Development of Eton Wick

Map of 1797
copied from The Story of a Village: Eton Wick 1217 - 1977

From its origins as a farming area of the Manor of Eton the earliest dwellings were built on the highest land north of the Great Eton Common. From the 14^th century to the 18^th century the six farmhouses continued that development. The 1797 map indicates houses on the southern side of Common Lane including the Three Horseshoes.

The first half of the 19^th century brought further house building including the Parsonage, Bell Farm Cottages, Harding Cottages and Prospect Place. Most of these were rented to working class tenants. As the century progressed more houses were built some on the gardens of the cottages facing the Great Common. These included Hope Cottages, Palmers Place and others. 

The largest development began in 1880’s on some of the land of Bell Farm where Boveney Newtown grew with Alma, Inkerman and Northfield roads, and Moores Lane. The development was beyond the western edge of the Parish of Eton which at that time was Bell Lane. As recorded in the 1881 census when there were there household it grew and grew. By 1911 there were 125 households, two more than Eton Wick.

 

Ordnance Survey Map 1899 courtesy of National Library of Scotland

By 1899 there were two distinct communities with the land south of Alma Road and west of the Eton Parish mostly undeveloped. A few houses were on the south side of the Eton Wick Road including the Shepherds Hut and Victoria Road was outlined. The 1925 map shows further development south of Alma Road.

 

Ordnance Survey Map 1925 courtesy of National Library of Scotland

Ordnance Survey Map 1932 courtesy of National Library of Scotland

The inter war years saw some development south of Alma Road including a few houses in  Tilstone Avenue and Close.

Map showing rights under the Commons Registration Act of 1965 
copied from The Story of a Village: Eton Wick 1217 - 1977

This map indicates that there were six registered Commoners under the 1965 Act. These included Crown Farm, Dairy Farm, Little Common Farm, Manor Farm and Saddocks Farm.

Ordnance Survey Map 1968 courtesy of National Library of Scotland

The 1968 map reveal the limits of the village development with Haywards Mead, Princes Close, Queens Road and Cornwall Close filling the remaining available land on the south side of the Eton Wick Road. The final major development in the village was on the wheatbutts in the 1970's.

 

Ordnance Survey Map 2023 courtesy of National Library of Scotland

The latest OS map of 2023 show how the village development has been restrained by the Lammas Land and Commons. The number of households was also limited by the single road that restricts potential for evacuation in the case of flooding. The experience of the Thames floods of 2014 showed that the Jubilee River did protect the village. There has been more house building allowed including particularly in Princes Close, Queens Road and Victoria Road.

Enclosure Map courtesy of the Berkshire Records Office.

Both Slough to the north and Windsor to the south have both grown as enclosure acts were passed for the Manor of Upton cum Chalvey, 1819 and the Manor of Windsor Forest, 1817. If the 1826 Bill to enclose the Manor of Eton cum Stockdale and Colenorton had not been rejected Eton Wick would probably have become part of Slough.

THE EARLY HISTORY OF 24, VICTORIA ROAD, ETON WICK,

EARLY HISTORY, IN OUTLINE, RELATING TO 

24, VICTORIA ROAD, ETON WICK, SL4 6LY.

Photograph above of Thames View Stores
and Eton Wick Road taken in 1913

WILLIAM HEARN : Apprenticeship in saddlery; employment in harness making; more interested in the motor car, driving in 1903; returned to Eton Wick, married in 1906; bought Thames View (by 1991 was Thames View Aquarium), opened a shop and started in business; had some arrangement with 'General' Hill who had a Wheelwright business at the premises now known as 24, Victoria Road; outline plan of area used by Hill before the first World War and taken over by Hearn during the War for engineering.

This plan shows what I remember in 1920. My father purchased the land from No 18 to 36 (present numbers), down to the brook; divided into three plots and retained the centre plot, 24 to 28/30.


Early in the 1920's he phased out  engineering and engaged employees only on a casual basis. Later he discontinued repair and exchange and concentrated on car hire, driving and maintaining his own cars until the end of his life.






In 1924 Thames View was sold and a bungalow erected as shown for our family. A store was made for reserve petrol supply (2 gallon tins) etc. below ground level.

By mid 1930's the bungalow was extended and a new house was built on the adjoining property. A small tank and hand pump for petrol (not for re-sale) was added other changes made as shown.











The Second World War came and the premises not again in use until 1946. Electricity (3 phase) was laid on and the property was connected to the main drainage. Tanks and equipment was installed for petrol for resale. Full motor engineering service was started. The was questioned by the Borough Engineer (Mr Smith) and his Dept. but finally permitted as there had been light engineering industry at the premises well before 1937 so permission not required.

Victoria Road was a cul-de-sac and stopped off at Shepherds Hut Field (now Princes Close). In 1948 this leaflet was distributed to every letter box in the area to make our presence known business card at that time.













My brother soon left working for Hearn Motors to run a business of his own. A small holding keeping pigs and poultry in the field along the back of properties 24 to 36. The plan shows the promises as they were when I sold Hearn Motors in 1952 to B.A.Nuts Ltd. who had rented part of the property for about a year before for their automatic machines. A 21 year lease was granted for the whole premises; an income for my sister who lived in the bungalow.

My sister (3 years old in the photograph at the beginning of this article, outside the shop) sold out to J.T.Ireland for housing development that became Queens Road. The bungalow extension was immediately removed to make way for the entrance to Queens Road from Victoria Road;. She moved out when her new chalet in Slough was finished in 1960. Ireland paid higher rate for premises with light industrial use (leased to B.A.Nuts Ltd.). He appears to have been disregarded it and made application for more houses, but this was not granted and the lease not renewed. I visited the property with Jim Ireland on 11th June 1974. It was empty and not in a good state of repair he offered the premises back for £20,000.



This history was prepared for ASTEEL ENGINEERING SERVICES Ltd of 24, Victoria Road, Eton Wick By J.W.E.Hearn in 1991. 

Eton Wick Newsletter - Our Village April 2009

Eton Wick and its development post World War II 

We have previously covered the development of Eton Wick between the 18^th and mid 20^th centuries, By the mid 1800's those cottage long gardens were being used for housing along the village main road. raising the population to around four hundred. Between 1880 and 1900 Boveney Newtown was developed as a separate community, with a population of about five hundred. In total now around thousand in 1900.

and the resulting population growth. In 1800 there were about one hundred people living mainly along Common Road. 

For forty years between 1894 and 1934 both Eton Wick and Boveney Newtown each had their own five member Parish Councils, independent of each other, and of Eton. This would have added to the separateness of the two communities who although benefiting from excellent representation were very disadvantaged by a low rate Income. Eton Wick was without adequate street lighting; refuse collections; main drainage and only bucket or cesspit sanitation. Some homes shared water pumps and outside toilets. In 1934 we lost the individual Parish Councils and became part of the Eton Urban District Council. In time services improved. Pre 1934 associations; clubs; the War Memorial and Institute (now Village Hall) all had the prefix of “Eton Wick and Boveney". Now no longer necessary It is an Indicator of our older organisations/structures. Eton Urban Council did much for Eton Wick but alas after another forty years (1974) we became part of The Royal Borough where certainly, with just two representatives in fifty nine. we were to believe we had a diminished voice.

Apart from the eight South View houses built in early 1920's by Eton Rural Council we had no more Council homes until the late 1930's, when twenty dwellings comprising Vaughan Gardens were built opposite The Shepherd's Hut. As World War II came to a close twelve prefabricated homes were built alongside Vaughan Gardens. They were given an estimated ten years of useful life but in fact lasted over twice that long. As millions of service personnel returned from the war the national need of more houses became an overriding concern. Eton was no exception. There was no land in Eton and Lammas or common rights restricted village land available. All building materials were difficult to obtain but despite all, the Council quickly completed the development of the Vaughan Gardens and prefab field with ten more houses, six facing across the main road and four along Moores Lane.

They next bought from the College a large area west of Moores Lane that reached to Roundmoor Ditch, formerly part of Tilstone Fields and for fifty years used for allotments of Boveney and Newtown. This next move ambitiously planned one hundred and sixty two houses and flats, a new Recreation Ground and space for five police houses to be built by Eton Rural Council. This was along the north side of the main road, plus Boveney New Road, Colenorton Crescent and Stockdales Road. Meanwhile squatters. including ex-service families, had occupied the numerous empty Nissen huts on Dorney Common that had been vacated by the WWII anti-aircraft battery. Sadly, the big flood of 1947 inundated and trashed much of the family possessions. By 1952 the new estate was nearing completion and a young Duke of Edinburgh formally opened the Stockdale's Rec.

Already the Council had moved on by purchasing the Brewers' field, adjoining The Shepherd's Hut and building a parade of seven shops. Opened in 1951 they were Barnes (Game and Wet Fish); Arnold (Butchers); O'Flaherty (Chemist), Clinch (Bakers); Darville (Grocer); Anderson (Newsagent) and Bond (Greengrocer). After the shops, the field was developed with Princes Close houses and fiats (1953). Until this time Victoria Road was a cul-de-sac but now had access through Princes Close to the main road. In late 1950's the Council built Haywards Mead and provided a site for the village's first R.C. Church (built 1964). Again this was a development that was made on a large allotment area and later yet another allotment site was used to build flats, along the east side of Sheepcote Road. Probably the allotment areas were used because by public consent the land had been freed of the Crown, Lammas or Common rights when the need for allotments came about in the late 1800's. Other allotments opposite St. Leonard's Place and 'Old Parsonage' were closed when the lease expired in c.1994 but being designated as Green Belt could not be built on. There was another long strip of allotments behind the Village Hall but around mid 1960's the plot was incorporated into the Haywards Mead Recreation Ground. The Council then built Clifton Lodge on a site previously covered by six Harding Cottages, then using the land of Common Road; Thatch Cottage and Victoria Terrace they built Albert Place flats.

In the 1960's the prefabs, along with two farm cottages in Bell Lane and a terraced row along the east end of Alma Road were demolished, making room for Bellsfield Court flats and a second parade of shops (1973). The Council wanted to develop Wheatbutt Orchard but in the event it was sold by Eton Collage to private developer's c.1981. Perhaps had the Council purchased the Wheatbutts site it may not now be the village's one fenced-in estate. Some Councillors later expressed regret they had not built a through road connecting Queen's Road, Cornwall Close and Tilstone Close, but hindsight is a luxury. However, they had done a good job, built needed homes; straightened and widened the road In places and by 1974 had a village estimated population of around 3,000.

Looking at the private sector, one of the first post WWII developments was the building of homes along the east side of Tilstone Avenue by Jim Ireland and later, homes of Tilstone Close. Pre-war village builder Alf Miles bought the large site south and west of Victoria Road from George Nuth which, as with Tilstone Avenue, had been used for pigsties. He then proceeded to build houses along Queen's Road (1960's) before he developed Cornwall Close. Meanwhile, Jim Ireland purchased a site south and east of Victoria Road from Mr Hearn and built along that end of Queens Road. It is often said they had not planned to connect their respective site roads, but eventually they did. It is easy today to see the midway point where they met. A terraced row of quite good houses along the west side of Sheepcote Road was demolished making way for private bungalows and houses that now face onto the Council flats.

Bunces Close was a considerable private estate that was perhaps only possible because the large area would have been freed of restrictive use; i.e. Lammas or Commons. when the eight South View houses were built there in early 1920's. Common Road being the oldest part of the village may have been redeveloped first but in the early post WWII years the old houses were still homes in a time of dire needs. Today the only semblance of the old Common Road is Wheatbutts Cottage and The Greyhound. Hope Cottages are still there but bear no likeness to earlier years. At the east end, the thirteen terraced Clifton cottages there were replaced by Georgian style houses, six west facing houses of Albert Place were replaced by Albert Place bungalows; and Ye Olde Cottage was replaced by four modem houses (1952/3).

West of 'The Greyhound' pub had stood two old dwellings; ready to be demolished in 1939 but pressed back into use for wartime evacuee families. After the 1939/45 war they were replaced privately by two bungalows, but these have been replaced with about eleven homes. The long garden of the 'Three Horse Shoes' was the only undeveloped plot along Common Road until around the 1960's, when it was developed along with the site of semidetached Rose Cottages. The new homes built there were adjacent to the village's larger pond that was sadly filled in about that time.

Builder Alf Miles purchased from Harry Prior 'The Homestead' and its orchard, making way for several bungalows and houses at the north end of Bell Lane. This was yet another private sector development, again in the mid 1950's. Since that time four larger houses were built just north of the orchard site and adjacent to the only allotment area we have today. Inevitably the eight shops - seven of them cottage adaptations of the pre-war era were much affected by the Council parades and in the fullness of time all closed and became residential, four of them turning into flats (see photographs on page 6). Today we have one non Council shop 'Bracken Flowers and Julies Florist'.

Just as the Council-built shops hastened the demise of the old shops, they in turn are now suffering the ascent of the Superstores. In my lifetime the village had been serviced by the home and cart; the front room shops; the Council shops and now largely by the out of village Superstores.

Many other non-Council homes were built on various sites, including plots In Alma, Inkerman, Northfield and Victoria roads and several along The Walk.

Sadly the common's stream is now less attractive. Its shoddy rustic fencing and of course loss of the dairy cattle has resulted in reduced grazing with the consequent result the stream Is barely visible on account of brambles, something we did not have in earlier years.

This concludes my village growth musings but perhaps in a later Issue we can look at the early characters who shaped our village before any of us were born!

Frank Bond

Click here to read Our Village August 2008.

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.

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.

Eton Wick Newsletter - Our Village December 2008

Eton Wick and its development: Going West  

Boveney Newtown 1870 —1945

We have previously seen how Eton Wick grew — at first with the farms taking the less floodable land to the north and later in the 18th and 19th centuries homes being established along the south side of Common Road where tenants had the advantage of the stream for water and ponds for their ducks. They could only build between Sheepcote and Bell Lane — approximately 250 metres — because Crown. Common and Lammas lands stretched to the east and south, while west of Bell Lane was in the different parish of Burnham.

In the mid 19th Century the long gardens of the Common Road homes were sold for the development of houses along Eton Wick Roads' northside. The Walk was developed in early 20th Century, as was The Institute (now The Village Hall). Known as the 'Stute' it was the only building south of Eton Wick Road until after 1950, when Haywards Mead and St. Gilberts R. C Church were built on former allotments. West of Bell Lane the main road was known as Tilston Lane and until the 1880's there were only two tracks off Tilston Lane, being Bell Lane and what later became Moores Lane. The few buildings consisted of The Shepherd's Hut public house and a couple of Bell Farm labourer's cottages off Bell Lane.

In 1870 Eton, faced with a sewage problem, purchased Bell Farm from William Goddard and established a sewage farm as part of the farm land within the Eton Wick boundary. Many acres of Bell Farm were in fact outside the boundary and in the parish of Burnham, and was excess of their needs for the sewage and a dairy farm. The excess was most of the land between Bell Lane and present day Moores Lane. Retaining one full length field along Tilston Lane (main road) and opposite The Shepherd's Hut, the Council then sold the remainder to Arthur Bott of Common Road. Unfortunately Bott was now overstretched financially so he sold the land to James Ayres in 1880. James Ayres was listed as a market Gardener and not quite perhaps the image of the shrewd business man he proved to be. Meanwhile the Council engaged Charles Tough as farm manager. His young bride (Annie) nee Moore, together with her newly domiciled father, John Moore, were to play a lasting role in the future village affairs. Pardon the pun, but more about the Moores' at a future time.

James Ayres acquisition resulted in the laying out of Alma and Inkerman roads, followed by that of Northfield. Plot by plot he sold off the land, some for terraced homes, others for semi and detached houses, until within two decades a new community had sprung up covering his purchased enterprise. Not Eton Wick, this community, built in Burnham Parish. was named Boveney Newtown, for obvious reasons. In 1894 it had its own council as in fact did Eton Wick, both independent of each other and of Eton. This lasted for 40 years.

Just as Bell Lane had for so long been Eton Wick's barrier to building, now Moores Lane proved to be Boveney Newtown's barrier until after World War 2. This haste to build from 1880 triggered off other developments along the south side of the main road to Roundmoor ditch (Dorney Common Gate) and also the beginning of Victoria Road, at that time a Cul de sac, with its long. new terraced row. This area was known as `Klondyke: and was part of the Tilston Fields, largely owned by the Palmer family of Dorney. In fact the terraced row and some of those main road houses were built for the land owner who duly sold them. By the early 20th Century the land south of Victoria Road became holdings for two or three families. The holdings reached down to the Boveney Ditch and were quite extensive. In the centre was Mr Hill, who established a small engineering and repair works which by 1920's was sold to William Hearn for his motor taxi business which operated in Eton. Hence the present day engineering works, which came before most of the houses around it.

To the west of Victoria Road came the Nuth family. George was a well known village character with his animals, large mobile home, swing boats and coconut shy hire. These sites were to be used for Queens Road and Cornwall Close respectively, about 60 years later.

Leeson Gardens were built in the early 1930's: the west side of Tilston Avenue in the later 1930's. Vaughan Gardens were built in the late 1930's in the centre of that long field opposite The Shepherd's Hut that Bell Farm had retained in 1880 when they sold the large site. Although Eton Wick and Newtown, with Klondyke, were united in 1934 the old rights of Lammas and Commons still excluded those living along or west of Bell Lane.

The only WW2 development was the building of twelve prefabricated bungalows c.1944-5 east of Vaughan Gardens — now the site of Bell Lane shops.

Post WW2 developments both by Council or private were largely north and west of the main road and Moores Lane. We will cover those and other post war developments in a later issue.

This article by Frank Bond was published in the December 2008 issue of Our Village.

Note – The engineering works mentioned was replaced by houses in 2014. http://publicaccess.rbwm.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=N2OUOJNI0NO00

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.

Then and Now - the Red House and the Village Hall

The Red House and the Village Hall are monuments to the village builder, Henry Burfoot.

Henry Burfoot was a Bricklayer who lived in a cottage nearby Little Common within Eton Wick. He was born in 1858, and by the early 1890s he had built himself a show house with a substantial workshop and yard in Alma Road, Eton Wick. He also built many of the houses and terrace blocks in Alma Road, Inkerman Road, Northfield Road and Moores Lane, in the part of the village known as Boveney New Town.


Henry Burfoot was more than a jobbing builder, advertising himself as a Building Contractor undertaking specialised work in the building of bakers' ovens, large hot coal fired ranges, and heating boilers.

The imposing Red House fronting the Eton Wick Road was built by Henry for his son, also named Henry, in 1904 (see picture at the top of the page).

In 1906 Burfoot and Son received the contract to build the Village Institute, now know as the Village Hall, on land gifted by Edward Littleton Vaughan. Building commenced in 1906, and the Institute was opened in 1907.

Burfoot also built the Methodist Chapel in Alma Road on land given by Mr Ayres. The Chapel opened in 1886.

Mr and Mrs Henry Burfoot Jnr. were active members of the village community. Mr Burfoot was the secretary of the Village Hall Management Committee, a member of the Parochial Church Council, and a church sidesman. Mrs Burfoot was on the committee of the Eton Wick Nursing Association, and secretary of the Infant Welfare Organisation which had started in 1915. She was a founder member of Eton Wick and Boveney Womens' Institute, and a member of the Church Ladies Working Party.





On his retirement Henry Jnr. sold the business to Prowtings, who after seven years sold it to J. T. Ireland who operated the building business from the Red House.

James (Jimmy) Ireland had started his business on leaving the army after the Second World War. He employed around 60 men and apprentices, and built extensively in Eton Wick and Dorney. The Eton Wick developments include the houses in Tilston Avenue and Queens Road.

Jimmy Ireland was a great supporter and benefactor to the village Scouts, the Youth Club and other organisations within the village. In 1947 he became an Eton Urban District Councillor and served as Chairman of the Housing committee. Following on his involvement in public service he was elected to the Buckingham County Council, serving as chairman of several committees and Vice Chairman of the County Council. Appointed as a magistrate in 1957 and made Deputy Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire in 1975, Jimmy was honoured with the CBE (Commander of the British Empire) in 1982.




Upon Jimmy Ireland's retirement the building business J. T. Ireland ceased. A change of ownership brought changes to the Red House when in the late 1990s its size was doubled to incorporate two shops or offices (see picture at top of page).

The Story of a Village - World War Two and After

With the war came other changes and new kinds of hardship - air raids, the blackout, rationing, gas masks and men away fighting. Women were drafted into factory work and homes and family life adjusted as evacuees from London were made welcome. The Village Hall was used as a school room for the evacuated children and equipped for use as a First Aid Post and Rest Centre. The Minute Books of the Institute tell of whist drives and dances organised as part of the war effort, especially during ‘Wings for Victory Week’ in 1942 and 'Salute the Soldier' Week the following year. Occasionally the Hall was used for billeting soldiers and, as in every other town and village, uniforms became part of the pattern of life. A gun site was established on Dorney Common close to Eton Wick and the noise shattered many a night's sleep. Eton Wick was lucky, however; a few bombs did fall on the village, but did very little damage, and the explosion which set a field alight seemed quite spectacular at the time. Men on active service were not so lucky; twelve lost their lives as the War Memorial at the church bears witness.

The story of Eton Wick during the war is not much different from that of any English village, but the 1940s mark a watershed in the history of Eton Wick. Change has always been taking place, albeit at times almost imperceptibly; but at this time the changes were to be great and far-reaching. Within a decade of the end of the war the long straggling rural village with its close-knit community had disappeared; its place taken by a larger dormitory village, top heavy with council houses.

The first new houses built were twelve 'prefabs' on part of Bell's Field. They were meant to be temporary, but instead provided good if not beautiful homes for more than twenty years. They were built towards the end of the war, and the first post war houses completed the development of the Bell's Field Site; the pale pink colour of the bricks is a constant reminder of the shortage of good facing-bricks at this time. A year or so later Tilston Field (north of the Eton Wick Road) was bought from Eton College for the first housing estate in the village itself. Great care was taken over the design of the housing and roads; trees, shrub borders and a small recreation ground were included to improve the amenities of the estate. Five fine police houses were built fronting the main road, and the Council were proud enough of the scheme to enter the completed half of the estate for the Ministry of Health Housing Medal in 1951. In the following year Prince Philip officially opened the estate at a small informal ceremony. Meux's Field was also bought by the Council and here were laid out Princes Close and a shopping parade, making altogether over two hundred houses and seven shops.

The main road from Moores Lane to Dorney Common was considerably widened and a shrub border planted in front of the estate and, as if to mark the change in appearance, its name was changed from Tilston Lane to Eton Wick Road. There was a zest for rebuilding and not only in bricks and mortar. Many of the clubs which had sunk into the doldrums during the war were revived and new ones founded. The first of these was probably the Youth Club which was started in 1946, followed by the Over Sixties Club in 1947 and a few years later the Parent Teacher Association, the Unity Players and the Young Wives. The Village Hall was still the centre of much of the social life of the Wick and great efforts were made to put it on a sound footing after the war. In 1950 it was redecorated by voluntary help, electricity was installed and in the following year it was enlarged by the addition of a covered forecourt. Two issues of a magazine called ' Our Village ' were published by the Institute as it was still sometimes called, and for several years from 1950 a Village Hall Week was held in the early part of the year. Village football became so popular that a Minors' Club was formed. When this proved very successful a second team of young men too old to stay in the minors' team had to be started. Eventually the club was renamed the Eton Wick Athletic Club and there was even more cause for 'Up the Wick' to be heard each Saturday.

The village was still growing; in the mid- and late 1950s private housing completed the redevelopment of the Wick west of Bell Lane with the laying out of Cornwall Close, Queens Road, Tilstone Close and the northern extension of Bell Lane. There was very little other building land available; the confirmation of the rules and regulations of the commons and lammas lands at the Manor Court held in College Hall at Eton in 1948 made it impossible to use these lands. Instead a compromise was agreed; lammas rights were not extinguished but transferred from land needed for redevelopment to parts of Bell Farm, which had been freed from rights when it became a sewage farm. In this way part of South Field was used to build Hayward's Mead estate early in the 1960s, and part of Sheepcote Field for the flats next to the school some years later. These were both council schemes, but the latter was part of a redevelopment plan for the village which included the demolition of the 'prefabs' and neighbouring houses in Alma Road and replacing them by Bell's Field Court and a row of shops. Castle View Terrace in Sheepcote Road and some of the Clifton Cottages were also pulled down to make way for the dark bricks of the private 'Georgian' style houses, while Sheepcote Road itself was given a new curving line. A few years earlier the Victorian houses of Albert Place and Victoria Terrace had been demolished and new houses and flats built in their place. A few houses have been built behind Bell Farm and the old people's flats of Clifton Lodge now star on the site of Hardings Cottages. Finally - and surely it must be finally for there is now almost no land left that can be built upon without infringing the common rights - Bunces Close has been built on land freed from lammas rights when South View was planned soon after the First World War. 

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

John Denham - Eton Wick History Group Treasurer

John Denham

19/9/1924 – 8/10/2014

Memories of his life in Eton Wick 1960-2014

John was guided to Eton Wick in 1959 by the son of his landlady. He had recently landed a job at Specto in Vale Road, Windsor and needed to find a new home for Betty, his wife and their 4 children who were living in Tiverton. The suggestion was to visit J.T. Ireland’s development at Queens Road. When he and Betty met Mr Ireland and viewed the site a decision to buy was quickly made. The only snag was the 18 months it would take to complete the house number 45.

The time passed and he and his family moved from Devon at the beginning of September 1960. His first involvement in village life was applying to the village school to get two of his sons’ places. Mr Moss arranged to visit that evening and before he left John had been signed up as the PTA’s Pools collector for Queens Road. His youngest child, Amanda extended the family’s relationship with the school until 1969. Michael, his oldest was a pupil at the school for the1961 summer term having stayed on in Devon to take his 11 plus exam.

In 1965 he found his dream job at Vita Tex on Slough Trading Estate and stayed there for 30 years retiring only reluctantly on his 70^th birthday. During his later years, he sometimes thought that the long hours he spent keeping the textile machinery going and the night time call-outs to deal with breakdowns may have been something to regret. His children knew otherwise as they could only remember he was always there to support them in their village endeavours. Whenever he was asked to help he would be there. The school, Cubs & Scouts, Brownies & Guides, Fetes & Fairs and much more benefited from his help.

When Judith Hunter wanted to publish her history research about Eton Wick, Frank Bond brought together a willing group of volunteers to make it happen. John and his family were part of this team to put on an exhibition covering Eton Wick’s history. He created a photographic darkroom in the roof of 45QR and son Andrew produced the hundreds of photos for it. He and his son Steven undertook a survey for a couple of maps of parts of the village that were not available from other sources. And then, of course, he created the display boards and stands. The funds were raised and ‘The Story of a Village: Eton Wick 1217 to 1977’ was published.

John worked on beyond his 65th birthday, first on a 3 day a week basis then he reduced this to 2. Frank Bond had an idea to help fill this ‘spare time’ and suggested that they and others set up a local history group. The Eton Wick History Group was formed, Frank became chairman and John the Treasurer. He undertook several research projects including the River Thames Bridges of Windsor, Circuses and Eton Wick during the Second World War. He was a regular visitor at Slough Library to undertake research and his friendship with one of the librarians resulted in this website.

He is greatly missed by the Eton Wick History Group, his family and all who knew him.

His personal memories of VJ Day, 15th August 1945 can be read here.

Sixties Childhood in Eton Wick

A Sixties Childhood in Eton Wick by Steven Denham My parents, Betty and John Denham, along with my two brothers, Michael and Andrew and sister, Amanda moved to Eton Wick from Tiverton in September 1960. I was seven and a half at the time. My first view of the village was from the Blue Bus that our Aunt and we boys used to get from Windsor station. I sure that at the time it seemed both quite an adventure as well as being anxious about coming to a new place and having to make new friends. We moved into a new house in Queens Road, I remember that the road was concrete and not completed. There were very few motorcars unlike today. I do remember that like Tiverton, Eton Wick has its fields and is near a river so it did not feel completely alien. Soon after moving in the fire brigade had to be called as the chimney had become blocked by building rubble and smoke was getting in to the house next door. In the week after moving in I started at Eton Wick School in Mrs Miles’ class, 1st year juniors. It seemed a very strange experience, the infant school I went to was new and Mrs Miles taught her class in the old part of the School as only the top three years had classrooms in the new part of the school. I tried my best, but found school very difficult and I have been told since that Mrs Miles did not find me easy to teach. In 1961, when I was eight I joined the Wolf Cubs. The pack was lead by Margaret and John Fennel who helped me achieve success in things and ways that I just could not do at school. A significant memory was the Gang Shows which Tommy Neighbour had a great deal to do with the direction of. I don’t recall who helped them. Cubs was a special experience that ended when I went up to the scout troop after gaining my Leaping Wolf. In April 1962 the Queen was driven through the village and all the school children were lined up along the Eton Wick Road outside of the Church and waved as she passed by. She did not stop as this was before she started her 'walk-abouts’. Another event that I recall that year was that winter arrived with a vengeance on Boxing Day. I remember measuring over 6 inches of lying snow in our back garden. For a nine year old it was a real treat and quite unlike any winter I had seen before or after. There were snowball fights to be had and snow dens to be made before school returned. The Thames froze at Windsor, but it must have been cold at home as there was only a limited amount of central heating in our house. The snow was piled up along the sides of the Eton Wick Road and some of these piles stayed around for many weeks, brrrr. 1963 gave me an opportunity to sit the 10 plus which with hindsight it is no surprise that I failed. Mr Moss must have seen some hope in me as he selected me for his top group of 11 plus hopefuls. Of Eton Wick School I have many memories. Sport must have been high on the agenda as there was the new swimming pool, football and the annual sports day. The school/PTA also ran the annual Village shinty and rounders competitions which were always hard fought contests. Being a Church of England school had an impact on the school year. Ascension Day was celebrated with the whole school community attending a service in the Church followed by having the rest of the day as a Holiday. The Christmas Nativity Play was performed in the church. The school Christmas parties were always held in the village hall. 1964 was a year of change, I had the disappointment of not following my brothers to Slough Grammar having failed the 11 plus. My mum and dad got me into The Orchard Secondary Modern, which was in Stoke Road, Slough. The Orchard was the only Secondary Modern that provided an opportunity to take ‘O’ levels. The day I started I missed the school bus I should have caught, but managed to get on to the bus taking children St Ethelbert’s and St Joseph’s. I was the only child from Eton Wick starting in that year so I made friends with children from Slough, Langley and Maidenhead. As it is nowadays secondary schools work in a completely different way to junior schools so there was a great deal to find out.     Scout Fete: Tent Pitching Competition left to right: Steven Denham, Graham Stallard, Mark Dobson, John Garnham, David Longmore. 1965. One of the major events in the village each year was the Scout Fete held on the Wheatbutts. There were lots of sideshows such as roll a penny, hoopla and darts. The main arena was the venue for many different events, which included an annual tent pitching competition held between the village scouts and scouts from other troops in the district. I seem to remember that the village Guides also competed some years. I do recall that one-year the team that I was leading managed a very quick time only to discover that we had mixed up the tent poles and the canvass of the walls was several inches off the ground! 1966 was the year that England won the World Cup. I went to see one match at Wembley with my brothers and a friend; I think it was Mexico v Uruguay. On the day of the final I travelled to South Wales with the Scout Troop for a weeks camp. I remember that it rained almost everyday. 1967. Soon after I was thirteen I started my first job as a newspaper delivery boy for Gowers. My round covered Colnorton Crescent, Moores Lane and Stockdales Road. I got paid 12s 6d (62p) for Monday to Saturday. How things stay the same, I still do paper rounds, but now for my own business when the boys don’t turn up. The papers have changed gone are the Daily Herald and Sketch, the Sun and Independent have arrived and they are all much heavier. 1968. There was a major outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease that hit the country and the dairy farms in the village took necessary precautions. I remember going with a friend on his round to deliver papers and going no further than the gate. On August Bank Holiday Monday the second ‘Wicko’ was held on the old recreation ground. This was very different from the Scout Fete it had a lot more side shows as well as some spectacular arena events and a tug of war competition that attracted team from a wide area. 1969 was the last year I went to school. In May and June I took 5 ‘O’ levels and attained a good enough mark in 4 of them to gain passes. After finishing school I started a temporary job with Frank Bond in his greengrocers shop along with David Fearn. In July, Frank invited us to watch the launch of Apollo 11 that lead to the first moon landing. I remember it quite vividly as it was the first time I have seen colour TV. I went with the Scouts to the Wye Valley for the summer camp that as in the previous 3 years was great fun with the addition of canoeing. But when the summer was over it was off to work at WH Smith and Son in Slough.