How Cookham looked in 1840.

How Cookham looked in 1840.

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This a restored map of Cookham Village in the year 1840. You can see clearly Back Lane, now of course known as School Lane, but with no school of course. Of particular note you will notice how many orchards there were in the village itself. Plainly marked on this map one can see the Venables’ Paper Mill down Mill Lane. Of course at this time the cottage Boot & Shoe industry was in full swing.



Scammell Local Delivery Vehicle

Scammell Local Delivery Lorry.

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A lot of talk about overweight vehicles has occurred lately and I remembered one particular lorry that was used extensively by the Great Western Railway. It was the five wheeled articulated Scammell lorry that was used to deliver goods from the railway yards to the waiting village or town customers. It was in daily use from the mid 1930’s and right up until Dr. Richard  Beeching,  as chairman of Labours  newly defined British Rail, decided to reduce the country rail network. And sell of all unused rights of way. The photo above shows the vehicle in its GWR livery. Having just a single steering front wheel, it was useful to use in tight highway situations.



The one horse milk float.

The one horse milk float.

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Up until the end of World War two the single horse drawn milk float was still widely used by local farmers to sell their milk to country folk. Of course in the big cities and towns large dairies had sprung up with their milk being supplied mainly from the west-country by either tanker lorry, or via what was known as the milk train full of churns of milk. With the advent of TT milk the use of glass milk bottles became the norm. I do remember my maternal grandmother in the 1930’s still having her milk delivered by milk float and the milkman measuring it out using either a half or full pint measure into jugs that my grandmother kept her milk in. It was then placed in her cool larder with a muslin cover with small beads sewn around the edge to keep the cover in place.



The Historic Gill Measure.

The Historic Gill Measure.

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When Lord and Lady Astor remodelled White Place Farm into a dairy farm, which began producing Tuberculin Tested milk by 1937. It became the very first dairy farm in the country to go TT attested.

Holy Trinity School was one of the first schools to receive this milk at the cost of one half penny per day. It came in the Gill size milk bottle, which in those days was the smallest liquid measure in commercial use on the farm.



My Lady Ferry.

My Lady Ferry.

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Once again I have found another Cookham photo of the ferryman and his boat at My Lady Ferry. Which at one time was one of the ferry crossings that the public could take on a Sunday afternoon walk known by all as “The Three Ferries.” With of course a stop off at the Cookham Lock for a nice cream tea served up by the lock keepers wife.



The Bear Hotel in the 1920's.

The Bear Hotel in the 1920's.

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A lot has been in the press of late about bringing life back into the town. So I dug up this old photo taken most likely by Norman Greville photographer, who had his studio right across the street from the Bear Hotel. The store right next to the hotel in the foreground was James Moore, Men and Boys Outfitters, and the manager I remember well was a Mr. Bennett.



Another William Bailey Photo.

Another William Bailey Photo.

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This is another view of the east end of Cookham high street by William Bailey, taken again in the 1890’s. You will note that at the junction of the High Street and Sutton Road that the Tarrystone is missing. This was during the time when it decorated the Venables garden down Mill Lane. It is now located at the north-east corner of Sutton Road and Odney Lane, which is thought to be very close to the original site of Sarsen stone as a boundary marker.