The Eton Wick Newsletter - August 2015 - `Our Village' Magazine

Our village - 85 years back

2014 was the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the Great War, and a year later, in 2015, we celebrated the end of the Second World War; seventy years before. There were many functions of remembrance in 2014 but of course no living person could truly remember events of so long ago. By the nature of all things, in the passing of a very few years there will be nobody to remember WW2. Hearsay and history is often far from factual. Those who experienced the worst horrors of war rarely spoke of them, while others more fortunate readily related what they had seen and done. When I was growing up in the 1920s and 30s I noticed people dated events with the prefix 'Before the war' or 'After the war' meaning of course The Great War of 1914 — 1918. Years later my generation use the same terminology, but meaning WW2 1939 — 1945. War being a datum line in our memories; so I will now 'tap' my memory and record a little of my 'Before the war' (1939 — 1945) years in a very rural Eton Wick in Buckinghamshire. It only became part of Berkshire in 1974. 

Eton Wick was only ever a working class community with no 'big houses' and gentry. In fact I only know of one titled resident, Lady Julia Hulbert, the mother of the village priest 1924 — 1931. Incidentally the lectern in St. John the Baptist Church is appropriately inscribed to her memory. The old village of Eton Wick had about 500 residents at that time, and Boveney Newtown 550. Both had their own rural councils. In 1934 they were merged and became part of Eton Urban District Council. 

As youngsters — please not kids, as in those years only goats had kids, most of our free time was spent out of doors, with boys 'mooching' the commons, ditches, fields and hedgerows. To 'mooch' covered a multitude of activities, often dictated by the season. Perhaps collecting tadpoles; blackberrying; fishing; bird nesting; getting rubbish and wood for the autumn bonfires; tree climbing; making tree camps; gathering cowslips; cornflowers and making catapults; bows and arrows; and crude little boats to sail along the stream. Seasonally there was an abundance of tadpoles, frogs and tiddler fish. During the summer we gathered many different grasses for competitions in the annual Horticultural Show. Usually we collected about seventy varieties, which were displayed on a sheet of white card. In this and other ways we really got a better understanding of the seasons, and our local natural world. Many local areas had names rarely used today. There were the 'Withies'; Tip; 'Hillies'; Gudgeon Pool; Athens; Chinese Bridge; Iron Bridge; Slads; Butts; Blind Alley; Plantation; Jungle; Slipes: Spackmans; Boveney Hole and Dump. The most obscure being Gudgeon Fool. which is the field east of the track from the main road (B 3026) to Crown Farm. This was certainly a floodable area, so was there ever a fish in the flood; or perhaps attributable to a family name at some distant time. Not so fanciful when we have had Eton Wick names of Codd; Crabbe; Dace and Whiting in the last eighty years. 

The 'Slads' and Folly Bridge Pound are better known. The Slads, or Water Slads, being the first place to flood, is said to mean a hollow. The Pound is where stray or unauthorised cattle were impounded, and I presume Folly Bridge is in fact just that - not a bridge but a culvert under the road, hence 'Folly'. 

From the Slads, and heading south for 200 metres, and turning west toward Eton Wick from the rail viaduct, the land is a little undulating and this was known as the 'Hillies', much frequented by the Eton Church Lads Brigade during the 1930s, and here, with the Old Highway on our left, was an ever smouldering large rubbish tip. This was a great attraction for school boys, and at a time of little or no rubbish collections, very necessary. Here then was the 'Tip'. Todays' walkers west of the old tip site may be struck by the hundreds of small china shards scattered over acres of farmland. Not an ancient civilization, but the levelling effect of that old pre WW2 tip. Nearby is Chinese Bridge spanning the 500 metre backwater we know as Cuckoo Weir. Several times this bridge has been rebuilt but always retaining the familiar appearance. Maps show Chinese Bridge as Long Bridge, Long Bray Bridge and Upper Hope Bridge. Cuckoo Weir is now used as a Swan Sanctuary. Until mid-20th century it was used by the Royal Humane Society as a safe swimming place for local residents, and separately by the College for juniors and non-swimmers. Cuckoo Weir flows on until it re-joins the Thames close to the rail viaduct. The bridges at this junction are Lower Hope and Bargeman's Bridges. Why the name 'Cuckoo Weir'? I can only guess that like the play 'One flew over the cuckoo's nest' it suggests a non-existence; either the nest or the weir. I have however seen an older book that names the water as Cuckow Ware! A little upriver of the bridge is a substantial area of untidy saplings and willows, once an osiery of 'withies'. In times much past 'withies' were invaluable for eel and fish traps; baskets; furniture and wattle and daub walls. In the 1930s Eton College fenced this off, and used it as a bird sanctuary for their young ornithologists. No longer is it being well used. Here then was the "Withies"! 

A little over 100 metres west of Chinese Bridge was 'Athens', an earth mound at the river bank, originally surrounded by water, and a swimming place for Eton College. The mound has now been levelled, and the site is marked by a seat which has a large stone block beneath that bears two metal tablets. One quotes the College rules for swimmers as pertained in 1921, the other states that 'Athens' was given to the College by parents of a particularly talented College boy swimmer who was killed in a flying accident in 1917. Here then was 'Athens', which with the post WW2 emphasis on a modern swimming pool, made this and other places obsolete. 

Three to four kilometres upstream is Oakley Court Hotel; on the south bank of the Thames. Reputedly built to resemble a French chateau, to ease homesickness of a young French bride, it much later was used by Bray Film Studios for their Hammer House of Horror films before becoming a hotel. Very probably the original owner had a large copse of trees planted on the north bank which to this day obscures much of the Boveney farmland beyond (now of course a rowing lake). This copse was the 'Plantation' of my youth. 'Boveney Hole' I always thought a derogatory term for Boveney village. Not so! The term 'Hole' can mean a bathing place, or a place of slack water. There is such a place approximately 150 metres upriver of Boveney Church where the 'slack' water is caused by a sharp bend in the Thames. It frequently needs the dredging of a reed bed. Again looking across the river there is a fine building, now flats, that before WW2 was a home of a very wealthy Indian and his large entourage - Dunji Bois Bomanji (probably mis-spelt). An employee told me that money was cleaned on a regular basis before the gent would handle it. 

The pathway from Eton Wick to Cippenham was formerly a rough and seasonally muddy track through open fields; we knew this as the 'Slipes', becoming Wood Lane half way to the Cippenham road. During the 1930s to 50s this was a regular busy route to the work places of perhaps the majority of Eton Wick's working residents employed on the so called 'Dump', otherwise the Slough Trading Estate. It was known as the 'Dump' because after the Great War of 1914 - 1918 the large area was used as a scrap yard for many of the wars' vehicles. Only later did the site become developed with many different industrial factories. Where the 'Slipes' becomes Wood Lane there is to the left an overgrown spinney. This we knew as the 'Jungle'. A little further on and to the right we now have an estate of dwellings and Asda store. Around this area was 'Spackman's' private air strip and hangar. Mr. Spackman, with his brother, reputedly flew their small biplane to Brighton for an early morning 'splash' after which they returned to base for breakfast. The windows of that small hangar were a big attraction where we would peer through at the plane. All is gone now, but nostalgically there is a Spackmans Way on today's nearby estate, thereby ensuring that what is gone is not necessarily forgotten. 

Then we had 'Blind Alley', not far away, but usually we went there from Little Common. This dark, overgrown and muddy cow track is off the North East corner of Little Common and leads to the Chalvey stream where we occasionally found Newts. To the east was the 'Butts' where Eton College cadets had a long distance rifle range. The post WW2 building of the M4 motorway resulted in a shorter and much diminished range. In times of use, red flags warned pedestrians not to use the Eton Wick to Chalvey footpath. The route was much used in my youth as it could lead to Chalvey and Slough's Adelphi cinema. Now of course we all have cars and there are no big cinemas. I guess we cannot have everything. 

Submitted by Frank Bond 

Click here to read Our Village August 2015.

This article was originally published in the Eton Wick Newsletter - Our Village and 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 April 2011

The way things were — Floods 

Seafaring fishermen are quite superstitious and do not like whistling when at sea. They believe it is 'whistling for the wind' which will blow up fiercely. Hopefully, in writing about past floods it will not be tempting providence. 

Eton Wick is reputedly on a flood plain* and I occasionally get asked about past events that I presume is the result of insurance premiums. It would be a comfort to believe the Jubilee River is a definite guarantee of no future flooding locally, but of course, when it comes to weather, nothing can be a certainty. 

As a schoolboy in the early 1930s, I well recall the Eton Wick Road being flooded across the `slads' on at least two or three occasions. This is the first area to be flooded near Eton Wick. The 'Slads' is that grass stretch both north and south of the main road a few yards east of the rail viaduct. On the walk to 'Porny' school we excitedly saw water on the 'slads' south of the road and sure enough on the way home later, the water had risen enough to be across the road and covering both sides of the old grazing land, enough to necessitate the long plank footbridge being erected between the viaduct and the Folly Bridge cattle pound, from where the ground rose suddenly above most flood levels. (See photograph on page 4). The footbridge was quickly constructed by pushing steel handrails through the top of about 30 steel posts permanently in situ across the 'slads' and then fitting planks about 1 — 1½ feet above the ground and secured to brackets fitted to the posts. When not in use, the handrails; brackets and planks were safely stored under one of the viaduct arches. They were not used much after the 1947 flood. Gradually the posts rusted and fell into the grass but the other materials and planks seemed to vanish; perhaps as rumour suggested, were misappropriated. The last of the posts, I understand, went to Windsor as a future item of interest for the local museum. One of the most flooded parts of Eton Wick was along Common Road, although rarely getting into homes. 

History records very serious floods, but in the last 120 years, there were just two that were

really exceptional, the first in 1894 and the next in 1947. In many ways, these were very different in timing and cause. The deeper flood came in November 1894 after heavy rains beyond the river's ability to cope. Coming in early winter made it very difficult for inundated homes to dry their possessions effectively. It was perhaps four months before doors and windows could be opened to the elements. The 1947 flood was quite different. It came in March after six weeks of almost constant snow and rain falls accompanied by hard frosts. The result was a thickness of packed and frozen fall on deeply frozen ground. The improved March weather thawed the surface and, being unable to soak through the frozen ground, found its level on the surface. Perhaps a repeat of the 1947 weather would be beyond even the Jubilee River to cope with. Of course, the 1947 flood did allow for the summer to effectively dry out. This latter flood came about 19 months after the end of WW2 at a time when Eton Wick had no electricity; there was a severe shortage of fuel; food and clothing was still rationed and most of the young (and not so young) were desperately trying to set up home after nearly six years of war service. 

Against this background, I will mention a few particular incidents, but doubtless, those of you who experienced the 1947 flood will have your own favourite memories. My family home was an early 18th Century detached house that stood near the Common Road Jubilee oak tree. In 1894 this house was occupied by a Miss or Mrs Tarrant. In mid-November, the ground floor was flooded and the good lady was obliged to move upstairs. Like many others, she had several chickens and these also went upstairs. The 1947 flood did not get beyond the doorstep but I did see Mother pushing a knitting needle between the living room quarry tiled floor to anxiously measure how much more the water had risen. 

A few homes away lived the village blacksmith, Jack Newell, along with his daughter and her husband, Jennie and Allen Dowson. This was the end house of Hope Cottages which is one side of the lane to Common Road, with Wheatbutts Cottage on the other. Jennie was watching the village policeman coming down the flooded lane to make sure all was well. He suddenly disappeared from sight, so she went through the house to follow his progress. No policeman, but his helmet was being swept away in the flood. The water had concealed a deep hole it had 'washed' in the road and the PC had tumbled into the depths, along with his cycle. 

Wartime shortages were still resulting in food rationing, shortage of almost all goods and building materials, and very inadequate heating. My sister had recently been allocated a house in Eton but was still obliged to get the family food allowance from 'Chantlers' of Eton Wick. To get the supplies to Eton my brother paddled his kayak boat from Sheepcote Road along the flooded Eton Wick Road to the 'slads', then turning right across the Eton Recreation Ground, across Church Meadow and up Brocas Street, where he secured the boat and waded through Eton to Tangier Lane. There was continuous water all the way between Eton Wick church and Windsor Bridge. Many homes, the church and some shops were flooded. The photos we see often did not show the worse or the deepest floods, simply because everybody had too much practical purpose at hand and nobody knew where it was at its worse anyway. When floods are not 'rising' they have turned and are falling. Most roads were flooded and eventually the Eton Wick Road became too deep and hazardous. Workers and shoppers were conveyed to Slough, through Dorney by lorries belonging to R Bond (Contractors). 

A substantial anti-aircraft gun site had recently vacated Donley Common and home seeking ex-service persons had taken over the empty Nissen huts as squatters. Overnight the huts were flooded and women and infants were pushed to safety in a galvanised bath tub, a few by boat. South View residents had food passed up to the bedroom windows by boat. The army used DUKW vehicles to supply small bags of fuel and emergency foods. 

Floods as severe as those have many side effects. When water rises it forces rats to come above ground and there are many more rats than we are normally aware of. Other wildlife is obliged to converge on the remaining dry areas. When floods subside they leave the land and gardens strewn with flotsam —straw, rubbish, wood etc., and after the land is contaminated causing risk of tetanus. A village youngster died after just such an infection in 1947. Hopefully this is the past and we will not see the like again, but doubtless if it comes to it, everybody will do what is necessary — sink or swim. 

Frank Bond 

Above — in March 1947 - using the slads plank bridge. The Willow Tree public house is the higher building. Pub signpost also shown. Willow Tree cottages in the fore. 

Frank Bond 

Click here to read Our Village April 2011.

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 effects of flooding of 2014 were reported on in 15th Issue of Our Village on page 22.

*Note The Environment Agency flood map can be found through the UK Government website.

Flood Planning Map courtesy of the Environment Agency

1947 Floods, Eton Wick

1947 Floods, Eton Wick

The Slads 1947. This photograph was taken from the railway bridge. The full length of the plank foot bridge can be seen on the left. The driver of the horse and cart may be George Paget who lived nearby, or Ted Quayle.

The footbridge across the Slads during the 1947 flood. The sign of the former Willow Tree pub can be seen on the left of the picture. The angle iron support posts at the side of the footpath were a permanent feature. The planks and fittings were held in store for the then regular flood emergencies. Two posts have survived to the end of the century.

Our Village April 2013 - The way things were - The Village Grows

I am sure that some readers of the previous magazine were surprised to learn that just 50 - 60 years ago so many pigs were living among the homes of Common Road and of course in other parts of our village. This gives cause to reflect on what was here years ago. My memory may cover the last 80 years, but only hearsay and records can go further back. Of the latter there is scant to call on, other than Dr. Judith Hunter's book of 1977 on Eton Wick. I know of no other book of any era exclusively on Eton Wick's general history. It is said that with its Anglo Saxon name it probably pre dates Eton College (1440) by several hundred years, albeit perhaps no more than a supplier of fuel, thatch and food to the place of Eton, itself not the town that we understand today. Only 150 years ago the small village had no church, no public buildings and a small school of little more than two decades old. There was no drainage, piped water, and of course no gas or electricity. Some lucky homes had a pump in the garden, which was probably shared, and wood fires, candle and oil lamps were the norm. Perhaps of small wonder that the population of around 300 justified four pubs, where at least a roaring log fire and company were great attractions. Of all the pub names surely there was a need for a 'Linger longer Inn.

If we look at village geographic changes of that last 150 years we must remember that Eton Wick's west boundary was at Bell Lane; originally a farm track linking Bell Farm to the rutted, muddy track (allegedly an old Kings Highway, still in situ), with Eton's Brocas Street, Windsor, and the river ferries. I can think of no buildings along the north side of Eton Wick Road that would have existed 150 years ago; between the Slads and Cattle Pound and Sheepcote Road, apart from perhaps the College Sanatorium (1844) and small cottages behind it.

Eton Wick Church had not been built (three years to go), the rail viaduct was little more than ten years old, and built of wood. Three farm houses would have been visible, but were at least 120 metres away, and bordered the Great Common. Incidentally the site of the Sanatorium (now The Sandles) was considered for an Eton workhouse for the homeless in 1834, but the project was dropped in favour of a larger workhouse in Slough (Upton Hospital today).

During the 1880 - 90s era the Temperance Guild was very influential in its aim to combat the effect of alcohol and to hopefully engage the men in worthwhile pursuits. Locally they probably brought about the first allotments in I believe 1894. (Dr. Judith Hunter suggests a year or two earlier). These were on a three acre plot, opposite the Old Parsonage. (These allotments closed in 1994 when the lease expired.) More allotments soon followed. A large site covered what is now Hayward's Mead and extended to the St. Gilberts RC Church. More allotments were created on a strip of Sheepcote Field between the school and Common Road. The Haywards Mead estate ends abruptly opposite Vine Cottage. The Council of the day - Eton Urban - would have liked Hayward Mead to extend further east, but it was not possible to release the Green Belt land, as others have found out since. Incidentally, the land opposite Vine Cottage was worked by my father during the Great War, and had German POW's providing the labour. I often wish I had got more details from Dad, but we all say this when it is too late.

 

During the 1930s the land now occupied by the Scout Movement was used as a camp site. Perhaps never more than six to ten tents, mostly at weekends, but surely an attractive place for Londoners and others. Unfortunately the campers needed to use one of the two paths through the allotments to the village shops and pubs, and they were frequently blamed for produce being stolen from the vegetable plots. 150 years ago the village itself was very different. Along the main road we had the Old Parsonage (then a large residential home with no church connections); a small school (1840) at the main road/Walk Road junction; The Grapes public house (now Silk Route Chinese restaurant), a terrace row of ten small houses (Prospect Place) and 'The Three Horseshoes' pub. Between these sparse dwellings, apart from the two end houses of Prospect Place, which had two rooms up and two down, I understand the other eight of that row had only one up and one down. The toilet blocks were probably 20 yards behind the houses and were shared. 

Originally built as farm cottages, they were occupied into the 1930s. The land between the spaced out houses would have been the long gardens of the homes along Common Road. Having been accustomed to very long plots by todays' standards, residents would have felt the need for an allotment when their land was sold for the main road development of St. Leonards Place, Harding Cottages (now the site of Clifton Lodge), Vine Cottages, Ada Cottage, Bonaccord Cottages (originally Tarrant Cottages), Clyde Place, Welman Cottages, and Palmer Place. In the fullness of time the house names became superfluous, being replaced by street numbers. Grazing cattle on common lands were controlled not by the owner but by an appointed 'Hayward'. The local Hayward had a plot for his own use as part of his 'perks' and this was by, or part of, Church Meadow, Eton. He may have had a plot in the village also, but certainly this is where the name of Hayward Mead is derived from. 

Our area is rich with gravel which is only a few inches below the surface. When this hard core was needed for farm tracks, or perhaps foundations, it was simply dug out and utilised. The consequent pits were then used as rubbish tips, there being no rubbish collections in the years the village had its own Council (1894 — 1934) intent on controlling a very low rate. One such tip was opposite St. John the Baptist Church and was much used by the village school for its empty pottery ink bottles, old slates etc., There were at least five such 'tips' in my childhood, much to the delight of scavenging boys. Perhaps the other very rural appearance of our village was the trees. 

Predominantly elms, there were a few oaks and an occasional ash. They must be a feature of all old Eton Wick village photos with many along the south side of the Great Common and probably as many as 20 round Wheatbutts Field — now an estate. It is only 40 years since most of these succumbed to Dutch Elm disease, although some with their roots in flood water (1947) blew down in a strong wind.

In my next article I hope to write about the Boveney end of the village — west of Bell Lane, which for so long seemed independent of the old village. When Eton Wick had its own Council (1894 — 1934) Boveney Newtown also had its own Council. This tended to polarise the communities. 

Submitted by Frank Bond

Click here to read Our Village April 2013.

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.

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.

The Hayward

The Hayward, Eton Wick South Field

Mr 'Hammer' Stannett was for many years the Lammas hayward. He is pictured here minding cows and horses on South Field. Windsor Castle is in the left background, and the 'Chinese Bridge' and river just out of the picture on the right. The hayward grazed the cattle over Lammas lands from the commons, the Slads, Eton Wick Recreation Ground, South Field and back home.

The milking herds have virtually all gone, and with them the hayward, but residents still benefit from the rural legacy of open fields all around them, as Eton and Eton Wick are virtually surrounded by Lammas or common land, preventing urban sprawl. A similar photograph of 'Hammer', has featured in a number of county and national publications. Haywards Mead housing development was named after the hayward.

The Recreation Ground and the GWR

Eton Wick Recreation Ground looking east towards Windsor Castle

The beginnings: the coming of the Great Western Railway

The construction of the Great Western Railway main line to Bristol was originally intended pass through Windsor, Reading and Oxford. The University of Oxford objected, considering that such an innovation was a danger to life and limb; likewise objections were raised by Windsor Castle and Eton College authorities resulting in the railway being diverted and constructed at a more respectful distance from these places.

Within a short time plans were also put forward for a branch line from Slough to Windsor, but again objections were put forward by Eton College and some leading citizens of Eton which delayed the line for fourteen years

The inhabitants of Eton were summoned to a meeting on October 2, 1846, to consider the railway company's proposal. The calling of the meeting was signed by the town’s most influential people, with the Provost of Eton heading the list. Opposition to the proposal was voted out and the project was carried through. Certain obligations were imposed on the railway authorities, one being to place a watchman on the line to keep Eton boys from endangering their lives or the lives of passengers. This task continued late into the 19th century.

Another imposed condition was the payment of compensation by the Great Western Railway Company to the parish, for the extinguishment of commonable and Lammas rights. In the year 1852 the Railway company paid £246 5s.Id. (£246.51p). compensation money. Also in the year 1871 the Eton Local Board of Health paid £105 compensation money on land released for the open bed sewage farm.

The compensation money was invested in 2 3/4% Consolidated Stock in the names of three trustees, John Atkins, Thomas Hester and Edwin Aborn who invested it for many years. Questions were asked at the annual Vestry meeting by Eton public as to what use was to be made of it. Several proposals were made, but no satisfactory decision was reached for many years.

Slough to Windsor railway viaduct

The Slough-Windsor railway viaduct, from the Eton Wick side. The railway to Windsor was completed in 1849. Initially it was carried on a wooden viaduct across the Slads , the wooden structure being replaced in the 1860s by brick arches.

Purchase of land

On the 10th October 1895, the Board of Agriculture called a meeting of persons interested in the compensation money to consider the application. The meeting was held in the parish room, Eton, and the majority decided that the money should be used to provide recreation grounds for Eton and Eton Wick.

By this time the amount invested had accumulated to £964. 9. 8d. and there was cash in hand amounting to £18. 15.0. The meeting resolved that the money should be applied as follows:

Land to be acquired for Eton Wick Recreation Ground

The balance to be used to purchase land in Eton to be used
as a recreation ground for Eton, and to be vested in the Eton Urban District Council, under the provisions relating to Recreation Grounds of the Enclosure Acts 1845 to 1878.

This was agreed to: £650 was allotted to Eton and £300 to Eton Wick. (Included in this expenditure was Board of Agriculture expenses 321. 14.0)

The field for Eton recreation ground was a ‘Close of Freehold’ land called Ten Acres but actually containing 8 acres 1 rood and 21 perches, "situate in a place called Water Slade in the parish of Eton being part arable and part meadow".

The field was purchased by the three Trustees from Mr. James Darville of Windsor. It was legally designated to be used for ever more as a recreation ground for Eton, to be held and managed by the Eton Urban District Council and its successors.

This recreation ground was ready for use by the residents of Eton by 1896, but nine years were to pass before a suitable piece of ground was found in Eton Wick and the agreement of the Crown and the Lord of the Manor was obtained.

The Deeds for the Eton Wick Recreation Field, located at the east end of the 'South Field' within the village, were signed in 1904. After levelling and making good, the Eton Wick Football Club played there, having previously used Dorney Common since 1881. During World War II the recreation ground was ploughed for food production.

Hayward, Cattle Pound and Common Lands

The Hayward, the Cattle Pound and the Common Lands

The hayward grazed the cattle over Lammas lands from the commons, the Slads, Eton Wick Recreation Ground, South Field and back home. The milking herds have virtually all gone, and with them the hayward, but the name lives on in Haywards Mead housing development.

Mr 'Hammer' Stannett, for many years the Lammas Hayward.

The Cattle Pound

Close to the road on the outskirts of Eton is a small brick enclosure - the Pound which was once used to impound cattle and sheep which had strayed from the field and the commons, or which belonged to people who did not have common rights.

The present pound (pictured here) was built in the 19th century, but there were several earlier ones.

The Pound was owned by the Manor of Eton cum Stockdales and Colenorton, which managed the common lands of Eton and Eton Wick and drew up the rules for their use. Eton College became Lord of the Manor in 1940 and in 1948 it held the last Court Leet and Court Baron, when the rules were ratified and a Bailiff and Hayward were elected.

The Hayward was responsible for placing strayed or unauthorised animals in the Pound; owners had to pay a fine before the animals were collected. In the early years of the twentieth century the fine was 6d (6 pennies) per beast for the Hayward, and 10 shillings per beast to the Lord of the Manor.

The plaque on the Pound gate reads:

"The Pound at Folly Bridge for unauthorised cattle from the Great Common in the Manor of Eton cum Stockdales and Colenorton. Restored 1996."

The Commons

There are two commons in the manor - Eton Great Common, which stretches from Eton Wick to Eton, and the Little Common to the north of the village. Commons were permanent pasture where animals belonging to those with common rights were allowed to graze from 1st May to 12th August each year, in the charge of the Hayward. For horses, cows, sheep and children May Day was an exciting day in Eton Wick!

Each commoner could graze his stint - an allotted number of animals based on the area he farmed. One beast was also allowed for every farmstead, house and cottage. The commoner must own the animals and mark them clearly.

Lammas Land

The name "Lammas" comes down from Saxon times. The name originally referred to the "loaf mass", a special religious feast which celebrated the first fruits of the harvest. Lammas Day used to be 1st August, but after the reform of the calendar in 1752 it moved to 12th August. In Eton and Eton Wick the Lammas lands were the large common fields - arable and meadow - which were subject to common pasture rights. This meant that after haymaking and the corn harvest, the cattle, sheep and horses belonging to the commoners (that is those with common rights) were allowed to graze those fields until 31st October.

Lammas rights might well have been a hindrance to the introduction of new crops, such as turnips and potatoes, but in the early 18th century the Eton Court Baron changed the rules to allow the farmers to grow a limited amount of turnip for winter feed for cattle. In earlier times there had been as many as eight farms with livestock in the parish, but there is now only one.

Down the centuries the commons and Lammas lands have had a great influence on the development of the parish. Thanks to them, much of the land has been kept free from buildings. Otherwise the river bank might now be covered with bungalows, and Eton and Eton Wick might have become joined into one large residential district. Instead, the commons and Lammas lands were registered under the Commons Registration Act of 1965.

For more about the Common lands of Eton and Eton Wick, see "The struggle to keep the common land".

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.

Eton Wick Newsletter - Our Village August 2008

In the first newsletter we looked at the old village of Eton Wick which until 1934 had its west boundary at Bell Lane and the east at the Folly Bridge (the slads).  In the early 1920’s this boundary was moved west, enabling Eton Town to develop Somerville Road and that part of South View.  We will leave the late 19th Century extensions of the village west, into what came to be known as Boveney Newtown, until a further issue and will now take a closer look at the old Eton Wick and its development. 

It is believed that the thorough-fare to Eton and Windsor during the middle ages may well have been the old Kings Highway that passes  from our present day Village Hall, along Haywards Mead, continues past Cuckoo Weir (now the Swan Sanctuary) along Meadow Lane to Brocas Street.  This may, or may not be so, but looking closely and accepting the importance of the early farms, it makes sense that the said highway starts from Bell Lane (south) which itself would have been a muddy cart track from Bell Farm, and is joined by the old Sheepcote track that crosses our present road by the church.  This track, now Sheepcote Road, was almost certainly made by the traffic of Saddocks and Manor Farms several hundred years ago. The rutted highway gives us a fair indication of what roads were like all those years ago.  Many of us can remember Sheepcote Road just that, a muddy, gated track in the 1920 – 1930s.  

Thinly populated, Eton Wick had no school; hall; gentry homes or church until 1840, when a school room 29’ x 21’ was built along the Eton Wick Road, on the end of the Greyhound Pub (established 1833) garden.  Remember at this time dwellings along either Common Road or Eton Wick Road often had a small holding/garden stretching as far as the other parallel road.  The Greyhound’s ground being about 100 metres long.  Dr. Judith Hunters’ excellent book tells us ‘The Walk’ derived its name from ‘Deverill’s Walk’, Deverill being the pub landlord and ‘Walk’ on account of the well trod track from the main road to the public house.  It was 1902 before the track, so named, was developed and built along.   It was thought the houses along ‘The Walk’ were the first Eton Wick newly built homes to have piped water installed. 

In 1866 the Village got its first church in St. John the Baptist C of E.  Queen Victoria gave ½ acre of the Crown land of Sheepcote and a £100 donation.  It would be 26 years later before the churchyard was consecrated and the first village burial took place. 

With the sudden influx of children in the newly developed Boveney Newtown (west of Bell Lane) during the 1880’s, it was becoming increasingly difficult for the small school to accommodate them all.  Strictly speaking the children of Boveney were expected to attend a school in the Burnham area but it was not acceptable for them to all trek to Dorney, so it was decided to build a larger school in Sheepcote.  Again, Queen Victoria gave ½ acre and £100 towards the £1,000 the new school would cost.  It opened in 1888.  The girls were expected to complete their education in the village but the boys only attended until 7 years old and then were obliged to attend the Eton Porny School.  Many walked along the unlit; unpathed road four times a day - there was no such thing as school meals, buses, cars and very few cycles.   At that time there were no buildings between the church and Willow Place, apart from the sanatorium.  The first four pairs of houses in South View were not built until after the 1914 – 1918 war when Eton Wick Council had them built as rented homes for returning ex-servicemen.  Perhaps this bold move prompted the Eton Council to ask the village to agree to the boundary move that gave them the area to complete South View beyond the sanatorium and to develop Somerville Road. The name Somerville is derived from the Eton Council’s Chairman’s name, as he had negotiated the land swap with Eton Wick.   

Meanwhile the first school building was used by young men and boys as an institute.  In 1902 this came to an end when shopkeeper, Mr. Pratt of Eton & Windsor, purchased the site and Eton Wick’s first purpose built shop was erected and opened in 1904.  With the Institute closed the village benefactor Mr Vaughan (a Classics Master at Eton College) again came to the rescue and made Wheatbutts Cottage temporarily available.  Meanwhile, he set about freeing a plot of his land from restrictive lammas rights and then donated the plot and paid for The Institute of Eton Wick and Boveney, which is now known as The Village Hall. It was opened in 1907 and has been extended and improved over the years to meet the changing requirements.  Originally the entrance to the hall was on the east side, now used as the library entrance.  It had an equipped gymnasium upstairs and in fact the old climbing ropes will still be in that east facing room on the upper floor, but are concealed by the modern ceiling slats.   

Boys continued to attend Eton Porny School until 1940 when Ragstone Road School took the lads from ‘Porny’ at the age of 11 years. 

Apart from the Boveney Newtown and post World War 2 developments it just leaves the Recreation Grounds that first appeared circa 1904.  We can perhaps look at those in a later issue covering sports and clubs. 

Frank Bond 

Click here to read Our Village August 2008 - the second edition of the Eton Wick Newsletter that this year celebrates its 10th anniversary.

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.