The Thames Conservancy

Riverbank Protection.

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Seventyfive years ago The Thames Conservancy lived up to its name, that being the conservation of the River Thames and its river banks and towpaths. They were what was the forerunner or that common phrase of "Preventative Maintenance."

When and where it was required the river and its tributary streams were dredged and the banks were repaired.

Where the banks were showing signs of being erroded the watermen would protect that section with a concrete filled sandbag defence, as depicted in the photograph above, with the odd rebar driven through the bags to re-enforce the wall. Many of these structures I am sure still exist today. The burlap sacking would eventually rot off, leaving the concrete block in place.

The hollow behind the wall was filled with gravel and topsoil so that the grass would grow and the repair complete.

Speeds on the river were strictly enforced to ensure that bow waves were keep to a minimum

and the Thames Conservancy had a patrol launch to police the river, especially in the summer time.

The Hare & Hounds

The Eton College Beagle Pack.

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There was a time that the Eton College Beagle pack would arrive at White Place Farm on a Saturday afternoon as guests of the Astor family to run the hounds over the farm and Widbrook Common after hares. This practice stopped when White Place Farm was sold to Ham River Gravel.

There has been another Beagle pack in the Cookham area in the early 1900's as my aunt Amy Field was awarded a hares foot mounted on a plaque for being the first at the scene of a kill. I am still invesigating whereabouts this pack was located.

Cookham Dean for many years was the home for a large pack of Stag Hounds. Hence the name of Kennel Lane in the Dean. Yes, stags roamed the countryside around Cookham. There is reference that royalty came to enjoy the hunt, as Windsor Forest did extend as far as the Cookham's. Of course one finds that hard to comphrehend when looking at the countryside today.

If you want to know the Time ask a Policeman.

Those were the days!

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Those were the days when the policeman knew everyone on his beat, or patch as the modern day constable would refer it as. The bicycle was then the mode of transport for the village constable. Even the Station Sergeant would ride a bicycle when making his rounds. Even in Maidenhead the only person in the lower ranks that had a car was a Detective Sergeant, and that was a Morris 8. The big Wolseley with its silver Winkworth Bell were for the Flying Squad and Highway patrols such as the Bath Road.

If as a little boy you were caught stepping out of line and you managed to escape the constable, he would always catch up with you in the end when you least expected it. Which was usually a good dressing down or tongue lashing, or he would say, "Do I tell your father?" As they would most likely meet up in one of the village pubs, or on the allotments. As they were all keen gardeners. Such were the Easton's, Tocock's, Holumby's and of course not forgetting every ones friend Joe Tubb.

Mind you it always seemed that they rode their bicycles at the same pace, whether they were on patrol, or going to the scene of a fire. I remember that on Widbrook Fair Day, a constable would always be on duty to check that everything was done according to law. The others being the Hayward and the Council Clerk.

Yes, and every policeman carried a pocket watch!

When Rinso was King, and Oxydol was Queen.

When your white's were

Whiter than White!

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Many a Monday morning wash was hung out to dry in Cookham using these clothes localy made clothespins or pegs by Gypsy Bands that roamed the countryside in their Vardo’s. These pins were crafted from young willow branches that were pealed and cut in four to five inch lengths and the metal bands made from used tin cans and carpet tacks as nails. Then the peg was split and the inside shaved to a taper. Then the finished pin or peg was slipped onto a thin willow wand of six on either side and given to the womenfolk to hawk around the houses in the village.

This rural craft may soon be lost. That is why it has been posted in the history blog. Some may ask how does he know all this. The thing is, that as a young lad I was taught to be very observant by my elders.

A little more Cookham Bridge History.

Barge Traffic on the river.

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The present Cookham bridge structure was built in 1867 to replace the previous wood structure that had shown signs of rot. The main river traffic in those days were commercial barges as this was the cheapest form of transport during that period, where goods could be transported from London to the Midwest of the country, such as Reading and Oxford and places in between. Later when the Great Western Railway took away the dry good trade, the Barge Companies switched to hauling limestone and gravel used in the building of Greater London. Of course the Thames Conservancy had a fleet of tugs and barges, which were in continuous used in keeping the towpaths and riverbanks in good repair, also to carry dredging equipment as well.

The first photo shows the six bridge fend-offs to stop heavy barges from colliding with the bridge support structure. Going up stream it was not bad at all. First the barge would most likely be empty or lightly laden which gave the helmsman or bargee plenty of steerageway. It was coming downstream that the problem occurred when the flow of the river was say two to three knots and the tug was most likely having to make between five or six knots to give the helmsman enough steerageway for the barge with a payload of say 100 tons. Any impact with the bridge structure could be close to 1,000 tons. That is why those fenders are still in place today, the weight of the traffic today is considerably lighter, being in the main pleasure traffic.

The second picture is one of the older steam tugs, which are now giving way to diesel power. This picture shows it passing the Upper Thames Sailing club at Bourne End.

The barge picture is to show the very large tiller that the helmsman had to use to keep the barge on course. The last time that barges like this was used, was when the Jubilee Cut was built, and the excess gravel was off loaded in the Cliveden reach and trucked to the Somerleaze Gravel site

The Toll Bridge Cottage

The Toll Bridge Cottage.

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Interest has been shown recently in how the Wheeler family who collected the tolls from those who wished to use the bridge in either direction. The daytime living space for the family was on the top level of the cottage and the sleeping accomodation was on the lower floor. The Wheeler family had one daughter that I know of, who went by the nick name of "Dinks", how that came about I do not know, most likely by her school chums. Village children were great in my day of coming up with nick names. For instance one boy went by the nick name of "Toots" another by "Pepper." So it is quite easy to see how Miss Wheeler, now Mrs. Chaney was so dubbed. She was married and moved shortly after the tolls were abolished.

The yellow block is to show where a sentry-like porch was built as a shelter for either Mr. or Mrs. Wheeler sit in and to collect the tolls from passing traffic. Mrs. Wheeler use to pass the time doing petty point, for she came well known.

The bridge was built as a toll bridge to replace a former wooden structure in 1867 by the Pinder Brown family, from which the village benefited from a share in the profits. For instance The Pinder Hall was built and paid for from money that had been raised from bridge tolls. I remember that in 1936 I took part in a Holy Trinity school concert, in which the senior classes put on "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", with Elsie Hales playing Snow White.

I will be doing more on the Cookham Bridge in a later blog, when I have finished my research.

The Bamford Potato Digger 1930's

The Potato Digger of the 1930-40's

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This style of Potato Digger or Harvesting machine was made by at least two agricultural machine companies that I know of. As with the one above made by the Bamford company and the other made by another well known company of Ransome, Sims & Jefferies of Ipswitch.

The spider wheel that can be seen to the right was to remove any potato haulm so that all the potatoes were exposed. Even then any prudent farmer would run a pair of zig-zag harrows over to expose any potatoes that were burried.

This machine only dug in one direction, so the horse would have to go back to where they started empty. If the potatoes were planted on an incline it was easier on the horses to come down hill than try digging uphill.

Later these machines were converted so a tractor could replace the horses and the digging could be done in two directions with two gangs of pickers working the same field.

In the late forties and early fifties these machines were replaced by the chain elevator style digger, but that is another story.