Riverside - south bank west of the Tower. Bray Monkey Island Lane

Post to the north Monkey Island

Monkey Island Lane
Bray Lake. This is a sports centre in an old gravel extraction site run by Summerleaze Gravel. In 1979 a sail boarding business operating out of a lorry began, while the Pit was still working. Despite set backs the centre has flourished and expanded. There are now a wide range of facilities and buildings.
Bray Quarry. This is the main processing plant for Summerleaze Gravel producing more than 400,000t of sand and gravel with a fixed sand and gravel processing plant. It has collection and delivery facilities for all aggregate types. It was previously the processing plant for Eton Aggregates and takes unprocessed sand and gravel from other quarries in the Thames Valley.
Conveyor system. Summerleaze operate a conveyor system which links new sites to the north with their existing plant at Bray Lake, and elsewhere and the Summerleaze footbridge. It was designed, manufactured and installed by Leicestershire-based Wileman Engineering. Road transport was ruled out under planning consent.
Bray Marina. Owned by MDL which operates many such facilities. It takes 400 boats and there are social facilities and a restaurant.  It is in a flooded gravel working, connected to the river in 1965/6 and on the site of Pardoe’s boathouse
Pennyroyal Field. This is a Site of Special Scientific Interest covering a single field which is a site for the nationally rare pennyroyal Mentha pulegium.  The site is an infilled gravel pit excavated in the 1960s leaving a series of shallow, seasonally flooded depressions in which the pennyroyal grows. There are also horses grazing here.
Keleher Treatment Works. South east water. This was the Bray Water Treatment Plant built in 1993 and renamed Keleher in memory of a colleague, Mike Keleher. 30 million litres of water a day are abstracted here from the River and it is then treated: pre-ozonation, coagulation, flocculation and settlement, sand filtration, inter ozonation and granulated activated carbon contractors, disinfection
Bray Gravels Pumping Station. South East Water


Queens Eyot
Queen's Eyot, This is an island in the river owned by Eton College since 1923 with a club house. It was owned by Victor Van de Weyer who suggested the school could use it in 1898 and built a clubhouse. It was later sold to the school. The clubhouse has recently been rebuilt following a fire.


The Summerleaze Footbridge
The Summerleaze Footbridge. This is a foot bridge over the Thames going from a point on the south bank north of the Bray Marina to Dorney. It was built in 1996 as a gravel conveyor, taking gravel from Dorney Lake by Summerleaze, a sand and gravel extraction firm based in local pits.  It was originally to take gravel from the construction of the new Eton College Olympic rowing course with the conveyor itself on the underside of the bridge..


The Cut
The Cut is actually a river which originates in Ascot. It meets the Thames above Queens Eyot. It is called the Cut because it was diverted onto its present route at some time in the past, possibly in the 1880s.   It is also described as the overflow of the York Stream in Maidenhead. It was enlarged in the 1960s for flood defences

Sources
Bray Lake Watersports. Web site
French Brothers. Web site
Monkey Island Lane. Web site
Queen’s Eyot. Web site
Reminiscences of Old Hurst. Web site
South East Water. Web site
Summerleaze Gravel. Web site
Where Thames Smooth Waters Glide. Web site

Post to the south Monkey Island Lane

M4
The M4 is the London to South Wales Motorway.
Thames Bridge, motorway bridge built in the 1960s. There is a pedestrian walkway on either side of the bridge, to allow access to Bray Village from Dorney

Monkey Island
Monkey Island. This is a small island in the River. The name probably comes from a site owned by Merton Prior nearby – and refers to Monks. In the 17th rubble from London buildings was dumped here making it more solid than otherwise. In 1738 it was acquired by the Duke of Marlborough who was a keen fisherman and he built a fishing lodge and a fishing temple, which remain. They were designed by Robert Morris out of wood cut to look like stone.
Pavilion. Inside is the Monkey Room with paintings of monkeys by Andieu de Clermont done  before 1738.  The only other room is a kitchen.
The Temple, This once had an open ground floor with a billiard room upstairs. It has a ceiling with decorative plasterwork
Monkey Island Hotel.  By 1840, the Pavilion had become a pub. In 1963, the River Room was added with a glass-wall over the Thames. The Marlborough Room was added in 1970 with walls were painted with battle scenes. 30 bedrooms were also added.
Footbridge. This was connected in 1956.


Monkey Island Lane
Weir Bank. The house here was developed by Hugo Cunliffe-Owen in the early 20th. He was a horse owner and breeder.  It was burnt down in the 1970s and is now in other ownership and run as a business centre.
Weir Bank Stud Farm an important archaeological site


Pigeonhill Eyot
Pigeonhill Eyot.This is an island in the Thames near Bray Lock.  Weirs run from the island to the Bray bank. It is small and tree-covered and Bronze Age artefacts have been found here.

Sources
Monkey Island Hotel. Web site
SABRE. Roaders Digest
Weir Bank. Web site
Wikipedia. Pigeonhill Eyot. Web site

Riverside south bank west of the Tower.  Bray

This post covers south of the river only. North of the river is Bray Lock

Post to the east Monkey Island and Dorney Reach and Amerden

Braybank
Hotel de Paris. In 1901-2 a house called Braymead was built here and in 1922, when the original resident left, local people formed a syndicate to run what they called the Braymead Court Hotel. This did badly and in 1928 it became the Hotel de Paris. Its new owners were Poulson and Stocco who had the Cafe de Paris – and the bands and stars who came there came down to Bray and played here. The Second World War brought austerity and later the hotel was closed and demolished. The current housing development on site was built in 1964.


Church Lane
3 Hinds Head Hotel. Hall house, now a pub. This dates from the late 15th altered in the 18th, 19th and 20th. It has a timber frame inside painted brick. The origins of the building are unclear – it seems to have  expanded from two 16th century cottages but it has been a pub since at least the 18th now with added celebrity chefs.

Ferry.
Ferry - This is said to have declined from 1280 however there seems to have been some sort of rope hauled ferry in the early 19th and a motor boat in the early 20th.


Ferry Road
Old Dutch House. This was built as a farmhouse with a timber frame, brick infill and hand-made clay tile roof.
St. Anthony’s Cottage. This is a converted coach house.
Waterside Inn. This stands on the river front on what was the site of the George public house.   It is now a hotel (£260 a night) and restaurant (£300 lunch for two)
Slipway – it is assumed that it from here the ferry went.
Messums, Boatyard was here and was famous for its punts. This was the base for the Bray Punt Regatta. It is said that one could walk from Berkshire to Buckinghamshire dry shod on the punts moored across the River.


Hanover Mead
Area for retirement and care home.


Headpile Eyot
Another long thin island in the Thames with trees but no inhabitants


High Street
St. Michael’s Church. There was an almost certainly a Saxon church here, but its site is unclear. The current church was built in 1293 and was a royal foundation by Queen Margaret. The church was then owned by Cirencester Abbey.   The battlemented church tower was built in 1400 and stone benches in the porch were used for church meetings. The bells were installed from 1612 and the clock in 1840. During the civil war the royal coat of arms was hidden but can now be seen and there is a cannon ball embedded in the wall from the same period. In 1867 the church was restored by T.H.Wyatt. The heads of villagers around the church date from that period and some were copies of list originals.
Stone relief which could come from the original church. It may show a horse or a dog with a leash and it is built into the wall of the chantry
St Michael’s Hall. This was the Chantry Chapel which is on the north boundary of the churchyard and built at the same time as the Church probably to pray for the soul of someone diseased, maybe Queen Eleanor.  The Hall is constructed of the same chalk and flint as the church. It continued as a chantry until the reformation and in 1683 became the village church. It is now used as a church hall.
Lich Gate and its Cottage was probably housing for the chantry priest. It later became a pub called the Six Bells – there were then six bells in the church. It is now leased out.
Chauntry House.  This is a large house east of the Church. This building was originally a workhouse. Built in the 18th century it is an imposing brick built building with large bay windows
War Memorial. This is at the junction with Ferry Road.  It is a stone cross recording 72 names for the Great War and 27 for the Second World War.
Maidenhead and Bray Cricket Ground. Established in 1798
The Fat Duck. This was previously The Bell Inn, and later called The Ringers - now more celebrity chefs  (Christmas lunch £350)
The Village Hall. With a clock tower.
Quoin House.  It is said to be built in the same brick as Brunel’s Maidenhead Bridge.
Jesus Hospital. This was founded by William Goddard in 1609. The original 34 almshouses, built in a quadrangle between 1623 and 1628, have been remodelled to form 13 single and 4 double homes. There is also a chapel.  Donnington Hospital assumed responsibility for these almshouses with effect in 2010 from the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers
The Crown, one of the oldest buildings in Bray, with the central section of the building dating from the 14th.  It is also said to be one of the few in the village with a cellar. More gastro


Old Mill Lane
Bray Mill.  There was a mill here in the Domesday period and the Manor belonged to the Crown which may explain the omission. In the early 13th it was given to Jordan de London, and appears to have continued in use until the early 20th. It is cited as a corn mill but also was used for paper manufacture - Level's Paper Mill was noted in 1770 by Brindley..  The miller contributed to the cost of a new weir at Bray Lovck in 1843.  It is now a private house with the milling machinery removed, it became a private house.
Caldesi in Campagna.  This was the Albion Public House which served a riverside wharf to the north. The Albion was built around 1850 to serve the barges that brought coal and timber to the wharf. It has since been called The Fish at Bray, The Jasmine Oriental, and The Slice. Now more gastro since 2007 ‘rural idyll for fine dining’.


The Causeway
The Causeway, This is now a footpath which was once the main route across the floodplain from
Braywick


Upper Bray Road
Bray Bridge over The Cut. This is a Bailey Bridge normally used as an emergency replacement


Sources
Book History. Blog. Web site
Braybank History. Web site
British Listed Buildings. Web site
Caldesi in Campagna. Web site
Crown Pub. Web site
Donnington Hospital Trust. Web site
Fat Duck. Website
Hinds Head. Web site
SABRE. Roaders Digest. Web site
St Michael's Church. Web site
Wargrave Local History Society. Web site
Waterside Inn. Web site
Where Thames Smooth Waters Glide. Web site
Windsor and Maidenhead Council. Web site

Riverside. North Bank west of the Tower Bray Lock

North Bank of the Thames
The portion of this square north of the river covers a small stretch of riverside with fields inland and nothing else.  This posting covers only the north side of the river. South of the river is Bray

Post to the east Monkey Island and Dorney Reach and Amerden


Bray Lock
This is a lock and weir which is on the north, the Buckinghamshire side of the river, from Bray. The fall of the river from Maidenhead down to Boveney is large and there are thus shallows and a strong current.
The county line between Berkshire and Buckinghamshire is roughly halfway between the lock and the opposite bank, following the course of the Thames.
Lock– there are records from 1377 of a flash lock here. This was removed in 1510 by the Commissioner of Sewers. In 1622 a flash lock was built here by Thomas Manfield. A pound lock and weir was proposed in 1833 and again in 1843, and in 1844 an open-sided lock was built. Thus was left open except when river levels were low and no tolls were collected. Sides were added before 1877 and it was   rebuilt in 1885

,
Parting Eyot
Island between the lock and the weir
Towpath. This was on the Buckinghamshire bank, while the navigation was on the Berkshire side, so tow ropes had to pass across the island.
Lock Keepers Cottage. Built in 1843


The Weir
This is almost level with the lock and runs straight across to the opposite bank from the other side of the lock island. It is first noted in 1328. It was built in 1844 and rebuilt in 1885


Sources
Berkshire Record Office. Web site
Nicholson’s Guide
Where Thames Smooth Waters Glide. Web site
Wikipedia. Bray Lock. Web site

Dorney Reach and Amerden

This post covers sites on the north side of the river only. South is Monkey Island

Post to the east Bray Lock and Bray
Post to the south Monkey Island Lane and north end of the Eton Rowing Lake


Amerden
This was an old manorial name and settlement which included river fishing rights.
Amerden House. In 1988 this was left along with many millions to a cat called Blackie. The house is further up Amerden Lane to the north.
Amerden Bank. 16th to 17th timber-framed house, called Amerden Priory (many sources say this was a religious house but it may be that this was not the case).   Occupiers of this riverside house could claim fishing rights on the river. There is also a moat here. In 1911 a Mr. Davidson constructed a gyrocopter here powered by two Stanley steam engines.  I later belonged to ballerina Margot Fonteyn
Amerden Bank Hotel. This was a hotel in the early 20th
Amerden Barn– alongside the caravan park
Caravan park 


Dorney Reach
Dorney Reach. This is effectively an isolated village made up of a few residential streets in the parish of Dorney. There are important archaeological sites and aerial photographs had suggested the presence of several prehistoric monuments, including a causewayed enclosure where Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age flints have been found. This is high quality agricultural land and there is a long history of occupation. By the 19th there were large fields with some pits, for gravel or lime. Houses were gradually built along the riverside in the period before the Great War, Developed by local landowner, Colonel Palmer. By 1910, 11 large houses had been built on or near the river and the riverside properties each owned a section of riverfront. The ground floors of the houses were raised up because of annual floods. In 1919 Col Palmer sold yet more land for building - some bought by the Honest Housing Company, who later changed their name to Dorney Estates Company Ltd.
 The Clock  House. This was built as The Chalet around 1902-4 and was one of the earliest new houses built here in the 20th.


Glebe Close
Pumping Station
Footpath which goes to a bridge over the Jubilee River.


Harcourt Road
Dorney County School – this is a primary school which dates from 1958
Dornay Village Hall


Jubilee River.
This square covers a very short section of this flood prevention channel built in the 1990s.


M4
London to Bristol Motorway.

Old Marsh Lane
An early access road to the 20th developments in the area ran down to the junction of Meadow way and Oak Stubbs Lane

Riverside
Towpath was sold to the Thames Conservators in 1903 by Coil Palmer.


Trumpers Field
Trumpers were large tenant farmers in the area.
There is evidence of a late prehistoric settlement here found in crop marks


Sources
British History online. Web site Taplow
British Listed Buildings. Web site
Buckingham County Council. Web site
Chevous. Around Burnham in Old Photographs
Dorney History Group. Web site
Dornay School. Web site
Dornay Village Hall. Web site
Flight. Web site

Riverside, north bank, west of the Tower. Eton Rowing Lake North End

This post covers sites to the north of the river only. South of the river is Monkey Island Lane

Post to the north Monkey Island and  Dorney Reach and Amerden
Post to the east Dornay Lake


This riverside strip appears to have been completely empty with the exception of a riverside path until 1906 when the Eton College Dornay Rowing Lake was begun. This square covers a small part of the western end – and the bulk of it will be covered in the next square.
A pumping station is shown on maps near the riverside and no information about it appears to be available and it is assumed it is part of the infrastrucrure of the lake.

Riverside, north bank, west of the Tower. Dorney Lake

Post to the south Bray Studios and Dorney riverside
Post to the west Monkey Island Lane and Eton Rowing Lake North End



Dornay Lake.
This square covers an area which appears to have been almost empty until the 1990s. There is a very short length of riverbank covered in the square.  The Eton Rowing Lake is so vast that although much of it is contained in this square much more is in the surrounding squares. The lake approximately 2.5 kms long and about 1 km wide, There is a main rowing lake which is 110 metres wide with a The slightly shorter and narrower “warm up” (or Return) channel . A road runs through the north side of the site and is bordered by a series of small Arboretums and lots of grassy space; there is also anither small lake
Dorney Lake– this is also called Eton College Rowing Centre and it was built as a venue for the 2012 London Olympic Games.  It was however originally conceived by Eton College rowing teachers in the 1960s. They felt it important to construct a still water, all year round rowing course, with greater safety than the River Thames, with its fast currents, varying widths and increasing traffic. The lake is in an area of gravel extraction – it is surrounded by pits - and the site was set up for gravel extraction which could be sold to offset costs with local aggregates firm Summerleaze as a lead partner. It is privately owned and financed by Eton College, who spent £17 million on it with another £500,000, from various sporting organisations for the lake's finish tower. It took ten years to build. It is mainly used by Eton School but is also hired out for rowing, etc.  Building began in 2009, following investigations by Oxford Archaeology, - who uncovered evidence of the earliest known bridges from the middle Bronze Age and Iron Ages as well as much more information valued by archaeologists. This includes a former channel of the Thames where several Bronze Age and Iron Age bridges were found preserved in the wet silts. One of the bridges was dated to 1520 BC, the earliest bridge on the Thames with timbers preserved in the waterlogged silt. The design of Dornay Lake included a cut-through between the competition lake and the return lane, a new bridge and an upgraded access road, which were funded by the Olympic Delivery Authority. As well as the water sports themselves, the grounds of the lake are open for cyclists, joggers and walkers.
Park and Arboretum have been developed with an ever-growing array of flora and fauna. On the south side between the south shore of the return lake and the Thames is a designated nature conservation area.  Tghere is open rough ground amd a a purpose built scrape for waders and wildfowl (see photos) and another pool that dries out as summer progresses.
Mock Bronze Age Barrow


Sources
Bucks Bird Club. Web site
Dornay Lake. Web site
Summerleaze. Web site
Wikipedia. Dornay Lake. Web site
Windsor and Maidenhead Council. Web site

Riverside - north of the river and west of the Tower. Boveney

This post covers only sites north of the river. South of the river is Dedworth The Willows

Post to the west Bray Studios and Dorney Riverside
Post to the east Boveney Lock and Windsor Racecourse


Boveney Road
Boveney Court Farm. In the 1980s it was reported that the farm had been in the same hands since 1956 and that it was rented from Eton College. Beef cattle were grazed on Dorney Common where there are commoners rights.  
Barn. this is on the north side of the farmyard and is dated as 17th or early 18th.  It is timber-framed with tarred brick infill and weather-boarding. There are full height cart doors
Barn. This is on the south side of the farmyard. It dates from the 17th and is timber-framed with posts set on a brick plinth. There is some brick infilling from the 18th and earlier, plus some weather-boarding.  There is a projecting cart
entrance with pigeon holes in its gable.
Boveney Court.  The house has a wing which is 17th and part 20th and there is a brick ground floor and tile hung first floor. It still has its original stone porch, and original timbers inside as well as some heraldic glass.  The house, or its predecessor, is noted in a deed of 1639. From the late 1840s this was the home of engineer Edward Evans who patented improved wheels for locomotives and was a contractor in partnership with Daniel Gooch in work with Brunel on the Great Western Railway. He is said to have built an exact replica of an ancient house called Boveney Court”.
Entrance gates to Boveney Court dating from the 19th. With large square piers topped with spheres.  There is also a pair of carriage gates and cast iron square railings
Lodge to Boveney Court. 19th building of colour-washed roughcast
Landscape Park. Said to be  laid out here in the 19th
Archaeology - south of Boveney excavations uncovered two banks of a former channel of the Thames. A midden had accumulated in the hollow left by the channel in the Early Neolithic period and thousands of artefacts were excavated from it. Four ring ditches were found, two on either bank. There was also a Roman style burial, but which was dated by radiocarbon to after the -Roman period. There were also the remains of ploughed out Bronze Age barrows covering several burials.

Dorney Lake
Rowing Centre. This square covers the east end of the rowing lake and its centre building. This seems to be geared towards ‘hospitality’ and includes restaurants, conference facilities etc.

Lock Path
The Old Place.  This was also once known as Boveney Place. It is a 16th building converted from 5 or 6 cottages in 1905- the garden elevation shows the line of cottages.  It is timber-framed with brick noggin. The building has been extensively used as a film and TV show location
Barn from the 16th used as a garage.
St Mary Magdalene.  A church has been on the site since before the Norman Conquest but this building is from the 12th. It was first mentioned in 1266 – and then not again until 1508. It is on Eton College land and any clerics had to be nominated by the college.  It is built of chalk and flint with coursed rubble. The tower was added in the 15th.  When it was built there was a quay alongside the church but no remains of this can be seen. It was a chapel of ease to St Peter's Church, Burnham and an attempt to make it a parish church in 1737 failed. The weather boarded bell tower has been dated dendrochronologically to  1500 it stands on a timber framework, which itself stands on the ground. Some of the original 15th pews are still in place. There are three bells – one from 1536 and was cast at the foundry in Reading; the other two were cast in 1631 and 1636 by Ellis I. Knight. In 1911 it became annexed to Eton as a chapel of ease. The church was declared redundant in 1975, and it was planned to demolish it or convert it into housing.  Instead it was passed to the Friends of Friendless Churches in 1983. It is still consecrated, and has been used for services, however the tower was found to be unstable, and with rotten footings.  Money was raised from English Heritage, and Eton College and others and the repairs were completed.


Riverside path
Boathouses – Army Rowing Club

Roasthill Lane
Footpath


Sources
British History online. Web site
British Listed Buildings
Domesday Reloaded. Web site
Friends of St.Mary Magdalene. Web site
Narrowboater. Blogspot
Royal Windsor Historical Forum. Web site
South Bucks, District Council. Web site
St. Mary Magdalene. Web site
Wilson. Sir Daniel Gooch
Windsor and Maidenhead Council. Web site

Riverside west of the Tower, north bank, Boveney Lock

This posting relates to sites north of the river only. South of the river is Windsor Racecourse

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

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.

Riverside
Outfall for the Boveney Ditch. The Ditch is made up of the merging of Roundmoor Ditch and the dried up Cress Brook.  Despite the name of ‘Ditch’ these water courses are bigger than some which are called ‘rivers’.
Boveney Bridge – described as a ‘bridleway bridge’ this takes the Thames path over the outfall of the Boveney Ditch

Sources
French Brothers. Web site
South Bucks Council. Web site
UK Beaches Guide
Where Thames Smooth Waters Glide. Web site
Wikipedia as appropriate

This posting shows sites north of the river only.  South of the river is Clewer

Post to the east Windsor, riverside and castle
Post to the west Boveney Lock and Windsor Racecourse

A332
This main road is a dual-carriageway  built as the Windsor and Eton relief road in 1966 and officially named Royal Windsor Way in 2012. The road crosses the Thames here and is effectively a Windsor Bypass having been diverted from Windsor Bridge which closed in 1977 onto the current Elizabeth Bridge  on to Eton and beyond northwards


Athens
Athens. Riverside bathing place for Eton boys.  This was a bathing place where Eton College boys were taught to swim. It was once owned by the Crown, but in 1917 it was purchased from them and presented to the College as a memorial to a boy who had been killed in a flying accident.
Stone with an inscription which reads: "This bathing place of Athens was presented to Eton College by Hiatt C. Baker in memory of his son John Lionel Baker a brilliant swimmer who spent here many of the happiest hours of his boyhood." On the other side it says “On the side of the stone facing the river the inscription reads: "Bathing regulations at Athens - Fifth Form Nants in First Hundred and Upper and Middle Divisions may bathe at Athens. No bathing at Athens on Sundays after 8.30 a.m. At Athens, boys who are undressed must either get at once into the water or get behind screens when boats containing ladies come in sight. Boys when bathing are not allowed to land on the Windsor Bank or to swim out to launches and barges or to hang onto, or interfere with, boats of any kind.  Any boy breaking this rule will be severely punished. From 'School Rules of the River.' 1921"


Cuckoo Weir and Cuckoo Weir Island
Cuckoo Weir Stream is a backwater that runs under Queen Elizabeth Bridge, and it no longer contains a weir. It was built to power a pre-dissolution water-mill belonging to Burnham Abbey.  It joins the river just before the Railway Bridge.  At one time it was considered as a site for a lock
Eton College constructed four swimming places on the river.  Cuckoo Weir here was for the younger boys. It was screened by a fence and a mound of earth.
Swan Lifeline. This is the oldest registered charity for the care of sick and injured swans in the Thames Valley. It was founded in 1986 by people who had been involved with swan rescue in Windsor. In 1992 Eton College offered the lease of Cuckoo Weir Island free of charge and the charity then built a treatment centre and outside pens.
Eton Old Bird Sanctuary. Eton boys started this nature reserve in 1934 on the site of old osier beds.  It is alongside the towpath east of the Windsor Relief Road. It was set up by the College Natural History Society. The boys dug a pond and drew up a list of birds with details of nests and hatching and habitats. There was little interest in the 1970s and it is only since about 2000 that efforts have been made to conserve the area and conduct surveys. Recent surveys show that the number of bird species has declined. There are two very rare snails and many moths including one nationally rare species,
Humane Swimming Baths. The Royal Humane Society was set up in 1774 with the aim of preventing deaths through drowning. To this end they began to encourage swimming and learning to swim.  The Eton and Windsor Humane Society Swimming Club was set up in 1835 as one of the earliest.  This swimming place seems to have persisted and is still marked on maps of the 1950s.


Long Bridge
The Long Bridge or “Chinese Bridge” crosses the entrance to the Cuckoo Weir stream.

Sources
Eton Community Web site
French Brothers. Web site
Hung out to Dry. Web site
SABRE Roaders Digest.
South East Swimming. Web site
Swan Lifeline. Web site
Wikipedia. Romney Lock. Web site

Riverside, west of the Tower, north bank. Eton

This post has siges north of the river only.  South of the river is Windsor Riverside and Castle

Post to the west Cuckoo Weir and Clewer
Post to the east Windsor Sports at Home Park



Baldwin’s Shore
The road once ran alongside a ditch, hence the name
Baldwin’s Shore – building used as accommodation for masters at the school. It was the oldest ‘house’ of the school used since at least 1682.  It has a replica front and was rebuilt in 1964.
Baldwin’s Bec. This is a ‘house’ of the school. Originally dating from 1840 when there were objections as to its height
Baldwin’s End. Masters house of 1908 with a plaque depicting Henry VI
Baldwin’s End. Remains of previous Baldwin’s End with a gallery of 1890. This ‘house’ was burnt down and rebuilt in 1903
Baldwin’s End Cottage. Used as a masters house. Designed by T B Carter.
Corner House. Three storeys in red and vitreous brick


Barnes Pool
This is an area between the High Street and Slough Road around the area where the brook passes under the road. It was also known as Baldwin’s pool.
Gullivers and Gullivers End. Built in the 18th in red brick.  There is a plaque “To commemorate Hugh MacNaghten who from 1899 to 1920 occupied Jourdelay's Place. This stone is set here by his old boys & pupils.” The house was used as a boarding house.
107-108 Christopher Inn was built in 1511, on Baldwin’s Bridge next to the college. In the 18th the College leased it and partly rebuilt it. There were lots of coaches and hired vehicles and a lot of noise. In the mid 19th the College had it closed down and used it themselves for teaching and some accommodation. It is now divided into two but has the remains of a mediaeval hall and some 17th fittings.
Old St Christopher's. Flats built 1720 as a coaching inn around an inner yard with a 19th upper storey. At the back the yard is weather-boarded, with wood balustrade, once open, now backed by boarding. It has had multiple uses since mainly connected with the college
Hodgson House. This consists of a number of buildings the earliest dating from the 1720s.  Its present form dates from 1844 when Dr.Hodgson was the Provost. On the ground floor are the Eton Society "Pop” rooms, entered by wooden steps with balustrade. It includes Hodgson's, which was an 18th  boarding house and drinking place from the 19th; Tap in Old Christopher’s yard which was a boarding house with catering, Rowlands an 18th house used for boarding, and Elliot Schools from the 20th. Rowlands originally sold socks but were the originators of the Eton Mess pudding.
Eton College Information Centre. This was once Alden & Blackwell (Booksellers). Mid 19th building in red brick and with a shop window
Carter House. 18th red brick building. The front railings are particularly noted. This is described as a high status town house adapted as a boarding house for Eton College boys.
Hawtrey and Durnford Houses. Two houses form 1846. More college accommodation
Eton College Stores. A symmetrical range of buildings with four shops with accommodation above. Built in 1930, in red brick. Previous school stores included small shops, one of which was Rowlands, above,


Brocas Street
1 Windsor Bridge House. On the site of the old Bridge House Hotel.
Waterman's Arms. Founded in 1542 and built in 1682. , One of Eton's oldest pubs. It was the home of brewer Robert Style and also said to be the Eton workhouse and mortuary but has been a pub since the mid-1800s.  The restaurant used to be the courtyard and the trees are still in place.
Rafts Boathouse. This served Eton College’s boating activities before the construction of the Eton Dorney Rowing Lake. There are four separate boat sheds: River House, Winters Boathouse, Tin Shed and Pilkington Boat House. This is an 18t h red brick building facing the Thames with modern additions and four 4 wide openings for boats


Church Close
St.John the Evangelist’s Church. This dates from 1852-4 designed by B Ferrey in decorated style. There had been a previous chapel of ease here built by William Hetherington in 1769, replaced in 1819. Prince Albert laid the foundation stone for this church in 1852 and it was big enough to take over 1000 people.  Hobby the 1950s it was in poor repair and very few people were in the congregation and it was closed in 1981. Then Eton College took over some of it as the College Sanatorium and the local Health Centre was on the ground floor, plus some flats for the staff. The church was on the first floor a rededicated.
Churchyard.
3 South Meadow Surgery.  Medical Centre with GP surgery and NHS clinics.


Colenorton Brook
This is a small tributary of the River Thames located to the north west of the town centre. Flowing eastwards, this watercourse outfalls into the Thames


Eton College  
The college was founded in 1440 by Henry VI as ‘The King’s College of Our Lady of Eton beside Windsor’ . The school was part of a large organisation which included an religious community and an almshouse. 70 poor scholars were to receive free education. Buildings were constructed during the mid and later 15th and eventually the almshouse and community were abandoned. In the 17th the upper classes began to send their children to the school and before long it became fashionable to educate boys at Eton. Today the school takes about 1,290 teenage boys including the scholars the rest being fee payers.
Brewhouse and bakehouse. Built in 1714 as the college brewery and bakery. This now contains the Brewhouse Gallery set up in 1969.  It has one of the world’s finest private collections of Egyptian Art bequeathed in 1899 by Major William Joseph Myers.
Brewhouse Yard, a service yard giving access to the adjacent service buildings, and beyond to the south to Baldwin’s Shore Lane.  The college stopped brewing its own beer following a fire in 1875.
Bunker. Constructed in 1959 by H D Bowyer of Slough, the bunker is underneath one of the ‘houses’ and was an integral part of the building.
Chambers. This was off the school yard and was used as living accommodation and offices by the Headmaster and senior staff.
Cloister Court. This dates from the 15th and is surrounded by an open cloister around a square lawn, with a small, square, central stone pond and fountain. It originally provided housing for priests and Fellows. There are a number of specific war memorial plaques in the Cloister and a Cloister pump stood here.
College Library. This is for staff rather than the boys. Originally books were kept chained up in the chapel vestry. They moved in the 16th and chains were removed in 1791 except for Founders manuscripts. It was rebuilt in 1725.  This library contains older books and muniments. Obviously much of it is very valuable.
Fountain. This is a tiered fountain in Cloister Court and has now been replaced because of erosion. Its ornate pedestals supports three decorative shell bowls surmounted by a naturalistic bud.
College Hall, where priests, Head Master, and scholars could eat, was in use by 1450. It was restored in 1858. This was probably finished in 1450 and confirms to Henry VI’s will.  There was a high table with designated seating for various categories of masters and the posher pupils and a Latin grace. Various things were carved on the walls. There are many portraits and inscriptions. Food was always roasts with no vegetables except mashed potatoes which was followed by plum pudding.  At Michaelmass they had goose and chicken on Founders Day.  Old women from the Town were allowed to come and take away any edible remains.
Drawing School. These have facilities for painting, drawing, printmaking, computer graphics and digital photography. There are regular exhibitions and there is a library that also serves as a lecture room.
Election Hall, this was originally the library.  Not sure who is being elected but there are events with a lot of food and speeches in Latin. Boys who are leaving give money to the Provost, I think/
Eton Fives courts. Fives is a game which originally consisted of hitting a ball against a section of the chapel wall in the old school yard
Fellows' or College Garden extends east from Cloister Court. The Garden is raised up and enclosed by a brick wall. it includes a large London Plane, and a cedar of Lebanon,.
Kitchen – this was originally built over the Barnes Pool Stream, since diverted. It contained a clockwork jack.
Headmaster’s Room. Reached from the School Yard and where floggings took place – 72 boys at a time by John Keate.
Headmaster's Garden/kitchen garden. this is enclosed by brick walls and service buildings and  may once have been a kitchen garden,
Long Chamber. This was a vast dormitory where originally the 70 scholars slept.  Boys were locked in from 6 pm; it was cold, and dirty. There was very little food and organised rat hunts.
Lower School. This was the original Eton schoolroom and had a single class room below and a large dormitory called the Long Chamber above. The wooden pillars were added as supports in 1624. Pupils carved their names on shutters and elsewhere.
Lupton’s Range with Lupton’s Tower .This was built in 1520 by Henry Redman providing extra accommodation for the head of the College, the Provost. A gateway at the bottom of Lupton's Tower gives access to cloister court and it contained a clock moved to it in 1765. A monument was installed here to the Grenadier Guards who died in the Great War.
Museum, The Museum of Eton Life tells the story of the foundation of the College in 1440
Provost’s Garden. this is west of the Headmaster's Garden, The garden is largely lawn with perimeter borders and specimen trees and shrubs, including a holm oak.  At the centre is a circular paved feature
School Yard. The buildings of the church and college of Eton are grouped round the school yard built in the 1440s.  The church is along the southern range and the on western and northern ranges are the Upper and Lower Schools. On the east are the cloister buildings. It was laid with cobbles and stone paths in 1716 and relaid in the late 20th. In the 1921 a bronze frieze here was dedicated as a Roll of Honour to Etonians who died in the Great War.
Statue of the Founder, Henry VI by Francis Bird 1719 which stands at the centre of School Yard
Memorial garden. This is from the north gateway where semicircular stone steps lead into the sunken garden, laid out in 1929 as a memorial to King Prajadhipok of Siam.
Upper School.  This is one of the oldest parts of the school. From 1691-1863 most teaching took place here – with enormous classes of 400-500 boys and a major disorder problem Some classroom conditions were very bad – Cockloft at the top was dangerously overcrowded.  The Black Hole was worse. Some of it was destroyed by Second World War bombing, now rebuilt


Eton Court
Our Lady of Sorrows church. This is a Roman Catholic Church built in 1914; by Alfred Lord Braye in Italian Baroque style. Eton College had recently purchased the building, It wad church is Eton’s first and only Roman Catholic Chapel. Lord Brave wanted to provide a catholic place of worship for catholic boys at the school. He thus purchased some land in 1905. The dedication to Our Lady of Sorrows was in reparation for the destruction of the Lady Altar in the reign of Edward V1. The church was not readily welcomed by Eton College and there were restrictions on the type of building that could be sited there. By 1920 boys were allowed to attend Mass. Inside is a riot of golden surfaces, marble, malachite and lapis lazuli altars. Lord Braye furnished the church at his own expense and gave some of the contents from his own chapel at his home   and it is also suggested that the chapel was fitted out with items from Frogmore Chapel, Windsor.
Jubilee Square. This was a joint venture between the Baldwin's Bridge Trust and Eton Town Council in 2012 to celebrate three things - Queen Elizabeth II's diamond jubilee, the centenary of the Baldwin's Institute and the coming of the 2012 Olympics to Eton Dorney. This has led to a creation of a public urban space which was opened in 2012 by the Provost of Eton College.
Baldwin and Austen-Leigh Institute built in 1911 by E L Ware in the Arts and Craft style. E.C. Austen-Leigh purchased slum housing called Eton Court in 1909 and donated the site for the erection of a Parish Hall. The architect of the building was Edmond L. Warre and it was opened in 1912. Jubilee Square was commissioned as part of the centenary celebrations of this event in 2012.
Upholstery works. This was present in the 1950s


Eton Square
1-14 Bragnells Buildings. 1714 now called Godolphin Almshouses. These were built for Provost Henry Godolphin in 1714 to house ten elderly women.
59 Charteris House Day Centre. The building was the New Inn, ex-public house built around 1840.
Cottage flats built in 1935 by the Eton Society for the Improvement of Cottage Accommodation


Eton Wick Road
Cattle pound. This brick rectangle is a restored cattle pound. A plaque records that it was restored in 1996 as "pound at Folly Bridge for unauthorised cattle from the Great Common in the Manor of Eton cum Stockdales and Colenorton."
Burnham Thorpe. House built in 1844-6; by James Deason in flint Tudor Gothic style. Belongs to Eton College. Was this built in connection with the cemetery given the date and architect?? Burnham Thorpe was Nelson’s home, so what is the connection there?
Willow Tree Pub. This closed in the early 1970s and is now housing,
Eton Parish Cemetery. Cemetery chapel. 1844-6, by James Deason in flint Victorian Gothic, Early English style. Lychgate designed. 1844-6 by James Deason. The cemetery was opened in 1846 and for a while the chapel was used for the younger boys at the college. On the gate is carved In memory of the members of the Eton CLB (Church Lads Brigade) Club old members ‘club who fell in the Great War 1914-1919”
Masters Field. Sports field with astro turf and hockey pitches
Judy’s Passage - A narrow pedestrian pathway providing a convenient short cut through the centre of Eton College.
Mustians. One of the ‘houses’ of Eton College. Mustians was the name of a local farm. This was built for A.C.Ainger an assistant master in the late 19th but the present building is from 1937 by Worthington
Cotton Hall House, One of the ‘houses’ of Eton College. Built for H.E.Marindin in 1870 by William White in ‘Domestic Revival’ style
Westbury.  One of the ‘houses’ of Eton College. Colcutt 1899 and built on the gardens of Keate House. William Westbury was Headmaster in the 1440s
Waynefleet. This is one of the ‘houses’ of Eton College. Designed by Colcutt in 1899 and built on the gardens of Keate House. William Waynefleet was Provost in the 1440s
Walpole House. This is one of the ‘houses’ of Eton College designed by Colcutt in 1906. Sir Robert Walpole was a pupil here in the 1690s.
Beckyington. School canteen built by Powell and Moya in 1972. There is a moat and small garden courts. It is named for Thomas Beckyington who preached his first sermon here as Bishop of Bath and Wells in 1443. The food is VERY posh.


High Street
102 Council Offices. Built in 1904 as the fire station it became the main office for Eton Urban District Council. There is an Art Nouveau style plaque on the building with the three lilies of Eton.
110 The Christopher Hotel. The upper floors were originally used as a magistrate’s court and then at end of the 19th it became a billiards room. In the 1960-0’s it was used for music gigs.
118 has timber framed barn at back joined to house
1-2 Tom Brown’s Tailors shop, built 1875. A double fronted building in a Victorian Venetian style, with decorative cast iron columns to the shop front. At the back is a store built in the 19th now converted to offices but has its original loft opening
136 Eton Library
136 The Bridge House.  This was for the Baldwin Bridge Trust and built in 1890 designed by Robert Aborn. This was the trust set up to look after this small bridge and funded by rents from the housing round it. It employs a bridgemaster and others. In the late 19th this was the office of the Urban District Council.
14 Eton Porny Church of England First School, This was earlier called Porny and St John’s school and it replaced the earlier school set up Porny. It was initially a national school.  It consists of a school and a master's house built 1863-73, to the designs of G.E. Street. The Master's house is at the front with an archway end through to schoolrooms at rear, a larger range was added in 1873
15-16 Coutts Bank. Early 20th building in red brick
29 Porny School built in 1813. It is an early 19th brick building. The school moved in the 1860s to no 14/15 and this became the parish rooms. It has also been a club room or ex service men. There is a plaque on the building to Mark Anthony Porny who taught French at Eton College.
3 Tudor Stores. Late 18th red brick building with an old shop-front and a stone plaque at first floor ‘Established 1799 – Groceries and Provisions’
37 Henry VI Pub. This was previously the Three Tuns a 19th white painted brick building.
44 this was the New College Arms Pub. Long since closed
47-49 Cockpit. This dates from 1475 with a timber frame. It was said to include the remains of a cockpit with a knuckle bone floor but it is now said that this was a slaughter house.
54 Built in 1891 as a private bank, but used as the Police Station 1936 - 1972. It is decorated and has a stone door way and terracotta motifs
77 Prince George Inn. 19th building with the  front to High Street; at the back is a 17th  L-shaped back building facing a yard opening which opens on to Brocas Street.
84-85 Crown and Cushion Pub. 17th and 18th building. It originally had a stable block at the back. Claims to have been a coaching inn since 1793
8-9 Barclays Bank. Brick building with stone dressings and carved stone panels showing the buildings’ use and includes some medical imagery. Built in 1931 to the designs of local architects Edgington and Spink.
98 once called The Turk’s Head. This is a 17th timber framed building behind a 19th front. There is a central carriageway to a courtyard.
Bob Smith. This was an 18th fishing rod manufacturer who had a business on the riverside to the east of the bridge. He made ‘Eton Mark’ which was famous among anglers.
Book Pound. This was a shop where lost school books could gibe taken and retrieved.
Bridge House Hotel. Once called the Catherine Wheel. This has now been replaced by a modern building with an address in Brocas Street
Bridge. This is dated 1883 and designed by A.M. Fowler, engineer. It is a wide single-span bridge taking the High Street over Barnes's Pool. No boy from the school was supposed to cross this bridge after nightfall.
Gate piers to St.John's Church with two associated bronze tablets badges of Rifle Brigade and Church Lads Brigade
Post-box, an early example of its type, it dates from 1854. It has a fluted pillar surmounted by a pill-box
Sun Inn. This was an ancient building demolished at the end of he 19th. There are said to have been large oak beams in it and a Sun Insurance plaque on the wall.


Keates Lane
This was once called Woodward Lane and the name was changed to call it after the Headmaster. John Keate, in the 19th
Sign about the distance to Maidenhead
Jourdelays. 17th buildings with 19th additions in red brick. It is a boys'’ house’ of Eton College.  The name of the house dates back to 1441 when it was owned by Thomas Jourdelay. It was built by Andrew Snape and his initials are on the rainwater head.
Ballard’s House. 17th or 18th building  in colour washed brick. Another ‘house’.
Keate House. Another 18th red brick boarding house named after headmaster, John Keate.
Montague James School – classics department classrooms
Elliott Schools – economics department classrooms
Science School
American sweet gum tree behind the Science School
Queens School a building with computer and science departments, the building is by Blomfield in red brick. The foundation stone for these was laid by Victoria in 1889.
Lower Chapel built in 1890 by Arthur Blomfield as there were too many boys for the original chapel. Refurbished in 1924 by Walter Tapper. It is dedicated to St.Mary the Virgin and seats 500 boys. Many of the fittings were donated by old Etonians. Windows reflect the virtues. Tapestries were given as a First World War memorial from the Morris Merton works and show the life of St.George.
Music Schools, Music was not taught at Eton in the early 19th and revived in the 1870s. The current schools have an attached concert hall and rehearsal rooms


King Stables
The street appears to be named after the royal stables which were probably at the east end of the road. They were mentioned in 1512 and new mews was built in Windsor in 1770’s
Church. There are stories that a medieval church stood on a site here but there is no evidence for this.
Eton Wharf House. This was on the site of a malt house, which was present in the 1770s. This included a yard fronting onto the Thames. This had been demolished by the mid 19th and replaced by a coal shed and a wharf. It was later a sawmill and a builders yard until it became a rowing clubhouse, Eton Wharf House.
Eton Excelsior Rowing Club. This was  founded in 1826 formally in 1851.The club’s original boat house, used for more than 150 years, was leased from Eton College here. In the mid 1990's the College decided to build flats on the site and the Club therefore moved.


Luxmoore Garden
Luxmoore Garden.This is on an island in the Thames beyond Cloister Court. A wooden bridge leads onto it. There is an informal lawn and later paths, borders and specimen trees. There is also a 19th wooden summerhouse. The garden was developed in the late 19th by a house master, H E Luxmoore in a 'natural' style


Slough Road
Many references give these buildings addresses in High Street. However there is a street sign for Slough Road on the first house north of Baldwin's Bridge
Corner House – between Baldwin’s Shore and the Churchyard Built 1682 and has had several uses. Mainly as a boarding house for boys, including Gladstone.
Memorial Building. This was built in 1905-8 as a Boer War Memorial and containing the school hall and library. It is in red brick. There are two buildings here and the northern one is octagonal with a leaden dome with cupola over. The architect was: L K Hall.
Long Wall. This runs parallel to the street along the front of the College buildings. Names, including Gladstone, are said to be cut in the top of it.  Boys would be lined up here to meet royalty and the like.
Milestone. This gives the distance to Hyde Park and is at the end of a piece of the Long Wall of which it forms part.
St. Marys Chapel. This has a Charter from 1140 and the foundation stone was laid by Henry VI in 1441. He endowed this on a large scale with clerics and requirements as to services. It was intended to attract pilgrims but ended in the 1460s. It is built above ground level as a protection against flooding. This was the parish church for many years - and bells in the tower were used for parish purposes. There is a statue of William Waynefleet by Blomfield. In the 1880s the interior was ‘restored’ by James Deacon. There are important wall paintings in the building. These were whitewashed over in 1560 and were rediscovered in 1847 but not fully realised until 1923 after which they were restored. In 1905 it was repaved with black and white marble in memory of Etonians who died in the South African War. The glass in the building was destroyed in 1940 bombing and has since been replaced with designs by John Piper. The roof was replaced in 1959 because of death-watch beetle. It is stone-faced concrete hung from steel trusses.
Graveyard. The graveyard is on the site of the original parish church dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin and demolished about 1480. It contains a number of chest and other tombs – many with inscriptions in Latin.
Lamp post. This is sited in the centre of Eton and called Burning Bush. It dates from 1864 designed by Henry Woodyer with an octagonal pedestal with a very ornate wrought-iron standard with foliage decoration, and an octagonal lamp. It was Originally a gas lamp, now converted to electricity


South Meadow Lane
Eton College Natural History Museum. More than 16,000 specimens and displays are housed at the museum. It is free and open to the public between one afternoon a week  It was first opened to house the Thackeray Collection of British Birds in 1875 There are also extensive collections of insects (mainly butterflies and moths), the William Hincks Herbarium, a full set of Banks’ Florilegium, fossils and birds’ eggs.


Tangier Lane
Apparently called Tangier because that town was part of Catherine of Braganza's dowry when she married Charles II
30 Tangier Mill House. A 19th front on a house which may be older. The mill itself is long gone. It was wooden with a low breast-shot wheel. The wheel drove the flour-mill machinery and pumped water as well. It was pulled down in 1891, but the channel leading water to it had been dammed in 1888 prior to placing the old mill by another turbine installation. The last miller was in post in about 1860
Winsor and Eton Corporation Water Works.  The first successful works was built in 1701 on the island known as Tangier. The works changed hands several times in the 18th but from 1747 until 1888 was owned usually by the Cutler family and then bought by the Corporation. They supplied river water direct until 1915 when electricity and a chlorination plant were installed. In 1868 the Cutlers had an Act to allow them open up streets and a lot of the water was very dirty and there were all sorts of rows with the town authorities. When the works was taken over by the corporation the equipment dated from 1873 and it continued to be used – the water wheel had been replaced in 1770. In 1890 a compound Worthington pumping engine was installed along with other new plant. The pumps delivered direct into a closed system of mains, with no reservoir until 1960. In 1971 daily use of the turbines ceased, and the works were closed each night.
Pump Houses built 1870, for in red brick and round plaques with insignia. There are two outward-flow turbines, built in 1873 by Stothert and Pitt of Bath, to a design of Wm. Henry Cutler. They drive 9 in double-acting pumps and each develops 42 hp. This is thought to be unique
35-42 Terrace of eight houses from the 1860s. Built by J.D.M. Pearce of Maidenhead. They are in massed concrete - Pearce, was known as the Concrete King'. The walls, floors and stacks are built of concrete which had been poured into moveable shutters


The Brocas
These meadows are named from the Brocas family who were local nobility in the 13th.  It is a large meadow along the river. It is a wide open space, to fly kites or let dogs run. In summer it is a picnic spot, a popular mooring for boats, and a site for funfairs and other events. There have been claims that these are Lammas Lands, but this may/may not be so.

Sources
Austin–Leigh. Eton Guide
Baldwin's Bridge Trust. Web site
British History on line. Web site
British Listed Buildings. Web site
Eton College. Web site
Eton Excelsior Rowing Club. Web site
Etonwick History. Web site
Eton Wick Village Hall. Newsletter
Chelsea Speleological Society. Newsletter
Geograph. Web site
Historic England. Web site
Mills Archive. Web site
Our Lady of Sorrows. Web site
Oxford Archaeological Unit. Web site
Pevsner. Buckinghamshire
Stjamesstjohn. Web site
Waterman’s Arms. Web site
Windsor and Maidenhead Council. Web site

This posting covers sites only to the north of the river. South of the river is Black Potts

Post to the south Windsor Sport and the Castle and Datchet Mead


Eton Road
Yellowfoot Lodge – site which provides ‘team building’ games for businesses.  The outfit dates from the 1990s. It is using a clubhouse and facilities which were a Thames Water staff recreation area.
Slough UDC Pumping Station. This water extraction site began as a private company supplying water to Slough in 1870. It was taken over by the local authority in 1912 and became part of what was then Thames Water Board in 1966.  From 1973 it included a computerised control system for the water supply of the area as Thames Water’s Datchet pumping station.  The site includes a covered reservoir which may date from its inception.


Jubilee River
The Jubilee River is so new that it is not on any of the maps which Edith is using. It is a channel 7.2 miles long which was built in the early 21st to take overflow from the Thames and alleviate flooding in nearby towns. It returns Eton sewage works the water to the Thames downstream of Eton.
Black Potts footbridge
Myrke footbridge
Black Potts railway viaduct. The channel also had to be taken through Black Potts Viaduct, which carries the railway line built to Windsor & Eton Riverside station.


Pocock's Lane
This has also been known as Datchet Lane, and earlier Deadman’s Lane or Cutthroat Lane. It runs parallel to a stream called Willowbrook, and there are attractive bridges with footpaths over the stream into the Eton College playing fields.A John Pocock lived at Dutchman’s Farm in 1835, hence the name
1 Agars Plough. Hallhouse from the early 15th altered and extended in the late 18th and 19th.  It is a part brick and timber frame encased in brick. This was once called Dutchman's Farmhouse. The farmer, later, was a Mr. Agar.  It is thought that the name of “Dutchman’s Farm” may originally have been 'Dutchman’s Garden' and that it was laid out as such.
Agars Plough playing fields. These fields are used extensively by Eton College for sports. These include Cricket, Field Game, Football and Hockey. The land was bought by the College in 1895 following a lobbying exercise by ex-pupils.
Pavilion. This was built in 1902 and has a clock which had, or has on it ‘Maturum reditum polliticus redi’.  A cricket shed was built in 1906 and a shed for Eton Ramblers in 1920 – this was octagonal and rustic.  It included a war memorial to Ramblers who died in the Great War.
Thames Valley Athletics. This is a regional athletics centre developed by the boroughs of Winsor and Slough on Eton Colleges former athletics track. It opened in 1999 and is now shared by the local community, clubs and Eton College. It is managed by Datchet and Eton Leisure Club
Eton Sewage Works. Built by Simmonds and Ripley. This plant is marked on maps from the early 20th and appears to have now been adapted to serve the Leisure and Sports Centre other nearby Eton College buildings with a twin stream sewage treatment plant and associated pump stations.
Kennels are shown on maps near the sewage works site for the Eton College Hunt.
Water Quality Monitoring Station. Owned by Thames Water.
Fields to the south of Pocock’s Lane are owned by Eton College and were acquired by the founder in 1443. In the 19th they were known as the Upper and Lower Shooting Fields, and this may refer to archery here. They were later known as the Upper Club, the Lower Club, Middle Club, and Triangle.
Upper Club field was the main cricket field for Eton College. It is bordered by elm trees which were said to be planted by Provost Rous in the mid 17th.  From the early 20th cricket matches were moved elsewhere partly because of flooding.


River Bank
Sheep’s Bridge. This name is first noted in 1631 and may date from 1634. It crosses the outfall into the Thames of the Chalvey Ditch and the Colenorton Brook.
Raw water intake. This dates from 1973 and is controlled by Datchet Pumping Station in Eton Lane to the north east.  It runs here in a straight pipeline to a works at Iver
Wharf. This stood immediately downstream of Sheep’s Bridge and was used by Eton College for the transfer of river borne goods. This later became a house and garden which was demolished in 1840.
Boathouse Cottage- is this the Eton Master’s Boathouse?  Next to it was Ward’s Cottage where a pack of hounds were kept by the boys.


The Myrke
This is a long row of houses on what used to be Datchet road but which is now bypassed. It now runs along the Jubilee River protected by a large embankment which was poorly constructed and has had to be rebuilt.
Myrke is also the name of a stream

Sources
Austin Leigh, Eton Guide
British Listed Buildings. Web site
Datchet & Eton Leisure. Web site
Fraser. The History of Slough
Hydroserve. Web site
Jubilee River. Web site.
Royal Windsor Forum. Web site
Thames Water. Web site

This posting only shows sites north of the river. South of the river is at Windsor, sport and the castle

Post to the east Windsor Home Park Bathing Pond
Post to the west Eton and Windsor riverside and the castle
Post to the north Agar's Plough and Black Potts


Black Potts Ait
Black Potts Ait. This is an island which is now at the mouth of the Jubilee River. Black Potts also appears to be shown in some maps as north of Pocock’s Lane. There is a 19th house and a boathouse on the island.


Datchet Mead
Datchet Golf Club.  This square covers a small northern section of the golf course. Golf had been played on Datchet Mead for many years and the club was set up in 1890

Sources
Datchet Golf Club. Web site
Wikipedia. Black Potts Ait. Web site

Buccleugh Road
Datchet Golf Course.  Golf had been played on Datchet Mead for years before the club was set up in 1890. Early on it had a close association with Eton College.


Eton Road
70 St.Augustine’s Roman Catholic Church, this first appears on maps as a chapel after the Great War
St Augustine school, this stood alongside the church and appears on maps in the 1930s and in the 1970s.  It does not appear to be there now.
Eton House. Care home within the grounds of St.Augustine’s Church
Eton End PNEU School, this is a private ‘Preparatory’ Day School taking children under eleven. The school dates from 1936 and was set up for Eton Masters’ children initially in Eton Vicarage under a Miss Johnstone.


High Street
Level crossing
10c original meeting place of the Datchet Baptist Church


Horton Road
8 Public Library. Montague House. It was previously a working men’s club which had originally been given by Lord Montague in 1896l, hence renamed after him.


London Road
London Road was   was a narrow lane until 1768 when it was upgraded and widened by the Colnbrook Turnpike Trust as a direct route to the London-Bath road.
Garden wall of Datchet House borders the road for a significant visual distance and is dated to 1748.
Datchet House. The main section dates from the 1748 and the west service wing from the late 19th. There are some additions from the 1920s but use of the site can be traced back to the 1500s. It was built by the Needham family, Earls of Kilmorey and they continued to own it until the late 19th. . It was originally three storeys but the top floor was removed and the roof lowered by film star Laura la Plante in the early 1930s. During the Second World War it was a base for the Home Guard.
Gardeners’ Cottage, this is at the far end of the wall, by the Cricket Club’s entrance.
St Marys Church. The church is on an ancient site.  It is on the highest piece of ground locally and may have been a pre-Christian fortified settlement. There was probably a timber Saxon church rebuilt in stone by the 1200s. Nothing remains from the medieval church although some features of the church may be in the same position. It was largely rebuilt in 1857 although the vicar had hoped to completely demolish and start again. The wall memorials from the old church were replaced in their original positions but the ledger stones, were moved in the 20th
Churchyard. There is a Celtic Cross War Memorial inscribed ‘erected by the women of Datchet to the memory of those from the parish who fell in the Great War 1914-1919; South face, Faithful unto death’.
Mile stone. Square based stone with a triangular top. It says London 20 Windsor 1 Colnbrook 2


M4
London to Bristol Motorway. This section opened in 1963 as part of a bypass scheme.


Priory Way
Churchfield Meadows. In 1650 Churchfield Meadow plot known as ‘Matthews Park’ and had been the site of a house. Two of the Mathews family of landowners and yeomen are thought to have built Church Cottage and the Astracot house in the early 1500s, and it is certain that land here with a house also belonged to one of them. By 1800 it was owned by John Richards, Rector of Datchet. The meadow was then known as Old Plantation. In 1813 a number of valuable trees there were cut down by the ‘Black Datchet’ gang. It was sold to William Good in 1865.
Woodland. The 1876 Ordnance Survey shows a band of woodland around the grounds of Churchmead House. The remains of this still survive in the school grounds.
Churchmead House. This was built in the 1860s. In 1865 Churchfield Meadow was bought by William Good, a barrister to build a family house in a pleasant village, from which he could commute by rail to London. It may have been designed by his architect father, or brother. In 19390 it was requisitioned by the Royal Artillery as a control centre for the anti-aircraft base which was on the old polo ground in Horton Road. By 1945 it was unoccupied and became derelict.
Churchmead School was built in the late 1950s by Buckinghamshire County Architects Department, led by Fred Pooley. It was originally a secondary modern. In 1974 administrative changes to boundaries transferred it to Berkshire County Council, who operated it as a school within Slough's education system which began secondary education from 12 rather than 11. Further changes led to the Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead becoming the Education Authority in 1998 which uses a system with age 8 - 13 children in middle schools. Thus Churchmead became the only 11-18 school in the borough.


Queen Street
This was Back Lane – the way at the back of the complex of 15th and earlier buildings around The Green. It was named for Queen Victoria who used this crossing by preference to the one in the High Street
Level Crossing. Mays Crossing is one of the two level crossings in Datchet, and takes Queen's Road over the railway line to and from Windsor Riverside station.  It is said to have been named for a crossing keeper called William May
1-2 houses built by the South Western Railway in the 1860s.


Slough Road
Swallowfield.Before 1810 there were large area of common land where animals could be grazed and fuel gathered, and at Enclosure it was lost but in Datchet some plots of land were left to provide income as support for the poor– ‘Poor’s Land’. ‘Swallowfield’ was the first such plot to be sold for building development – and four houses were built here in the early 1900s. In 1939 all the various bequests were united as ‘Datchet United Charities’.  Eventually the occupants bought the freeholds for themselves.
20 Police residence. There appears to be no permanent police presence currently
Slough Water Works and Water Works Cottages were in the corner of Castle Avenue.  This was probably not the main Slough Water Work and must date from the late 1880s.


Sumptermead Ait
This island is a thin wooded strip separated by a narrow channel on the Datchet side of the river. It was noted as Sondremede in 1263 and given to the prioress of St Helens in London.


The Green
The curve of the Green follows a watercourse which ran through the centre of the village and formed a pool here. It was crossed by a bridge at the top of the High Street which was the responsibility of the Parish. In 1570 a house was acquired which could be leased to provide a repair fund. This house was the present Royal Stag, also known as the Bridge House. In the 1840s the Bridge House Trustees paid to have the watercourse culverted creating the Greens. The whole range of Manorial buildings on the south side of the Green was put up for auction in 1896, the plans and sale details of which are invaluable for village history. It included the Manor House, Manor Cottages and the old buildings further east where the W.I. hall and shops have been built, as well as houses at the top of the High Street.
Manor House - a medieval manor house was thought to be on the Green but near the church
Manor - the Manor House in the late 15th appears to have been the home of the bailiff rather than the lord and later it was rented out to high status tenants.  It is likely there was attached a bake house, brew house, washhouse, outbuildings, cottages and barns along the edge of the pool on the site of the Green.  By the late 19th the Manor House had been used as the post office, the parish school, overspill from the workhouse, and early Baptists. It was then remodelled, with a mock Tudor timbered facade.  In 1896 the Montagu family put it up for auction along with the rest of the range.
Old Council Offices.  Currently an estate agent. The old workshops to the rear are now offices.  The building has a mock Tudor facade added in the 1920s. The new parish council hired the two front rooms as an office from 1895. The 1896 sale plan shows it as part of a complex of workshops including a builder’s yard – and a coal yard continued at the rear in the 20th. In the 20th the ground floor was stripped out and rebuilt revealing the timber frame and a hearth with a bread oven. A section of wattle and daub has been left visible. A well was found in a 19th extension which would originally been in a yard. In 1953 it was bought by a developer but not changed but built a shop on its east side.
'The Old Manor House. This building complex includes the Women’s Institute Hall and the shops adjacent to it. This is a 1955 rebuild of an artisan's house from the 18th or 19th. The hall and shops were built by the developer on the site of old workshops and remodelled the existing house. A house existed here in the 16th but no fabric has survived.  Its footprint may however exist in the current buildings.
Women’s Institute Hall. The Datchet Women's Institute was founded in 1948.  At first meetings were held in St. Mary's school, however, in 1955, the current hall was opened. It was gifted by George Scott, who built extensively in the village.
Manor House. This house has a long standing division into two. It originally dates from the late 16th with mid-17th alterations. The timber on the outside of the building does not reflect its timber frame. Originally it had an open hall with a service room to the west.  Part of this house was used as a shoemaker's from at least 1780. In 1801 some of it was licensed as a Meeting House by local Baptists. In 1896 it was auctioned as two separate houses. From 1906 it was home of the Sopwith family – the mother and sister of early flyer Tommy Sopwith.
Manor Cottage and Manor Green Cottage. The brick facade and sash windows are a modernisation of the late 1700s, but the two houses were built in the early 17th as one and this was timber framed.  In the eastern half the timber frame is all still exposed, but in the western it has been plastered over. They seem to have been used as two since before the 1780s.  They have also been used as shops since and altered accordingly
The Manor Hotel. This has been an inn since at least the 1750s.. The core dates back to the 17th but there have been many changes and no early fabric has been identified. In 1888 the corner block with its overhanging first floor was rebuilt. In the 18th it had the same ownership as the White Hart opposite and in the late 18th leased by Isherwood who was a local Windsor brewer. The pub had stabling in the yard behind reached by an archway from the High Street although it was not a significant stage coach inn. The Manor Hotel's has also been called The Half Moon in the 18th and the Horse and Groom. The present name dates from the mid-19th.It is currently a would be posh hotel and claims to date from the 14th
Wine Rack shop. This had been an alehouse called the White Hart first mentioned in 1565. It had a skittle alley on the site of the present office car park
St. Mary’s Primary Academy.  This was previously St. Mary’s Church of England School and originally a National School.  It was academised in 2012.
Fountain. This is the earliest known public monument erected in the centre of the town. It was the gift of Lady Georgiana Needham, and followed the principles of the Metropolitan Free Drinking Fountain Association.  Made of granite, it has drinking bowls for dogs, horses and villagers and an inscription about Lady Needham and Biblical references to water.   It once had a light on top of it.
Golden Jubilee Oak. This marked 50 years of Queen Victoria’s reign in 1887. This was given by the Lady of the Manor, the Duchess of Buccleuch and was planted by the schoolchildren
Diamond Jubilee Cross, This narked  60 years of Queen Victoria’s reign in 1897, it is described as a ‘cross of a medieval Somerset type’ and there is a brass plaque with biblical quotations to this has been added plaques recording the Silver, Golden and Diamond Jubilees of Elizabeth II.
War Memorial.  This is a Cenotaph unveiled  in 1920, the inscription says: This Monument  is erected by inhabitants of Datchet  to commemorate the Great War  of 1914-1919  and the glorious victory of the British forces and their allies  by sea on land and in the air  over the combined forces of Germany, Austria, Turkey and Bulgaria  also  to record the share taken by this  village in promoting this victory  and  to pay grateful and reverent tribute  to those who laid down their lives  for their King and Country  in the cause of justice and freedom  the names here recorded  are of those inhabitants of  Datchet  who at the call of duty laid down  their lives for their country.  Mourn not for them  for they can never die  ...the numbers here recorded  are of those inhabitants of  Datchet  who by active military service  in foreign lands of in this country  or by services rendered at home  contributed to the great victory  which this Monument commemorates . in the naval military and territorial forces Before the war 40  joined the forces during the war  322  served abroad or at home in the Red Cross Society, the Volunteer Defence Corps, as special constables, in the voluntary aid detachment or in the Hospital Supply depot 142. There are also the names of those who died in the Second World War
Royal Stag Pub. This is one of the oldest buildings in Datchet. Part dates from before 1500 but the front is 1880s. It may have been an ale house from the early 16th and called the Five Bells, referencing the adjacent church. Later it was the High Flyer and then the Royal Stag by the 1790s. It is owned by the local Bridge House Trust. In 2011 they funded a survey.  The back bar overlooking the churchyard has roof timbers from 1494. The front has been rebuilt bad the inside remodelled many times. The car park was ince a stable, coach house, wash-house, henhouse and garden. In 1892 the first annual dinner of the Kelmscott Press was held here. There is a broken tombstone in the rear bar of William Herbert, a maltster and brewer whose son John leased the pub,
Costa Coffee. This was The Morning Star pub which was a beer-shop since 1857, with that name since 1881. By 1870 it had been bought by the Staines brewers Ashby & Co. Before that it was a private house built in the late 17th but which incorporated a smaller and older house already on site. This includes the room to the right of the entrance which probably dates from the 1600s.
The Bridge Community Cafe. This was an almshouse and before that the poorhouse dating from at least 1548. In the 18th it became the 'Parish Almshouse'.  From 1820 it was let out as a shop, with the rent going towards the Poor Rate


Whites Lane
Until the building of the M4 Whites Lane continued to become a path which then diverged into others at various directions.


Windsor Road
Windsor Road dates from the removal of Datchet Bridge at the bottom of the High Street.
Riverside House. This house was built on the site of an older one in the mid-1860s, and divided into flats in the 1930s. In the 18th this had been the site of a maltsters and corn merchants business
Riverside Corner, this is first noted in the 1890s but appears to have been the site of an older property. In the 1960s it was owned by wonderful Billie Whitelaw.

Sources
Churchmead School. Web site
Datchet Baptist Church. Web site
Datchet Golf Club. Web site
Datchet History. Web site
Datchet Women’s Institute. Web site
Eton End School. Web site
Fraser.  The History of Slough
Imperial War Museum. Web site
SABRE. Web site
St.Mary’s Academy. Web site
Waymarking. Web site

Edith would like to thank the Datchet History group for their wonderful pages – and hope you don’t mind I have made so much use of them.  So often I go through a small town in some desperation struggling to find information (Egham is a recent example) and most usually there are a few notes and perhaps one of those ‘then and now’ picture books with some limited information. Datchet History is unusual and very very good – look at their web site NOW

This posting shows sites north of the river only in this square. Sites to the south are in Windsor Home Park Eastern Riverside

Post to the north Datchet and Windsor Home Park Bathing Pool
Post to the south Albert Bridge and Southlea

Green Lane
Scout Hut. This was opened in 1992 and is used by the 2nd Datchet Scouts and other groups.

High Street
Datchet High Street once ran down to a bridge which crossed the Thames and continued to Windsor. Changes to the Home Park, and the instability of the then bridge in the 1850s meant that it was replaced by the Victoria and Albert Bridges some distance to the east and west.  The design of the road however is of a town centre street going to a river crossing. No trace of the old bridge remains
Old Bridge House. This was built in the early 18th on the site of the ancient ferry which was no longer needed following the building of a bridge. In the later 18th it was a pub called the White Horse
20 In the early 17th this was a pub although there are remains of a house probably built around 1400. The pub was called the Rose and later the Duke of Northumberland’s Head. From 1750 until the 1970s the buildings were a butcher’s business with a shop in the front with a slaughterhouse and grazing meadow behind.  In the 1970s it was investigated by new owners and thought to be a medieval hall house. However it is now thought that to start with it was an open hall with a central hearth. The current main room is a three-bay barn from the 1600s which would have been separate from the earlier house and while it was a slaughter house it was lined with corrugated iron. The house was rebuilt with a brick front wing probably in the 1770s and here is a door frame at the back which may have been the new front door, moved here when the shop front was added later. This rebuild included servants’ quarters in the attic and a new kitchen area. Behind the 17th barn is another brick one built in the 1800s, originally separate but now joined, which may have been built to house cattle awaiting slaughter. In the 20th a gallery was added between the early house and the 19th block using some old timber from elsewhere and two windows were inserted which copy the originals. Most recently it has been a hat showroom.
31 St, Helens. This is an 18th brick rebuild of a 17th timber framed building -evidence of the timber frame can be seen in the north end wall. From 1960 it was owned by actor Donald Pleasance  and re-named Holiman's Plat. From the middle ages there was a Manor of Datchet St Helen's as well as a Manor of Datchet arising from an endowment to St.Helen's Nunnery, Bishopsgate by Sir Richard Mandeville in 1263. This arrangement ended at the dissolution. This house may have been originally under the jurisdiction of Datchet St Helen's.



Manor House Lane
Industrial units on the site of the old goods yard


Riverside
Landing places. These were created by the Barker Bridge House Trust after 1865 when the final Datchet Bridge was built.  Up until then the river bank just ran alongside the road. The current river wall with path and steps was built by Sears & Sons. In 1894 responsibility for upkeep was passed to the new Parish Council. By 1893 there were two jetties, for the use of residents’ with three floating wooden pontoons for boatmen who hired out canoes and rowing boats.
Kris Cruisers. Members of the Clark Family bought John Hicks’ Boatyard in 1966. They hired out punts and then started a hire fleet, Castle Line, with a cabin cruiser, later building a second cruiser, and then adding to the fleet. By 1983 they had 19 boats and ran 3 boats for Consort Cruisers. The fleet grew and bigger boats were added. The business continues to expand with new generations of Clark’s becoming involved..
Fenn’s Lawn. From 1900 until the 1940s this was Fenn & Burfoot Boat Hire. After the Second World War it was used by Percy Dann and in the 1960s, John Hicks bought the site. This is now Kris Cruisers
Boat building yard. this was later incorporated into the public area


Southlea Road
Datchet Raw Water intake. This sends water to the Queen Mother and Wraysbury reservoirs.
Woolacombe. The property which is thought to have been built in the late 1920’s or early 1930’s was originally a private society club, later converted into a private home. There was previously a house here called Roseneau. When it became vacant the Crown Estate purchased it to ensure protection of the riverfront.
Poulson’s Club. This was a night club or entertainment venue with big variety stars and singers, banqueting etc.

Sources
Datchet History. Web site
Datchet Village Society. Web site
Kris Cruisers. Web site
Wikipedia. Datchet Station. Web site
Windsor and Maidenhead Council. Web site

This posting covers sites north of the river only. South of the river is Albert Bridge

Post to the north Windsor Home Park Eastern riverside and Datchet and Southlea
Post to the east Ham Island and Nickcroft Ait


Southlea Road
This road now goes to the Albert Bridge and is thus a new road

Southlea Farm Lane
This lane was the original road which went to the riverside but did not cross it. This was replaced by the current Southlea Road when Albert Bridge was built.St Helen’s Church, Bishopsgate. In 1263 St Helen’s nunnery was endowed with property in Datchet.  A Manor of Datchet St Helen’s thus existed although its possessions were mixed up with the Manor of Datchet. It has been assumed that Southlea farm was the administrative centre for the Manor of Datchet St Helen’s, but this does not seem to have been so. Later in the 15th Christopher Barker bought up land here but the property was sold in 1631 and eventually ended up in the 18th with the Earls of Harewood.
Southlea House. This lay further down the lane but was burnt down in the late 19th  Walled enclosures here have been associated with St Helen’s nunnery at Bishopsgate in London, and described as the remains of a monastery far. However they are actually the garden walls of what was Southlea House


Sources
Datchet History. Web site

This post covers only sites north of the river. South of the river is Ham Island

Post to the west Albert Bridge and Southlea
Post to the south Old Windsor Saxon Town and Remenham Park

Nickcroft Ait
Before the Old Windsor Lock cut was built there were three long parallel islands here. One of these was called Nickcroft Ait, and an obstruction known as "Newman's Bucks" lay on the upstream end of it.

Sources
Wikipedia. Lion Island. Web site

This posting covers sites north of the river only. South of the river is Old Windsor Saxon town


Post to the north Nickcroft Ait and Ham Island
Post to the south Old Windsor Beaumont



Kingswood Creek
Posh private estate around an inlet from the Thames

Old Ferry Drive
This originally accessed the Old Windsor Ferry, now defunct.  It is now a posh private road with no access to plebs.
Old Ferry House. This is said to have been part of the farm estate. It is a 19th house fronting onto the Thames
Old Coach House. This is a 19th and older house. It was originally a service building for the Old Ferry House, for a coachman who also looked after the pigs. It was latterly used as a boathouse and a business as such.  It has a slipway.
King Johns Hunting lodge. This was once known as Place Farmhouse. Late 15th or early 16th house. In 1369 the manor-house of Wraysbury, an old hall and land were leased to John Jourdelay and Thomas Remenham.   In 1543 it was leased to Sir Walter Stonor who is said to have built the house    on the site of what was believed to be a Hunting Lodge of King John.  It later became a farmhouse. The house was ‘restored’ in 1930 and in 1978.  It is a timber framed house with an old aisled hall which is open to the roof and two arcade posts, but its date is unclear. There are 16th fireplaces with centred stone arches and foliage carving. Apparently a miniature steam railway runs round the perimeter of the grounds – the railway itself was shipped here from Disney in the US.
28 Wraysbury Boat House. Boat repairs, sales etc.  Family business on site since 1982.


Remenham Park
Remenham House, the house appears to have been a hotel in the 1960s but is now let into flats.
Wyrardisbury or Remenham Manor, owes its name to the Remenham family, who lived here in the 13th and 14th owning a mill in Wraysbury and later a weir and fishery. In 1538 the estate called Remenham, passed to the Stonor family and was later sold.


Sources
British History on line. Web site
British Listed Buildings. Web site
Windsor and Maidenhead Council. Web site

This post refers to sites north of the river only. South of the river is Old Windsor Beaumont


Post to the north Remenham Park and Old Windsor Saxon Town
Post to the south Runneymede Magna Carta

This area consists of roads running through a still rural area on what was farmland and marshes until the 20th.   Housing is scattered and in large plots, most post Second World War.  After the Great War people began to move to the riverside area –building temporary housing often as holiday homes sometimes on isolated sites.  Gradually ‘proper’ housing was built on these plots, and that is what remains today with a huge mixture of styles of building. There is a complete dearth of any community buildings – churches, play areas, amenity sites, anything.  Several roads are ‘private’ in that, presumably, they provide their own services and have a residents’ management board.  The area, once farmland, is very prone to flooding

Magna Carta Lane
Leading to Magna Carta Island

Ousleley Road
This may have joined to Ouseley Road in Old Windsor, via a ford

Sources
Fraser. A history of Slough
Wraysbury Village. Web site