Historical Cookham is Six years old.

 

Six Years Old.

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On the 1st of August, 2014. The Historical Cookham Blog will be celebrating its sixth birthday. It has just passed the 120,000 mark of people checking in to look up historical information. At this time I would like to thank all those good friends that helped me in my research and provided maps and very old photographs.

We have also advanced in posting information in posting still photos, to now using YouTube and audio information. We have not come to the end yet as information and photos with topics still keep arriving.

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The Sign of the Sun.

The Sign of the Sun.

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A great many residents of Cookham pass this sign every day, and yet, I also wonder how many people have ever noticed it. This sign is embedded in the brickwork of a cottage just below the eave of the roof. Back in the 1800's, it was quite common place to have a sign or symbol like this installed on a building. In this case it was to show that building was insured against fire by the then Sun Insurance of London. Before I posted this blog, I made enquiries that it still existed, and I was informed that it is still in place. It can only be seen by either someone walking or riding a bicycle. So put on your walking shoes and look up.

The Pound Field.

The Pound Field.

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There has been quite a lot of conversation as to what is and what is not the area called The Pound. Today that whole area is still called the pound and has nothing to do with The Moor at all. The stream that crosses The Moor is called The Fleet, and the causeway bridge is known as The Fleet Bridge.

 

The map above is circa 1842, way before the GWR railway was laid in 1853 as a branch line from Maidenhead to High Wycombe.

Major Floods of Cookham

Cookham Flood of 1894.

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This photo was taken just outside East Flint looking towards The Moor.

 



Cookham Flood of 1947.

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This aerial photo is one of many at that time of the extent of flooding in the Thames Valley. I wish to thank once again all those of you who have contributed photos to help build the past history of the village.

 

I have also put together a three minute You Tube to let you know the weather pattern that lead up to these two major floods, and if repeated could lead up to the same thing happening again.

 

 

http://youtu.be/-HvaYVg4DjE



Home for Milking

Home for Milking.

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Once again I am using a voice overlay over a still photo taken on what is thought to be a summer Sunday afternoon by William Bailey a local enthusiast of the day living in the village High Street.



The Hatch Family of Oveys Farm.

The Hatch Family of Oveys Farm.

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We now get down to looking at some of my Hatch ancestors who lived and worked the last farm in the village itself. One thing that I did not mention in my recording was the empty beer barrels in the bottom right of the photo. From information handed to me by my father and my aunts, that he was a great one to entertain his friends with a barrel of beer always on tap. From other information I have gained, was the fact my grandmother did not approve of his little parties in the barn!