The Impact of the Eton Union Sanitary Authority

Bell Farm at the edge of the Parish of Eton

Nineteenth-century reform took another turn locally in 1849 with the formation of the Eton Urban Sanitary Authority, or Local Health Board as it was also known. Eton Wick was not included and thus the village was not subject to the Authority's new by-laws or supervision by its new officials and committees the Inspector of Nuisances, the Medical Officer, Street Committee and others. Perhaps the villagers were relieved that they were outside this control, but of course they did not benefit from the steady improvements in sanitary conditions which were the aim of the Board - an increase in privies for cottages, the removal of manure heaps and pigsties from close proximity to houses and laying of new drains.  For another sixty years or more the village had to manage with bucket toilets and cesspits while the Eton Sewage Farm lay at their backdoor.

Bell Farm was bought from William Goddard in 1870 for the sewage farm, and the land freed from lammas rights in the early months of the following year. Compensation for this loss of rights was negotiated by a committee appointed at a meeting of persons entitled to commonable rights and included George Lillywhite of Manor Farm. However, it was to be six years before Mr Tough took up his appointment as manager.  Perhaps this was the remaining length of the lease of Mr Aldridge, farmer of Cippenham Court and tenant of Bell Farm. Not all the land was needed for the disposal of sewage, and year after year in the Minute Books of the Authority an inventory of produce, livestock and implements is given.

In earlier years after the initial purchase, some of the land was sold, but under the management of Mr Tough the farm prospered and more land was leased. The farm continued to give employment to workers from the village and indeed treated them well, as judged by a decision of 1881 to pay a man who broke his ankle at work the then princely sum of 8s 6d a week while he was off sick.

Perhaps the achievement of the Board which must have given rise to the most bitter feelings in the village was the building of the Cottage  Hospital. The story began with a young man of Meadow Lane who had the misfortune to catch smallpox, but who was determined to not be considered a pauper and so be sent to the Workhouse Infirmary at Slough. There was nowhere in the parish where he could be isolated and treated. Medical help could be obtained from the Windsor Dispensary, thus putting at risk other patients. The disease did spread, not in Windsor, but in Eton itself.  It was not yet possible to prevent such outbreaks, but it was now understood how they could be contained by isolating the patients. The need for an Infectious Diseases Hospital was now obvious to members of the Board.

Plans were drawn up, sites inspected and central authorities consulted; so much is clear from the Minute Books, but underneath the meagre statements is the hint of conflict between the Board and the village. Plans for converting the Bell Farm Cottages into a room for the nurses and living quarters for a caretaker were well ahead and negotiations were progressing towards the purchase of the adjoining land, when suddenly there was a change of mind and suggestions of the inadvisability of building a hospital so near the village.  An alternative site was found on the Board's own land between Bell Farm and Saddocks, quite isolated from other houses.  By 1883 the building was completed and its first matron, a Mrs Sarah Hopkins, was engaged at £40 per annum. A brougham was bought to do duty as ambulance and the latest disinfecting    apparatus in-stalled. By May, 1884 the first patients were accepted, a mother and her three children, all suffering from smallpox.- Did they recover ? We do not know.  

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

Eton Wick Newsletter - Our Village December 2008

Eton Wick and its development: Going West  

Boveney Newtown 1870 —1945

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

World War 2 Eighty Years On - May 1941 - A 500 Bomber Raid on London

Saturday May 10th

The 500 German bombers raiding London met with a tremendous anti-aircraft barrage during which eight were destroyed. Fire from the gun batteries sited at Dorney, Slough, Datchet and Windsor was intense. The bombing started huge fires in Hammersmith which could be seen from Slough as the night sky took on a red glow.

Eton U.D.C. Civil Defence and other voluntary services received thanks from the Council chairman for the way they had carried out their duties during the preceding months. The vote of thanks also embraced the Eton Fire Brigade who had given gallant service in air raids away from the town.

Eton had been a haven for London A.R.P. personnel, who after enduring several harrowing nights of duty, came to get a night’s sleep at the Baldwin Institute. An early morning call from Eton ARP night duty shift ensured that the sleepers returned to duty by the first train from Riverside Southern Railway station.

One or two small high explosive bombs fell on Dorney camp including an oil bomb into the Roundmoor ditch, with no significant damage being done. Other bombs fell in the sewage farm, Eton Wick one of which was an unexploded device (UXB). Later when the bomb exploded, it was frightening for those nearby but was also an amusing episode for two village lads as related by John Pardoe.

“With Malcolm Chamberlain I had been looking for moorhen nest but having had no success we made our way from Dorney back to the village via the sewage farm. On approaching the farm, several policemen were noticed accompanied by Billy Hutton, the farm foreman who immediately told us to clear off. However not receiving a quick response to his request Billy gave chase and got within maybe 20 yards of us when the bomb exploded. We escaped but poor Billy received some of the contents of the sewage beds”.

Dorney Camp Armoury - post war

The London blitz had rendered many families homeless and scattered and it was suggested to the Eton U.D.C. that some unused local properties should be requisitioned, and efforts made to house some of these people. The surveyor quickly pointed out that many of these properties in Eton and Eton Wick were in a very bad state of repair and would need money and time spent on them, also materials were not always obtainable. Air raid damage and military requirements had priority for building works, such as Dorney camp, which had now been completed with Nissen and wooden huts. Only the brick-built armoury was within the boundary of Eton Wick located across the Roundmoor ditch and accessed by a wooden bridge; today its location is the garden of 22 Tilstone Close.

Plan of Dorney HAA Camp.

Improvements in equipment brought the installation of Radar and more powerful 3.7- and 4.5-inch guns but camp accommodation did not improve as will be shown later.

The satellite image taken from Google Earth dated 23rd June 2018 reveals the outline of most of the WW2 Dorney Camp buildings as "Crop Markings". 

The wartime measure of permanent summertime with clocks set one hour advance of Greenwich mean time and two hours advanced in the summer months allowed long light evenings. On many such evenings the Whitley, Wellington, and Hampden bombers of the R.A.F. were seen flying over the village on their way to attack targets in occupied Europe or Germany. 

Armstrong Whitworth Whitley & Vickers Armstrong Wellington

To boost the sale of National Savings Certificate and War Bonds, city, town, and village National Savings Groups held special savings week to buy war weapons. The first of these special weeks, held during the last week of April, by Windsor, Eton, Eton Wick, and villages in the Eton Rural District was designated ‘War Weapons Week’. Various events took place including a display of modern weapons by the Grenadier Guards in Eton as well as the exhibition of a German Messerschmitt 109. At Eton Wick a great effort was made to ensure success and a programme of events for the week was arranged, starting with a Saturday evening whist drive held in the village hall. Members of the Methodist Chapel held a popular social evening which was well attended. The village school children gave their support with a fancy-dress parade around the village. Albert Bond, with his horse and cart suitably decorated for the occasion, headed the procession which ended at the mobile cinema van then visiting the village in support of the National Savings campaign. Another attraction was the display by the Grenadier Guards of weapons and armoured fighting vehicles. The value of Saving Certificates and Bonds sold at the village post office during the week were shown on an indicator board that had been made for the occasion by boys at Eton College and erected outside the village hall for this special week production machine tools were installed in the large display window of a Windsor store by the Slough engineering firm G.D. Peters. Machinist Connie Thorogood’s memory of the week is of Guards from the barracks showing more interest in the operators than the products, being a greater attraction than the firm’s efforts to recruit women for war work. During the following war years other special saving weeks would be held.

Restaurants and cafes supplying of meals were subject to war restrictions as to the number of courses served, cost and quantity. To help supplement the diet imposed by rationing the Ministry of food suggested community feeding centres, later called British Restaurants. Seeking an opinion, the Eton U.D.C. canvassed Eton and Eton Wick. Results showed sixty-four in favour with eleven against for Eton whilst Eton Wick returned fifty-four in favour and thirty three against. Having decided that community feeding should go ahead the restaurant was set up at the Eton Church Hall with Mrs Bowater as manageress. Seating 120 persons, the restaurant opened in December offering a plain menu of a meat meal 8d., Bowl of soup 2d., a Sweet 3d. and a cup of tea for 1d.

This is an extract from Round and About Eton Wick: 1939 - 1945. The book was researched, written and published in 2001 by John Denham. 

A extract from The Daily Telegraph : Story of the War: Volume 1

A RAID ON LONDON 

Saturday, May 10th. 

A very heavy raid on London caused many casualties, and great destruction. Several of London's most famous buildings were damaged, for the German 'planes unloaded their bombs indiscriminately in the heaviest attack since the " reprisal raid " of April 16th, which was the worst the capital had experienced. 

The attack in the brilliant moonlight cost the Germans at least thirty-three 'planes and about 160 trained personnel, the highest penalty they had paid in night raids. Our night fighters destroyed twenty-nine, and four others were shot down by A.A. fire. 

The German High Command communiqué said that hundreds of high explosives and more than 100,000 incendiaries were dropped in the raid, which was described as a reprisal for the "methodical bombing of the residential quarters of German towns, including Berlin ". 

London's famous Parliament clock, whose Big Ben chimes are nightly broadcast all over the world, was battered, but was still keeping perfect time and striking normally next day. 

A small bomb hit the top of the Clock Tower just above the face of the clock. The face Was dented and blackened, and some of the stonework and ornamental ironwork damaged.

Westminster Hall, the oldest part of the Houses of Parliaments, was hit. Damage was done to the roof, and a fire started among the timber. 

Firemen were able to save most of the historic timbered roof, which dates back to the twelfth century. 

Only scorched and blackened walls remained of the House of Commons chamber, where M.P.s had debated for ninety years. It was hit by a high explosive and a fire-bomb, and was reduced to a heap of rubble. The chamber of the House of Lords and other rooms in Parliament also suffered damage. 

Captain Elliott, the House of Lords resident superintendent, was killed, and two policemen on fire duty also lost their lives. No members and few officials were there at the time.

Westminster Abbey was left open to the sky. The main fabric was unharmed, but damage had been done by the water used by firemen and the roof over the Lantern, the central point of the Abbey, was destroyed and the pulpit partly destroyed. 

Part of the debris of the Dean's House, which was destroyed, fell on Cloister Garth, the historic square of turf in the middle of the cloisters, which themselves were severely damaged.

The most historic parts of the Abbey were uninjured. The eastern part of the Abbey, where the Royal tombs are situated, was left intact, as were the Sanctuary and the eastern chapels, containing other Royal tombs. 

Wearing his surplice and sitting in a pew in the darkened Abbey in the early hours of yesterday morning, Dr. Perkins, the sacrist, said " But for the A.F.S. men and our own fire-fighters, who put everything they had into the fight to save it, the Abbey must have been destroyed. 

" When the Deanery went, Dr. de Labilliere and his wife inspired us all by the calmness and fortitude they displayed in the face of the loss of their lovely home and of every article of their personal belongings. 

" They stood on the lawn with the fires burning all around them, concerned only with the safety of others and the efforts of the firemen to save the Abbey from being completely destroyed." 

The British Museum was set alight by a shower of fire-bombs which burnt through the roof and set fire to the back of the building. Fire-watchers on the roof dealt with many of the fire-bombs, but others burnt through before they could be tackled.

Fortunately most of the treasures had been removed to safety, and the damage was comparatively light. 

The first raiders arrived late in the evening. Others followed in heavy waves, hurling high-explosive bombs and incendiaries at London. Guns and fighters harried them, but for most of the night the waves came on. 

Soon after the din of battle and of bursting bombs had died away, daylight showed a fading fog of smoke, turning the spring day to a weird November. Cinders had wafted down like black snow—the air had been acrid until the early hours. 

Fragments of charred paper and smuts were carried nearly 20 miles into country areas.

In many areas little heaps of sand and the remains of burned-out incendiaries on the pavements and roadways, testified to the large number of fire-bombs dropped. 

Five hospitals hit, three churches fired, buildings turned to reeking ruins and casualties at a hotel and a street market—these were some of the results that the enemy could show for his losses. But London's spirit was still sound. 

The following day, Sunday 11th May 1941 the Daily Telegraph reported: 

Last night Rudolf Hess, Deputy Fuhrer of Germany and one of Hitler's closest friends, landed in Scotland by parachute after flying from Germany—one of the most astonishing and puzzling incidents of the war. There were many conflicting explanations. Berlin announced that he was mentally deranged. 

The way things were — in sickness and in health

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By Frank Bond 

Click here to read Our Village August 2012.


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

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

THE MAKING OF OUR VILLAGE 

There are so many changes in a lifetime and it would not be easy to say which change has been the biggest influence of our life. It is so easy to think of advances in technology, travel and medicine, but socially perhaps education is the strong contender. Like most of my village contempories I left school when fourteen years old, and having been given the basics; proceeded to teach ourselves with experience and pursuit of personal interests. Today the extended years of schooling; often followed by university, has resulted in so much of the communities' youth leaving the village to establish their own way of life. Does that matter? It does in as much that no local young folk take over, or help to build on our established organisations.

Against this it must be admitted that many of the village's keenest workers were not local by birth or youth. This is not just a recent phenomenon. In an earlier issue I wrote of that great village benefactor, Edward Littleton Vaughan. In the early 20" Century years before WW2 he gave so generously of himself, and his money to Eton Wick. He bought two houses here, but probably never lived in either. The only dwellings built by the Council in the 1930s were the bungalows and houses we know as Vaughan Gardens; almost certainly an acknowledgement of all this Eton College classics master had meant to our village. Yet 'Toddy' as he was generally referred to, had never been a local boy. Apart from Bunce's Close, that was accorded its name; having been built on Harry Bunce's farm land of earlier years; and Bell Lane and farm that probably took its name from the Bell family who farmed the area during the 1681 and 17" Century, I can think of only two other places in Eton Wick, one a road and the other a hall, that were named after people who served the community well, yet neither had been villagers before they were adults, and almost certainly neither knew Eton Wick even existed before they were married. One was Annie Tough (nee Moore) and the other was her father John Moore; and it is from these that we get the Tough Memorial Hall and the name of Moores Lane. Who were these two people, who came to mean so much to our village and to that part of the village not even developed at that time?

We have previously read about the needs of Eton Town and College; by the mid-19" century, to improve their sewage disposal which had resulted in their purchase of the vacant Bell Farm in Eton Wick, to which they could pump the sewage. By 1870 this was in place, leaving the Authority with much farming land surplus to the sanitary requirement. The farmland had been part in old Eton Wick village and part in the Parish of Old Boveney. For the service of Eton, the sower plant was established in part of the Eton farmland boundary at Eton Wick. Previously Bell Farm had enjoyed the grazing of lammas designated ground, but now having used lammas land they owned, for the sewage plant, they were obliged to forfeit the lammas right to graze a like acreage elsewhere in the Eton Parish. 

There was still a substantial farm area, and Charles Tough of Rotherhithe, Kent was appointed manager. At about that time; 1870; several acres of the farmland across the boundary and in the Boveney Parish, was sold. Within a year or two this agricultural holding was acquired by Mr James Ayres, who seeing the shortage of building sites in Eton Wick village, parcelled-up the land, plot by plot, with provision for new roads of Alma, lnkerman and Northfield.

It was 1877 when Charles Tough arrived at Bell Farm and with him his young bride age 24 years, Annie (nee Moore). In their wake came Annie's father. John Moore, with four of his twelve offspring. Presumably all from Rotherhithe. Mrs Tough was an ardent follower of the Methodist Church, but found no such building in Eton Wick. In fact the village had only had its C of E Church, St. John the Baptist, for about 10 years (1866/7). Non-conformist services were held in a farm building by the Wesleyan Society, and later by Congregationalists c.1840s; and the C of E had held non sacramental services in the old school before their church was built. Anne probably saw this as more a challenge than a help. She became accustomed to walking to Windsor town's Methodist services on Sundays and of course walking home. A long walk in many weathers, but it was forty years before a bus service, and what we consider a shorter walk along the river banks would not perhaps have been so inviting when the towpath was just that; a muddy or dusty well-trod path for teams of large barge horses. We may think Mrs Tough would have accepted the status quo of one Sunday service in Windsor, and if more were needed, to use the C of E church. She was young, a newly wed, with a lovely old farm house to establish home for herself and Charles, but it would appear not all that Annie wanted. By the mid-1880s plots along Alma Road were being built on; some single houses; some semi-detached and others terraced.

Annie really wanted her chapel here, and without the necessary purchase money apparently appealed to Mr Ayres' generosity. Eventually Ayres reputedly said 'I'm hoping to sell two plots, and if this goes ahead he would give her a plot's. Could he have been negotiating with Annie's father. John Moore? About this time John did buy at least two substantial plots on which he had the terraced row of six dwellings known as Primrose Villas, and opposite, a shorter row of houses - Snowdrop Villas built. When the promised plot was given to Mrs Tough it was with the alleged remark For your perseverance. There was a four bedroom house built several plots east along Alma Road for a Mr Howell. He named the house 'Perseverance Place. Perhaps only coincidental, but I may be missing something here, and the obvious has escaped me.

A word here about Perseverance Place. Forty plus years later it was the home of Mr Harding and his family (1929) and the Uxbridge Gas Company Depot of which he was branch manager. In 1936 Mr Harding was asked if he could accommodate the village's district nurse whose home at the thatched bungalow in Wheatbutts orchard was no longer suitable, being without a bathroom or 'phone line. Perseverance Place was one of very few in the village which had both.

Twenty years on, and after WW2, Dr Harcourt of the Windsor surgery held three clinics a week in that house. It was demolished c1970 for part of the Bellsfield Estate. 

Annie had got her plot, but then of course needed to raise the three hundred pounds to build the chapel. The chapel site that was given to Mrs Tough had a narrow frontage and would forever give the appearance of having been squeezed between Primrose Villas and houses east.

Thanks to Annie's determination and drive, Alma Road got its Primitive Methodist Chapel in 1886. This same purpose saw her cajoling a congregation, and leading a determined drive with the village Temperance Guild. Many may well have said she epitomised all that was the chapel. She died in 1930, and within a few years an extension was added to the building and named 'The Tough Memorial Hall'. In 1932 the prefix 'Primitive' was removed, when the various Chapels became nationally united. We have seen that her father John Moore was responsible for the building of the two terraced rows in Alma Road, and for the end house of Primrose Villas abutting to the lane. (to later take his name) he had a slightly more distinctive front. This was to be his home. He had obviously been a determined and successful man in Kent, and was not hesitant to proclaim it. He wrote to the Rotherhithe press proclaiming his achievements in his new home at Boveney New Town. He was the first Highway Surveyor, School Governor and Chairman of the Boveney Council (as with Eton Wick, both had their own six person councils 1894 - 1934) the first Councillor; Guardian of the Poor and promoter of local allotments, and so it went on. He even claimed to be the first person to use a Post Office Collection Box in Boveney New Town.

By today's' thinking perhaps a little 'over the top', but it all happened over one hundred years ago - four generations - and attitudes and standards are very different. Certainly John Moore did achieve all he wanted recognition for. He was very generous within the New Boveney community and very supportive of Annie's endeavours for the chapel. At one time even purchasing a harmonium for the services. This was a very now area, and his organisational ability was undoubtedly a great asset and Inspiration to others. John Moore died in 1911; about fourteen years before his son-in-law, Charles Tough. There is no evidence of Charles ever becoming involved with his wife's abiding interest in the Methodist cause or services, but he was very supportive of all Annie did.

Most things in life have a downside if you look for it, and as a lad in the 1920s and 30s I did think the Chapel polarised the two communities to a great extent. Most of my 'contempories' living beyond Bell Lane were Chapel goers and those in Eton Wick were C of E. Each had a strong Sunday school and in consequent, Sunday school outings. I must say though that the Chapel youngsters saw the seaside for at least two summers while we at St. Johns' still had to be content with Burnham Beeches. Alright in the 20s when horse and cart was the transport, but come the coach era we yearned the longer ride. With daily bus rides to and from school, I guess today's youngsters would be attracted to nothing less than a flight or cruise. Thankfully Annie's endeavours for a Chapel are still much in evidence in today's' much changed village.

Submitted by Frank Bond 

Click here to read Our Village December 2014.

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

The Thames Highway volume 1 by Fred Thacker
The Thames Highway - Locks and Weirs by Fred Thacker

thames.me.uk website

ETON WICK IN THE YEAR 1893

ETON WICK IN THE YEAR 1893 By Frank Bond

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

World War 2 Eighty Years On - Planning for the End of the War part 2 - Housing - March 1945

 

The Prefabricated Houses in the 1960's

The acute shortage of accommodation in Eton and Eton Wick caused by the influx of people for war work and those who had sought refuge from the Blitz resulted in overcrowding, for which the council could do little. Building materials were in very short supply and those available were required to replace and repair bomb damaged homes. Among the families living in discomfort in Eton Wick were a husband and wife with their eight year old son living in one bedroom. Other cases reported to the Council, noted the plight of six adults with a child living and sleeping in one room, also a couple expecting their second child living in an upstairs room. One suggestion for relief of the problem was to erect Nissen Huts, this was thought unacceptable. After the war some local families did move into the vacated  Army Nissen huts at Dorney Camp although the huts had few facilities.  A successful application by the council to the Ministry of Health for twelve `Portal' prefabricated houses was granted providing an electric supply was available to the houses. Early objections by landowners over wayleave and the war had delayed the electric supply for fourteen years but the new housing and public demand achieved authority for the work to be done. The proposal to site the prefabs on the Wheatbutts, debated by the Council, was opposed by the Surveyor. He wished to make Wheatbutts an open space as an amenity for the village and not surrounded by a six foot fence. The use of Wheatbutts for housing was also turned down by the owners, Eton College.  Bells Field was then chosen as a suitable site for the twelve `Prefabs'.

Plans to build eighteen houses in the first year after the war and thirty to forty in the second year on Tilston Field also met opposition. The land was owned by Eton College and to purchase it, permission of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries had to be obtained. The release of this land was also subject to the terms of the University and College Estate Act of 1925.  Local opposition from allotment holders and their representatives who stated that there were ‘model allotments’ on Tilston was of no account. A suggestion to use other available land, such as the Eton or Eton Wick allotments or Lammas land, brought a sharp reply from the Chairman that nobody could build on Lammas land, be it King or Dustman. The meeting was assured that alternative allotment sites would be prepared by the Council but only Tilston was convenient for the maximum use of the main sewage system and the new electricity mains, for which the village had waited many years. Concern was expressed by the Eton Traders over the proposals, they feared a fall in trade as families were moved from the town.

This is an extract from Round and About Eton Wick: 1939 - 1945. The book was researched, written and published in 2001 by John Denham.

Bell Farm, Eton Wick

Bell Farm, it was enlarged by the Bell family in the 16th and 17th centuries.

This photograph of Bell Farm House, taken at the turn of the 19th century, shows farm manager Charles Tough with a shot gun on his lap and a black gun dog sitting at his feet. Presumably the shot gun is pointing somewhere between his wife Annie seated opposite, and the unidentified man seated in the doorway. Charles and Annie came to Eton Wick from Kent. Charles had been appointed by the Council to manage their recently acquired farm, the fields of which were primarily to be used as the Eton Sewage Farm. Annie was the major driving force behind the building of the Methodist Chapel in nearby Alma Road in 1886. Bell Farm House was the home of several generations of the Bell family, who were major property owners and farmers in and around the district during the 16th and 17th centuries. The house is circa 1360 in origin and is timber framed with brick infilling. There have been many alterations over the centuries. In the mid-1850s, the south elevation was tile hung and a Victorian porch replaced the gabled mediaeval bell tower. It is a Grade II* Listed Building. 

Location of Bell Farm

Wartime memories - an assortment

The Egg 

For several years after the war there continued to be many shortages of food and goods. In 1948 I applied for work on the Slough Estate at Intertype, manufacturers of American Compositing Machines. After my interview the works personnel manager said that my papers would go to the States and in due course I would then receive, with the States' Compliments, one egg a month. I never did cycle home clutching the egg, but gave it to a workmate. We had hens at home.

(Frank Bond)

Let's join the Wrens

…billetted in Hodgson House, Eton College, during the war while serving with the WRNS…

The washing facilities were at the front of the house facing the road … In summer, with windows open, WRNS could be seen washing (in stages of undress) and a collection of Eton College boys would gather outside at a certain time until they were discovered………..

…………….and then banned ……………

(B Golding)

Officials go Bon Bon

My grandparents kept the Bon Bon shop in Eton selling confectionary, tobacco etc. Shops customarily remained open until around 8pm in the pre-war and wartime days. One day around 1940-41 two well-dressed men entered the shop at closing time and asked for a box of matches, then one penny.

When served they became officious and told Gran she had contravened regulations by selling matches after 8pm. A petty rule that she was aware of although shops could not sell cigarettes after 8 o’clock as it interfered with the Public House trade. Old time petty officialdom ~ even in wartime.

(Alan Smith)

You may be wrong, but You are never right!!

I was in the Army - there was a war on and I soon learnt that to answer back was insolence and not to answer was dumb insolence. You cannot win. I know all soldiers had to read No.1 Orders ~~

I misinterpreted these...

The Sergeant said “Soldier, can’t you read - W.E.F. means With Effect From”

I said “Sorry Sergeant, I honestly thought it meant Week Ending Friday” … Not Funny, Sergeant was not amused.

(Alan Smith)

Camp News... Undesirable living accommodation

We were posted to Dorney. Billets were allocated, but unfortunately the Nissen hut that telephonists and spotters were expected to occupy was in an appalling condition having previously been a meat store; an odour I have never smelt before or since. There was a shortfall of beds so we were given the usual biscuit paliasses on which to sleep on the flagged floor. We could not deter the assorted number of cats from hanging around this hut, but horrible though it all was we just had to make the best of it.

Fortunately for me I was on all night duty, but was horrified when the poor girls trying to sleep in that hut told me of a night of horrors as dozens of mice left their nest under the flagged floor and ran over the beds and pillows and anywhere else they fancied. Helped by the cats continuing their vigil and making many successful catches.

Next morning the Junior Commander came to inspect the hut and ordered the floor to be taken up and it was found that there were literally hundreds of mice nests under the flag stones. We were transferred to share other barrack rooms which became overcrowded and the mice decided to move in with us as well.

(M.Sudsaby –ex 564 Bty.)

London in the blitz

As a school girl in Fulham I found the experience of being in the midst of such mayhem very exciting. Climbing in bombed remains of homes and discovering pieces of bomb shell and shrapnel were considered good finds to use as trade.

The seriousness of the situation only came when empty seats were seen around the class rooms. Walking one day with a friend to the dental clinic we were fascinated to watch a Doodlebug streaming noisily in the sky then the silence as it fell on a target - This time the clinic where we were heading (eight children and 2 nurses were killed) The clinic site is being developed now as luxury riverside apartments

(Margaret Everitt)

Air Raids… Early Fears & Precautions

War had just been declared. I was out on my cycle when the air raid siren sounded the alarm. Until the warning wail became a familiar sound everybody took notice, so I hurried home….

Dad was quite excited and asked me help him fill the bath and buckets with water in case we were bombed. Not a precaution we took later.

(P. Perring)

This away or That away

In 1941 I was a Brownie and we had our shoulder flashes taken off in case a German parachutist caught one of us and would know where he was...

(1st Slough Brownie Pack)

(J Lund)

A Thursday Memory

… Of being thrown out of my bed when the German Luftwaffe dropped a bomb on the wartime ack-ack site on Dorney Common…

Also the day the crew of a lone German plane delighted in some shooting against my Mother as she walked across the fields to meet father from work on a wet Thursday afternoon.

She was striding along, brolly up, oblivious of the plane until a man from the sewage works shouted at her to jump into the ditch…

On returning home I cannot repeat what she said about that little German ‘So-in-So’

(J. Neighbour)

Eton College Bombed 

7.45 am. December 1940… arriving early at the choir school to finish some prep, I found broken stained glass in the quad from the Chapel – the result of a bomb that had badly damaged Saville House during the previous night. Whilst picking some up as a souvenir, I spotted a hole in the paving by the Headmaster's schoolroom and decided to investigate but was prevented from doing so by a master running towards me shouting “Out boy, it’s an unexploded bomb”. Later that day the Bomb Disposal team arrived, but decided they could do nothing. That evening it exploded destroying the schoolroom and part of Upper School.

Old Men forget and are forgotten, but I shall remember this day. - (Henry V.)

I remember

I came to England as a prisoner in January 1946 after the war was over and was in the great camp at Reading. In the springtime 1946 I was transferred to a camp between Maidenhead and Bray. The first time I worked for the farmer Mr Kinross at the Manor Farm was in the summer of the same year. After discharged from the prisoner of war status I stayed voluntary for another year with Mr Kinross on the farm. The Kinross family was so kind to permit me to stay on the farm for another year, a free man. On the 6^th January1951 I finally left England …

(Max Schattke)

These memories were recorded as part of  the Eton Wick History Group's Recall 60 years on project to celebrate the 60th anniversary  of the ending of World War 2.