The way things were — in sickness and in health

The treatment of illness before the National Health Service in 1948 was unbelievably different from what we have today. My earliest memories are of the 1920s — 1930s; which were themselves much improved from earlier years. Doctors were not normally afforded and the district nurse was a much-respected member of the village community. It was 1883 when the Eton Poor's Estate first paid for a nurse to attend the sick. The Eton Wick population was growing and would have been between 500 and 700. Later a resident nurse was appointed, and she lived in a wooden and thatched bungalow in Wheatbutts orchard. 

The complaints of scarlet fever, measles, diphtheria, and tuberculosis are fortunately no longer the dread illnesses of yesteryear. I was about 6 or 7 years old when scarlet fever swept through my family, necessitating a six-week spell in the Cippenham Isolation Hospital. The homesick room was sealed and fumigated, and books or soft toys used by the patients were destroyed. While in hospital, visitors could only stand outside the closed window and wave. After the six weeks of isolation we returned home and duly gave the fever to another in the family. My youngest brother, who was barely two years old, was in hospital while I was there. Mother was so worried and asked me to look after Fred. How on earth can a 6-year-old look after a 2-year-old in what I regarded as an alien world. We were ministered regular doses of filthy greenish-grey liquorice water from a dirty chipped enamel cup, presumably to keep us all 'regular'. Even now after 80 plus years, I find myself twisting my nose and mouth at the thought of it. 

By the time my family had each had scarlet fever my Mother had endured a long summer of weary treks across the 'slipes' (now we call it all Wood Lane) to the Cippenham Isolation Hospital. After WW2 it became a nurses' hostel. Ironically there was an Isolation Cottage Hospital in Eton Wick at this time, but alas, I understand, not for the use of Eton Wick residents. It had been built by the Eton Council in 1883 on the southeast corner of Bell Farm - which the council had purchased in 1875, primarily to enable sewage to be pumped from the town and College, and spread on 'sewer beds' to be located at Bell Farm. Of the remainder of the farm, seven acres were privately sold, a plot at a time, for homes on an area later known as Boveney Newtown, and the remainder was kept as a Council farm. 

Eton Wick had no main drainage until the mid-20th century, about 60 years later, so could not have benefitted from the sewage farm, and was denied the hospital also. In the early 1800s raw sewage was often disposed of in open ditches and subsequently found its way into the river. In Eton there was just such a ditch along Baldwin Shore (by Baldwin Bridge) surely an unappealing sight and stench in the college area of Eton, albeit up to the 1840s, when it was covered over. The need to use Bell Farm was undoubtedly justified. 

In 1893 an epidemic of measles caused the Eton Wick School to close for a week but undoubtedly the really dreaded complaint before the NHS came into being was TB (Tuberculosis). Improved drugs and treatment in the post-war years brought hope and comfort for the sufferers. Even naming the illness was often avoided and it became known as 'consumption'. During my own school years of the early 1930s several of my childhood contemporaries died of TB and one particularly poignant memory is of a sad family walking from Alma Road to the village churchyard with a child's coffin held between them. The day of the limousine had not yet arrived, although generally the village builder, Alf Miles, who was also the undertaker, provided a bier. Perhaps even the comparatively minimal cost of a bier was prohibitive. Times were hard but nobody glibly talked of poverty as is bandied around today. 

In 1913 we had yet another amenity that to my knowledge never did be of any service to the

village. This was a mortuary that was mostly used for drownings at a time when the river was popularly used for bathing, swimming and sometimes for a 'soap and soak' wash down after a hot day's work. The river was fairly safe for local people who knew it well, and not so safe for the many day trippers who came to Windsor by rail and finished up on the Brocas at Eton. Many will remember the old mortuary which stood in a very dilapidated state for many years after WW2 — long after its infrequent use of the 1920s — 1940s. The Jubilee Oak planted in 2012 to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II 60 year on the throne is approximately 20 metres southwest of the Mortuary and about 120 metres southwest of the Isolation Hospital. Before the mortuary was built in 1913 corpses were often kept in the cellars of local public houses. Perhaps a 'cool keep' but it must have been a deterrent to drinkers wanting a cool pint from the cellar after a hard day's toil. 

Family medicine cupboards would probably have included Syrup of Figs, Zam-Buk for chilblains, Sloans or Ellimans ointment, eucalyptus for colds, Wintergreen ointment, Iodine, Germolene, cinnamon for fevers and of course bandages and plasters. My family chest also had linseed oil that was mixed with oats when the workhorse had a cold and cough. Dad's greengrocery round required a fit horse at all times; consequently, after cold, wet days the horse was top priority for a dry and vigorous rub down; only after the horse was comfortably stabled would Dad think of changing his own wet clothes. All traders gave their horse this love and care. When trucks displaced the animals the loving concern ended, also bringing, perhaps, a different attitude to work. 

In the pre-WW2 years, and before NHS, visits to doctors and dentists were avoided as much as possible, despite the facts of chilblains and toothache causing regular trouble. As a village cub around 1932, I well remember a visit to the pack from a Gibbs Dentifrice representative. After distributing hands-full of peanuts to us we were told to chew them for at least 24 times before swallowing. I think perhaps he was the original 'nut case'. Few of us knew about hygiene, and regular cleaning of teeth - it seems incredible now, with so much attention to such matters. We were told we could purchase Gibbs Dentifrice for tuppence (less than 1p). It came in an all tin about the size of a shoe polish tin, and it was pink and hard. nothing like today's range of tubed pastes. A small jigsaw puzzle also came as a 'freebee' with the Dentifrice. Yes! all for less than one new pence. 

An extraction in the 1930s cost around 3 shillings and 6 pence (17% new pence) and when prescription charges for medicines were first introduced in 1952 it was one shilling (5p), only to be abolished in 1965 and re-introduced three years later. 

One middle-aged lady very dear to me had all her teeth extracted in one visit to Windsor and then walked home to Eton Wick. Again this was the early 1930s. 

Hospital patients, of course, were fed, but certainly no menu to choose from, and weekend visitors often took jam or dripping to add a little extra to the afternoon tea. Perhaps I should have titled this article 'Lest we forget'. 

By Frank Bond 

Click here to read Our Village August 2012.


This article was originally published in the Eton Wick Newsletter - Our Village as is republished with the kind permission of the Eton Wick Village Hall Committee. Click here to go to the Collection page.

Tough Assignment - Harry Cook

Harry, aged 4, in his Sunday best
showing his early love of cricket.

On September 30th, 1985, a brief story of his life was told by a man who has lived in the village of Eton Wick all his life, and has been associated with the chapel since his boyhood. This man is a very rare person and for those who know him and whom he has helped, (and there must be very many), and for those who have heard him pray at the Chapel Prayer Meetings at 6pm Sunday evenings, he seems to have a special 'closeness with God', and that relationship is reflected in his daily life.

He epitomises what the disciple Peter could well have been like - a very human person with a loving heart, far bigger than most. He truly walks with his God.

Harry Cook was born on May 14th, 1911 at the house where he still lives - 18, Inkerman Road. He recalled that when only a few months old, and in his mother's arms, the house called Busane, which stood on the site where Bryanston now stands, (and originally called Farm Belle), was burned down. His father lived at Busane while still a bachelor. He was a 'fly driver', or a registered horse drawn cab driver. His father was also a keen gardener and in the grounds of Busane he had 21 cold frames and 2 greenhouses. He was an artistic gardener and prepared hanging baskets and displays for boat houses and house parties etc. In the cold frames he grew many violets. When the Chapel was built his father collected £10 towards the costs - a large amount of money at that time.

Harry had one brother and one sister, the sister sadly dying when very young. He attended Eton Porny School and walked most days along the roughly made up Eton Wick Road which had no kerbs, and played football as he and his friends ran to school. There were very few cars at all, and when a horse drawn cab came along, they would get behind it to sit and ride on the axle. This was called 'whip-whip-behind', with the cab driver throwing the whip back behind him over the cab, to deter such naughty boys! Harry's father died when Harry was five.

Harry remained at school until he was 14. His first job was as an office boy for Harvey and Squelches. A year later when 15, he became apprenticed to Streets the builders. His apprenticeship lasted for 5 years with a further 2 years as an 'Improver'. A total of 7 years apprenticeship. As an Improver he earned 17s a week (85p) and before that 9s a week (45p), with increases of is a week each year. He would leave Eton Wick at 6.45 am each morning and walk to work at Slough to start at 8am. He finished at 5pm and walked home. On Saturdays he worked from 8am until 1pm. His neighbour then, and now, Mr Jack White, walked continously in this pattern for some 30 years while working, and still enjoys walking.

While very young Harry was taken to the chapel by his mother and passed through the Sunday School. He was eventually taken in as a Sunday School Teacher by Mrs Tough. Harry remembers her as a stern lady, but she had a lovely face. "I think she was a lovely lady". Harry's father would take her in his cab to meetings at Queen's Street and Cookham Dean and would wait to take her home to Eton Wick. This information was passed on by Harry's mother.

Harry's first preaching appointment was at Dedworth in Windsor Baptist Church when he was 22. Preachers were in short supply and often took six or seven services a quarter, travelling by bicycle as there were few cars.

In 1932 while working as a plumbers mate with a man called Calder, they decided to go into business on their own. Pay then was ls.5hd an hour, London rate, and ls.4hd an hour, local rate. Calder and Cook, plumbers and hot water fitters, were based in Alpha Street, Slough. After about 2 years they separated, because 'his wife wanted to run the firm, and I wasn't under no pettycoat government!'.

From 1934 Harry worked from Eton Wick, and, but for the war, continued active work for the next 50 years in and around the village.

When the school room (Tough Memorial Hall) was built in 1934, Harry was asked by Mr Chew to be clerk of works (unpaid). There were many problems during the building, with the builder not too particular with materials used. Harry insisted, for example, that the wood covering the lower walls around the schoolroom were of pine. It was Mr Chew who persuaded Harry to become self-employed.

At this time there was a small isolation hospital in Eton Wick which had belonged to the Eton Board of Health, and it was proposed to change the hospital into two bungalows. 'The hospital had lovely 18" brickwork'. The conversion was wanted to house a cowman for Bell Farm. Harry submitted a tender and was given the job. During this year of 1934 he saw Bobby Calvert of Eton and arranged for timber on monthly credit. 'You couldn't get loans from banks then'. Harry received a whole lorry load of timber for the conversion at a cost of £20. The two bungalows had to be reconverted into one bungalow as Mr Wright the cowman thought it too small.

Harry continued to preach until the outbreak of war. After the war, Tom Seymour, George Ives, and Harry, were invited onto the Plan as local preachers. Harry felt that he could not accept unless he completed the examinations.

Harry inherited a love of gardening and was an allotment holder from the age of 13. His first plot was on the area or 'slip" on the field to the left of the foothpath enroute to Cippenham. Harry served on the Eton Wick Allotment Committee between 1949 and 1984, as secretary; treasurer; and vice chairman. Over those years he organised 15 village horticultural shows on the Wheatbutts (which was then an old orchard), or in the Village Hall if wet. These generated much interest in horticulture.

Harry has always been interested in dogs, and during a 30 year period owned an alsation and two golden retrievers. Until recently he arranged all the plumbing for the annual Windsor Dog Show. He also had a great love for cricket, and before the war the village team played on the Warren at Saddocks Farm amongst the cow packs and all! - real village green stuff. 'We went round with barrow and shovels before play started. They don't know what it is today. Tailor made cricket. Tuesday's and Thursday's was pitchwork'. When you look at Harry's hands today they are still rough from manual labour with several fingers misshapen from injuries received as a wicket keeper. This, and some arthritis now prevent him from gripping as powerfully as before. If only those hands could tell all their work!

A love of flowers and flower arranging was passed on to Harry from his father. He never received any training, and simply 'chanced his arm' at shows. "I just seemed to have a natural gift". 'Chuck 'em into a vase and let them fall into place'. Harry's gift of flower arranging was a natural talent which led him to be acknowledged as a judge of this art form. During the period of 1956 and 1979 (23 years) Harry was almost solely responsible for the flower arrangements in the chapel - a service of love to the Lord which left the congregations sometimes gasping at their brilliance and innovative skill. It was a privilege to see the displays which were remarked upon by all the visiting preachers for their expression of colour and pattern. It is very doubtful if any church anywhere in the country had such regular displays of pure floral genius. 'It's because I love flowers and put them to best advantage, into the way the Lord arranges them. They seem to arrange themselves. If you go into it, it's amazing - a petal from a seed like a grain of dust'. Harry has always produced exceptional vegetables, particularly onions. At one Harvest Festival several years ago, the Rev. Leslie Groves glanced over the lectern looked at the display and retorted, 'Good heavens, those onions remind me of the Brighton Pavillion'.

Harry entered the Army in 1941 when called up. Until then he had been involved in the war effort building air-raid shelters. He joined the 66th Field Hygiene Section and was attached to a Battalion of the 7th Army in the Middle East. Malaria was a particular problem and part of his work was to investigate where the mosquitos were breeding and decide action to be taken, like the fitting of 'fly doors'. The Bedoins who lived in the area often left their dead animals unburied, and these were breeding grounds for the flies. These Bedoins would be given an ultimatum - either bury the animals or not receive any water from the Army. 'At night there would be so may mosquitoes on the walls that it was impossible to put a penny piece between them".

Harry spent four years in Egypt/Tel Aviv/Syria and Allepo on the Turkish border. When demobbed, he returned to his work and being much involved in and around the village. "I never went pubbing". Harry was then asked - what he considered to be the most important thing in life.

"Caring neighbourly for other people brings contentment. Doing the Lord's work. But he leaves you to do it. No other hand but mine. If you live just for self, can't be any happiness in it. Always pray that the Lord will use me each day. Caring for one another is the greatest thing you can do. Help whatever way you can. Cares. Show that caring. Lord Jesus come into my heart each day. I often prayed with Sylvia and Joyce, the three of us together. 'Use us today Lord'. Then later would say -'He hasn't half used me today - I've been in all sorts of trouble!'.

The Eton Wick History Group is most grateful for the kind permission given by the Eton Wick Methodist Chapel to republish this history, Tough Assignment on this website.

ETON WICK IN THE YEAR 1893

ETON WICK IN THE YEAR 1893 By Frank Bond

1893, the last year before Eton Wick was to have its own Parish Council, independent of Eton (Urban).

The village had a gravel dusty through road, no main drainage, gas or electricity. The Church was twenty six years old, but burials in the village had only started the previous April. No weddings were yet licensed here. The Boveney New Town Chapel was seven years old and the village school five years old.

The largest shop was next to the Three Horse Shoes (Ada Cottage) and was currently a bakery, Post Office and general stores owned by a Mr Lovell. The village had four pubs, The Three Horse Shoes, The Grapes, TheGreyhound and The Shepherds Hut.

Undoubtedly they have all been altered over the years, and certainly at least two of them had extensive stables and cart sheds. All carting of goods and services was by horse and indeed farms and horses accounted for most of the village workers.

There were no phones in the village and Doctors had an appreciable delay in being notified by horse or runner, and getting to the village from Eton. Queen Victoria had four years to go to her Diamond Jubilee and three more before her successor came to the throne Edward the Seventh.

The Zulu Wars were over, but unrest in Africa was gradually leading the country into the Boer War of 1899. Villagers kept ducks, chicken, pigs, goats even cows and grew most of their vegetables. The annual event was the Horticultural Show held in the Wheat Butts field and this event was fifteen years old. It was to survive another forty years. Flooding was a common winter occurrence and the early 1890’s saw severe floods culminating in the disastrous 1894 flood which was higher than that of 1947. Piped water had been enjoyed by the village for less than one year. At the best it provided a stack pipe for two or more houses, but it was a godsend after the garden pump and the well.

The river was used extensively for horse drawn barges, particularly for timber and general freight movements. Boveney Lock was appreciably smaller and was the site of today’s rollers. The present lock was built three years later in 1896 and of course was manually opened and closed. There were many more trees about, and more open space. No street lighting and household lighting was by candles or oil lamps which provided the dim home lights.

Apart from The Walk that was developed about ten years later, the village was much as it is today, in that it was filled with houses. Boveney New Town was new, and several houses were built in Alma Road at this time. The population of Eton Wick with Boveney New Town was about 1000.We had an Isolation Hospital, ten years old, for infectious deceases, that could not be used by Eton Wick residents, and a Sewage Farm that could not be used for our sewage. The Wick had a cricket team established four years and a football club.

The village magazine reports a two hour "N****R" Troupe show in 1892 (could be the Eton Wick minstrels) and a Steam Circus was also held on the Common that year. The old school, now redundant for five years served the village as an Institute, and in fact was the only public hall until the present Village Hall opened thirteen years later. The old hall/school measured 29 x 21 feet. Schooling was free and had been for the last three years. Previously pupils had paid 2d per week.

Rough justice prevailed and most people used their own yardstick in applying it.

There were several ponds of varying sizes and the use of the common was strictly managed. Offences and abuses of the common or Lammas rights were quickly dealt with. The rules as to the use of the common were well defined, as for instance No cattle could be turned out on the commons before six o’clock in the evening of the first day of May.

Certain duties fell to particular people, for instance, corpse were laid out by certain women, in the same way new arrivals were dealt with locally. If the church bell tolled during the week, villagers would guess who was dead as three; two or one peel rang out to signify man, women or child.

A typical day for a labourer, married and living in Eton Wick 100 years ago would have probably be getting up before daybreak in a cold damp house, dressing in thick warm clothes by candle light, going through the other bedrooms to descend the stairs. Maybe having to go outside to pump water whilst his wife either raked yesterday’s ashes from the fire place or she could be lucky and with the aid of the bellows get yesterday’s hot cinders to spring into life. Whichever there was no hot water until the fire was going well. 

Then the breakfast would be porridge oats, some home cured bacon and an egg with bread, but some families in Eton Wick breakfast could have been just brad and dripping, because there was poverty here. Nothing was wasted and the ashes from the fire were used to fill the puddles in the garden path which quite often lead to the bucket lavatory at the end of the property or even shared bucket with the neighbours. 

In all probability he would put on his hobnail boots which could be hardened to the shape of his gait due to the boots being soaked and dried in front of the fire so often. If he was fortunate to have gaiters he would wear them to protect his trousers otherwise it would be a leather strap or a piece of cord to keep his trousers out of the mud. The farm labourer would work at least six full days dawn to dusk, and he would do some hours on Sunday because of the milking and feeding of the animals, for all of this he would get from fifteen shillings to twenty five shillings dependant on his age and job. 

Winter was a hard season for the labourer, and the winter brought sickness and there was no national health parish relief if one became ill and lost their jobs. To large families this was a constant worry. 

The summer months conditions improved but the working day became longer. Almost certainly the house would be infested with beetles, mice and maybe fleas....

As Mister left the house, then misses would call the school children to get up. The bedrooms were cold to get dressed in, but perhaps that hurried them along. Many children were used to sleeping two or three to a bed. In the winter months boots could still be wet from yesterday in spite of being stood in front of the kitchen fire overnight.

The school bell would be ringing as they hurried along past the main road Pubs to school. Meanwhile, mother would use a stiff broom to sweep the stone floors and maybe using an enamel slop bucket empty the bedroom pots. The contents would almost certainly be emptied in the corner of the garden as with no main drainage it would be silly to fill the lavatory bucket or cesspit without a need.

Depending on the day of the week, then so would her days work be governed. Monday was always washday and apart from sickness or young children needing attention washday became a full days labour because cloth was of much heavier weight. Drying of the laundry could be a problem on wet days and the washing would be hung on a clothes horse to dry around the fire. 

For the labourers family life was a continual make do and mend, Penny washers to mend the leak in the kettle or saucepan, continual darning of socks and clothes. The mending of boots and shoes. Much depended on mum’s ability to repair or bodge to keep things going. 

Children would be home from school at midday for dinner as school canteens did not exist. If it was raining hard they would need to run home avoiding the numerous puddles. An adequate change of clothing was unaffordable and good waterproof clothing as yet unthought of. 

The postman would be viewed with anticipation and also apprehension, with no telephones, bad news did not travel fast. Really bad news came by letter edged with black, presumably to prepare the recipient for the contents Death was no stranger one hundred years ago. Child mortality was high and life expectancy was about fifty five years at the time of birth of the average person. 

Despite this, despite poverty and low wages, custom decreed that if one attended a funeral that person wore black and a black armband be worn afterwards. Horse drawn and persons stopped, hats were removed as the bier or horse drawn hearse passed by. Mourners always walked in procession behind, no irreverent haste as of today. 

This was our village one hundred years ago and very much like any other rural place in the land.

Farming around Eton Wick - Bob Tarrant's memories

Robert Valentine Tarrant, known as Bob Tarrant, was born at Crown Farm, Eton Wick, on 18 August 1911. His niece Monica has recorded some of his memories of farming life in and around the village.

Tarrant family photo

Bob Tarrant was the youngest child of George and Lillian Tarrant (nee Hobbs) and he had two older brother - George born 1908, and Reginald born 1910. Bob Tarrant went to Eton Wick infant school where he remained until 1918; he then went to Eton Porney school and left in 1926. He used to go out on the milk cart to help deliver milk before going to school which started at 9.00 a.m.

The family moved from Crown Farm in March 1922 to Manor farm. Between the two farms there were 30 milking cows, and ten shire horses, five of which were bred on the farm - they were Nelson, Anne, Captain, Babs, Rodney, Tulip, Dumpling, Violet, Prince and Bob.

Tarrant Family members in the garden of Saddocks Farm house, around 1900.
In those days the winters were very severe with hard frosts, snow and floods. It was often said that the winter of 1894 had been very bad. The Eton Wick Road was often impassable from either snowdrifts or flooding and the road across the Slads was like a weir at times. There was a row of iron posts across the area at that time, although most of them have disappeared. Iron platforms were put over the posts and planks laid on top of them. The top holes had handrails attached and it was a very scary experience to walk across. The last time this bridge was erected was in 1947. Before then it was quite a frequent occurrence for it to flood. When the floods were bad the only way to deliver the milk and other goods to Eton College and Eton High Street was by boat. Sometimes the boat would only just go under the railway arches.

In 1947 the winter was very severe and the river Thames rose very quickly and everyone was taken by surprise. Crown farm was badly affected with water reaching up the fourth stair in the house. Many pigs were drowned and some of the cows were seen floating off down the Thames.

Crown farm, Saddocks Farm and Manor farm were all worked by Bob Tarrant’s grandfather, James Tarrant. James Tarrant started at Crown Farm around 1870, Saddocks Farm in 1894 and Manor Farm in 1902.

There were several smaller farms in the area: Messrs. Nottage and Ashman at Dairy farm (later H Morris), Jack Langridge at Thatch Cottage and H Bunce at Common Farm, HJK Martin then W Bootey at Jersey farm, and A Borrett at Alderney Farm - this farm was named after the breed of cows he kept. Henry Powell fell on hard times and worked for Bob Tarrant’s father George Tarrant. He upheld the Lammas Rights and every year he would take a farm horse around to various areas, staying at each location for about half an hour to keep the rights open.

Crown Farm house

Crown Farm House
There was also an isolation hospital in Eton Wick that could be approached from Bell farm near Saddocks farm, it was mainly used for scarlet fever patients.

Common and Lammas
The land around Eton and Eton Wick was all Lammas grounds, common fields and commons. Householders or cottages with rights were allowed to turn out no more than two head of cattle.

The Rules for the Great and Little Commons
No cattle shall be turned out upon the two commons before 6 o'clock on the evening of May 1st or after August 1st.

Lammas Grounds and Common Fields
The same rules but between August 1st and October 31st each year.

N.B. Bob Tarrant married May Peck. The Peck family had a farm called Marsh Lane Dairies, Marsh Lane near Dorney Reach. This farm was run May’s parents George and Nellie Peck then passed to May’s brother Jack Peck.

This article is from the script of a talk presented at a history group meeting by Monica Peck daughter of Jack Peck. 27/6/2008

The Eton Wick Newsletter - April 2014 - `Our Village' Magazine

`Newtown' and beyond Bell Lane In previous newsletters we have seen the development of Eton Wick (in the Parish of Eton) having many building restrictions, imposed by Commons, Lammas, Farms etc., and of course the boundary West of the Parish being Bell Lane and beyond into the Parish of Burnham. This may seem inconvenient, but surely it is the attraction of our village; being surrounded by the countryside. Other local villages such as Upton, Chalvey and Cippenham have been 'swallowed up' by an ever expanding Slough. We are able to walk North, South, East or West through open country or along the river bank and usually return by a different route without fear of trespass. 

To the East is Eton Town and College and growth of the village in that direction was not possible. The town was ever short of building sites to meet its own needs. In fact in the early post Great War years (early 1920s) Eton wanted to build homes to re-accommodate its own families. They were obliged to negotiate with the Eton Wick Council (independent 1894 — 1934) to change the boundary of Town to Village from the 'Sleds' to Broken Furlong, thereby enabling Eton to develop part of their new holding; and Somerville Road with housing, was created. Apart from the boundary change, it became necessary to switch the Lammas grazing rights of Broken Furlong to a like acreage across the main road. 

Without this 'switch' it would not have been permissible to build on Lammas designated land, as a certain Mr Thomas Hughes could have testified over seventy years earlier. In 1846 he had built two houses on land he owned in the village. The land however, known as Tilstone Shot, was subject to Lammas, which prompted a sharp reaction from villagers, and a subsequent court case, held in Aylesbury, ordered the houses to be taken down. 

This exchanged Lammas area opposite Broken Furlong is of course the area that was in dispute in 2007 for the proposed can park, and possible rail halt. The houses and new road were built in early to mid-1920s and named 'Somerville' in, presumably, recognition of the Town Council Chairman, Mr Somerville, whose negotiations with the village had been so successful. It is easily seen then that Eton Wick could not readily expand to the East, and before Boveney Newtown (c. 1880s) came about any thoughts of building west of the Bell Lane boundary was restricted by the land between the lane and Dorney Common being farm land or privately owned; much of it by the Palmer family of Dorney Court. 

Apart from the main through road there were no other roads in this Burnham Parish area, except perhaps Moores Lane, a rough earth track leading to Cippenham and Slough. It could not have been Moores Lane in those early days because Mr Moore had not yet arrived from Rotherhithe. It was perhaps an unusual situation where Bell Farm was situated just inside of the Eton/Burnham boundary, enjoyed the Lammas grazing of Eton and yet had much of its farm lands over the stream and in Burnham. 

Some limited building had taken place across the border by the late 19th Century. The Shepherd's Hut public house had its first beer license in 1833 — this was probably the only dwelling along Tilstone Lane (main road). Bell Farm had built a few farm labourer cottages — some in the lane and eight more built at right angles in what later became Alma Road. They were demolished around 1970 to make way for the flats of todays' Bellsfield Court — again appropriately named. 

Not until 1870 when, following a deteriorating situation with regard to the Eton Town and College sewage that Eton Council purchased Bell Farm, planning to pump their waste the mile and half to the village farm, where in accordance with common practice at that time it would be spread over furrowed land and reputedly was very good for root and other crops. The Council were not farmers, and needed to engage a manager, and to 'shed' some of its acreage. In 1875 they sold seven acres of farm land, just across the stream and border, to Mr Bott of Common Road, Eton Wick. Unfortunately Bott had now stretched his finances to the point of having overreached himself, and within five years had sold his seven acre site to Mr James Ayres, who had an eye for business. Ayres sold off the recently acquired farm land, plot by plot. A single house here, a block or terraced now there; eventually, and within a few brief years new roads and their dwellings were covering the seven acres. Here was Alma Road, Inkerman and later Northfield Roads — not yet Eton Wick, this new development in the Burnham ward was called Boveney Newtown. Its population was a little larger than neighbouring Eton Wick, and being new was perhaps even more vibrant, but in some ways dependent. It had no school for its children, and they were meant to go to Dorney, but of course with no bus service the bleak track across Dorney Common in winters and on wet summer days made this beyond expectations. Eton Wick's small school at the top of The Walk was inadequate, so in 1886 the Crown provided land in Sheepcote for a larger school which served both communities for the next sixty or so years when post war extensions were carried out. 

An amusing (or was it) story of the interim period was related by a Mr Talbot. The influx of Newtown children into the original single room school necessitated a platform upper room for infants. Temporary and crude the floor was a plank affair and it was not uncommon for an infant needing the toilet, perhaps left it too late, and the lower, older class got a 'dripping' from above. Needing to spend a penny, or 'pennies from heaven'? Where was health and safety in the 1880s?

'Newtown' was all that was built each side of Alma Road and the development of Inkerman, Northfield Road and Bell Lane. One field opposite the Shepherd's Hut and South from Alma Road, between Bell Lane and Moores Lane was retained for grazing for about fifty years, until Vaughan Gardens were built in the late 1930s by the Council, and at the end of WW2 twelve prefabricated homes were built immediately East of Vaughan Gardens. West of Moores Lane to Dorney Common (North of Tilstone Lane) [main road] there were no houses until after WW2 when the Eton Council developed the entire area, including the roads of Colenorton Crescent, Boveney New Road and Stockdales. This area was largely covered with allotments until after WW2. Across the main road (South) much of the land was owned by Mr Palmer of Dorney and had not been built on.

Probably the development of farm land for 'Newtown' prompted the Dorney owner to similarly use his land. In 1896 he had a long terraced row of sixteen houses built in what we now know as Victoria Road. Again very appropriately named because 1898 was the year of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. The houses not so appropriately named, being 'Castle View Terrace' and facing due South one would be hardly likely to see the castle in the East. Further development at this time came along the main road and at the end of 'Castle View' gardens. These, and the houses built past the entrance road to Victoria Road (now named 'Victoria' also, but originally known as Hogarth Road in acknowledgement of Mr Hogarth — area administrator to Mr Palmer) attracted business men and others from Windsor and Eton following the 1894 flooding. Victoria Road was a cul de sac for nearly sixty years when the Meux (Shepherds' Hut) field was developed for Princes Close estate in the 1950s. 

Other post WW2 developments included Queens Road and Cornwall Close (private), the East side of Tilstone Avenue and Tilstone Close (also private) and of course much in the old Eton Wick village. It takes more than housing to give a place character and perhaps in a future magazine I can speak of the people who changed the village and gradually brought the two communities together. There were farmers, and of course people like Mr Moore who had followed his newly wed daughter to Newtown; and the strength of both in imposing themselves in such a constructive way. In conclusion now though I will come back to names of roads. Alma and Inkerman are scenes of hard fighting between Britain and France against Russia in the mid-1850s; in the Crimean War, and some twenty five to thirty years before Newtown's main roads were built and presumably named. Why? It was so long after the conflict. Who chose the names? Was it James Ayres? He is listed as a local Market Gardener. Coincidence I doubt. In Alma Road is a house named Galata Cottage. 'Galata' was the height overlooking the river Alma. If you have the answer, please do join in and share it. 

Not content with sending their sewage to Eton Wick, thirteen years later and following infectious diseases in Eton, including Small Pox, they built a Cottage Isolation Hospital between Bell Farm and Saddocks Farm of Eton Wick. This went out of use in c.1930. This small hospital would never be used by residents of Eton Wick, who were obliged to go to Cippenham on account of not being within the relevant Sanitary District. 

Submitted by Frank Bond 

Click here to read Our Village April 2014.

This article was originally published in the Eton Wick Newsletter - Our Village as is republished with the kind permission of the Eton Wick Village Hall Committee. Click here to go to the Collection page.