Village Playmates around 1900.

Village Playmates around 1900.

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In this photo taken around 1900 are the children of two Cookham families that went to school together and lived just across the High Street from one another. Taken at the gate of the Spencer home of Fearnlea. In front at thge left are Stanley and Gilbert Spencer. The girls are Amy, Flo, Sheila and Peggy, with my father George William Gray Hatch leaning against the gate post. The Hatch family all took music lessons from Mr. Spencer, with my aunt Sheila who went on to become a member of Covent Garden Opera. She also changed her name to Nell, I think she at one time aspired to being another Nellie Melba.

Cleaned up Photo.

Cleaned up Photo from Bounty Pub.

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After cleaning up the photo which hangs in the Bounty Pub, I have done some research on British light aircraft of the 1930's and have come to the conclusion that it is most likely to be a deHavilland Moth Minor Coupe. The Moth Minor became very popular with Aero Clubs as this aircraft could be purchased for £575.0.0. Its forerunner was the experimental DH Swallow, of which only one was built in 1931.

As I mentioned before, it was well known that open spaces like Cockmarsh and Widbrook were used for practice landings and take-offs.



Fly in at Cockmarsh 1930's

The Miles Majester 1930's vintage.

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Thanks to "Jabber." bringing up the subject in an old photo that now hangs in The Bounty Public house. I do recognise the Miles Majester two seater trainer in the background. In the 1930's The Miles Aircraft Company was very busy producing these aircraft for the Royal Air Force and many of the newly formed Aero Clubs like White Waltham and Booker. It was quite common for these club aircraft to land on a big open area like Cockmarsh, and of course pull up behind "The Quarry Hotel". Which by the way burnt down in the late 1930's. Not only Cockmarsh as it was quite a regular seen in the summer for pilots to use Widbrook Common as well to practice landings and take-offs. Because of the reflected glare of your photo I can't make out the plane in the foreground. As you may have found out there were a great many aircraft companies in existence in the UK in the 1930's. But most that did not amalgamate for the war effort went into other things. After the war The Miles Aircraft Company was bought out by Handley Page, who just happened to be in Woodley Aerodrome as well. They in turn went into making the Biro Pen under license. I have mentioned this before in this Blog that in 1937. The Alan Cobbam Airshow came to Cookham Rise, where all those houses now stand and The Alfred Major playing field is located.

One of the Astor fleet of cars.

One of the Astor fleet of cars.

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Having just returned from a holiday in the South Seas, one of the things in my e-mail box was a photo of a very young Lady Nancy Astor beside her new Rolls Royce. That then got me thinking of the 1930’s when the garages at Cliveden held a total of twenty cars, of which a great number were American left hand drive models. One of these cars was a silver grey Cord tourer, which had been given to the then Hon. William Waldorf Astor as a 21^st birthday present. By 1936 this car had found its way down to White Place Farm, there the front bumper was removed by the farm engineer Ernie Holland and a frame was attached to the chassis so a hay sweep could be attached. This of course would speed up the hay making process of bringing the hay into the hayrick elevator. Previous to this, horse pulled sweeps had been used. As little boys we enjoyed perched up on the back seat as Ernie drove around the field sweeping the hay. The car was then put in a barn and covered up until the next season. This practice carried on until the war and the car went back to Cliveden. I have no idea what happened to all those cars, most likely sitting in a museum somewhere, as today they would be a collector’s item.

An Historical Christmas Greeting.

An Historical Christmas Greeting.

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Roasting Chestnuts around an old open log fire and playing with new toys and reading all my new annuals at Widbrook. That would of course been over 70 years ago. Now we can send cards and greetings via the internet. Anyway this is the same greeting that I used in my other blog, Click on the bottom right corner to get a full screen view. 

A 160 Years of Change.

160 Years of Change.

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Click on this map to get an enlargement view of this map and then print it off. The take a walk around the village to find what buildings were there on the map in 1852 and the changes that have altered the village up to 2012. It would be an ideal time at Christmas to walk off that rich meal, and to get a breath of fresh air, and for the youngsters to get an history lesson. One thing you will note that there was no Holy Trinity School.

A 160 Years of change-1

A 160 years of change - 1.

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Now that I am in possession of some 160 year old ordinance survey maps I thought it would be a good idea to produce maps of the same approximate areas so that you can note the changes. As I have said before people change far more often compared with the topography of an area. Place names change over time due to spelling of the day being more phonetic. The area I have chosen to start with is a portion west of Cliveden Reach and going as far as Widbrook Common east. The names of the field areas that I have named on the photo map are those given on the White Place Farm map 60 years ago.

You will also notice that the area I have name Tumulus you will note that it was named Bartle Meade, This we are told in history is where a battle was fought during the Danish incursion into England. There was up until the early 1950’s two low Tumulus mounds in what was then permanent pasture. These were flattened when the field system was enlarged to what we have today Of course the area known today as Battle Meade has been reduced to a small area south of Widbrook Park, previously known as “The Islet.”

The word Southey, depicted on the photo map as Upper and Lower covered you will find, a greater area back in 1852 back into what is now known as Maidenhead Court and the Sheephouse Farm.

Two other fields on the photo map called Upper & Lower Gardeners were made up from the two Southey fields by the first Lord Astor as summer grazing for his stud brood mares, as were two fields just south of Moor Hall. So these changes took place in the early 1900’s. These particular fields have been covered in a previous page of this blog.

 

 

The same area in 2012.

 

Click on the pictures to enlarge them to full screen.