This is yet another view of the chain ferry slip beside The Ferry Hotel. But what I want t draw your attention to is the house at the left of the picture which is the original Georgian house called “The Grove.” It was at that time owned by a Miss Fleming. On the 26th of March 1919 and during a severe flood the house caught fire. The Cookham Fire Brigade could not reach the house because of the depth of the water. So they concentrated on playing water on The Ferry Hotel, as the heat was so intense. The High Wycombe Fire Brigade tried to come to the aid of the Cookham Brigade, but from the glare of the fire shining of the surface of the floodwater in Ferry Lane that the fire engine driver drove into the ditch and got stuck.
History has always had a habit of repeating itself, and now it makes me wonder what will happen to all those houses that have been built to the right going down Mill Lane and even Sutton Close. Now with the closest fire appliance being in Maidenhead and the Moor Causeway to be closed during a flood, it puts the whole village at risk.
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