Category Archives: 19th Century up to WW-1

The strange tail of the Chalvey Stabmonk

Sabaziuos Mone

Few people today will have heard of the bizarre ‘Stabmonk’ ceremony that took place annually on Whit Monday in Chalvey where a plaster-cast effigy of a monkey was given a mock funeral and burial. The first printed reference to the

Ploughing Match 1913

The photographs below are from The Royal South Bucks Ploughing Match and Agricultural Show held at Cippenham 1st October 1913. The ploughing competition took place on Josiah Gregory’s Farm (Western Farm). The field in the pictures is probably south of

Queen Anne’s Well, Chalvey

Queen Anne’s Well is said to have first been used to supply drinking water to the monarch at Windsor Castle at least 300 years ago. It wasn’t a well in the sense generally recognised today, but actually a spring. The

Disastrous Fire at Cippenham Green, 1908

A century ago, house fires were much more common than they are today. Open hearths and naked-flame lighting created opportunity for accidental fires to start and the higher flammability of furnishings meant that they could take hold with rapidity. The

Comparing Old Cippenham with The Present Day

The National Library of Scotland has created a superb online resource for making comparisons between historic Ordnance Survey maps and Esri satellite images. The image below has been created using this resource to compare the 1897 OS map with the

Earliest photograph of Cippenham

This is probably the earliest photograph of Cippenham, taken at the village centre. The image was supplied by Slough Museum and their record states that it was from 1907. The view is along Lower Cippenham Lane with the pond to

Shocking practices of Cippenham villagers

Cippenham Agriculture 1909/1910

This image shows Cippenham villagers indulging in the long-forgotten practice of “shocking up”. Corn stalks were gathered into bundles, placed upright and bound up, so that they would dry out. The image is one from a delightful photograph album currently

Sir John Herschel and Jos Langton of Cippenham Court Farm

Sir John Herschel (1792-1871), was the only son of Sir William Herschel. Like his father, Sir John was one of the foremost scientists of his age and also lived at Observatory House in Wellington Road, Slough. He made enormous contributions