Memories of Horton (from Rosalind Willetts)

 Arthur Jacob Nature Reserve

There was a long high concrete wall to the south side of the Stanwell Road by the  Arthur Jacob nature reserve.  This meant the Stanwell road was always in the shade.  It was built to protect the public from the rifle range at Wraysbury.  The wall did not protect Dairy Farm in Coppermill Road from  stray bullets which was one reason why my great grandfather James Willatts, left Dairy Farm to farm in Wraysbury.

The Arthur Jacob nature reserve was named after the Arthur Jacob who was county Councillor for  Horton and Wraysbury and did much for the area.  He died  perhaps in the 1970s 

The Five  Bells:   

The  church had five bells up until the 1890s.  The church owned the Five Bell Public House and when it came to renew the lease it asked for a premium of £60. This was used to pay for the sixth bell which has a lengthy inscription for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.

In the 1950s the bells were unringable. In 1960 my father E Christie Willatts spearheaded the restoration of the tower,  This involved having a concrete ring installed to support the bell  frame.  The bell frame was renewed and the bells rehung.  The turret was dismantled to about half way down and then rebuilt.  The clock face was repainted blue.  The simple wind vane arrow and  cardinal points was removed by the Rector The Revd T.D Prentis for repair, but it never was repaired or returned.

St Michael's West door

The west door of the church which may well be 15thC in age  - I have not examined it for many years  - was last used for the wedding c 1922 of   Dora Brown to Herbert Wiggins.  Dora Brown's father ran the village shop. In the 1940s and 50s it was run by her brother.  Herbert Wiggins was a  market gardener who lived halfway up the Colnbrook road, by the Halfway House PH, both farmhouse and pub and cottages behind were lost to the  Q M reservoir. The Browns retired to the house Osmington on the village Green.  Some of the Victorian stained glass from the farmhouse was brought down and installed in it. Dora lived there after the farmhouse was demolished.

The bombing of cottages in Park Lane in 1941.  

This was random dropping of bombs by returning German aircraft. The cottages in question were just over the stream at the far end of the lane.  Turn right at the end by the pair of cottages, go along the track for c 100  yards over the bridge and there was the site of the bombed cottages. At the time there were young evacuee boys living there - described by my father as the  sweetest boys you  could find.    Many years later he ensured that their names were on the village war memorial.

Champney Hall & playing field

 During the war and well into the 1950s there were Nissan huts on what is now the Recreation Ground next to the Champney Hall.  They were lived in in the 1950s.  The field behind was the place of the village sports for the Coronation.  I have the programme still.

Mr and Mrs Champney's home

Mr Champney and his wife Margaret  lived in the 18thC house enlarged in Edwardian times opposite the Green at the corner of Park lane.   After the death of his wife it became the Margaret Champney Nursing home.  From  1952 to c 1980 it was a home for retired gardeners run by the  Gardeners Royal Benevolent Fund. 

Some random comments.  Rosalind

  Out of interest I have an 1868 six inch map revised in the 1880s of Horton and Heathrow.   Very different then  when my great grandparents were farming Dairy Farm

1. Stanwell Road.  There was a long high concrete wall to the south side of the Stanwell Road by the  Arthur Jacob nature reserve.  THis meant the Stanwell road was always in the shade.  it was built to protect the public from the rifle range at Wraysbury.  The wall did not protect Dairy Farm in Coppermill Road from   stray bullets which was one reason why my great grandfather James Willatts, left Dairy Farm to farm in Wraysbury.
The Arthur Jacob nature reserve was named after the Arthur Jacob who was County Councillor for  Horton and Wraysbury and did much for the area.  He    died  perhaps in the 1970s 

2, The Five  Bells:   The  church had    five bells up until the 1890s.  The church owned the Five Bell PH and when it came to renew the lease it asked for a premium of £60. This was used to pay for the sixth bell which has a lengthy  inscription for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.

In the 1950s the bells were unringable. In 1960 my father E Christie Willatts spearheaded the restoration of the tower,  This involved having a concrete ring installed to support the bell  frame.  The bell frame was renewed and the bells rehung.  The    turret was dismantled to about half way down and then rebuilt.  The clock face was repainted blue.  The simple wind vane arrow and  cardinal points was removed by the Rector  The Revd T.D Prentis for repair, but it never was repaired or returned.

The west door of the church  (this may well be 15thC in age  - I have not examined it for many years)  This was last used for the wedding c 1922 of   Dora Brown to Herbert Wiggins.  Dora Brown's father  ran the village shop. In the 1940s and   50s it was run by her brother.  Herbert Wiggins was a  market gardener who lived halfway up the Colnbrook road, by the Halfway House PH, both farmhouse and pub and cottages behind were lost to the  Q M reservoir. The Browns retired to the house Osmington on the village Green.  Some of the Victorian stained glass from the farmhouse was brought   down and installed in it. Dora lived there after the farmhouse was demolished.

The    bombing of Park Lane in 1941.  THis was random dropping of bombs by   returning German aircraft. The cottages in question were just over the stream at the far end of the lane.  Turn right at the end by the pair of cottages, go along the   track for c 100  yards over the bridge and there was the site of the bombed cottages. At the time there were young evacuee boys living there - described by my father as the  sweetest boys you  could find.    Many years later he ensured that their names were on the village war memorial.

During the war and well into the 1950s there were nissen huts on what is now the Recreation Ground next to the Champney Hall.  They were lived in in the 1950s.
The field behind was the place of the village sports for the Coronation.  I have the programme still.

Champney and his wife Margaret  lived in the 18thC house enlarged in Edwardian times opposite the Green at the corner of Park lane.   After the death of his wife it became the Margaret Champney Nursing home.  From  1952 t0 c 1980 it was a home for retired gardeners run by the  Gardeners Royal Benevolent Fund. 

 

On Saturday, 15 Jun 2024 at 20:47, Rosalind wrote:

You will by now have found the cast iron Cross I left at the church porch on Friday morning.. I found the array of crosses on the railings impressive, mostly from the 1890s.  This brings the number up to a dozen, which seems right  for my memories  of them in the churchyard in the 1950s.  What a lovely thing   for  them to have been found and restored.  They are special to Horton, and made in Horton.  I cannot recall any in Wraysbury churchyard.

I was most impressed by the size of the Tree of Heaven.  it is really large now.  It is of course now 50 years old.  I attach a note about this tree for the archives.

  While thinking of the churchyard I doubt if anyone now remembers the circumstances of the death of   Alan Shanks,  aged 9, whose marble gravestone with white marble angel ( it seemed smaller on Friday)   is up against the churchyard wall to the road.  It is still tended, but not with fresh flowers.  Alan lived in one of the row of cottages  just round the bend at the station end of Coppermill Road near Wraysbury Mill.   He was playing in a ditch nearby  when he cut his knee   on a piece of rusting metal.  The doctor in Wraysbury stitched up the wound.  But he developed  tetanus/sepsis and died.   At the time, mid 50s,  no one was really aware of tetanus.  Alan's death has made   me very aware of it and its dangers.

St Michael’s Churchyard, Horton

Tree of Heaven  (Ailanthus glandulosa)

The Tree of Heaven in the churchyard was planted in 1973 by Lady Janet  Young of the  Department of the Environment.  The D of E was having a campaign to plant trees, under the slogan Plant a  tree in seventy three. Lady Young was a cousin of Christie Willatts. He was a senior civil servant there (retired in 1973)

Plant a tree in 73;    Plant some more in 74

(Keep them alive in 75; chop them for sticks in 76).

In a storm in 1971 the great yew tree on the east side of the churchyard path fell down.  It was much bigger than the other yew tree alongside it and its branches swept densely to the ground.  Christie wanted to replace it with a specimen tree and was advised to have a Tree of Heaven (which he thought a suitable name for a churchyard). He was advised that this would be fast growing and resistant to pollution from overhead aircraft. He even travelled to Bath to see a specimen Tree of Heaven there in St James’s Square.

In time both the ashes of his wife Edna d. 1979 and himself d. 2000 were strewn at the foot of this tree.

Rosalind Willatts June 2024

Arthur Jacob

I have been researching Arthur Jacob - trying to find out why Arthur Jacob Nature Reserve was given his name.  I haven't yet been able to answer that question but I have found a lot of information about his  life in Windsor (Thank you Carolyn)

Taken from: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/theroyalwindsorforum/arthur-jacobs-of-jacobs-island-t733.html

 

 - o O o -

Arthur Jacobs (1863 - 1928)

 Arthur Jacobs of Jacobs Island

 

Arthur Jacobs was born in 1863 at the old Anglers Rest, an inn which stood on the site occupied by the Thames Hotel, built around 1906-1907, and of which he was to become proprietor for 22 years. Prior to that he was licensee of the Watermans Arms at Eton. As a boy he attended Eton Porny School and from his earliest days to the close of his life he was either a swimmer or took the greatest of interest in it.

At the age of ten years Arthur Jacobs went to Eastbourne to take part in a high diving competition, an open event in which some of the best divers in the world took part. He won the contest and this was, perhaps the beginning of a wonderful career in the swimming world. Even before this, when he was but eight years old, he assisted in the saving of the lives of two little girls off the Cobbler. His next exploit was to participate in the saving of the lives of two boys at Athens, across the river from Windsor Racecourse, and he also figured in the rescue of a gentleman whose boat had upset.

It was on 7th January 1894, that Arthur Jacobs performed one of the bravest deeds of his life. He gallantly saved a young woman named Elizabeth Burridge who fell into the river when the ice across the Thames to the Brocas gave way. For this act of conspicuous courage, which involved diving under the ice, risking of his own life, he was the recipient of a testimonial from over 200 townspeople who subscribed to the presentation. The gift, which included a cheque for over £21, was made on behalf of the inhabitants by the Mayor of the Borough of Windsor.

On another occasion he saved a Mr Wells and his two daughters when they fell through the ice, and he rescued two girls when he was just eleven years old.

Some years ago a Limehouse man, visiting Windsor, had the misfortune to fall into the river and was in peril of drowning. Arthur Jacobs without hesitation dived into the water and rescued the man. Subsequently there was a remarkable demonstration at Limehouse Town Hall, where Arthur Jacobs's bravery was suitably honoured by a well-earned testimonial.

It is said that if anyone ever got into trouble in the water he would never rest until he got them ashore, without thought to himself. The list of his exploits is too numerous to record, but it is thought that during a lifetime spent by the river he had been instrumental in rescuing over sixty people. He received three certificates from the Royal Humane Society and also the gold, silver and bronze medals for deeds of bravery.

Arthur Jacobs came from a family of established carpenters, his mother Sarah was a daughter of Roger Tolladay, a successful boat builder, who originated from Lambeth, and ran his own company in Eton, building racing boats for Eton College.

It is not surprising with that background that Arthur Jacobs began his passenger boat company. In his capacity as a riverside hotel and boat proprietor he was one of the most popular and familiar figures on the upper reaches of the Thames. Arthur Jacobs was never afraid to advance with the times and the building of the New Windsor Castle, one of the largest and most up to date of up-river steam launches, was a big venture that he undertook in 1923. The steamer was constructed using the latest methods on Jacobs Island, adjoining the promenade. The launching of the vessel created quite a stir in the town at the time, with children being given the day off school to watch. The 'New Windsor Castle' was launched stern first from the slipway which was built facing upstream because the area downstream of the island was used for mooring and letting small craft. Some years ago, David Pickin rediscovered the slipway and restored and recommissioned it. It was in use up to the 1960's.

 

A view downstream from Jacobs Island showing the rowing boats for hire and the earlier promenade beyond

  

An interesting little tale... When Lance Summers, boat builders, arrived to build the Windsor Castle and the Grand Duchess they asked for assistance to carry their anvil onto the island. Clifford Davey the captain of the Empress of India, who was a tremendously strong man, picked up the anvil and put it on his shoulder and walked across to the island. When the boat building had finished Cliff was asked to take the anvil back. His comment was "I carried it over, you take it back!" The anvil was so heavy that two of us had difficulty lifting it so the anvil was left there and the company still has it.

 A double-fronted boat house was first built on the banks beside Corporation Island in Victorian times and it is here that the Windsor Belle was built in 1901 by Edward Burgoine for Arthur Jacobs. Records show that she was built on Corporation Meadow (Clewer Meadow) which was to become Alexandra Gardens and Barry Avenue. Subsequently the boat houses were moved to the island, probably in 1905 when Barry Avenue was constructed.

Circa 1913: The promenade with the rebuilt boathouses beyond on Jacobs Island. In later photographs the boathouses are seen to be striped.

 

 The New Windsor Castle

 

 The New Windsor Castle turns in to Windsor Promenade

The boathouses on Jacob's Island where she was built are beyond.

 

 

The Windsor Belle in 1901

Other boats in the Jacobs fleet were the Woodland Lily, The Duchess and The Welbeck as well as many rowing boats and punts.

 

In addition to his Thames steamer and boat hire business, Arthur Jacobs was chairman of the Windsor Conservative Party and for nine years a member of Windsor Town Council. He died in 1928 at the age of 65. It is fitting that the former Corporation Island has long been known as Jacobs Island, probably since the 1920s and the construction of The Windsor Castle. The name serves to remind us of a famous name from not only Windsor's history but that of the River Thames also.