The Pubs of Eton Wick

The Pubs of Eton Wick

by Frank Bond

The earliest mention of an ale house in the village is a very tentative one: local historian Judith Hunter found an isolated parish reference to the Small Fox in Eton Wick in the early 1700 's or late 1600’s.

The next mention is quite positive and is the recorded fact in the Vituallers Recognizances of 1753 of the Bulls Head and of the Three Horse Shoes (recognizances were pledges made before a court or magistrates). 

The Shoes was built sometime before 1705 and, like the beer houses later, was probably a

private dwelling. Certainly it became an Ale House before 1753 Vituallers Recognizances and could have possibly have been the first in the village, apart of course from the vague reference to the Small Fox.

The other contender for being the first, the Bulls Head, was the end cottage - then the only one - of Hope Cottages, now No 37 Common Road. It was built about 1725 and became an Ale House about 1732. It was run by Elizabeth Griffiths and later her son William. By the mid 1750s it had reverted to being a private dwelling, and then presumably only The Three Horse Shoes survived. After about 90 years it was again used as a Beer House by William Woolhouse.

We must remember that the village was very small in the 18th Century.

There was no Boveney New Town, no houses South of the main road, very few along the main road and nothing built along The Walk or Sheepcote. Apart from the outlying farms the village had less than 100 inhabitants of all ages, living mainly along Common Road.

Back in history we often read of alcoholic drink used to poison. Home made drink and wine in particular varied so much that it was comparatively easy for a host to add poison to his guest's drink. The old practice of drinking one's health and touching glasses was allegedly derived from the good faith habit of each tipping a little of one's drink into the other's glass or tankard. Then when the Host drank the guest was assured Good Health was intended. It is reasonable to believe that Beer sold along Common Road was really a provision for locals, whereas establishments along the thinly populated main road would have served through travellers.

In 1830 it is thought that the village only had the Shoes providing beer. That however was the year of the Beer Act permitting any one to sell beer providing they paid a small excise fee. By 1833 the Greyhound was licensed, followed a year later by the Shepherds Hut just outside the village boundary. Eight years later in 1842 we had the Grapes, now known as the Pickwick. It was about this time that William Woolhouse again opened the Bulls Head in Common Road.

The Three Horse Shoes was the only fully licenced inn until after World War 2; the others were limited to being Beer Houses. Judith Hunter reminds us that in the mid 19th Century there was about one pub for every fourteen families. Today with a population about thirty times greater we still have the same number of pubs, except of course the Bulls Head.

It is certain that the Grapes was built on the garden of Common Road Thatch Cottage in 1840 - 42 and squeezed between the terraced row of Prospect Place (one up and one down) ten terraced homes and the row of Hardings Cottages, now the site of Clifton Lodge. A village map of 1839 shows the gap between the two terraced rows. This suggest that the Grapes became a Beer house when it was built unlike the other pubs in Eton Wick.

Only in the last sixty years have pubs changed from being "men only", apart from a few clay pipe smoking women, and the spittoon with the sawdust on the floor for people who missed.

Of the village pubs only the Grapes was ill suited for the horse and carts or carriages. The Greyhound had stables that were in regular use, certainly from the 1920's to the 40's by Bill Parrot who was one of the two village coal merchants. The row of stables are now the skittles alley.

The Three Horseshoes also had several stables and in the 20's and 30's these were used by Roll Bond and his contracting firm. By the mid thirties his sons had replaced the horses with lorries.

The Shepherds Hut that for so long stood almost alone just outside the village had a field stretching from Bell Lane to Moore Lane. By the 1880's or thereabout this was reduced to the Brewers field of perhaps half the area and the pub was situated in the N.W. corner.

In the late 1940's most of this field was sold to the council for the parade of seven shops and all the houses in Princess Close. Until this time certain local characters always expected to have their own seat or chair and it is well remembered some folk saying, "I will sit here until old Jack comes in".

Just before World War II the pubs became more of a social place and regular annual outings took place to the sea and Goodwood Races. This was resumed in the post-war years but of course as we approached the 1960's more and more cars replaced the excitement of a coach trip and involved the whole family.

Before this, most Pub outings seemed to be male only perhaps because joining in did not seem ladylike. Probably the Greyhound was the only exception to this practice in the village.
Television at this time was also providing in-house entertainment and the social role of the pubs changed for all times.

At the Greyhound they probably had the longest serving Publican ever in the village. Bill and Lil Newall took the pub in about 1930 and although Bill died in 1947, aged 62, Lil carried on as landlord to complete 35 years of service. A second opinion claims it to have been 40 years. More startling is the fact that throughout all those years she herself remained teetotal. Mrs Newall was 96 years old when she died in 1984.

At the Shepherds Hut there were publicans who nearly equalled the Newall’s long tenancy. Mr and Mrs William Stacey took the Hut in 1899 and like Bill Newall, Bill Stacey died leaving his widow to carry on as Landlord. Mr Stacey died a day or two before Armistice day 1918 and his widow remained at the pub for another 14 years, a total of 33 years.

Bill Cobourne followed Mrs Stacey at the Hut and was another long serving Landlord. Unfortunately I am not sure how long he served but probably nearly 30 years.

The first Stacey in the village to be Landlord was a William Stacey at the Grapes and the father of William at the Shepherds Hut. Another son, John, became Landlord of the Grapes, but by the 1920's father William and his two Landlord sons had died leaving their widows to carry on as Landladies.

Vic Short of the Three Horseshoes was also a reasonably long serving Landlord but without more research we cannot be sure how long he served.

There is a newspaper cutting from the time of the First World War stating that he had unsuccessfully applied for military exemption. It is thought he left the village in 1937.

He was followed by that great London character Amy Buck who, it was said, kept two lots of opening hours. One for normal trade and one in the back room for special customers wanting an out of hours drink, particularly American Servicemen.

A change of name for ‘The Grapes’ to ‘The Pickwick’ did not bring longterm gain, as competition from off-licence outlets and supermarkets together with the changing social scene brought the closure of the Pickwick in 2004.

ETON WICK IN THE YEAR 1893

ETON WICK IN THE YEAR 1893 By Frank Bond

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

E. Brown - The Queens

Ernest Brown (Private No. T/202287) 3rd/4th Battalion The Queens Royal West Surrey Regiment – 62nd Brigade – 21st Division

Ernest (Ernie) Brown was born on December 17th 1894 and spent most of his early years in

the family home at 2, Curlew Cottages, Northfield Road, Boveney Newtown. He was not related to the other Boveney Newtown casualty of the Great War with the same surname. However he did have a brother William who served in the Dardanelles in 1915 and later on the Western Front. William survived the war. They had five sisters and all except the two eldest of the seven children were born in Northfield Road. The two eldest were born in London and came to Eton Wick on account of their father's work as a horse coachman. Unfortunately the father died of cancer in 1905 leaving a widow to bring up the large family.

Two houses comprised Curlew Cottages, and another of the village's Great War fatalities, George Bolton, had spent part of his early life in the other house. 

Ernie attended the Eton Wick Infant School from 1899 until at the age of six years and nine months he left the village school to attend Eton Porny. In 1908, when he attained his 14th birthday, he left school to start work. By this time the family had moved a few houses along the road and were in No. 2, Oak Villas. 

On at least two occasions Ernie was mentioned in the Parish Magazine for good school attendance and good work. It is believed he found employment with Tom Lovell the local baker, Postmaster and general stores who traded at Ada Cottage, next to the Three Horse Shoes public house. Tom was a much-esteemed village man, for apart from being the principal trader he was also a school governor and frequently sang in Eton Wick concert groups. His son, Frederick Lovell was the village draper and boot dealer. 

No reference has been found to the date Ernest enlisted into the army, although it was probably 1915, when he was 20 years old. Certainly the 3rd/4th Battalion The Queens was formed at Windsor in June 1915. The following month they went to Tunbridge Wells as a unit of the 200th Brigade, 67th Division. In October the Battalion moved to Reigate in July 1916 to Westbere and in November to Ramsgate. On June 1st 1917 they embarked for the continent and landed at Havre. In all probability Ernie last saw Eton Wick and home during May 1917, prior to sailing to France. 

When the time came for Ernie to return to his unit, he started to walk the village road to catch his Windsor train. A local trader gave him a lift on his horse and cart, and with a parting gesture said "Cheerio! Ern' all the best and I will see you next time you get home". Back came the reply "Thank you Bert, but you will not see me again". This chilling expression or premonition was quite common among men who knew so much about the battlefield carnage. As privates they could not expect to survive 18 months before their next home leave was posted. 

Ernie arrived in the war zone in time for the bitter fighting of the Third Battle of Ypres that commenced on July 31st and raged on through the treacherous and drowning mud of Passchendaele. Almost tantalisingly the tiny place of that name, standing on marginally higher ground, became the objective of thousands upon thousands of weary, struggling soldiers. By October the battle had raged for nearly three months and British and Empire units became involved in an attack on the Broodseinde sector. 

The 3rd/4th Battalion of The Queen's Royal West Surreys were expected to attack and capture "Fudge Trench" allowing the 1st Lincolnshires to pass through their positions to further the planned advance. Other regiments, together with Australian and New Zealand units, were to simultaneously attack on the flanks. 

Advancing was very slow as the troops were obliged to file forward over duck boards which spanned the mud filled shell holes, all the time being subjected to intense enemy fire. It was during this action, on October 24^th*, that Ernest Brown was killed. There are no details, his body was never identified and consequently there is no known grave. He is commemorated on a wall plaque in the Tyne Cot Cemetery along with approximately 35,000 other men who have no known graves and who fell in the battle in this sector. 

Additionally there are 11,000 graves in the same cemetery. Tyne Cot is situated five miles north east of the Belgian city of Ypres. 

In the local newspaper dated November 24th 1917 we read: 

Ernest Brown of 2, Oak Villas, Eton Wick, second son of Mr Brown and Mrs Brown, aged 22 years, Faithful Unto Death, Grant Him Eternal Rest. 

Ernest was a single man. His name is sixth on the Eton Wick War Memorial and is also on the bronze tablets attached to the Eton Church Memorial Gates.

 This is an extract from Their Names Shall Be Carved in Stone  
and published here with grateful thanks to the author Frank Bond.

Ernest Brown: The Commonwealth War Graves Commission page.

* The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records the death

of Private Ernest Brown as 4th October 1917. 

Ernest Brown: The For King & Country page.

Ernest Brown: There is no information about him on Lives of the First World War as yet.

The Eton Wick War Memorial page on Buckinghamshire Remembers website.

Eton Wick Newsletter: Our Village December 2009

Eton Wick and it's 19th Century Changes 

Having previously looked at the growth of Eton Wick it is now time to reflect on some of the happenings that importantly changed the lives of earlier generations. For centuries hamlets and villages like ours were centred around farms and the small clusters of labourers' dwellings; all having well trod cattle and foot tracks. Such as they were, the local tracks or roads would have been seasonally either very muddy or dusty routes between farms and fields, labourer cottages, market or the nearest water source. 

In Eton Wick we have at least four of those 'in' village roads and three other 'through' tracks that connected the village to the outside towns and villages. The 'in' tracks were (a) Sheepcote Road and (b) that part of Common Road that bisects the Great Common and connects between Manor and Saddock Farms and Sheepcote Road. The third is Bell Lane that connects Bell Farm with the main road of today and the old Kings Highway; and lastly Browns Lane (now known as part of Common Road) that gave access from Dairy Farm to the main road. 

Over the years some roads have changed their name. The main part of Common Road is probably as old as there have been dwellings along it. Additionally there were many tracks that did not develop, a few of these still survive. The three through roads were Inner Meads Lane between the Common Road farms and Eton's Common Lane; the old Kings Highway between the top of Bell Lane and Brocas Street, Eton, that was joined by a track from Old Boveney, immediately south of the Eton Wick Church; and the road we all use and was later designated the B3026. The first two have declined rather than developed, but should give us a good idea of the roads our forefathers were used to. Tracks still used include the path from the Great Common to Chalvey, paths to the river, also between Bell Farm and Little Common; across the 'sleds' to Meadow Lane, and across Dorney Common to Old Boveney. You will doubtless think of others. 

Since the 1870's at least another fourteen roads have been created in what we now know as Eton Wick. The Walk, Victoria Road, Alma, Inkerman and Northfield Roads were developed between 1875 and 1900; Tilstone Avenue in the mid 1930's and at least another eight since WWII ended in 1945. Albeit some are estate roads and/or cul de sacs. In its early years Moores Lane was not in Eton Wick and not known by that name until John Moore came to the area in the 1880's. There was a footpath across the fields known then as the 'slipes' and leading to Cippenham. Since the Slough sewage farm and later it's staff houses were developed half way to Cippenham, the road was improved and we know it as Wood Lane. 

The 20th Century brought many changes to the village with the coming of gas (1910), electricity from 1949, main drainage, subsequent central heating and double glazing, but I think there were more noteworthy advances in the 1800's. At the outset the population was approximately 100. There was no school, church or cemetery, no shops or public meeting place and no piped water. Even the Thames must have seemed untamed with no weirs to control the flow — hence more flooding — and no pound locks to make navigation easily possible. Young children would have worked in the fields with mum; weeding, gathering and gleaning for the backyard hens. They rarely left the village and probably some never did. 

Some village lads helped with the horse drawn barges, each leading their 'charge' along the towpath to Marlow where they unhitched the horses and stabled overnight with the horse before riding it back across Maidenhead Thicket to Windsor. My Father did this as a schoolboy in the late 1890's and was paid the princely sum of one shilling (5p). 

In those pre school years of early 1800's many would have been unable to read or write. The first school locally was Eton Porny, built in 1813 and replaced with the present school in 1863. It was another 27 years before Eton Wick's first school (1840) which again was replaced by a school in Sheepcote Road in 1889. Even then the school attendance was not always considered necessary or possible. It was not until 1875 that schooling became compulsory. 

As late as 1888 an item in the Parish Magazine reported that 90 children could be educated free of charge at Eton Porny, subject to regular and punctual attendance of Sunday School for at least one year and of being parishioners of Eton, born in wedlock. Until 1890 schooling was not necessarily free and a charge of two pence or more each week was the norm! This may not seem much but for labourers working for perhaps one pound, having several children, could amount to 10% or more of the family budget being paid out for an education that parents themselves had never enjoyed. 

In the years before schools, Sunday Schools had meant just that; the opportunity to learn to read and write as well as being taught the gospel. Apparently Eton Wick did have a circuit preacher for a while in the early 1800's. With no hall or school he would have needed to use a farm barn or a local cottage.

Between the 15th Century and 1875 the Eton College Chapel had served as the Parish Church. There was no other church in the town until 1769 when a small chapel was built near the present site of St. John the Evangelist. Being unsatisfactory it was replaced 50 years later, itself to be replaced by the present church in 1854. Eton Wick had to wait and make do with going to Eton or perhaps Dorney until in 1867 St. John the Baptist was built. The Methodist Chapel in Alma Road was built 19 years later, in 1886, and in that year a branch of the Temperance Guild came to Eton Wick. Although the village had a church in 1867 the churchyard was not consecrated for burials until 1892. The Eton cemetery near Cotton Hall was first used in 1847 and for 45 years villagers were obliged to go there for burials. The first Parish Magazine was produced in 1878, just three years after the Parish Church was established at Eton's St. John the Evangelist and much of local history used by writers since then have used the writings of Reverend John Shepherd in those early magazines, and his subsequent book. 

The first shop of any consequence in the village was that of Thomas Lovell, baker, post office and household goods, recorded in 1878 at the Ada Cottage (immediately west of the 'Three Horseshoes' public house). 'The Shoes' was first recorded in the Victualler's Recognizance's around 1750. The Greyhound' and The Shepherds Hut' were first licensed in the mid 1830's and The Grapes' (later The Pickwick' and now a restaurant) in 1842. 

Boveney's first pound lock was installed in 1838 and was replaced by the present lock in 1898. 

Socially the village came of age in the last decades of the 19th century, forming a Horticultural Society with its first show in 1878; (twelve years before Eton Town's first show). A village Football Club around 1880, a Cricket Club in 1889, a Young Men's Club in 1885, a Rifle Club in 1899 and getting its first allotments in 1888 and 1894. Also in 1894 both Eton Wick and Boveney New Town each had its own five man Council, to manage their affairs independent of Eton for the next 40 years. This had not happened before and has not been so since. 

In 1892 piped water came to Eton Wick. Only recently built houses would have had this luxury, away from the hitherto shared pumps, but it not only provided water indoors but introduced garden cesspits and indoor toilets. Early recipients included those in The Walk and in Victoria Road. 

The first trains crossed a wood viaduct over The Slads and the Thames in 1849 and this must have heralded affordable coal for the masses. Its earlier transport depended on barges. 

Yes, I think the 19th Century brought us more real advances. We could say 'light years' ahead, even though the village depended on candles and oil lamps — the gas (1910) and electricity 40 years later had still to arrive. In 1800 there was no Boveney New Town and the village population was around 100. In 1899 there were 450 in Eton Wick and slightly more in Boveney New Town. Now it has roughly trebled the 1899 combined total. 

Frank Bond 

Click here to read Our Village December 2009.

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.

Note: since this article was written in 2009 The Pickwick first became The Silk Road and then closed. The Three Horse Shoes and the Shepherds Hut have also closed leaving the village with one pub, The Greyhound open for business. The pubs that were known as the Shoes and the Grapes have been converted into houses as have all the other former commercial properties on the north side of the Eton Wick Road over the past 50 years. The Shepperds Hut's future is as yet unknown.

The Story of Oliver James Stannett in his own word - Working With Horses

Dad came home one day and told Mum that they wanted a boy for 10/- a week to work between 7.30 and 7 - 8 pm. to clean shoes, cutlery, outside windows, scrub out two bars twice a week, take people's luggage to either Western or Southern stations and chop a certain amount of firewood. I did this and more for about six months until I got a whitlow on my finger so I got the sack.

Then Dad heard that there was a job going at Mr. Stillwell's stable at Clewer near Windsor race course. I got the job because I liked the horses. I was looking after a hunter, polo ponies, hacks, one stallion and one two-year-old racehorse which was being trained for racing. I must say a few words about Captain Vivien the two-year-old. The 'Guy' and I used to go on Windsor racecourse knocking a white polo ball about which I enjoyed. I asked the reason for it. He said, " To get the horses to learn to change legs as polo ponies have to do. " So I watched and they did, so there was no need for them to cross their forelegs in a race which would bring them down. I think being in the stables, the smell got into my blood and fetched me out in boils. At this time I had two on my neck and one on each cheek of my behind. I could not sit down but I did not tell the 'Guv' about it because I was managing very well until he said, "Saddle up the 'Cap. ' and we will have a knockabout." We saddled up and went to the course. The horse was a lot taller than the polo ponies so I had to reach down further and as I did both boils on my behind burst and it all ran down my legs, but what wonderful relief Funny thing is that I have not had a single boil since.

Windsor Greys courtesy of Daily Mail

I was receiving 18/- a week for working from 7.30 am. to 7.30, or to 9.00 pm. when the 'Guv' went to the sales in London just in case he brought one or two home with him. They were mostly army horses. Another chap came to work with me. His name was Bert Horton. His father was head coachman at the Queen's stables at Frogmoor in the Great Park which is where the Windsor Greys were born, bred and trained for the Royal Coaches.

For three years I didn't have a shirt to my back. Mostly I wore an old jacket. Then Bert Horton asked me if I would like an old chauffeur's suit including leather gaiters. It lasted me for two years until I left the stables.

We exercised our horses in the Great Park and always went along The Long Walk. On this particular day, a coach and horses came along the Walk to the Castle gates. My mate's horse bolted down the Old Windsor Road and when Bert came back he said it was my Dad. I said that I didn't notice because I had to keep my horse from following you. The horse was four years old and had never been broken to harness of any sort. The following morning Mr. Stillwell wanted to know what happened in the Park. I told him that it was the two-year-old which B. Horton was riding which bolted. So I was the only one to ride the two-year-old after that.

One day my mate's father came to see Mr. Stillwell and they both came to see me in the yard. Mr. Horton asked me if I would like to work at Frogmore. I had to refuse because I was the only one in our house bringing in money added to which I would have a six mile ride morning and evening which I did not relish. He told me that he liked the way I rode horses and there was a job waiting for me if I wanted one. The horses trained at Frogmore were the ones used to pull the Royal coaches.

Just after this happened the 'Guv' went to London for more horses. He told us to exercise the same two horses. When going through the park we came to a hedge about two feet high so we decided to jump it but my horse blundered and fell over it. Of course, he had to fall on me, across my right leg. Instead of waiting for him to get up I tried to pull my leg from under him and I twisted my knee which swelled up like a balloon. I managed to ride to the stable and the Boss had to take me home in the buckboard.

After I had been home a few days there was a knock at the door. It was Mr. Stillwell, my boss. He wanted me to go to the stable and catch a horse for him as they had been trying for hours. He was loose in the paddock at the back of the stables and nobody could catch him. The horse was a famous trotter. He had won five firsts, seven seconds and three thirds at the Olympia Horse Show in London. He had a small thick body and short fat legs. His feet were as big as small plates and his head was very nearly as big as his body. When he was trotting his feet came up to his ears and he was a picture to watch.

As we went out of the door I noticed a crust of bread on the table which I picked up and put in my pocket. The horse's name was Lonsdale. I always called him 'Lonny'. So when we got to the paddock the boss sent one of the chaps for some oats and bran in a sieve. I told him that I did not want it. Lonny was on the far side of the paddock. I called him, "Come on Lonny." He pricked up his ears and came trotting towards us. He stopped by the gate so I offered him a piece of bread crust and while he was chewing it I slipped the halter on him. I think that the Guy was a bit surprised. They had been trying to catch him all morning. The Guv didn't say a word until I got home. He said to Mum, "I think your boy is a marvel and I shall not turn him out again." I said, "Why not? You only need a piece of stale bread. "

There were some army chaps there helping the Guy while I was away. There were three tin trunks in the loft and I had to go and show them what was inside. They were full of silver sand in which was buried bridle bits of all descriptions, snaffle, double snaffle, straight bar and double bar with a cog in the middle (this was to stop the horses putting their tongues out ) and many more.

The two Army chaps broke the lock on the other one. It was full of bottles of wine which they took. Of course, I had to have the blame even when I told Mr. Stillwell that it was the other two I had shown it to. So I gave in my notice. I worked the following week, then asked him for a reference. He asked me where I thought I was going to work and I told him, "On the railway." He gave me one. 

This is an extract from the autobiography written by Oliver James Stannett (1903 - 1988) and republished here with the kind permission of his relatives who still live in Eton Wick. The collection of Oliver Stannett's articles can be found by clicking on this link.

The Eton Wick Newsletter - August 2018 - `Our Village' Magazine

 

Village roads, tracks and vehicles

Increasingly it seems our public services are finding it difficult to meet their purpose. Almost daily our so-called news is not in any way news, but a demand for more money to be poured into Health Services, Schools, Police, rail and roads. In many respects I think we are fortunate in Eton Wick: we are still surrounded by countryside; have pleasant walks; and still within a convenient distance of towns, rail stations and airports. At times there is a traffic build-up along the road to Eton, which is probably more of a nuisance to Eton than to the village.

There had been rumoured talk, and maybe suggested plans, to divert some of this traffic away from Eton College, but probably nothing more than wishful thinking at present. If this did become a reality I personally think it could be detrimental to Eton Wick, as more 'through traffic' would consider today's present deterrent of congestion through Eton to be no longer relevant. Be that as it may, the future is not ours to see, and at my age not to get bothered about. A bit like the bungalow in Sheepcote Road named 'Byjia' meaning "B.... you Jack, I'm alright!' 

Let us then look back on early Eton Wick roads. I know of very little written about them, so using what we know, and a common sense of deductions, we can conclude that roads locally often originated as tracks, were often very muddy, and at best used by pedestrians, horse riders and horse traffic — most frequently farm carts. There were four of these routes East to West and West to East, and three others North to South and vice versa. Additionally, there were probably two others; the present named Moores Lane to Cippenham, and another from the Great Common to Chalvey. The through roads East to West were our present main road variously known as the Eton Wick Road, or the Dorney Road (now B3026).

Secondly, we have the track Dr. Judith Hunter described as the King's Highway. Undoubtedly old, this track is from the village hall, then south past Hayward Mead houses, past the Scout H.Q. and on past Cuckoo Weir; Eton's Meadow Lane; and terminates at Brocas Street for Windsor Bridge. Interestingly about 200 —300 metres from the village hall this track is diagonally met by another track that starts in Boveney Village, passing north of Boveney Lock and crossing the Boveney Ditch at Splash Bridge, then on to join with the aforementioned South Field track. Given the age of Boveney, this route to town may well be our oldest. In the 20th Century this was indeed a 'splash bridge': horses or horse vehicles would be led through the stream, and rider or carter could hold the bridle and keep control while walking across the plank himself. Many villages will remember floods sweeping away the plank crossing, and today's bridge replacing it in 1993. 

Our third west to east road was perhaps only ever much used by farmers, and like the South Field track just mentioned was never given a modern road surface;. destined for ever to be a relic of bygone times, being then seasonally dusty, muddy and very rural. Number three then is 'Inner Wards' and extends from Common Road, north of the Common stream, to Eton College's Common Lane. This route to town would have served Saddock and Manor Farms, and of course give access to the open land between Eton Wick and Chalvey. 

The fourth west to east road is quite different, as it is not a through road, but a village road along which most of the early village was developed for homes. This of course is Common Road, probably only 600 to 800 metres in total length and for much of its length immediately south of the Common stream, which undoubtedly accounted for the early near development. From the west of the Great Common (narrow strip) it extends along the Common for about 200 metres and then turns north, terminating at Little Common. (Little Common is next to the motor museum). Any other east west roads in the village are less than 130 years old and are estate or housing access roads. 

The oldest north/south roads were probably all access roads for the local farms. The Common Road (west), formerly Brown's Lane, gave access for Dairy Farm (formerly Wick Farm) to the B3026. Bell Lane gave access to Bell Farm, which incidentally also connected with the start of the old King's Highway track. Some maps show, at the junction of Bell Lane and the B3026, the road was gated. Presumably as a precaution preventing cattle straying. The third north/south road was Sheepcote Road. This was gated at the north/Common end. I remember Sheepcote Road as a straight and very muddy track with a single row of five or six terraced houses appropriately named Castle View Terrace. There were allotments opposite the houses, and below the school. No flats or bungalows. This was truly a farmer's track from `Saddocks', 'Manor' and 'Little Common.' The 'Walk' road was probably not developed until mid 1800's, from a foot track used to access the Greyhound pub. Other village roads were made when the area was developed for homes, and like so many places never built to cope with motor traffic on today's scale. 

How wrong we are when we say that nothing changes. As technical boffins are busily making workers redundant with their ever-advancing automation and robots, concern is at last being expressed for the countless truck and van drivers who may not be needed when driverless vehicles become the norm. Once invented, nothing takes long before it takes over.

In 1907, just 111 years ago, and 25 years after the first motor engine was developed by Benz, villager Ted Woolhouse bought a De Dion car; the first known motor car for Eton Wick. It was quite a year for Ted, believed one of at least four brothers, as in 1907 he opened the village's first cycle shop, using the front room of what is now 56 Eton Wick Road. This was the age of high upright bikes with straight handlebars and carbide lighting. Battery lamps were to come later. Ted assembled Royal Enfield cycles for sale, and with repairs and hiring at two pence an hour, he earned a living until after WW2, over forty years later. This was of course interrupted by at least two years army wartime service, following the Conscription Act of March1916. The first two years of the 1914 - 1918 war produced sufficient voluntary man power. 

Only twelve years after the first car for Eton Wick, the village was petitioning for motor vehicles going through the village to be restricted to 10 miles per hour, and at this same period a huge dump of ex-army war vehicles was created at Slough, on a site later developed as The Trading Estate, forever referred to as 'the dump'. This should not give the impression of considerable car ownership. Not until well into the second half of the 20th Century, and quite forty years later, was this the situation. As an early 1930's schoolboy walking to Eton Porny School we often whipped Meg or Tee Tops along the main road to the rail viaduct, or played 'flick on' with fag cards along the footpath kerbs, and considered the occasional car a nuisance to our games.

Pre WW2 the local 'big day' of the year was the College's 'Fourth of June'. This was the one day when many luxury limousines; often with liveried chauffeurs, parked along the college area roads. That show of splendour has never been equalled since. 

In 1934 my brothers were ball playing along the road close to the 'Three Horse Shoes' pub (now a residence: 'The Shoes' no. 44 Eton Wick Road), when King George V's car drove through the village. Of course it was obliged to stop, on account of my brothers. Before Windsor Bridge was closed to vehicular traffic, in the early 1970's, it was not uncommon for V.I.P's enroute to Windsor to drive through Eton Wick. On this occasion my Mother came in for local tongue wagging, for letting her boys hold up the King. 

It was about this time that families who were lucky enough to own a wireless set (not then known as radios) would tune in to hear Hitler addressing the German nation. None of us understood a word of his speeches, but undeniably there was something riveting about his ravings. At least I thought so, until on one occasion he declared that the day would come when all German families would own a car. At this I thought he must be mad, no working man would ever afford a car. Of course, this prophesy was probably the most accurate thing he did promise. 

A contemporary of Ted Woolhouse was Norman Lane. He too served as a young man in the Great War of 1914-1918. Norman served in the Royal Flying Corp which became the Royal Air Force on April 1st 1918. Wireless sets were not available, or did not exist when that war ended, and in 1923 Norman and Bill Brown (ex-army) assembled a 'cats eye' receiver and claimed it as the first wireless in Eton Wick. Again, in a few years most homes had a wireless; be it second-hand or new, all were big, temperamental, and had a large dry battery and an accumulator battery that was collected weekly for re-charging. If electric radios had been available they would have been useless in Eton Wick until 1949-1954, when the village first had electricity, which slowly became installed in homes.

It would appear that whatever is new soon spreads until everybody attracted to the novelty puts it on the 'must have' list, and in this respect, nothing changes. 

Frank Bond

A portrait of Frank Bond by Ben Gower

First published in Our Village in August 2018

Click here to read Our Village August 2018.

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.

A.J. CAESAR - GRENADIER GUARDS

A.J. CAESAR
GRENADIER GUARDS 

Albert John Caesar (Sergeant No. 12472)
2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards - 4th (Guards) Brigade - Guards Division - I Corps

The Caesar family are not mentioned in early records of Eton Wick and it is believed they came to live in the village a few years before the Great War. Albert is recorded as being born in St. Pancras, London. Albert was a reservist, having served as a Sergeant with the peacetime Grenadier Guards. Undoubtedly as the result of service at Windsor he decided to make a home in Eton Wick. In fact he was one of four of the village fatalities who served with Guard Battalions and settled in Boveney New Town. The Caesar home was number 4, Shakespere Place, Alma Road. We first hear of the family in the Parish Magazine of February 1914, when a child was christened Edith May Caesar in St. John the Baptist Church, Eton Wick. Three months later, from the local newspaper, we read of:

John Cecil Caesar, aged 51/2 years, being drowned in the river at the bathing place known as “Athens”. 

Rather surprisingly the lad was a pupil at Eton Porny School, and was walking home along the river bank with another five year old and decided to paddle at "Athens". Young Caesar's socks fell in the water and while trying to reach for them he toppled into the river.

Almost all village boys would not have gone to "Porny" until they were seven years old, and of course it was well over 1½ miles from Eton to John's home, via the river path. His father, Albert, gave evidence of identification at the inquest held in the Three Horse Shoes public house.

Mrs Caesar's tragedies were not yet over though. John was drowned on May 18th 1914 and in less than four months Albert, her husband, was to become Eton Wick's first fatal casualty of the war. A third time tragedy struck with the death of baby Edith May who was buried in the village churchyard on April 14th 1915.

As with all reservists, Albert would have reported for duty immediately war was declared. Eleven days later, August 15th 1914, the 2nd Grenadier Guards arrived in Havre. By August 22nd 100,000 men had been shipped to the continent, and although this represented most of the troops available it compared poorly with our French ally's army of four million troops, or with Germany's 4½ million. The British forces were formed into I and II Corps. With long marches they pushed quickly north into Belgium, in an attempt to stem the German advance south through that country.

On August 23rd the opposing forces met near Mons. Mounting pressure against French forces on the through the forest of Villers Cotterets, while the 2nd Grenadiers and the 3rd Coldstreams took up defensive delaying positions in order to cover the 2nd Division's retirement behind them.
British right flank forced them to retreat, leaving the British lines exposed to enemy fire. To avoid this a general withdrawal, which soon became a hasty retreat, followed. For the next few days a march of 20 to 25 miles, under heavy packs and sweltering skies, became the order of the day. As the weary troops fell back toward Paris they discarded much of their equipment by the roadside. On September 1st the Guards Brigade withdrew

At mid-morning, the 2nd Grenadiers sent a company of men forward to support the Irish Guards, but the rapid advance of the enemy negated any chance of success. By this time the three British Battalions in the forest had become hopelessly intermixed, causing many self-casualties. It was here, while trying to delay the German advance, that Albert Caesar was killed. The C.W.G.C. record his death on September 4th, despite the fighting being on the 1st. He could have died of wounds sustained on the 1st, or perhaps his remains were not recovered until the later date.

The German's drive for a quick victory was halted on September 5th on the river Marne, and determined allied counter attacks caused the enemy to strategically withdraw to entrenched positions on higher ground. The British losses in the first five weeks of war were 15,000 and the French casualties an estimated 250,000.

Albert's death was reported in The Windsor & Eton Express:

A.J. Caesar, Sergeant, 2nd Battalion; Grenadier Guards - of 4 Shakespere Place, Eton Wick was killed in action 1.9.14 at Villers Cotterets Forest". 

He had previously been reported as "missing". In December 1914, the newspaper stated :

It has been officially reported that Albert John Caesar has been killed in action. He was greatly respected by all who knew him. He leaves a widow and three children to whom we offer our deep sympathy in their great loss. 

Albert's age has not been established but was probably 30 to 35 years. His widow married again and became Mrs E. Pocock living at 9 The Laurels, Myall Street, Oatley, New South Wales. Albert is buried in Guards Cemetery, in the Villers Cotterets Forest, 2½ miles north of the village of that name.

The small cemetery contains 98 graves of Grenadiers, Life Guards, Coldstream and Irish Guards, all killed between September 1st and 19th, 1914. Albert is also commemorated on the Eton Wick Memorial and the Eton Church Gates.




(Photos: CWGC and Helen Renshaw)

Albert Caesar's page on the the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead For King & Country project website

Further information about Albert Caesar can be found here.

Albert Caesar's page on the Imperial War Museum Lives of the First World War project website.

From the Commonwealth War Grave Commission

Graves Registration Report Book

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

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

From the Parish Magazine - Eton Wick History Group Meeting - Inns, Taverns and Alehouses

At their 13th December meeting, Eton Wick's history enthusiasts were treated to a fascinating talk on the topic of "Inns, Taverns and Alehouses". The well-known local historian and Archivist for the Royal Borough's Collection, Dr. Judith Hunter introduced her subject by quoting "What history you cannot find in the manor house and the church; you find in the inn". She then took her audience, with the help of many photographic slides, on a 'pub crawl' commencing with the very basic ale houses of medieval times right through to this area's public houses and hotels of today. To think that it all began with a humble folk indicating that they had home-made ale to sell, by erecting a sort of 'witch's broom-stick', like a flagpole on the front of their hovel; and that in the 1550's a condition of an Inn's licence was that it should not. offer meat on Wednesday, Friday, or Saturday - thus forcing folk to buy and eat fish on those days, increasing the requirement for fisherman and boats which could then be called up, in case of emergency, for naval use.

Three House Shoes

We heard that the deeds of Eton Wick's 'Three Horse Shoes' date the building back to 1700 and it may well have been a 'pub' then; and that Windsor had a tavern as early as 1300; and would you have known that part of Windsor's 'Castle Hotel' was once an inn called the 'Mermaid'; or that, if you were being chased by police and you nipped into the front and out of the back of one of those houses which used to stand on the Castle side of the road at the bottom of the Hundred Steps, you were then in the Castle Ditch and safely out of police jurisdiction?

Dr. Hunter's imparting of historical facts was delightfully interspersed with such interesting and humorous snippet of information; and she is bound to be asked to talk to the group again before long.

Earlier in the evening Frank Bond had reported on the Group's financial status and commented that £100 had been earmarked towards a plaque for The Pound, for when the work there had been completed, he urged members to help swell the funds by purchasing, for a mini-mum donation of 50p per copy, the Environmental Fund booklet. He is considering publishing a book of old photographs and interesting facts about Eton Wick, and profits from sales would be invested in the Group.

The Committee is keen to have someone volunteer to record, a history in the making, present day events and changes in village, for example, the archaeological finds at Dorney, the traffic calming measures both in Eton and Eton Wick, the fire which destroyed a barn and all Mr. Palmer's winter fodder for his livestock, and even the removal (after so many years) of the air raid siren.

The following meeting was held on Wednesday, 6th March 1996, and the topic was the History of Dorney Church, Village and Court. 

During the 1990's the Parish Magazine of Eton, Eton Wick and Boveney reported on the meetings of the Eton Wick History Group. A member of the audience took shorthand notes in the darkened hall. This article was published in the January edition of 1996.