Riverside west of the 'Tower, south bank,. Thorpe Hay Meadow

Post to the south Truss's Island
Post to the north Staines
Poist to the east Staines


Chertsey Lane
Main road between Chertsey and Staines

Thorpe Hay Meadow Nature Reserve
Thorpe Hay Meadow. This is said to be the last surviving example of unimproved grassland on Thames Gravel in Surrey and is a site of Special Scientific Interest.  It was purchased in 1988 and dedicated to Sheila Wenham. It is a five-sided meadow surrounded by ditches and hedges – there is an ancient hedgerow round the meadow. It supports a habitar for lime loving plants


Tim’s Way
Riverside workshops at the eastern end

Sources
Natural England. Web site
Surrey Wildlife Trust. Web site

Riverside west of the Tower and south bank. Egham/Staines The Hythe

This posting covers only sites south of the river. North of the River is Staines

Post to the south Thorpe Hay Meadow
Post to the East Staines
Post to the west Lammas Lands and Egham Hythe
Post to the north Staines Moor

Causeway
The main road is a raised road possibly dating from Roman times. There are 13th century records of a packhorse route here, and of a defence against flooding.  This squares covers only the first few yards from Staines Bridge
Sainsburys – the site on the corner of Thorpe Road was the Lagonda Factory – most of which was in the square to the west
Ironbanks House – this was on the other side of Thorpe Road = maybe on the site of Pine Trees. It was a house used as a drawing office by Lagonda during the Second World War.


Chertsey Lane
There appear to be two Chertsey Lanes here.  One is the stretch of the A320 road between the Staines Bridge roundabout and just before the railway bridge, was not originally part of Chertsey Lane but dates from 1937. The other Chertsey Lane is the stretch of older road which runs from The Hythe to join the A 320 just before the railway bridge.
Pine Trees trading estate– built on the site of a large factory area
2 Pine Trees. UKAS UK Accreditation Service. From 1966 The British Calibration Service approved measurements and became part of the National Physical Laboratory in the 1970s. 1n 1981 the National Testing Laboratory Accreditation Scheme was set up to approve laboratories. Both bodies merged into the National Measurement Accreditation Service and in 1995 they merged with the National Accreditation Council for Certification Bodies to form UKAS – and other organisations have merged with them since.
4 Pine Trees BUPA.  This is one of two main BUPA contact centres. BUPA is an international but British based private healthcare group. It was originally the British United Provident Association established in 1947 when 17 British provident associations joined together.
Wapshott Farm – the farm house stood on the west side of Chertsey Lane immediately south of the railway

Farmers Road
The Jolly Farmer Pub. This is said to date from the 17th & 18th

Hythe
Hythe grew up as a settlement at the south end of Staines Bridge and was included in the town. The name means wharf or landing place. There is evidence of a Roman settlement here and it is mentioned as a port in the Charter of Chertsey Abbey from the 12th. In 993 Olaf Tryggvason of Norway wintered here with Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark.
Coal post on the traffic island
Post Box. George V wall post box
Old Bridge Cottage. This was built around 1791 as part of a toll-house on the site of an earlier Swan Inn. When a new bridge was opened in 1832 it was no longer used and was sold as housing
23 & 24 there are three fire marks on the front wall.
22 – 20 built in 1640 with some original features
17 fire mark on the front wall
Anne Boleyn Hotel. Some of the building dates from the 16th. It is said Anne Boleyn sometime stayed at Staines. The hotel was previously called Ye Olde Bridge House. . The east side of the hotel is 17th and was once a pub called “The Young Elizabeth”.
Swan Inn.This originally dated from the 15th and was on the site of the current Old Bridge cottage. It was demolished in the late 18th when a new bridge was built.
Swan Hotel. After 1791 this new Swan Inn was built upstream of its predecessor. Swan Upping dates to the 12th when The Crown claimed ownership of all mute swans. The swans are marked in the third week of July each year by the Queen's Swan Marker, the Royal Swan Uppers and the Swan Uppers of the Vintners' and Dyers' livery companies who arrive dressed in traditional uniforms in six Thames rowing skiffs. They mark the swans, check their health and record all their findings. They then stop at The Swan Hotel on the second day for lunch. The main entrance is topped by a life-size sculpture of a white swan
Coal Duty Boundary Post at the top of the pathway leading to the boatyard.
Old Bridge House. Now offices for K2 an American company supplying devoices for spine
W.E.Sykes. Sykes established his gear-shaper cutters business here in 1927 on a riverside site. Also at Hythe End House.  The firm later moved to Manor Works in Staines and eventually became the 600 Group.

Riverside Drive
Staines Boat Club. The club dates from the 1850s and have taken part in regattas ever since.  The boathouse burnt down in 1950 and the club lost it entire fleet of boats. In fund raising the income was greater than expected and allowed them by the site from the Strodes College Trustees. They are again fund raising for a replacement boat house.

Thorpe Road
Hitachi Capital. A financial services company which is are a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi Capital Corporation, a Japanese non-bank financial institution. It was established to provide financial solutions to manufacturers.

Wapshott Road
This was named for Wapshott Farm

Sources
British History on Line. Web site
British Listed Buildings. Web site
BUPA Web site
Coal Duty Posts. Web site
Hitachi, Web site
Penguin. Surrey 
Pevsner and Cherry. Surrey
Robbins. Middlesex
Spelthorne Council. Web site
Staines Boat Club. Web site
Staines Museums. Web site
Stevenson. Middlesex
Surrey Industrial Archaeology
UKAS. Web site
Walford. Village London.

Riverside - south bank west of the Tower. Egham Hythe

This posting includes sites south of the river only. North of the River is Lammas Lands


Post to the east Egham Staines Hythe and Staines
Post to the north Yeoveney


Church Island
Church Island. This is above Staines Bridge, is inhabited and is thought to have been the site of a Roman Bridge across the Thames. It is connected by a footbridge to Church Street, Staines


Egham Hythe
The area covered by this square is partly that of a settlement known as Egham Hythe. It was a small area between the boundaries of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Middlesex and the Thames which was part of the holdings of Chertsey Abbey. In time all the open spaces of the area were taken up by gravel workings in time replaced by factories – resulting in a large increase in population.


Hawthorn Road
Runneymede House. Royal Mail Delivery Office
DataServe Warehouse. Computer Sales
Hawthorn House. 1980s offices and warehouse


Hollyhock Island
Small uninhabited island in the channel between Holm Island and the north bank,


Holm Island
Long, narrow, inhabited island near the north bank of the Thames. It has a house called the Nest apparently used by Wallis Simpson in the 1930s.


Hythe Park
Park opened in 2009. It has two play areas - one for toddlers and one for older children, a multi-use ball court and wet/dry wildlife area. An outdoor gym was installed in 2014.


Gordon Road
Acton Bright Steels. Steel stockholding warehouse. Established in 1956

Kingsbury Crescent
Waterman’s Business Park
Lotus Business Park.


Lovett Road
Gartner. Lovett House. Information and technology advisory service. Founded in 1979, with a head quarters in Connecticut
Celsur Plastics – office stationary company founded in 1960
Lansdale.  Established in 1985, Lansdale began by manufacturing Pewter Tankards and Presentation Pieces and now manufacture to the British military and others with outdoor survival equipment
Orbis – office building on the site of an old covered reservoir which went out of use in 1996
Orbis 2 British Gas


New Road
Evangelical Church. This appears to date from the 1950s and also appears to be boarded up and closed.
Railway Bridge. The road crosses the railway by a metal footbridge.


River Park Avenue
Coal post on the south bank of the river at the end of the road
Electricity sub-station


Rochester Road
St. John of Rochester. Roman Catholic Church. The church dates from the early 1960s.


The Causeway
Built in the middle ages as a roadway but also as a flood barrier.  It appears to have been built by a private individual and thereafter responsibility for maintenance proved a problem.  It is raised about a metre about basic ground level. A stone circle is said to have stood at the east end - although this has been subject to some discussion.
3 Ship Inn. Now demolished.
Sainsbury’s Supermarket. On the site of the Lagonda works
Lagonda Works. Lagonda made motorcycles and cars and became known for their luxury cars. It was begun by American Wilbur Gunn who married a Constance Gray and used their greenhouse to make small steam engines for riverboats. In 1898 he made a petrol engine for his bicycle.  The company expanded in the grounds of their home. In 1905 they produced a three-wheeled car, and then four wheeled cars. In the Great War women workers made munitions here. In 1935 a Staines made car won at Le Mans. The company went into receivership, and was taken over by Alan Good as LG Motors. In 1948 David Brown bought the company and merged it with Aston Martin moving work to Feltham.
Petters. They took over the Lagonda Staines factory. They made small diesel engines and had originated in Yeovil in 1896.  They left and the site was sold in 1989.
Waterman’s Business Park– new build offices. This may be the site of a stream or of a small docking area for river craft or Biffin’s boathouse
Bailey Bridge. This was erected in 1939 from Egham to Staines and left Egham from the site which is now the Waterman's Business centre. It was built to carry extra troop traffic across the Thames and was a Callender-Hamilton 'Bailey' bridge . It was changed to pedestrian only in 1947 and demolished in 1959.
Lotus Park - more offices
British Gas. There are a number of large office buildings in the Causeway and adjacent streets which make up the British Gas Headquarters buildings. British Gas is now a division of Centrica.
55 Halfway House Pub. Now demolished.
Staines and Egham Gas Works. Thus was originally set up as the Staines and Egham Gas Light & Coke Co. in 1833 later becoming Statutory in 1871.  It was taken over by the Brentford Gas Co. in 1915 and then by The Gas Light and Coke Co. in 1926. It was nationalised as part of the North Thames Gas Board in 1949. It was extensively modernised with conversions to the retort house in 1916. In 1927 the first M.A.N. Waterless Gasholder in the Gas Light and Coke’s area was erected here with 1,500,000 cubic foot  capacity designed by Thomas Hardie,. In 1952 a grid pumping station and a new 2,000,000 cubic foot holder  were installed. The works was closed in 1955 and dismantled in 1956, but the gasholders and pumping station remained in use. Closed in the 1960s.  The dry gasholder was demolished in 1985. The remaining holder has since been demolished although it was apparently extant in 1990.
Staines and Egham Electric Company Power Station 1904. This was a private company who got Board of Trade consent for a diesel driven generating station here in 1911 and it was later opened by the Lord Mayor of London.  By 1919 they were supplying lighting in the High Street and other lamps were being converted to electricity. The works was Demolished 1986
North Surrey Water Company Waterworks.  In 1880 it was expanded and modernised as the Staines Joint and Metropolitan Water Board pumping station. This is now owned and operated by Affinity which serves a population equivalent of 500,000 in a geographical area covering south west London and north Surrey, drawing its water directly from the Thames.  It was previously Three Valleys Water, which became Veolia, taken over by Morgan Stanley which now calls it Affinity. A number of old company office blocks on site are still in use but reservoir sites are in other use.


Thorpe Road
Level Crossing. This carries trains on the Waterloo Reading line of South West trains – and is the cause of much local complaint,
Sunshine Hut, This was two wooden huts used by the Girl Guides centre, a Men's Club, the Church Lads' Brigade, and the Sunshine Club. Medical and dental clinics were run here by the County Council. Replaced by the church hall in 1957,
St.Paul's church. By the 1920s the settlement here was growing and in 1919-20 land was acquired and the Vicar of Egham started conducting services in what was called the Sunshine Hut  renaming it St. Paul's Mission Hall. In 1929 a new Church Building Committee was formed and an Appeal for Funds was launched – a major contributor was Mr. Budgen, the grocer. The Foundation Stone was laid in 1930, and the church opened in 1931 designed by John and Paul Coleridge. In 1936 Mr Budgen donated an organ,
Hythe Primary School. The school originated from 1884 with two separate single-sex schools. In 1969 they became a First School and Middle School and later, in 1985, amalgamated to become Hythe First and Middle School. In 1993 it became a Primary School. In 1996 the original 19th were closed and eventually redeveloped into housing as the Old School Mews. New buildings were constructed to the south and are still in use today. Some parts of the old school are now a nursery and a Children Centre
The Hythe Centre. Local authority community centre


Wendover Road
Wendover Road Methodist chapel. This appears to date from the 1950s.


Wood Haw
Housing on the site of a house, converted to riding stables in the 1930s and later sold.

Sources
Acton Bright Steels. Web site
Affinity Web site
British Listed Buildings. Web site
CELSUR. Web site
Coalposts. Web site
Crocker. Industrial Archaeology of Surrey
Egham Catholic parish, web site
Electrical Times.
Gartner. Web site
Hythe Community Primary School. Web site
Lansdale. Web site
Meadows Gardens. Web site
Runneymede Council. Web site
Stewart. Gas Works of the North Thames area
St.Paul’s Church, Egham. Web site
Surrey Industrial Archaeology
Surrey Industrial Past. Web site
Walford. Village London
Wendover Road Methodist chapel. Web use
Wikipedia. As appropriate

Riverside west of the Tower, south bank. Egham


Post to the east Egham Hythe and Lammas Lands
Post to the north Wraysbury and Runneymede, Bell Weir



Band Lane
This narrow passageway leads to the Band Hall for the Egham Band.  Their address is however “Wasp Farm Car Park” – which appears to be parallel with Band Lane.
Band Hall. The Egham Band is a brass band based which began in the early 20th. They play at local events and give local concerts. They also have a Youth Band and a Training Band.

Crown Street
Thames Water– small brick building owned by Thames Water. Assume that this is the successor to the Egham Urban District Council Pumping station and filter beds on site here in the 1930s


Egham By Pass
Built in 1925 and is part of the A30


Green Lane
Before the construction of the M25 Green Lane ran from The Avenue down through fields to the railway.  It was then cut off to a short road closed at both ends.  A tiny fragment of it also exists at the north end as the entry to the petrol station in The Avenue.


Herndon Close
This housing area was apparently built on the site of the Egham Urban District Council yard which itself was preceded by a small water works belonging to the council.


Heritage Court
This turning off Station Road leads to a large car park and appears to be connected to the mysterious ‘Wasp Farm’.
Virginia Lodge Day Centre. This building serves as a community hub for St John’s church.  It is the base for the church office and other staff teams. A number of youth and other activities are run from the centre and there is a food bank there.


High Street
The High Street is thought to run along the route of a branch of the London to Silchester Roman road. It became part of the main route from London via Staines to the south west and was an important staging post with many inns. Its use as a main route ceased with the construction of the bypass in the 1925.
109 Milestone encased in the garden wall. Dated 1743 it says it is 18 miles from Hyde Park Corner
115 The White Lion. This is shown on maps of 1883. There is an  Ushers' lettering on the pole sign; and earlier 'Courage' lettering can still be seen in the metalwork above. Also an oval wall plaque
Iscoeles Finance. This is yet another financial management and accountancy company in the building which was the Egham Police Station
1 Police station. The station was built at some point between 1935 and 1960. It was sold in 2016 and now houses a finance business. It was built on the site of Denham House. An earlier police station in Egham had been built in the early 1850s by the Surrey Constabulary
Denham House. This house appears to date from the mid-19th. It is named for Sir John Denham, father of the 17th poet, who founded almshouses in Egham. The poet had a house in Egham called “The Place”, demolished in the 19th. This had been the site of Imworth Manor which belonged to the Denham family and was to the west of the recently sold police station. The police station site itself may be the site of a moat which may be the remains of any even earlier manor.
Fire Station. A modern fire station here replaces an earlier fire station which appears also to have been part of the municipal offices. It is now described as a ‘community’ fire station.
85 Katharine House. This is used by Busy Bees Nurseries and by a telecommunications equipment firm. It is the site of the Katherine Wheel public house which was extant in the 17th as one of the principal inns locally. It served long-distance stage coaches, and trade tokens associated with the inn have survived. In 1898 the early 18th building was destroyed and it was rebuilt. The Hotel existed in 1992 and was redeveloped in 1996.
132a Egham and District Social Club. This was earlier the site of the Liberal club
Lych gate.  This is the 15th lych-gate to St John the Baptist from the old church. This had been the entrance porch of the north door in the old church. A plaque records that John Wesley passed this way and preached in 1744. The gate was put here in 1938. It had been for many years in the garden of a house in Bakeham Lane. It was restored again in 1986.
War memorial. This is outside the church. It is a cross on a plinth which said “To the glory of God and to the hallowed memory of those residents of this urban district who lost their lives in the world wars 1914 - 1918 1939 – 1945”
149 Royal Standard Pub. This pub was there in 1938 and has now been demolished
158 Oldridge’s Forge came here from Hummer Lane in 1881
United Church of Egham. This is a local union of the Methodist and the United Reformed Churches. It was formed in 1970 when Egham Hill Congregational Church and Egham Methodist Church combined together. The Methodist Church had been opened in 1880, in response to a growing membership.
46 The Old Bank. This is a branch of Barclays and has ‘Ashby’, the Staines brewers written over the door as well as : 'Established 1796' - 'The Old Bank' - 'Rebuilt 1896'. This might be explained by the owners of Ashby's Bank of Staines and Ashby's Staines Brewery being from the same family.
52 Red Lion. In the 18th and 19th this was a coaching inn with stabling for 70 horses. It has 16th origins and was attached to the Assembly Rooms in the late 18th.
Egham Museum. Established in 1968. This is in the Literary Institute and is volunteer run.
Literary Institute. In 1845 the Assembly Rooms were sold and became ‘The Literary Institute’ which houses Egham Museum. The Assembly Rooms began in the last decade of the 18th as part of the Red Lion pub. . It was used for entertainments like dancing, dining, card-playing, and theatricals, and also public business and club meetings, in 1805 a Reading Room was added. The Egham Literary and Scientific Institution was set up in 1846, and in 1854 the Assembly Rooms was sold and to the Institution. It had a wide variety of users and functions and in 1859 consideration was being given to the idea of establishing a small museum. The focal point of the Institute was however the Library and Reading Room
55-55a This was the Nags Head Inn which is recorded from 1689. The name is shown in the mosaic floor of its replacement building called White House development, , its licence was not renewed in 1915 and the premises was initially taken over by fishmongers.
Magna Carta fountain. With an interpretive plaque
Mosaic shields. Laid into the pavement here and elsewhere in the High Street representing the barons who dealt with King John
66 Hop Blossom pub. This pub was closed in the 1930s. It was a beer house catering for “the respectable working class”.
153 Savoy Cinema. This began as the Bohemia Cinema opened around 1922. It was re-named Savoy Cinema before 1944 and closed in the late-1950’s.
Gem Electric Theatre. This opened in 1910 designed by architect J. Wornell of Ludgate Hill. It had a very ornate facade, and seating in the auditorium was on a single floor. It operated until 1940.
Sculpture by David Parfitt showing King John sighing Magna Carta. This is on a traffic island and masked by planting. There is a plaque and some interpretive panels.
144 Kings Head. The pub which dated form at least the 18th was on the south side of the Street and later became the site of the Arndale Shopping Precinct.
159 Egham Constitutional Club.  Local members club established in 1893 in an 18th house


Hummer Road
In the 17th this was Little Humber Lane, connecting the High Street with the causeway and Runnymede.
Oldridge’s Forge started work here 1872, moving later to the High Street
The Old Bakery– there is said to have been a Royal Coat of Arms on this building.
Children’s nursery in building marked as ‘Meeting house’. This was originally a Friends Meeting House, and later used by the Plymouth Brethren.


Lovett Road
British Gas – huge office blocks


M25
The M25 carries up to 200,000 vehicles and 10,000 terrifying HGVs per day since its opening in the 1980s.
The Runnymede Interchange is where the M25 crosses the Thames along with the Staines Bypass. On the south side is the Runnymede Roundabout which opened in 1961 for the A30 crossing. In 1983, a new bridge opened for the anti-clockwise M25 and the original bridge is now used for the Clockwise M25 and eastbound A30. There are also two spurs for local traffic,
The M25 is carried over the Thames on Runnymede Bridge which is a motorway. It is also a road, pedestrian and cycle bridge built in the 1940s, 1980s and expanded in the 2000s for the motorway. The oldest part was designed by Edwin Lutyens and is a   single-span arch bridge built to carry the A30 as part of the Staines bypass. The New Runnymede Bridge on the eastern side was built in the 1980s and simply named the Runnymede Bridge. It too is a single arch bridge made of a series of parallel concrete frames which allow light to penetrate upwards underneath and transfer loads vertically to avoid disturbing the foundations of the older bridge.  In the early 21st it was widened to six lanes each way, to become the widest bridge in Britain.


Malt House Lane
This is one vast car park.
Runneymede malt house. The Malt House dates from 1852 amend had been restored and converted into offices. There is an oast house type kiln at the west end of the building.
Model Railway Society. The club was started in 1965 with a site in Staines. The current site is in the huge car park which makes up Malthouse Lane. They have six layouts n the clubhouse. On the land behind the Clubhouse is a garden railway track base.


Manor Farm Lane
Manor Farm Day Care Centre. New build old people’s centre
Manor Farm. 16th farmhouse thought to be partly 14th. It is a timber framed building completely encased in brick originally an open hall with a chimney-stack inserted in the 16th and then refronted in 1822 and restored in the 20th. Inside there are decorated wooden beams and panels of painted plaster
St. John's Church.  The current church is on the site of a Saxon church and is on slightly higher ground that its surroundings.  There is a slab which explains how the previous church was built by John Rutherwyke Abbot of Chertsey in 1327 using timber beams from the Chertsey Abbey Estate. It was built for the tenants of the Abbey. The present church was built in 1817, and partly funded by George III. It is in the style of Soane by Henry Rhodes. In 1896 the box seating was replaced with pews and refurbished again in 1999. There are a number of important monuments and also sculptures by Flaxman.
Graveyard. There is a large graveyard with listed monuments.
Church Centre. The current Church Centre is being replaced.
Stewart and Budgen’s Almshouses. The history can be traced as far back as 1627. They were rebuilt in 1999.


Mead lake ditch
The ditch runs in this area between Vicarage Lane and Pooley Green Road


Pooley Green Road
Stewart and Budgen’s Almshouses. These have been rebuilt in 1925


School Lane
School. The parochial schools were built on Crown Land in 1870 out of Poor’s Allotment Fund. It was taken over by the School Board in 1884 and enlarged in 1895. It became the Manor County Primary School and closed in 1975 and was demolished. There is now housing on the site


Station Road
Before the railway was built in 1856 this was Gravel Pit Road b the name deriving from a local gravel pit. The road is now in two parts – a short Station Road North between the High Street and Church Road and a longer section south of Church Road.
Corn warehouse, possibly belonging to Walter Bosher, a coal and forage merchant who maintained a depot at Egham Station goods yard. Although no longer used as a corn warehouse some parts of the building appear to have lasted until the 1960s.
36 Centrum House. Intel. Regional office for massive US multinational technology company based in California. One of the world’s largest semiconductor chip makers, based on revenue. It also produces the microprocessors used in most personal computers supplying many other manufacturers. It was founded in 1968
40 Baja. This was The New Railway pub.  It also is/was called the Alma Mata. It has also been the ‘Tap and Spile” ands may originally have been The Railway Hotel.
Fourfront. The Old Post Office. This is a commercial interior specialist. The
Egham Station. The London and South-Western Railway reached Egham in 1856.  The station is managed by South West Trains and is on their line from Waterloo to Reading between Virginia Water and Staines Stations. A new station building was built by British Rail in 1985. The A goods yard supported a wide range of commercial traffic. Walter Bosher coal and forage merchant had a depot here in the 1890s.  Now used as the station car park.
Rail line spur. In the 1890s a rail link ran northwards from the goods yard to a corn warehouse in Station Road
Prince of Wales. Once owned by Meux’s brewery, this was described as a lodging house in 1892 catering for a “low class of people” It was built on a gravel pit,. The pub was demolished in the 1970s to make way for the new ring road
17 Optical and Mechanical Devices Co. This was reformed as in 1958 as Optical-Mechanical (Instruments) moving here from Staines. They made measuring instruments and gauges and marketed devices for Wray of Bromley.
Stewarts Almshouses. These relate to a bequest from a Mr. Stewart in 1840. The almshouses are shown as being next to the railway. The bequest is now part of the Stewart and Budgen Almshouse management with buildings in Pooley Green Road and Manor Farm Road


The Avenue
This was once part of the High Street.  At the end of the 19th century the Rural District Council, having been granted powers to name streets, defined The Avenue as a separate road planting flanking limes and horse chestnuts, illustrating the origin of the street name. The road was subsequently widened and raised to prevent flooding in an area prone to such inundations
19 Victoria Inn. This pub closed in 2009, the name having been changed to Iguana. It is now a burger bar.
Wesleyan Chapel. This was extant by 1824. In 1880a new chapel in the High Street replaced it.
Brewery. This is shown as disused by 1897.  It may have been owned by a Mr. Herbert
Baptist chapel. This was extant from the 1890s and seems to be the site of Runneymede Close
A factory is shown on 1930s maps on the north side of the road which appears to say ‘overalls’ or a similar word.
35 Coach and Horses Pub. This 17th pub was demolished for the construction of the M25


The Glanty
This piece of road is a continuation of the Causeway to the Runneymede Roundabout


The Arndale Precinct
Much of the centre of the town, in the area south of the High Street is taken up with the 1960s built Arndale Precinct. This shopping mall area has since been augmented by a Waitrose, Travelodge and other chains.

Vicarage Road
Grassroots Garden centre. Offering leisure and life skills for the special needs community.  Appears to be on the site of the old Vicarage, later a Civil Defence training centre.
Achieve Lifestyle. Egham sports centre
Manor Leaze Gardens
Level crossing


Windsor Road
Pair of octagonal lodges by Sir Edwin Lutyens 1930-32.
Pair of commemorative urns by Sir Edwin Lutyens 1929.
Inscribed 'Donation of Meadows to the Nation in memory of Urban
Hanlon Broughton 1857-1929 by his widow and two sons. Dedicated 18 December 1929'.


Woodhaw
Old Brown Windsor Soap Works owned by the Paris family. Manufacture ended and details of the process were lost when Mr Paris’s widow died in about 1851. Remains of the firm's wharf can still be seen

Sources
Brewery History Society. Web site
British Listed Buildings. Web site
Cinema Treasures. Web site
Egham Churches. Web site
Egham Constitutional Club. Web site
Egham Social Club. Web site
Egham United Charity. Web site
Grace’s Guide. Web site
Intel. Web site
London Remembers. Web site
London Transport. Country Walks 
Lost Pubs. Web site
Parker, North Surrey 
Penguin. Surrey
Pevsner. Surrey
Pub History. Web site
Middlesex Churches
Runneymede Council. Web site
St John’s Church. Web site
Surrey Archaeological collections web site
Surrey County Council. Web site
Surrey Industrial Archaeology
War Memorials Online. Web site
Wikipedia. As appropriate

Riverside - south bank west of the Tower. Bell Weir Runneymede

This post relates to sites south of the River only. North of the River is Wraysbury

Post to the north Wraysbury Lakes
Post to the east Yeoveney
Post to the south Egham
Post to the west Runnymede Pleasure Grounds

Bell Weir
Bell Weir Lock. The lock is named after the earliest lock keeper. The first pound lock here was built in 1811 at the bend by the current recreation ground. The lock was built here in 1817-1818 and called Egham Lock. The weir collapsed because of ice in 1827 and again in 1866. The lock and weir were rebuilt in 1867 and the lock rebuilt again in stone in 1877. A new weir was built in 1904. The Weir attracts wildlife. - woodpeckers, parakeets, kingfishers, sparrow hawks and kestrels, plus foxes, badgers and muntjac.
Bell Weir Lock House – with murals on the outside about Magna Carta done by students from East Berkshire College.

Windsor Road
Runneymede on Thames Hotel. This is the site of the Anglers Rest. This probably dated from the 17th but was rebuilt 1850-1860 when it was tied to the Thomas Harris brewery at Knowle Green, Staines. It was demolished in 1973 and replaced by the Runnymede Hotel. It has been said that the original Anglers Rest was converted from the lock house for Bell Weir.
Cricket Ground. Egham Cricket Club played here until the mid 1960s. In 1928 the Club moved to land here between Windsor Road and the Anglers Rest Hotel. The club played there until 1931 when a lease was obtained on another site on the Windsor Road. Members converted the long grass into a cricket ground. A resident, who had moved into a new house, gave the club his old wooden bungalow which became the pavilion.  In 1950 the landlord died and left instructions that the ground should be placed in trust for the land to be used as a sports ground in perpetuity. Unfortunately another neighbour took the club to court on the issue and the Club their ground in 1966.
World Duty Free Warehouse. Runneymead CDC. This organisation operates retail stores in airports to retail a variety of goods. The company was incorporated in 1996. Until the 1960s this site was used by a variety of chemical companies.
West Surrey Chemical Works. In the 1850s and 1860s this was owned by Robert Paulson Spice, who had come here from Fakenham with expertise in running gas works. He operated what may have been an existing chemical works to process gas manufacture residual products. In 1872 this resulted in a high court action against the site for nuisance and pollution taken out by local farmers. This involved tar flowing into fields and smoke and black specks coming from the process by which commercial black inks were made for the printing industry.  The jury found for Spice. The works was also called ‘Chalkmead Chemical Works’
Copal Varnish Company Ltd. This dated from the mid 1870s and was incorporated in 1883 having been declared insolvent previously. They were the subject of a much quoted legal judgement on the conduct of company officers and were dissolved sometime between 1916 and 1932.
Paripan Varnish Works. In 1886 Randall Brothers who had a chemical works on Bankside moved here. They had been making colours for printing inks and paints since 1855. They began to use Paripan as a trade name ‘Paripan’ the name coming from ‘Paris White Japan’. They were to advertise this using glamour models.  In 1919 they became a public company under the name of Paripan Ltd. And were eventually to become ‘by Royal Appointment. In 1962 they merged with Carson’s Paints of Battersea and by 1973 the works was closed and the buildings demolished
Runneymede Dispersions Ltd. were a subsidiary company of Paripan-Carsons and are now Tennants Inks and Coatings of Cinderford, Gloucestershire.


Yard Mead
Bell Weir Boats. Marina, boat sales etc.
Nichols Boat Yard
Sewage pumping station

Sources
Canal plan. Web site
East Berks College. Web site
Egham Cricket Club, Web site
Grace’s Guide. Web site
Pub History. Web site
Tenannts Inks. Web site
Thames Pilot. Web site
Surrey Industrial History
Where Thames Smooth Waters Flow. Web site

Riverside - south bank, west of the Tower.  Runnymede Pleasure Grounds

Post to the east Runnymede Bell Weir and Wraysbury



Coopers Hill
Much of Coopers Hill – including the monuments is on squares to the south and west. Land on Coopers Hill was owned in 1963 by Egham Urban District Council
Langham Pond. This is a cut of a meander of the Thames forming an oxbow. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Along with the meadow it is thought to be a unique habitat with nationally scarce plants and insects including a particular species of fly.  Some of the pond is in the square to the south

Runnymede
Runnymede is made up of land in public and National Trust ownership on the Thames flood plain downriver of Old Windsor. It has been greatly influenced by the probable Roman river crossing at Staines. The word Runnymede could be interpreted as describing a meeting place on a meadow and the Witenagemot of the Saxon kings was held in the 7th to 11th. It is therefore the most likely location for King John sealing Magna Charta in 1215 and this is indicated in the Charter itself. Much of it is managed by the National Trust.  Some of the National Trust area is a Site of Nature Conservation Interest plus an area designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest.  188 acres of riverside area were donated in 1929 by Cara Rogers Broughton and her two sons. The American-born widow of Urban Hanlon Broughton and it was in his memory. In return she was allowed to be a ladyship. A memorial to this donation is on Windsor Road in the square to the east.
Long Mede – this is the continuation of the riverside meadow towards Windsor.  Only part of it is in this square and the rest is in the squares to the west s a nod to the north (and this includes the Magna Charta memorial)
Runnymede Pleasure Grounds.  This riverside park is run by Runnymede Council and appears to have begun as a paddling pool and bathing station. It has a cafe, playground, toilets etc.


Windsor Road
Skytes Meadow. Italian Concept Restaurant. This has had a number of other existences Sam’s Bar and Grill, the Cyprus Donkey, Skytes Restaurant. However the building looks although it might have had a more interesting past existence and may date to the 1930s. There is also a Skytes Wharf
Wraysbury Punting and Skiff Club.  The club dates to its formation in 1931, to promote the traditional sports of racing in Thames skiffs and punts.  Its first benefactor was Eric Haines of Haines Boatyard in Old Windsor. In 1975, the Club relocated to a site adjoining Runnymede Pleasure Grounds. In 2007, the Club opened a purpose-built clubhouse and boathouse. The Club races in skiffing, punting and dragon boat racing,


Sources
National Trust. Wikipedia. Web site
Natural England. Web site
Runnymede Council. Web site
Wikipedia. Runnymede. Web Site
Woodland Trust. Web site
Wraysbury Punting and Skiff Club.  . Web site

Riverside south bank, west of the Tower -  Runnymede Magna Carta

Runnymede Pleasure Grounds

Cooper’s Hill Lane
Development site which was Brunel University. In the middle ages the site belonged to the Benedictine Nuns at the Priory of Ankerwyke. Henry VIII gave it to Andrew, Lord Windsor in 1539 and it continued in private hands until it was sold in the late 19th as Coopers Hill House. The estate was bought in 1870 for use as the Royal Indian Engineering College and it was converted under Matthew Digby Wyatt. In the college hall rooms were named for Indian Colonial administrators and the college opened in 1873. As well as engineering there were forestry courses – and the grounds contain botanical specimens bought back from all over the British Empire. In 1880 Alexander Taylor became Pr4eidnet and his statue was re-erected here from Delhi in 1960. The College closed in 1906 and in 1911 was sold to Baron Cheylesmore but in 1925 he died in a motor accident. In 1938 the London County Council bought the estate for use as a headquarters in case of war and work was transferred here from County Hall. In 1946 it became the Cooper's Hill Emergency Training College – training returned soldiers as handicraft teachers. This closed in 1951 and Shoreditch College of Education was relocated here. In time facilities here needed to be improved and new accommodation and workshop blocks were built. The college began to offer degree courses. Eventually it was decided to merge it with Brunel University – to specialise in Design and Technology. This proved popular and more accommodation was built as well as another lecture theatre. In 2007 the college site was sold to the Oracle Group who then went bankrupt. There are now new developers on site and plans for mixed use etc etc etc
Red Gables. Used as college accommodation. Now private housing.
Scrivens Memorial Garden. This is on the site of what was a bowling green and is a memorial to one of the Shoreditch College staff, A.G.Scrivens.


Cooper's Hill,
This is a wooded hillside rising up to the south of the Runneymede waterside sites. Various monuments are on this hillside. Coopers Hill was in the ownership of Egham Urban District Council and given by them to the National Trust in 1963


Magna Carta Island
This is a thickly wooded island on the reach above Bell Weir Lock. It is across the river from the water-meadows at Runnymede. It is one of several contenders for where, in 1215, King John sealed the Magna Carta. The island has been sold recently by Sotheby's International Realty.
Chapel. there is a seven bedroom house called ‘Chapel’ on the site where Magna Carta is said to have been signed.
Stone said to be that on which the parchment rested when the king and the barons affixed their signatures to it.  It says: Be it remembered that on this island 15 June 1215 John King of England signed Magna Carta and in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty four this building was erected in commemoration of that great and important event by George Simon Harcourt Esq Lord of this Manor and the High Sheriff of this county

Oak Lane
Runnymede Wood. This backs on to the Kennedy Memorial.
Tennis Courts. These belonged to Brunel University and are being replaced with a wetland.
Oak Lane Cottages, used as college staff accommodation. Now private houses.
Priest Hill Farm
Disused sewage works – shown on maps on the east side of the road as extant in the 1930s. Site now covered with a copse.
Golf course.  Disused and used as grazing.


Priest Hill
Beaumont farm – with a farm shop


Runneymede
American Bar Association Memorial. Erected in 1957, this is a small, Greek-style temple supported by columns, sheltering a granite stone inscribed 'To Commemorate Magna Carta - Symbol of Freedom under Law'.
Kennedy Memorial. This memorial has three parts - steps, memorial stone and seats. There are 50 steps representing the 50 American states which lead up through dense natural woodland – to show the vitality of nature. The seven-tonne stone slab is in an acre given to the Americans in memory of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, United States President from 1961 to 1963.  A quote from his inaugural address, is inscribed 'Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardships, support any friend or oppose any foe in order to ensure the survival and success of liberty.  A hawthorn bush symbolises his Catholicism and there is an American scarlet oak alongside. It was opened by the Queen in 1965.


Sources
British Listed Buildings. Web site
Brunel University. Web site
London Transport. Country walks, 
Parker. North Surrey
Penguin. Surrey
Pevsner. Surrey
Runneymede Council. Web site
Shoreditch College. Web site
Surrey Industrial Archaeology
Walford. Village London, 
Where Thames Smooth Waters Glide. Web site
Woodland Trust. Web site

Riverside south bank west of the Tower. Old Windsor Beaumont

Post to the south Runnymede Magna Carta
Post to the north Old Windsor Saxon town

Burfield Road
Beaumont Estate, Large hotel.This was originally called Remenham, after the 14th owner. Various aristocrats lived there subsequently and In 1786 Warren Hastings lived there for three years. It was sold to the Jesuits in 1854. After the school closed in 1967 it was used for a year by the Loresto Sisters as a teacher training college. In the early 1970s, it was the ICL training centre. In 2003 it was taken over by Hayley Conference Centres,
Beaumont House. Large country house originally built in 1705 by James Gibbs for Lord Weymouth. Re-built in the early 19th by Henry Emlyn of Windsor for Henry Griffiths based on his "Britannic Order".  It was altered in 1870 by Hansom and further extended in the 20jh.  There are many more recent extinctions
Beaumont College. This was a Jesuit public school which closed in 1967. In 1862 it became a Catholic boarding school for boys, with the title of St. Stanislaus College, Beaumont. The school continued thereafter. In 1888, a Preparatory School was opened nearby and still exists. There was also a boathouse and playing fields and a farm to supply produce. The school eventually closed because of a lack of priests.
Chapel built for the Jesuits and now offices. Designed 1870 by Hansom
War memorial. Gigantic built in 1920 as an open-air altar and Calvary by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. It has seats, and a tall cenotaph. There is a bronze commemorative plaque, and above is a large opening with a Christ on a stone cross. The inscription plaque reads:-
Reqviem aeternam donna eis domine.
Gate piers and walls from the late 19th. Inset panels and iron lanterns on the piers. Lodge - this was built in the late 19th as a chapel

Straight Road
The Bells of Ouseley. This pub dating from the mid 19th was once a Courage House. It is now a Harvester chain restaurant.


Windsor Road
Lodges at entrance to Runnymede on either side of the road and mirror images of each other. Lady Fairhaven, who gave the meadows to the National Trust in 1931, commissioned Edwin Lutyens to design them.
French Bros. Boathouse for family firm running a large fleet of boats for trips on the Thames between Maidenhead and Hampton Court.


Sources
Beaumont Estate. Web site
British Listed Buildings.
French Brothers Web site/
London Transport. Country walks
Old Windsor Pubs. Web site
Penguin. Surrey
Wikipedia. Beaumont College. Web site

Riverside south bank west of the Tower. Old Windsor. Saxon town

Post to the south Old Windsor Beaumont
Post to the north Ham Island

Church Road
An old highway once followed the line of Church Road from its junction with Ham Lane, the old road then turned sharply across the churchyard. In 1225 it was diverted round the north of the church. The rector was then required to build the current road which remains as a footpath to the river bank
St Peter and St Andrew. This church was probably built on the site of a chapel attached to Edward the Confessor’s hunting lodge. Its joint dedication to St. Peter and St. Andrew is unique and it is thought that a new St. Peter's might have had been built on the site of an earlier St. Andrew's under the Confessor. Several synods took place here.  In 1184 it became a possession of Waltham Abbey who held it until the dissolution.  After Magna Carta in 1215, French soldiers destroyed the church during a siege of Windsor Castle. It was rebuilt in 1218. In the 18th an avenue of larches - some stumps remain - led to the north door. It also had a stone porch and a cupola on the tower which was removed by Giles Gilbert Scott in 1865. He installed new pews and a choir vestry. A spire replaced the cupola and extra bells were added to make the ring up to eight.
The Priory.  This was a small house around 1700 which is said to have been an inn. In 1730 it was leased by Richard Bateman, who made improvements and the house became a showplace. It has had a number of owners since. There was no priory here and the name is purely fanciful.
The Hermitage. This house, which is next to the churchyard, sits on top of what may have been the Norman palace. It was built in 1740 by Richard Bateman
The Manor Cottage. This now a Care home in an 18th house which is on the site of the original manor house. Following Domesday it became the Rectorial Manor of Old Windsor and the Rector's official residence became Manor Cottage. There was a moat, part of which still exists as a backwater used for mooring boats. In the 1950's Middlesex County Council took it over as an old people's home, the administration of which was later transferred to Surrey County Council
Windsor Great Park Water Works. This dated from the early 1870s and was built specifically to deal with sewage from the Castle.  It followed a notice from the City of London Conservators to cease putting raw sewage into the Thames. The system was built by Easton and Anderson and was south of the cut and a quarter of a mile about the lock.   This long closed although rectangular outlines can be seen from the air.


Friday Island
Friday Island is an island in the Thames just short of Old Windsor Lock. The shape is said to resemble the footprint of Man Friday in Robinson Crusoe,


Ham Lane
St. George’s Farm.  Recently rebuilt.


New Cut
The New Cut was made in 1821-22 and is now the navigation channel.
Ham Island. This is what was Ham Fields turned into an island by the New Cut


Old Windsor
Old Windsor was a Saxon settlement at least as early as the 7th. It is thought that it was used as a royal residence from the 9th and  Edward the Confessor is known to have spent time here as did William the Conqueror and his sons William Rufus and Henry I.  But the Normans built their fortress two miles away and thus the court deserted the old town. Eventually all traces of its palace, and the surrounding settlement, disappeared. It was suggested that the area around the church was the site of the old town centre in the 1950s and this has since been confirmed by archaeologists. It is thought that it began as a farm on a site here near the current church. In Domesday the settlement was owned by the Crown with a population of 100 families – making it the third largest town in Berkshire,
Mill. There was a large watermill made of wood, dated to 800. The mill wheels were driven by the water from a leat which was nearly three quarters of a mile long and 20 feet wide. It was dug across the loop of the Thames and was thus a predecessor of the New Cut. It had however completely disappeared.
Palace. A possible palace building – or hunting lodge - lay east of the mill leat and apparently had glass windows
Fishery. The Domesday Book mentions a fishery here. This may have been near the site of the weir, where it is known that there was a fishery called Hornedore.

Old Windsor Ferry
A ferry was operated from Wraysbury to a point between Old Windsor Church and the Priory. This dated from at least the middle ages.


Old Windsor Lock
Old Windsor Lock. The old name for the site of the lock was "Top of Caps" and it was suggested there should be a lock here in 1770. The lock was built along with the New Cut in 1822.  A weir was built in 1838, replacing an earlier one which may have dated from the 13th.  There is a small weir beside the lock, but the main weir is considerably upstream. In 1868 the lock was extended and a tumbling bay added. It was rebuilt in 1957.
Newmans Bucks. This was an eel fishery sited at the head of the present weir.


The Friary
The Friary. This is a 19th house built on the site of an earlier house called Princess Elizabeth's Cottage, or the Garden House.  Elizabeth was the daughter of George III and the Garden House had been built by Bateman who had converted it from a cowshed. The later Friary was built in 1873 by Francis Ricardo.   There was no religious organisation here and the name is purely fanciful.

Sources
Archaeology. On line. Web site
British History Online. Web site
Engineering 1874
St.Peter’s Church. Web site
O3have.uwclub. Web site
Sweet Thames Run Softly. Web site
Wikipedia. As appropriate

Riverside, south bank west of the Tower. Ham Island

Post to the south Old Windsor Saxon Town

Ham Island
Ham Island is only an island by virtue of being separated from Old Windsor by the construction of the New Cut in 1822 cutting the distance in navigation to around one third.  It was once a peninsula partly surrounded by a meander of the Thames.
Housing – there is some housing on the island mainly along the bank of the Cut.
Blueacre Horse Rescue centre. This centre opened in 2002 and is named after their first horse.
Sewage Works. This was opened by the Borough of Windsor in 1878 having previously been used as soakage beds by the Castle works across the Cut. The two works eventually combined.  It drains parts of villages to the south-west, Datchet and Eton which on the whole have separate surface and foul drainage. The plant uses its isolation and flood meadow land to allow for water-quality oriented sludge sedimentation beds. It is now part of Thames Water


Ham Lane
Ham Lane is a private road to access the sewage work


Sources
Blue Acre. Web site
Royal Windsor Forum
Wikipedia. Ham Island. Web site
Windsor and Maidenhead Council. Web site

Riverside. south bank west of the Tower Windsor Albert Bridge

Post to the west Ham Island
Post to the north Windsor Home Park Eastern riverside

Albert Bridge
Albert Bridge was built in 1850-51. It was one of two bridges in Datchet built to replace the old Datchet Bridge as part of the rerouting of the Datchet to Windsor roads following the expansion of the grounds of Windsor Castle. Prince Albert is said to have had a part in the design which was originally in cast iron.
Lodge. On the west side of the road. It is said to have been designed either by Jeffry Wyatville, or by Edward Blore. It has a crenulated parapet and arrow slits flanking the windows.


Battle Bourne
This is a stream which enters this area from the west and runs along the southern boundary of some of the Home Park. It enters the Thames slightly down river of Albert Bridge


Datchet Road
Moran Lodge. A 19th posh house evolving from a farm cottage. This was called the Elms and divided into flats in the 1950s.
Windsor Farm Shop. This was opened in 2001 as the result of the Duke of Edinburgh suggesting selling goods from the Royal Estates and small local suppliers
4 Lord Nelson Pub. This pub dated from the 1840s.  Now in other use – in 2004 it became an Indian restaurant and has also been in use as a nursery.


Home Park
Home Park is a private park in the Crown Estate and attached to Windsor Castle.  This square covers the south east corner – about an eighth of the total area.


Lion Island
This is a small uninhabited island above Old Windsor Weir. It is a thin wooded strip separated by a narrow channel on the north bank. There were once three long parallel islands here before the lock and the cut were built.


Old Windsor Weir
This is at the northern end of the New Cut but relates to the Old Windsor Lock at the southern end.
Fisher. This was on the site of what is now Old Windsor Weir.  It was called Horned-ore and belonged to the Crown. It was on the boundary-line between three parishes.


Southlea Road
Royal Gardens Lodge.  At the entrance to the Home Park. Designed Jeffry Wyatville in 1820-30. A castellated single storey building with central tower with a parapet. Extraordinary.

Manor Farm
Livery Stables.

Sources
British Listed Buildings., Web site
Crown Estate. Web site
Historic England. Web site
Pub History. Web site
The Royal Windsor Web site
Wikipedia Albert Bridge, Lion Island. Web site
Windsor and Maidenhead Council. Web site
Windsor Pubs. Info. Web site

Riverside west of the Tower and on the south bank Windsor Home Park Eastern riverside

Post to the south Windsor Albert Bridge
Post to the north Windsor Home Park bathing pond

Datchet Bridge
Datchet Bridge. This replaced a ferry service and was initially a wooden bridge commissioned by Queen Anne. The crossing was much used by royalty and they were often concerned for its reliability. The bridge was not tolled and therefore was popular. Responsibility for the maintenance was initially with the Crown but then passed to the counties of Berkshire and Buckinghamshire and there were decades of dispute between the two over who should pay for what. In 1836 the two counties each decided to build their own half, in different materials and not touching in the middle - Buckinghamshire's in wood and Berkshire's in iron. This was demolished in 1848 and the dispute resolved by building two new bridges
Datchet Ferry.  This had operated since at least the middle of the 13th and was replaced by the bridge.

Home Park
Home Park is a private park in the Crown Estate and attached to Windsor Castle.  This square covers part of the eastern section– about a quarter of the total area
Adelaide Lodge. This is known as Adelaide Cottage, it was the service wing to the current Adelaide Cottage. It stands in a picturesque dell and is a brick two-storied building in the 'cottage-ornée' style of the early 20th. Over the years there appears to have been some confusion over the two buildings and their names
Adelaide Cottage. Built on the site of the Keepers Lodge, it is a painted, stuccoed two-storied building also in the 'cottage-ornée' style. There is an inscription with the initials ‘AR’ for Adelaide Regina and the date of 1831. It is however thought to be older, possibly 17th. It appears to have been used by the Park Bailiff in the early 19th but then maybe rebuilt as a retreat for royal ladies wanting picnics and privacy. It was named for William IV’s wife Adelaide.
Double Cottages. These are by the riverside near the site of Old Datchet Bridge. They were built 1840-50 amend were designed as one. They appear to stand on the site of the Crown and Angel Pub – once in Datchet High Street which continued across the bridge but demolished along with the bridge in 1848

Sources
Crown Estate. Web site.
Datchet History. Web site
Historic England. Web site
Roberts. Royal Landscape
Windsor and Maidenhead Council. Web site

Riverside south bank west of the Tower. Windsor Home Park Bathing Pond

Post to the south Windsor Home Park Eastern riverside
Post to the west Windsor Sport and the Castle

Home Park
This square covers only a tiny section of the riverside at Home Park.
Bathing Pond. This results from the layout of the Park by Thomas Page in the 1840s. It appears to be an attempt – as with the other water features of the park – to use old gravel workings.
Albert Cottage and Boathouse. These date from 1861. They are brick, with a timber framed gabled projection the boathouse is on edge of the pool linked to the cottage by a pierced balustrade which is returned over the cut to the river. Said to be designed by Teulon.

Sources
British Listed Buildings. Web site
Roberts. Royal Landscapes

Riverside west of the Tower, south bank. Windsor - sport and the castle


Post to the east Windsor Home Park bathing pond
Post to the north Windsor Black Potts

Home Park
Home Park is a private park in the Crown Estate and attached to Windsor Castle.  This square covers the north section including the area adjacent to the Castle– about a third of the total area.
The North Slopes. This is a series of pleasure grounds on the chalk escarpment on which the Castle is sited. Paths zigzag down the wooded hillside to the Broad Water. Albert, The Prince Consort installed various structures, walks and planting in the 1840s. A lawn is now used as a school playing field. William III planned a formal Maastricht Garden, here designed by Henry Wise in 1701.The work was stopped by George I, but some remains can be seen from the air.
Slopes Lodge. Cottage
Broad Water. This is at the bottom of the north slopes and is lined with trees. It feeds a trout stream which is crossed by several small, stone, gothic-arched bridges
Public Recreation Ground. This is the north section of the Home Park and is now a public area north of King Edward VII Avenue.
Windsor Cricket Club. Thus was set up in 1995 following a merger between Windsor Victoria and Windsor and Eton Cricket Clubs. Their home ground is at the Home Park in Windsor. They also have a lively clubhouse with a bar open all year.
Datchet Dashers. This is a running club which uses the Cricket Club Clubhouse. They organise the Windsor Great Park Dash (formerly the Datchet Dash & The Dorney Dash).
Windsor Forest Bow Men. This archery club was formed in 1951. They cater for Recurve, Compound and Longbow as well as traditional (hunter type) and bare bow and field archery. They use St Stephen's Field, in the Home Park Recreation Ground.
Windsor Home Park Lawn Tennis Club. They have a clubhouse and courts next to the Rugby Club.


King Edward VII Avenue
Children’s Playground
Car Parks

Romney Lock Road
Windsor Rugby Football Club. This is an amalgamation of two clubs. There was a Windsor Rugby Football club in 1889 but thus disbanded in 1895. The current Windsor Rugby Club dates from 1922.  The future King George VI was their patron and this continued. In 1961 they opened a Clubhouse in the Home Park and in 1987-8 amalgamated with the of Old Windsorians Rugby Football Club,
Home Park Lodge

Victoria Bridge.
Victoria Bridge. Along with Albert Bridge this was built to replace demolished Datchet Bridge.It was originally built in 1851 and partly paid for by the Windsor, Staines and Richmond Railway Company to allow them access to Windsor. This bridge was damaged by tanks movements during the Second World War.  It remained in use until 1963 although subject to weight restrictions but was closed as cracks developed in the cast iron ribs. A Bailey bridge was installed by Royal Engineers above the bridge so that it could be removed. A new bridge was built in 1966 although a footbridge remained. The current bridge was opened in 1967 by Berkshire County Council, with consultants Mott, Hay and Anderson


Windsor Castle
The Castle is a large and complex structure. This square covers only the north east section. Other parts are in squares to the west and the south.
Windsor Castle. The castle was first built in the 11th by William the Conqueror to consolidate Norman dominance to the west of London and over the Thames. It is built on a steep chalk cliff which rises abruptly from the bank of the Thames and is protected by easily defended slopes on the east, south, and west. It has been used by English Monarchs since the reign of Henry I and is the largest and longest occupied castle in Europe. It was built as a standard motte-and-bailey, around a central mound with timber palisades which over time were replaced with stone fortifications.   It withstood a siege during the 13th First Barons' War. Subsequently Henry III built a luxurious royal palace here and this was amplified by Edward III. In the Civil War it was used as a military headquarters for the Parliament forces. After the Restoration much of it was rebuilt with architect Hugh May. George II and IV rebuilt this at colossal expense. It became the centre for royal entertainment under Victoria and a refuge for the royal family during Second World War bombing campaigns. There was a bad fire in 1992.
Upper Ward. Thus includes a number of major buildings inside the upper bailey wall.  The State Apartments are to the north with the private royal apartments and the King George IV Gate to the south, with the Edward III Tower in the south-west corner and the Round Tower to the west edge of the ward. It has been seen as a 19th creation by Jeffry Wyattville. The walls are of Bagshot stone characterised by the use of small bits of flint in the mortar to give stonework from many periods a similar appearance. The skyline is designed to be dramatic from a distance or in silhouette
The Round Tower. This is the oldest part of the castle , perched on a mound of earth made of spoil from its surrounding ditch. It was bult by Henry II in 1170 with Bagshot stone replacing a wooden keep. It had a number of major refurbishments in the intervening centuries. It is slightly oval in shape and lightly built compared to similar structures elsewhere – and there has subsequently been subsidence which there have been several efforts to control including major work on foundations as revealed by archaeologists.  There is a 160ft well in a lower side room. Its current appearance is down Jeffry Wyatville for George IV and his ideas of what a castle ought to look like – this includes the gothic battlements.  It was previously used as the Constable’s residence but it needed to fulfill  people’s ideas of what the Royal Castle should look like – and is usually shown in art works as taller than it actually is.  Today at its base is an external 'gallery'.  If the castle was under attack and through the walls bowmen would be stationed here to supplement those in the keep. It is now called the 'cannonade' and has 16 18th bronze field guns. The castle's 15-metre flagpole stands above the tower and when first raised in 1892 coins were buried under it. In the 1970s the building was underpinned because of subsidence and then converted into space for the Royal Archives.
North Terrace with views, of the playing fields of Eton. It was constructed by Hugh May in the 17th
Statue. A bronze statue of Charles II on horseback sits beneath the Round Tower. It was cast by Josias Ibach in 1679, with the marble plinth featuring carvings by Grinling Gibbons.  19th accounts of the castle say that beneath this statue was a device from the 17th by Sir Samuel Moreland for raising water to the buildings.
State Apartments. These lie on the the north side of the quadrangle and follow the medieval foundations laid down by Edward III with services on the ground floor. To the west the layout is primarily the work of architect Hugh May but the east was done by Jeffry Wyatville who wanted each room to illustrate an architectural style. These have largely been remodelled following the 1992 fire and are less decorative to follow modern tastes
Private Apartments


Sources
British History Online. Web site
Castle Studies Group. Web site
Chelsea Speleological Society. Newsletter
Datchet Dashers. Web site
Historic England. Web site
Lasdun. The English Park
London Transport. Country Walks
Roberts. Royal Landscape
Thamesweb. Web site
Wikipedia. Windsor Castle. Web site
Windsor Cricket Club. Web site
Windsor Forest Bowmen. Web site
Windsor Home Park Lawn Tennis Club. Web site
Windsor Rugby Football Club. Web site

Riverside west of the 'Tower, south bank. Windsor Black Potts

Post to the south Windsor sports and the castle

This posting covers a small slip of land at the northern end of the Windsor Home Park public recreation area.

Black Potts Ait
Black Potts Ait is an island in the Thames. It is a tree-covered triangle now at the mouth of the Jubilee River. It was a favourite area for fishing for in the late 17th and some sort of building was provided for Charles II to use here in this context.

River Bank
Black Potts Railway bridge. This carries the railway from Waterloo to Windsor. It is has four seventy feet spans and is supported in the middle by Black Potts Ait. Originally the bridge had ornate cast-iron ribs, but these corroded and were replaced with more wrought iron, which radically altered the bridge's appearance. Before it opened there was a race between the Great Western and South Western railway companies to be the first to complete a rail line to Windsor. The South Western had almost finished, and had announced the opening it when due to settlement on the piers. a girder snapped at Black Potts bridge. This delayed the completion by four months. So the Great Western got to Windsor first.

Romney Island
Romney Island is an island in the Thames downstream of Romney Lock. It is a long thin island with trees and scrub.  It appears to be cut from the main land by an artificial cut which turning it into an island. This is thought to have begun as the intake for the "King's Engine" invented by Sir Samuel Moreland in 1681 to pump water up to the castle.   It is a popular island for fishing

Sources
London Railway Record
Semgonline. Web site
Wikipedia. Black Potts Ait. Web site
Where Thames Smooth Waters Glide. Web site
Windsor and Maidenhead Council. Web site

Riverside west of the Tower, south bank. Windsor, riverside and castle

Post to the east Windsor sport and the castle

Alexandra Gardens.
Alexandra Gardens. Plans for a riverside garden were initiated from 1893 and land bought in 1875 and in 1902 a tree was planted to mark the coronation of Edward VII. The gardens were opened soon after and named for the new Queen, Alexandra. Early facilities included a bandstand and a pond which leaked and became a flower bed.  Windsor Lawn Tennis Club played here having been set up in 1913 and they hired courts here. In the 1930s a field gun stood by the gates but was removed at the start of the Second World War.  The bandstand was removed in the 1950s and a new one has been installed in 2015 with steel artwork on each the sides to episodes with the armed forces in each decade of the Queen’s reign. In 1954 a shelter was built round the ‘Coronation Tree but was quickly vandalised but not finally cleared until 2005. There are a number of profit making commercial features now - a Kiddies Corner Children's Fun Fair, skate & cycle hire, an 8 hole adventure golf course, bungee and trampoline. There is also ice skating in the winter.
Dyson Memorial, this was originally in Barry Avenue. It is a drinking fountain, to commemorate Thomas Dyson, piano dealer and mayor.


Barry Avenue
The Promenade was first created in the early 1890s, before it was originally just a sloping bank to the river. It was named for Francis Tress Barry, MP for Windsor, 1890-1906.
Browns Pub. This was previously the Fort & Firkin, and the Old Trout and originally the Thames Hotel. The extensions along Barry Avenue are a new frontage on what a half timbered hall – used for gigs – including a jazz club - and dances. It was used by the ARP in the Second World War. An earlier pub here was the Anglers Rest.
French Brothers wharf and embarkation point for boat trips
War memorial to the Berkshire Yeomanry. This is a granite cross showing the names of the men from A Squadron, who died in the Great War.
Memorial of a replica Hawker Hurricane aircraft.  This is in memory of its designer, Sir Sydney Camm and was installed in 2012


Cutlers Ait
Cutlers Ait. This small island is a tree-covered strip between the north bank of the river and the weir.


Datchet Road
Windsor and Eton Riverside Station. This station is a terminus, the previous station is Datchet and it is run by South West Trains. The station was built for the Windsor, Staines and South Western Railway and the building was designed by William Tite as a royal station. The main booking hall is now a wine bar. The wall along Datchet Road is a long curve, parallel with the platform, containing a series of arches and links the station with the Royal Waiting Room. The route to Windsor from Staines reached Datchet in 1848 but the line was opposed by Windsor Castle and Eton College which delayed the opening of this station for a year. The railway had to get to Datchet by a long deviation to avoid the royal Home Park.  By the time the station opened the line was part of the London and South Western Railway which ran it until grouping in 1923 when it became part of the Southern Railway. The line was electrified on the third rail system in 1930 and on nationalisation in 1948 it became part of Southern Region of British Railways and privatised it passed to Stagecoach. The ticket hall is now The Old Ticket Hall Wine Bar and Music Venue
Royal Waiting Room. This was built for Queen Victoria and is a separate building on the south side of the station with a main room and ante rooms crowned by a turret and spire – from which a look out could monitor the Queen’s arrival.  It is now let as offices. In the 1950s it appears to have been a Christian Science hall
Town Gate to the Home Park. Lodge and Gate Piers. Built around 1820-30 probably by Jeffrey Wyatville. There is a single storey lodge in Portland stone. The gate piers are surmounted by lamps.
9 Royal Oak. It is said that used to be called the Railway Hotel and was a Courage House.  However a pub called the Royal Oak was here in the 1830s or earlier.  It was the Royal Oak Hotel in the 1930s when it was demolished and replaced with the current building. (This building is numbered at 9 and the building to the north of it is 7 – but Mango Lounge, across the street is also 9!)
1 Bel and the Dragon Tea Room and Restaurant. This was the South Western Hotel from 1891 until the 1930s and before that the William IV. On a corner site it is also 62 Thames Street. The building is l7th altered in 18th and 19th. Timber framed encased in roughcast facing. It is also now used as staff accommodation for the Sir Christopher Wren Hotel.
St George’s School. This is a coeducational ‘preparatory’ school founded to provide six choirboys for St George's Chapel. It had provided these boys to the Chapel since 1352. Seventeen full choristers live at the school, with about seven day pupil 'probationers'. They attend lessons and rehearse each day in the Song School by the Chapel. They sing seven services each week. These boys have school fees paid by the church authorities at Windsor. The school takes about 30 boarders. Children leave the school at the age of 13 but most will have a strong musical education there. There are spacious playing fields next door to the school within private grounds of the castle. The school building dates from 1803 and has two 2 storeys in London Stock brick. There is a central Greek Doric loggia of stone columns. There is an inscription ‘Founded by - Travers Esq Erected MDCCCIII.’ There is a large walled garden with fine trees. The building was originally Travers College set up by the Naval Knights of Windsor who were established under the will of Samuel Travers the Surveyor General for Greenwich Hospital  for seamen and was a retirement home for unmarried and needy naval lieutenants.


Deadwater Ait
Deadwater Ait. This is an uninhabited tree-covered island close to the Windsor bank of the river and upstream of Romney Lock.


Duke Street
Windsor and Eton Brewery. These beers were launched on St George's Day 2010. Guardsman Bitter was the first new brew in Windsor for 80 years, and it was followed by Windsor Knot


Farm Yard
Windsor Glass – this firm was based here from 1952 but is now on the Vansittart Trading Estate

Ferry
Windsor Ferry. This was a punt which left from the Barry Avenue area and lasted until the 1950s


Firework Ait
Firework Ait. This is an uninhabited tree-covered island close to the Windsor bank of the river and upstream of Romney Lock.


Goswell Road
The Goswells. The Goswells the name derives from 'goose fields' It was part of Clewer Common Fields, part enclosed 1776, It was bought in 1910 by public subscription, and given to the National Trust. It was then placed in the care of Windsor Corporation.  It has recreational facilities. A fountain marks the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
Windsor and Eton Bowling Club.  The club is in Goswell Meadow which is owned and managed by The National Trust. The club dates from 1921 when the National Trust agreed to lease the meadow. It was decided to use Cumberland Turf for the green and Windsor Town Council and the Trust gave permission for the Club to erect a thatched pavilion which was renewed in 1990 with slates because of cost.


Jacobs Island
Jacobs Island. This was used by Arthur Jacobs’s boat builders and hirers and had previously belonged to a firm called Boddy. It had then been known as Corporation Island. The 'New Windsor Castle' steamer was built here in the 1920s for Jacobs by Summers and was launched stern first from the slipway which was built facing upstream because the area downstream of the island was used for mooring and letting small craft.  The slipway was in use up to the 1960's. The boathouses had gone by the 1960s.

Lock Cut
The Lock Cut runs from the upstream lock gates at Romney Lock, running down between Romney Island and the Windsor bank of the river until it reaches the end of the Island


Riverside
This side street continues past flats and offices into a vast car park in what was the station goods yards. It continues past them to become a pathway going to Romney Locks and the Castle Water Works.

River Street
An earlier name for the road was Bier Lane
St Saviour’s church. Built in 1875–6 from the designs of Stephen Wyborn to cater for a poor riverside population. It was demolished in the 1920s. Its lych gate was re-erected at the Clewer Memorial Grounds
St Marys School marked on 19th maps at the river end of the road.
The car park is now privately run. It dates from 1928 when housing and the church were cleared to make room for it.
Toilets. Amazing double decker toilet block. This dates from the opening of the car park in 1928 and in the 1950s had hot baths installed
Jennings Yard and Jennings Buildings were cleared in the 1980s for the present car park. Archaeologists found a possible medieval merchant’s house, moat and revetted causeway recorded in the 1980s.
1 Jennings Buildings Specfield instrument makers.
2 Jennings Buildings. National Foundation for Educational Research. printer and publisher here in the 1970s
Bonded Warehouse. Thus is said to have had a wooden customs office adjacent which may have been a dancing school in the 1950s.


Romney Island
Romney Island connects to Romney Lock. It is long and thin with trees and is a popular coarse fishing venue controlled by Old Windsor Angling Club until 2011 and now Eton Fisheries.
The Cobbler. This was a protrusion at the Windsor end of the island removed in the 1980s... It was originally built to allow horses to haul barges towards Windsor Bridge from Romney Lock Cut. The horses were then said to be required to swim across the river to Thameside before continuing to haul the barges up stream through Windsor Bridge itself.


Romney Lock
Romney Lock. This is on the Windsor side of the river next to a boatyard and adjoins Romney Island. The first lock here was built by the Thames Navigation Commission in 1798. A pound lock had been proposed in 1774 to be sited at Firework Ait. It was rebuilt by Thames Conservancy in 1869 and again in 1979/80.
Castle Water Works and water tower. This water works was set up to supply water to Windsor Castle. The site here had originally been a mill which was replaced by The Kings Engine in 1681. It originally was powered by a large water wheel which was replaced when the works was refurbished in 1912.  It was surveyed by John Rennie in 1794. The current site consists of a pump house building said to contain an old water wheel and an octagonal water tower.


Romney Lock Road
Level Crossing. Until In 1974 there was a level crossing at the London end of in the station giving access to Romney Lock, Thus was replaced a by a footbridge.


Romney Weir
Romney Weir is upstream of the lock at the end of Romney Island and runs across the river to Cutlers Ait. It was built a year after the lock when it was seen to be necessary. It was rebuilt further upstream at the beginning of the 20th. A 200kW hydro electric generation station was installed in 2011 to supply electricity to Windsor Castle.


Thames Avenue
Two Thames Avenue. Concrete framed office block built in the 1960s as offices and now converted to flats.


Thames side
Jennings' Yard. Courage’s' bonded warehouse. The wharf was handed over to Windsor Borough Council in the 1930s for the construction of the riverside walk and the steps up to Windsor Bridge
10 Boatman pub. In 2005 this pub changed its name from The Donkey House to The River House Restaurant and Bar.  Before that it was apparently The Kings Arms which dated from at least the 1830s.
Bakery– part of a development of the site between 1947 and 1949. This was used by Denney’s Bakery.
Mercer House, developed between 1970 and 1990
Berkshire House developed between 1970 and 1990.


Thames Street
28 Dated as built in 1903. Painted brick in Jacobeathan style. At one time it had a marble faced butcher's shop on ground floor and a fascia with Royal Arms by "appointment" on it. Plaque on thru side records a house on this site was the birthplace of the founder of the Massachusetts Militia
29 Adam and Eve Pub. Closed as a pub and is now a restaurant.
Theatre Royal. There is a glazed canopy on cast iron columns over the pavement. A theatre in this site was opened in 1815 and continued until it was burnt out in 1908. The theatre was owned by William Shipley and he rebuilt it to be completed in 1910. It then passed to a Mr Gladwin who converted it into a cinema showing low rated films. John Counsell managed it and formed a repertory company here in 1938. Since then the theatre has seen many changes and improvements to the interior structure and amenities have led to the present decor, designed by Carl Toms in 1965 and refurbished in 1973 and 1994. The theatre continues to be a success.
Hundred Steps Lodge. Castellated stone lodge like a squat tower built in 1840-50. Part of Wyattville's work on the Castle and the steps go up from the street to the Castle..
Prince Christian Victor of Schleswig-Holstein Monument. This is a bronze figure, in captain's uniform, by W Goscombe John, 1903. The Prince died in 1900.
Brewery. Nevile Reid acquired the Windsor Brewery from Baverstock and Ramsbottom in about 1810 .they were acquired by Noakes and Co Ltd, 1918 who were in turn taken over by Courage. Brewing ceased in 1930.
Old Bank House. Courage’s Brewery Office. 18th or early 19th. Now in use by St. George’s School
King George V Memorial. This dates from 1936 and is by Edwin Lutyens.  It is in Portland stone with a pedestal bearing crown, orb and sceptres on a cushion. In front is a pool with fountains
49 The Swan Public House. 16th or possibly earlier origin, refronted in the early 19th. Public house front with carriageway which reveals a timber frame. . This is now a restaurant.
Wrens Club – which is the spa attached to the Sir Christopher Wren Hotel. There is signage over what was the carriage entrance to the Swan Inn,
62 Bel and the Dragon – this also fronts onto Datchet Road as no.1
59-60 Playhouse Cinema, This was built as a cinema for the Lou Morris chain and opened in 1928. It was equipped with a Compton 2Manual/5Ranks organ with had an illuminated console on a life in the centre of the orchestra pit. In 1930 it was taken over by the Southan Morris chain and by the Union Cinemas chain in 1935, which were themselves taken over by the Associated British Cinemas chain in October 1937. It was re-named ABC in 1961, and in 1971, became a ‘Luxury Lounge’, using only the stalls. It was closed in 1982. It re-opened as the Carousel Cinema in 1983 but was closed later that year. The building was sold and demolished in 1984. There is now an office block on the site.
52- 56 Sir Christopher Wren. The hotel covers a number of buildings at the riverside end of the street. The riverside corner building dates from around 1820-40. A painted inscription dates building as being 1676 and records the history of Wren and the building – it is however very unlikely he lived there and the house was probably built 27 years after his death. Christopher Wren, who was born in 1632, probably grew up in Windsor as his father was Dean of Windsor from 1635. The family were most likely living in church owned accommodation, possibly in the castle. The hotel records that the Main House of the Hotel was owned by the Cheshire family in the 18th but later belonged to Mr More, a local barge master and coal merchant. By the 1920s it was the Riverholme Restaurant and Guest House and it was later extended and the present restaurant built. It was further extended in the 1940s and 1950s and was the Old House Hotel. . It was then called Wren’s House and was listed. It passed through a number of owners and is now owned by Sarova Hotels


Vansittart Estate
Light industry and trading estate


Windsor Bridge
Windsor Bridge. The first bridge here may have been was built in the 12th when there is a record of tolls levied on vessels passing under it. In the mid 13th a wooden bridge was built here and by 1819 it was felt wooden bridges here were no longer viable. A granite and cast iron bridge, which remains, was opened in 1824. It has three arches with two mid-stream granite piers.  There is a cast iron trellis balustrade, and the original lampposts remain. It was originally tolled but tolls were abolished following legal action in 1897. In 1970, it was closed to motor vehicles following the discovery of cracks in the structure. It was repaired in 2002 but remains pedestrianised.

Windsor Castle
This square covers the north western portion of the castle. The rest is in squares to the south and east
St. George’s Chapel. The chapel is in the Lower Ward and is the responsibility of the religious College of St George. The Society of the Friends of St George's and Descendants of the Knights of the Garter, was established in 1931 to assist the College in maintaining the chapel. It was founded in 1348 by Edward III and was attached to the Chapel of St Edward the Confessor which had been built under Henry III in the early 13th. It was then rededicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, St Edward the Confessor and St George the Martyr. It then became the Mother Church of the Order of the Garter, and a special service is held in every year for members of the order. Between 1475 and 1528 The Chapel was expanded greatly under Richard Beauchamp, Bishop of Salisbury, and the master mason Henry Janyns. It became a destination for pilgrims with several relics.  During the Civil War Parliamentary forces plundered the chapel and treasury and later the chapter house was destroyed. This was repaired at the Restoration. In the 19th there was some rebuilding and reordering. On the pinnacles of the chapel roof are seventy-six statues representing the Queen's Beasts. They were restored here in 1925. The chapel is an important survival of a medieval chantry and its status as a royal foundation saved it from the Dissolution.
Curfew Tower. This is a 13th building. Below it is a sally-port – this is an underground exit from a castle with disguised entrances at both ends to be used in of siege. It is in good condition, walled and roofed in stone, pierced with four shafts.
Military Knights of St. George. These are retired army officers living in homes in part of the lower ward. They caim to be the oldest military establishment in the Army and were Formed by Edward III after the Battle of Creçy to help knights who had taken their armies to France, been captured and had to sell everything to pay the ransom. Clearly there have been many changes since.

Windsor Railway Bridge and viaduct. 
This wrought iron bowstring bridge was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and carries what was the Great Western Railway line to Slough crossing the Thames to the west central Windsor.  It is the oldest wrought iron railway bridge in regular service. It was opened in 1849 having been delayed because of objects from Eton College. However they managed to open shortly before the London and South West Railway here which was also delayed. There was originally a wooden viaduct but this was replaced by the current bridge structure in 1861-65 .The upstream track was removed in the 1960 and the trackbed now carries a water pipe


Sources
British History online. Web site
British Listed Buildings. Web site
Chelsea Speleological Society. Web site
Cinema Treasures. Web site
College of St. George. Web site
Gas Journal
National Archive. Web site
Royal Oak. Web site
St. George’s School. Web site
Thamesweb. Web site
Theatre Royal, Windsor. Web site
The Royal Windsor Forum. Web site
Transport Heritage. Web site
Wikipedia As appropriate
Windsor and Eton Bowling Club. Web site
Windsor Lawn Tennis Club, Web site
Windsor Pubs. Web site
Windsor Through Time

Riverside west of the Tower, south bank.  Clewer


Post to the east - Windsor riverside and castle

Baths Island
Baths Island. This was originally known as Deadwater Ait but the name changed because of the siting of the Windsor swimming baths as early as the 1860s. From the mid-19th and maybe earlier this was an area for swimming in the river and there were some facilities as well as a sign saying baths. In 1870 the men's bathing area was moved downstream and that was known as the Eastern Baths. In 1904 that the area by the arches was officially used as a swimming area when the Ladies Swimming Baths were constructed, and were later known as the Western Baths. Later the banks were concrete lined, the islands joined and hand rails fitted along the waterline, and changing rooms built adjacent to the railway arches. There were also water polo nets and three diving boards. It was eventually closed because of health fears with polluted river water
Channel. The island was divided in two by a channel later filled in.


Clewer Court Road
Clewer Boathouse. Classic Boat Restoration Services
Clewer Court. The road appears to be named after a house, or farm, called Clewer Court the site of which is now under the main road
Royal Windsor Racecourse Stables. These were on the south east corner of the road and seem to have closed in the mid-1960s at a time when the relief road was built.


Clewer Park
This is an estate of 60 houses built during the mid-1950s in the site of a house called Clewer Park
Clewer Park. This was originally a medieval house. It was later the home of Sir Daniel Gooch, the 19th century industrialist, railway engineer and engineer responsible for the first transatlantic cables. In the Second World War it was used as accommodation for Royal Naval Wrens connected to HMS President and the administration of Defensively Equipped Merchant Ships. It was later used to house bombed out families.  In 1955 it was sold to developers who built houses and in 1957 the Allotment Association took over a third of the remaining land. In 1975 the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead bought the remainder to provide an open space for the community.
Clewer Park. The trees in the park reflect its history and there are still some oaks from Windsor Forest. There are also redwoods and other rare trees planted as part of ornamental gardens in the 19th.
(Clewer Barracks. It is said that there was a Cavalry barracks here built in 1796-1800 for the Royal Horse Guards until replaced in 1875.  Very unclear where this site was).

Queen Elizabeth Bridge
The Queen Elizabeth Bridge carries the A332 across the Thames
Pedestrian underpass


Maidenhead Road
Clewer Park Allotments
Racecourse Entrance


Mill Lane
Duke of Edinburgh Pub was on the west corner with Maidenhead Road. Had turrets and things but demolished and replaced by flats in the mid 1960s, it is said to have replaced a police station.
Boycott cottages
7 house with a detailed plaque on it about Daniel Gooch with information on his life and saying that the houses have his “armorial bearings” – which may refer to the adjacent house to the south.,
9 The Swan Pub. The pub dates at least back to the early 19th and is probably older. It may be closed.
Church St Andrew the Apostle. It is thought that the nave was built around 1100, and the font is Saxon but no one really knows about the church’s age or antecedents. However Clewer as a settlement is older than Windsor and the Norman castle. The church stands on a slight rise which might explain its antiquity. There are six bells in the tower, all recast from older bells in the 19th and later. There are boards with local charitable bequests. There are many interesting and important relics and works of art and monuments to people who include Daniel Paterson of “Paterson’s roads”. And there is a reredos which is a memorial to the Clewer dead of the Great War
Churchyard. That area adjacent to Mill Lane is a 19th extension. The oldest graves with wooden markers have been lost but there are many others of great interest.  The graves include that of Daniel Gooch. Part of the Churchyard has wild flowers which are becoming scarce in the countryside.
Lodge. This is by the lychgate and includes a small museum of local history
Edgeworth House., The dates from 1707. This appears to have been an annexe to Duncroft School Annexe in the 1950s – Duncroft was a ‘special school’ based in Staines. It was subsequently an YHA Hostel until 2005 and is now a private house.
The Limes. 17th house.
Foot bridge to White Lilies Island
Clewer Boathouse, French Brothers
Old Mill House. A mill at Clewer is mentioned in the Domesday Book and a mill has remained on site since. In 1781 it was burnt down and rebuilt and remained operational into the late 19th. It has been used as housing since at least the 1920s. It was owned by Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin from the 1970s, and later by Michael Caine.


Mill Stream
Clewer Mill Stream is a backwater which leaves the main river at Bush Ait and rejoins just above Queen Elizabeth Bridge
Weir

The Rays Island
Windsor Race Course. The course is mainly in the square to the west and detail on the racecourse is there.


Stovell Road
Clewer Mead. War Memorial Baths, These opened in 1963. There is a plaque is displayed outside the current Leisure Centre: ‘Windsor War Memorial Swimming Bath opened on 18th May
1963 by His Worship The Mayor Councillor H H Basford’. The  preceding Francis Burton, was a keen swimmer had campaigned for a 'proper' swimming baths at Windsor for many years. The pool was heated with a deep and shallow end and it was an open air pool. A toddlers’ pool was opened in 1968 beside the café.  The pool filtration plant was housed in a separate building. It was demolished in 1986.
Windsor Leisure Pool. This was opened by the Queen in 1987.  It has two pools, one with a wave machine and two water slides, and the other featuring a retractable 'wall' that could be raised from the bottom to divide the pool into two training areas. There is also a gym and other sports facilities. It was extended in 1997
Windsor Canoe Club. This was established in the 1960s and has a clubhouse here.
Windsor and Eton Sea Cadet Corp., Training Ship Windsor Castle. in 1899 meetings were held between the Windsor branch of the Navy League and the Windsor Council to provide a training vessel on the river, A Thames Sailing Barge was purchased the unit was opened. In 1902 the barge was re-rigged as a brig and remained in service until 1912 when it was replaced by a similar vessel and named King George. The unit moved to its current location in 1986.
Windsor Boys School Rowing Club. Boathouse for the local boys’ school which has produced a series of famous rowers.
Imperial Service College boathouse.  This dated from 1934 and was also used by the Windsor Boys School. It was demolished to make way for the Windsor War Memorial Swimming Baths in 1962.


White Lilies Island
This is a peninsula at the end of The Rays. It is also the name of an album relating to one of the residents.

Windsor and Eton Relief Road A332
This is a dual-carriageway road built as the Windsor and Eton relief road in 1966 and later re named as Royal Windsor Way in 2012


Sources
British Listed Buildings. Web site
Royal Windsor Forum.  Web site
SABRE Roaders Digest. Web site
St. Andrew’s Church. Web site
Wikipedia. As appropriate
Wilson. Sir Daniel Gooch Diaries
Windsor and Maidenhead Council. Web site
Windsor Boys School. Web site
Windsor Canoe Club. Web site
Windsor Sea Cadet Corp. Web site
Windsor Through Time

Riverside west of the Tower, south bank. Windsor Racecourse

Post to the east Clewer
Post to the west Dedworth The Willows


Boveney Lock
Fishery – there is thought to have been a fishery here in 1201 called Gill’s Bucks.
Boveney Lock was first built in timber in  1838 by the Thames Navigation Commission and a  was rebuilt in 1898 closer to the north bank, and a set of boat rollers were installed on the old site following use of a boat slide there. There was an engine house for the slide
Weir. This is almost parallel to the lock, running across from the other side of the lock island. It was rebuilt in 1913.,
Maidenhead Road


This was once called Surely Hall Road
Racecourse Marina. Entrance. Run by Tingedene Marina – who run a number of similar operators. They have managed this one since 2007. The entrance is via the upstream part of Clewer Mill Stream from Bush Ait.
Windsor Racecourse Marina Holiday Park. It is owned and operated by Tingdene Parks Limited who purchased it in 2007. The holiday park dates back to the early 1970’s.
250 The Windsor Lad. This is now a chain restaurant/pub.  This was built in 1940 as a road house.  It took over the licence of the closed Crown Pub in central Windsor. It was then a Courage house. Windsor Lad was a well known and successful racehorse in the 1930s but nothing to do with Windsor Race Course.
Dedworth Manor Open Space. This square covers a tiny northern portion of this local authority park. By the road is a ‘Coronation arch’ which was used in Long Walk in 2013 and has been moved here.
Centrica offices. This was British Gas Home Head Office
Sutherland Grange Nature Reserve. 'Sutherland Grange' was the name of a large house on the site long since demolished, with the original name retained. The field on the western side of the park is known as Sutherland Grange Hay Meadow and has a huge variety of flowers and grasses.


The Rays
The vast majority of this square is taken up with the race course. To the east is an area of facilities buildings, a grandstand, restaurants and small parade and other area. The Rays itself is essentially an island between the Millstream and the Thames. The Racecourse entrance is on Maidenhead Road and the area also includes the Marina and the Caravan site.
Royal Windsor Race Course.  Flat racing began on Rays Meadow in 1866 set up by John Frail a barber who managed Disraeli’s election campaigns. He and his family owned a number of racecourses – he set about promoting Windsor energetically and it soon became established as a major racing venue.  The first flat race meeting was a two day fixture on the fifth and sixth of June 1866, and national hunt racing was introduced in 1867. Windsor did not try to compete with Ascot, but gave opportunities to the owners of other horses. He also established jump racing here. Windsor is Britain’s only flat course to stage racing over an almost complete figure of eight circuit. During both world wars Windsor avoided the fate of most British racecourses, and remained open during both wars in order to bolster morale. Windsor stopped staging its own national hunt meetings in 1998, and moved put on more flat meetings.  It has twenty six annual fixtures with pattern and listed races, and summer evening meetings on Mondays.

Sources
Eade. Along the Thames
Racing Sight. Web site
RoyalWindsorforum. Web site
Royal Windsor Race Course. Webs site
Tingedene Marinas. Web site
Wikipedia. As appropriate
Windsor and Maidenhead Council. Web site
Windsor Lad. Web site
Windsor Pub History. Web site

Riverside - west of the Tower South Bank, Dedworth The Willows

Post to the east Windsor Racecourse

Maidenhead Road
Along this stretch of road were a series of grand houses with late 19th occupants of varying wealth and eccentricity.  The road continues but from a roundabout at The Willows it became a side road and an eventual cul de sac, while the main road continues under another name
Sutherland Grange.  The site is now a park and nature reserve, mainly in the square to the east.  This house, since demolished, was erected in 1902 in the Elizabethan style.  It had previously been the home of the widow of the Duke of Sutherland, Mary Caroline Blair.
Surley Hall. Maidenhead Road was once called Surley Hall Road. The Surley Hall Hotel/pub was slightly to the east of the Willows. It closed in 1899.
The Willows. This was the home of Sir Dhunjibhoy Bomanji in the early 20th. He was a wealthy Parsee who made his money in the Bombay shipyards. He has British homes here and in Harrogate and was both a philanthropist and socialite.  There are records of a housed here with prominent residents going back to the early 19th. In 1807 it was said to have been occupied by Henry Townley Ward, having been built by a Mr. Kimberley and then the home of a Henry Walter in 1836. By 1863 it was the home of a Roger Eykyn, Member of Parliament for Windsor, following some electoral problems.  The current house however appears to be in a style – half timbered ‘Tudorbethan’ of the late 19th.   It appears to have been divided up into flats at some time in the mid 20th.
Caravan Park. This residential site is on what appears to have been the grounds of The Willows and to date from the mid 1960s.
Squires Garden Centres. This appears to have been a separate plot or holding since the 1890s.
The Fishery. This seems to have been another big house by the river.
Windsor Marina. It appears to have been founded post Second World War
Windsor Yacht Club. This dates from 1976 among berth holders at Windsor Marina.  In 1981 permission was given for a clubhouse at the marina and this opened in 1982.
The Hatch. There appears to be a number of houses here at was yet another local 'big house' visited by Edward VII in connection with racing contacts. In 1863 it was the home of Henry Darvill, Mayor of Windsor ten years earlier.


Riverside
Ruddles Pool. This is a ninety degree bend in the river and thus dangerous.

Sources
British History Online. Web site
Debrett
Theroyalwindsorforum. Web site
Where Thames still waters glide. Web site
Windsor and Maidenhead Council. Web site

Riverside north bank west of the Tower. Bray Studios

Post to the east Dedworth The Willows

Down Place
Down Place. Bray Studios was centred around Down Place which is a country house built in the early 18th and said to be on the site of a Roman town. This is a large house beside the river Thames, now offices for film studios. The building is in brick, with painted render and with battlemented parapets. The front has a battlemented parapet semicircular portico with fluted columns.
Clock Tower House. Toad Hall. This was a Chapel or stables belonging to Down Place. It is an 18th building with a battlemented parapet. It also has a octagonal clock tower with an 18th clock and a weather vane
Bray Studios. In 1951, when it was derelict Hammer Film Productions moved in and a year later decided to build a studio here. . Hammer sold the studios in 1970 and it became a centre for specials effects teams and for pre-production rehearsals by music groups. In 2013 they were sold to a property developer ad being no longer viable. In 2015, it was announced that Down Place itself would be restored for posh flats and the rest demolished for seven “bespoke eco-houses”.


Maidenhead Road
Bullocks Hatch Bridge.  This appears to be where a stream crosses the Maidenhead Road. ‘Bullocks Hatch’ may referee to the group of houses now known as ‘The Hatch’.
Eton Excelsior Rowing Club. The club was founded in 1826 and formally established in 1851. The club is open to all and affiliated to British Rowing. The club’s original boat house King Stable Street and leased from Eton College who and in the mid 1990's, decided to build flats on the site. Eventually the Club managed to find and buy the current site funded by the lottery.Construction was completed in 2001


Windsor Road
Oakley Court Hotel. Oakley Court is a castellated and turreted gothic mansion built in 1857 for Richard Hall-Say. altered in the late 20th by Nellist, Blundell and Flint.  It has a castellated tower, several chimneys with offset heads and ornamental terracotta pots. There are stair turrets; crow stepped gables with pinnacles and finials, surmounted by heraldic beasts. There are two wings and near the centre of the service wing is a clock tower, a clock face, a spirelet with gables and a weathervane. Inside is more of the same. In the Second World War, it was the home of the Turkish Consul in Monte Carlo and General De Gaulle was a frequent visitor. In 1965 the owner died and it began to used as a location for Bray productions and Hammer Films - 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' Castle, St. Trinian’s School, and Dracula’s Castle.  It is now a hotel and conference centre.
Oakley Green Cemetery. This is a new cemetery on the outskirts of Windsor which opened in 1998. It is a lawn cemetery with inter-denominational plots and specific religions. There is a garden of remembrance and a columbarium. Graves are turfed over and maintained as lawn and there is a small chapel
Oakley Court Golf Course

Sources
A b i r architects. Web site
Bray Studios. Derelict Places. Web site
British Listed Buildings. Web site
Eton Excelsior Rowing Club. Web site
Windsor and Maidenhead Council. Web site