trust. Her husband, William, had been farmer of Dairy Farm and in the same year another widow, Joan Fennel, received the same amount. Neither woman could write and merely made her mark.

In the second half of the nineteenth century the Trustees widened the scope for which the money could be spent. From 1867 money was set aside to pay for outfits for selected girls when entering service. In later years this was extended to include shop girls and even a monitor at Eton Wick School though it was never thought right to include factory girls. Thirty shillings (£1.50) was
the amount usually given to each girl and in 1903 one village girl who went to work at the Greyhound spent her money as follows:

	£	s	d
Jacket		13	11
Nightdress		3	11
Flannelette		5	11	½
Silk		3	11
Stockings		1	2	½
Gloves		1	0
	£1	10	0

The same lucky girls, about eight a year, were rewarded with a further with a further thirty shillings if their work was satisfactory to their employers during that year.

In 1883 the momentous decision was made to use the charity's funds to pay the salary of a qualified nurse who would attend to the sick poor in the parish. They had first claim on her time and attention. Others could ask for help in times of emergency or for periodic visits, but were expected to contribute to a Parish Nurse Fund. There were plenty of patients in town and village who needed her help. Scarlet fever and diphtheria were killers and epidemics of these and other infectious diseases still occurred. Flooding too left its aftermath of illness, especially in the terrible year of 1894 when the Queen sent soup and carts to help with the relief of those affected. In 1912 the nurse took it upon herself to examine the school children, then still quite a new idea, and in 1916 it was found necessary, and possible, to employ a second nurse who would be responsible only for those living in Eton Wick. Few villages were as fortunate.

At the turn of the century the trustees of the Eton Poor Estate began another charitable venture, that of giving weekly pensions to 'aged poor persons'. In the first year five shillings (25p) was given to each of six pensioners though it was not always possible to maintain this number. Today there is no need for apprenticeship money or girls' outfits or even a parish nurse, but still about thirty elderly people from Eton Wick benefit from the extras that a pension from the Poor Estate can buy.


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

The Village School Remembered by Frank Bond

Some months ago I attended St. John the Baptist Church for the funeral of a young villager, and was pleasantly surprised when a man approached me and asked if I was Mr Bond, and did I recognise him. My responses were 'yes' and 'no'. He then explained that he was Mr Hampshire, a name I readily recalled as a former Headmaster of our village school. He was apparently living in Wokingham. In truth I regretted not having recognised him, but could not remember having had much contact with him during his Eton Wick tenure. Even so I was much impressed that after thirty years he came back to attend the funeral of this forty one years old man, who I presumed had been a pupil of his so long ago. At this point I can well imagine Eton Wick's late author and historian, Dr Judith Hunter's oft quoted advice "Frank, in history we must never presume!' - Sorry Judith -. 

This incident had me thinking about my own school years of 1927 - 36 which started in the village school until I was seven years old; and then on leaving the infants came the long tramps to Eton Porny School until I was fourteen. This was normal for all the Eton Wick boys, but girls had the option of doing all their schooling in Eton Wick. There were of course no school buses, no school canteen or school meals, which effectively necessitated returning to our village homes for the midday meal, and then a return to Eton and school. Classes were known as 'standards' and we had the same teacher for most subjects for the year. The exception was for woodwork, gardening, swimming and occasional sport. Gardening and singing were the subjects that Mr Frampton, the Porny Headmaster, took charge of. The school had its own site of allotments; situated on the 'Slads' and just outside the Eton recreation ground west boundary. Even on really hot days the 'head' would not allow drinking at the water pump because in his opinion men never worked as well when they had taken a drink; after 3pm it was acceptable. Rudyard Kipling's famous `IF' poem could well have added a two line sequel - "If you can't sing, or strive away in your allotment you are never going to be a man my Son".

 Other Eton Porny teachers of the early 1930's included Mr Hoare, a firm disciplinarian, which in those days meant use of a cane, either by necessity or perhaps mood. He often had the lads chanting - "Old Colin Hoare is a very good man, he tries to teach us all he can, Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, and never forgets to give us the stick". In todays' world talk of corporal punishment is an abhorrence, but it also did much to deter the big boy bully. Perhaps a price that some tormented youngsters of today would consider worth paying.

Every age has its beliefs until technology makes them outdated. Mr Hoare told us that skyscraper buildings would never be a feature in England, because unlike New York we lacked the rocky ground on which to support them. I am sure there are Londoners who would now wish that was so. Also, that men were hoping to  land on the moon, but of course that would never be, due to lack of air. Again, man wanted to split the atom, but fortunately he could not, because if he did there would be such a chain reaction that the world would not survive. In little more than ten years Nagasaki and Hiroshima knew otherwise.

Probably Mr Hoare was well regarded by pupils on account of his having served and been wounded in the Great War of 1914 -18. Colin had a silver plate inside his forehead where he had suffered a shrapnel injury. I conclude - must not presume again - that he had volunteered to join the army in the early months of the war. With little more than perhaps heads above the trench parapets there were many such head wounds; until in late 1915 when the steel helmet came into general use. All those serving before this date were volunteers, as conscription was first introduced in the spring of 1916. As a teacher he had several unusual methods. This was a time of much unemployment and like many others he advocated the slogan of 'Buy British'. He would say "My shoes are British made of British leather" -. "my pocket knife was Sheffield made", and so he went on. Occasionally he would say "That will do for lessons today boys, you may now ask any question you choose". This was always popular, although on one such session a lad said "Sir, when I go on the common I sometimes see a cow jump on the back of another, why is that?" The quick reply "I do not want that sort of question." 

Other teachers in the early years of 1930 included a young Welshman; Mr Hughes, whose favourite subject was natural history. Beyond any doubt, an enthusiastic teacher quickly imparts his knowledge to willing pupils and we were soon observing the plants and birds around us. Regrettably he only stayed at Eton a few years before moving on to South Africa. A very unusual move, and certainly at that time when working class just did not travel either for work or holiday. Another young teacher was Mr Birmingham. I think this could have been his first school as he certainly had much difficulty in controlling the boys. I do hope in time he acquired whatever it takes to apply discipline. He was kindness itself, even buying prizes for particular achievement. Most boys wore short trousers until they left school at fourteen years of age. There was no school uniform, although the 'Porny' football team played in chocolate brown and blue, the school colours. Eton always had a good football side, and Mr Frampton was known to say 'all the best footballers came from Eton Wick' - the long walks every day to and from school gave the village lads better leg muscles. He certainly had no cause to include me. 

These were turbulent years, as Europe was bubbling over yet again, despite there being only seventeen years since the Great War had ended. Mussolini had sent an Italian invading force into Abyssinia - now Ethiopia - and were reported to have used gas against the natives. Maybe they did, but news reporters have been known to exaggerate or distort facts. In Spain General Franco had opposed the establishment and the country was struck by civil war. 

To some extent this resulted in Spanish pupils evacuating to Britain, although I never knew of any living locally. On one occasion Mr Frampton, the 'Porny' head, announced that a football match had been arranged between the Eton School and a Spanish boys team. He expressed sadness at their plight and asked for every consideration toward the Spanish visitors. I think he stopped short of asking 'Porny' to throw the match but I got the impression he would be pleased to think the opposition won. 

I had left school four years before changes really had an impact. After the third year the country was at war and then came the change in school status, with newly opened Ragstone Road School drawing all the pupils over eleven years of age. Both Eton Wick and Eton were Church of England schools and of course still are; but I do wonder if present day respects of other creeds results in less imposed influence of our traditional faiths. Apart from a small Dame School in the early nineteenth century there was no school in Eton Wick until 1840 when thanks largely to the enthusiasm of a young Eton College tutor, Henry J Chitty Harper, who was also a Conduct (Priest) and of the Eton Provost (also Vicar of Eton Parish) a site was found, and money raised by donations and subscription for the villagers' first school. It was not large, having just one classroom 29 x 21 feet; brick built and situated at what we today know as the junction of the 'Walk' with the main road. In 1840 there was no 'Walk' road; at best just a track leading to the Greyhound public house, approximately 130 metres north. The pub had only been licenced about seven years earlier, and the village population was less than four hundred. 

The site was leased from William Goddard of Bell Farm for the generous sum of ten shillings a year rent; roughly equal to a labourer's weekly wage at that time. The building cost £259. Education was not compulsory, but pupils were expected to pay a penny or two where possible. It may not seem much to pay, but with a family of several at school it would have been difficult. Although unwittingly at the time, William Goddard was responsible for the later development of Boveney New Town. In 1870 he sold Bell Farm to Eton Council for their town sewage. As we have seen previously, within a few years the Council sold nine acres of their acquisition as being surplus to their needs, and in only a short while Alma, Inkerman and Northfield Roads were created and duly lined with late nineteenth century homes, effectively doubling the population, which soon made the first school of 1840 inadequate, and in 1888 a second larger school was built in Sheepcote, adjacent to the church which was built twenty two years earlier. 

Rev. Harper later became the Bishop of Christchurch in New Zealand, superseding Bishop George Selwyn, who had in fact been the Bishop of all New Zealand. Previously both men had been Conducts at Eton together, and both had worked beyond their College remit. Selwyn preached from Boveney Church and in Windsor before going 'down under'. He also rowed for Cambridge in the first varsity boat race of 1829 before going to Eton as a tutor. Both men were larger than life. 

The article is by Frank Bond and was first published in the Eton Wick Newsletter, Our Village. The Newsletter is produced and distributed by the Eton Wick Village Hall Committee.

A VIEW OF FRANK-PLEDGE WITH THE GENERAL COURT BARON 2nd June 1908

NAMES OF THE JURORS. 

Mr. EDWARD COMPTON AUSTEN LEIGH, Foreman. Mr. HENRY BUNCE, Mr. EDWARD LITTLETON VAUGHAN, Mr. ALEXANDER CHARLES TUTT, Mr. SIDNEY EVANS, Mr. FREDERICK JOHN LOVELL, Mr. GEORGE GOSLING, Mr. ROWLAND BOND, Mr. CECIL HOWLETT, Mr. WILLIAM ELKINS, Mr. HENRY CALTHROP HOLLWAY CALTHROP, Mr. HENRY POWELL. 

The PRESENTMENTS and ORDERS following were taken, confirmed, and established, as well by the said Lord, as also by the consent of the Freeholders and Tenants of the said Manor, with the advice of the said Steward as follows :— 

The Jurors present that Mr. JAMES TARRANT be continued Bailiff of the said Manor. 

They present that Mr. WILLIAM MIDDLETON be Hayward of this Manor. 

The Jurors present that the railings round the Cricket pitch on the Great Common be allowed to remain as well at the will of the Lord of the Manor as of the Freeholders and Tenants of the Common. 

The PRESENTMENTS and ORDERS for the GREAT and LITTLE COMMONS, for the stint and rate of Cattle to be kept and depastured there from the First day of May, until the First day of August, and for the rate and stint of Beasts and Sheep on the Lammas Grounds, Common Fields and Commons to be kept and depastured from the First day of August to the Thirty-first day of October, and for the regulation and good management of the Commons, Lammas Grounds and Common Fields of the said Manor throughout the year made at a view of Frank-pledge with the General Court Baron, held in and for the said Manor, on Monday the Sixth clay of March, 1871, then in force were confirmed. END OF COURT.  

Below will be found a copy of the Presentments and Orders made on the Sixth day of March, 1871:

PRESENTMENTS and ORDERS for the GREAT and LITTLE COMMONS, for the stint and rate of Cattle to be kept and depastured there, 5 from the First day of May, the. time of opening the Common, until the First day Of August, viz.:— 

I. The Jurors present and order—That no Cattle shall be turned upon the Great or Little Commons, until after Six o'clock in the Evening of the First day of May in every year.

II. They present and order—That no Freeholder, Farmer, or Tenant, hath or shall have a right to keep or feed on the said Common, but after the rate of one Beast for every five acres of land ; but if any Freeholder, Farmer, or Tenant, shall have three odd acres, then one Beast for the three odd acres which is to extend to a person having three acres only ; and likewise after the rate of one Sheep for every acre he holds : and that no Townsman, Cottager, or Resident Farmer, for or in respect of his house, hath or shall have faring or Common for more than one Beast, upon pain for every offence, after notice given of Ten Shillings to the Lord of this Manor ; and Sixpence per head to the Hayward for all above that number when Pounded : and that no person shall have a right to turn out on the said Commons any Cattle, unless such Cattle shall be his or her own property, and actually kept and used by him or her under the like penalties. 6 III. They present and order--That no Freeholder, Farmer, or Tenant, Townsman, or Cottager, bath or shall have a right to let any faring on the said Commons, from the opening of the Commons until the 1st of August, under the penalty, for every offence, of Ten Shillings to the Lord of this Manor, and One Shilling per head to the Hayward when Pounded. 

Ty. They present and order—That no Townsman, Cottager, or Resident Farmer paying rates for more than one house shall have a right to turn more than one head of Cattle on the said Commons, until after the First of August.

PRESENTMENTS and ORDERS for the rate and stint of Beasts and Sheep in the LAMMAS GROUNDS, COMMON FIELDS, and COMMONS, in the said Manor, to be kept and depastured from the First of August, to the Thirty-first of October, in manner and form, and under such penalties as hereinafter follow, viz.:—

I. The Jurors present and order—That every Freeholder and Tenant shall have a right, for every acre of his land, to keep one Sheep, and for every five acres, one Beast; and if any one of the said Freeholders or Tenants, shall have three odd acres, then one Beast for the said three odd acres; which is to extend to a person having three acres only.

II. They present and order—That if the Freeholders or Tenants aforesaid do keep any Cattle, Sheep, Horse, Oxen, or Kine, after notice thereof given by any Freeholder, Farmer, or Tenant of the Manor, or by the Bailiff or Hayward of the said Manor, contrary to the stint and rate herein expressed, then they and every of them shall forfeit every time they shall so offend, after warning given, Twenty Shillings to the Lord of this Manor, and One Shilling per head to the Hayward when Pounded.

III. It is presented and ordered by the same Court—That no Householder or Cottager within the said Town or Manor, hath a right to keep, or shall keep, above two Beasts, whereof one of them may be hired, upon the Commons, Lammas Ground, or Common Field, after the First day of August, upon pain for every Cow, or other Beast so to be kept contrary to the said order, of Ten Shillings to the Lord of this Manor, and One Shilling to the Hayward when Pounded, after warning once given.

IV. It is presented and ordered—That no Tenant or Inhabitant within the said Manor, that hath any ground, shall let his, her, or their Common Right in the Commons, Lammas Grounds, or Common Fields, unless it be to his neighbour dwelling in the said Parish, upon pain of Forty Shillings to the Lord of this Manor, for every time so offending.

V. It is presented and ordered—That no Farmer or other person shall let his or their Common for Sheep to any persons but those that have right of Common for Sheep by their land, upon pain of forfeiting to the Lord of this Manor, for every Sheep so taken, One Shilling, and to the Hayward for his pains, Fourpence for every such Sheep.

VI. It is presented and ordered—That no Householder or Cottager shall common in the said Fields until the First of August, but upon leave from the Owners thereof; under the penalty of Forty Shillings to the Lord of this Manor, and One Shilling per head for Cattle, and Twopence per head for Sheep, to the Hayward, when Pounded.

VII. It is presented and ordered—That no Inhabitant or Dweller within the said Manor, shall graze, feed, or keep their Cattle upon any of the lanes or paths, within any of the' Fields Within the Manor aforesaid, upon pain for every time they shall be so taken, after notice given, of Five Shillings to the Lord of this Manor, and One Shilling per head for Horses and Cows, or other Cattle, and Twopence per head for Sheep to the Hayward, when Pounded.

VIII. It is presented and ordered—That every Farmer and other person, shall take their Sheep out of the Common Fields on the First of November, under the penalty of One Shilling per head to the Lord of this Manor, and Fourpence per head to the Hayward, when Pounded.

IX. It is ordered—That no person do turn any Sheep (except 12 Cribbers for the Manor Farm) on the Great Common, till Twelfth of December St. Andrew's Tide, Old Style, under the penalty of One Shilling per head to the Lord of this Manor, and Fourpence to the Hayward, when Pounded.

X. It is ordered—That no Farmer or other keep any Sheep upon the Common Meads, except the Hide and Water Slade, from the First of August until Michaelmas Day, Twenty-ninth of September, upon forfeiture, for every Sheep kept to the contrary, of One Shilling to the Lord of this Manor, and Fourpence to the Hayward ; and also to take out their other Cattle from the said Fields by All Saints, First of November, upon pain of forfeiting, for every Beast, of One Shilling to the Lord of this Manor, and Fourpence to the Hayward ; and also to take out their other Cattle from the said Fields by All Saints, First of November, upon pain of forfeiting, for every Beast, One Shilling to the Lord of this Manor, and Fourpence to the Hayward, when Pounded.

XI It is presented and ordered—That no Owner, Townsman, or Cottager in this Manor, shall have a right to Hogs or Pigs into the Commons, Common Grounds, within this Manor (except he, she, or turn more than Two Fields, or Lammas they, shall not turn on a Beast, and then to be allowed to turn on Four Hogs or Pigs) ; and that every Owner or Renter of five acres of land shall not have a right to turn in more than One Hog or Pig, and so after that rate ; and that all such Hogs or Pigs shall be rung before they are turned out, on pain of forfeiting Two Shillings per head to the Lord of this Manor, and Sixpence per head to the Hayward, for every Hog or Pig so turned out, above the rate aforesaid ; and for every Hog or Pig so turned out without being rung, as often as they shall be Pounded.

XII. It is presented and ordered also—That no Hogs or Pigs be turned into the Corn Fields until all the Harvest shall be got in, under the penalty of Two Shillings per head to the Lord of this Manor; and that no person shall suffer their Hogs or Pigs to run in the streets or lanes of this Manor without a keeper, upon pain of forfeiting One Shilling to the Hayward, when every such Hog or Pig shall be Pounded by him.

XIII. It is presented and ordered—That every Tenant, for his part and proportion against his land, shall well and sufficiently make and scour the Ditches about the said Commons, in every place where need requires, within the said Manor or Lordship, before the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, Thirtieth of November ; upon pain of forfeiting to the Lord of this said Manor, for every Pole not sufficiently done, Four Shillings ; and thenceforth to keep and maintain the said Commons with sufficient Hedges and Ditches from time to time, as often as shall be needful, upon the like pain for every time so offending as aforesaid ; and yearly after to be made sufficiently secure by All Saint's Day, First of November, upon the like pain of Four Shillings for every Pole so neglected.

XIV. It is presented and ordered—That all out-fences of the parish be kept by those that are Occupiers of those Lands, as well after Lammas as before for the preservation of the Corn; upon pain of forfeiture for every time, after notice given, of Five Shillings to the Lord of the Manor.

XV. It is presented and ordered—That no Inhabitant within the said Parish take in any Beast of any Foreigner, on pretence of bringing them for his own, to defraud his neighbours ; upon pain of forfeiting for every Beast so taken, Forty Shillings to the Lord of this Manor: and also every Inhabitant to set the Initials of his own name on his Beasts, that the Hayward may take notice to whom the Beasts belong ; upon pain of forfeiting, for every time, after notice given, Five
Shillings to the Hayward when Pounded.

XVI. It is ordered—That the Farmers be allowed to sow Five acres of Turnips for every Twenty Acres they hold, they keeping sufficient Fence.

XVII. It is ordered—That all in-ground be excluded, in Lammas or Common Land, from a right of Common, and that no person holding them shall have right of Common or Lammas for the same.

PRESENTMENTS and ORDERS for the Regulation and good Management of the COMMONS, LAMMAS GROUNDS, and COMMON FIELDS of the said Manor, throughout the Year.

I. The Jurors present and order—That any person, who does not pay Parish Duties, in the Parish of ETON and Manor aforesaid, and who is not clear on the books, hath, or shall have any right to Common on the Commons, Lammas Grounds, or Common Fields, in the said Manor.

II. They present and order—That no person having right of Common on the said Common, Lammas Grounds, or Common Fields, of the said Manor, hath, or shall have a right to rent more than One head of Cattle or Faring from his neighbour (except Sheep), under the penalty for every time so offending of Twenty Shillings to the Lord of this Manor.

III. They present and order—That all Farmers as well as Inhabitants of the said Manor, shall make the Hayward the keeper of their Cattle, and shall pay Sixpence for every Beast at the time of putting such Beast into the Commons, Lammas Grounds, or Common Fields, and Fourpence per head per week afterwards, as long as they shall be kept in the Commons, Lammas Grounds, or Common Fields, of this Manor : and that the Cattle be marked with the initial of the Owner before put in.
ur The Hayward is desired not to remove the Cattle from the Lammas Grounds into the Commons, until the dusk of the Evening.

IV. It is ordered—That no Geese be kept at any time hereafter upon the Commons, Lammas Grounds, and Common Fields, aforesaid, upon pain for every Goose or Gander there kept to the contrary, after notice thereof once given, of Five Shillings to the Lord of this Manor, and Fourpence to the Hayward, when Pounded.

V. It is ordered—That no person be allowed to drive Sheep through the Commons, from the gate at the Lower end of the Common to the Upper end, and from the Upper end to the Lower end; and that they take no more time than necessary in driving them across at the Upper and Lower end of the Common, under the Penalty of Forty Shillings to the Lord of this Manor, and Five Shillings to the Hayward, for every offence.

VI. It is ordered—That no person shall drive his Waggon, Cart, or any other vehicle from the Upper end of the Common to the Lower end, nor from the Lower end of the Common to the Upper end, upon forfeiture, for every time so Offending of Ten Shillings to the Lord of this Manor, and One Shilling to the Hayward.

VII. That no person shall be at liberty .to change their Cattle turned into the Commons, Lammas Grounds, or Common Fields, of this Manor, above once in every 48 hours, under the penalty of Twenty Shillings per head to the Lord of this Manor, and One Shilling per head to the Hayward.

VIII. That no person shall be at liberty to turn into the Commons, Lammas Grounds, or Common Fields of this Manor, any Stone-Horse, Rigg, Bull, or Ox, under the penalty of Twenty Shillings per head to the Lord of this Manor, and One Shilling per head to the Hayward when Pounded; nor any Distempered Cattle, under the penalty of Five Pounds per head to the Lord of this Manor, and Five Shillings per head to the Hayward.

IX. That no person shall suffer their Sheep to feed on the young clover, under the penalty of Sixpence per head to the Lord of this Manor, and Twopence per head to the Hayward, when Pounded.

X. The Jurors present—That no person or persons shall build fence, ditch, or do any act whatsoever, which shall be obstructive to the Cattle grazing on the Common, Lammas Lands, or Common Fields in the said Manor, or be otherwise detrimental to the Commonable rights and privileges of the Lord and the Commoners of the said Manor under penalty of Forty Shillings to the Lord of the Manor for each offence,

XI. It is ordered—That the Bailiff shall have the power to suspend the Hayward in his office, for neglect of duty, or for any improper conduct connected therewith. But the Bailiff shall, within six days after the charge or charges are laid, convene the Jury, who shall be eligible to appoint a new Hayward, if they consider such course necessary.

XII. It is further agreed and ordered—That the Steward of this Court may alter matters of form in these Presentments and Orders, not altering matters of substance.

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The Frank-Pledge has a history dating back to King Canute in the 11th century. Read more about its history here.

General Court Baron has a history going back to feudal times. Read more about its history here.