Maidenhead, Berkshire

Historical Description

Maidenhead, a corporate borough, a market-town, and a parish in Berks. The town stands adjacent to the river Thames and the G.W.R. at the boundary with Bucks, 6¼ miles NW of Windsor, 9 E by S from Henley, and 24 by rail and 26 by road from London. Its history was written to the length of a volume by Mr Gorham, once incumbent of its chapelry and afterwards vicar of Bramford Speke, but it really contains little matter of any note. Its name at some earlier period was Sowth Ealington or Sudlington, and it is said by Leiand that this was afterwards changed popularly into Maidenhead in consequence of some monkish exhibition at it of an alleged holy virgin's head, commemorated by a window in the modern church. But the historical name, as occurring in several ancient records, was Maidenhithe or Maydenehythe, and is supposed to have been derived from a great wharf for timber which existed on the adjacent part of the Thames prior to the erection of a timber bridge in the 13th century. The bridge became a thoroughfare of much consequence, and made some figure in several public events. A chantry was established in the town by Margaret, second queen of Edward I., and had for one of its objects the maintaining and repairing of the bridge. The corporation of the town also were authorised to exact a pont-age upon all merchandise, and to take a tree annually out of Windsor Forest for the same object. A skirmish took place in the town in the time of Richard II.; the bridge was held by the Duke of Surrey, and Henry IV. had great difficulty in crossing. James I., after a day's hunting, rode unattended into the town, and had a ludicrous encounter at the inn with the vicar of Bray and the curate of Maidenhead. Charles I. in 1647, after several years separation from his three children, was allowed to meet them at the Greyhound Inn. A party of James II.'s Irish soldiers were posted at the bridge in 1688 to impede or stop the advance of the Prince of Orange to the metropolis, but at the mere sound of a Dutch march played by some of the townsmen they ran off in a panic and abandoned their cannon. The town, from its situation on the principal western road, was unavoidably subjected to annoyance from the troubles between the time of the Reformation and that of the Revolution, and Maidenhead Thicket, which lies at the W of the town, was so specially perilous that an extra salary was for some time given to the local clergymen to compensate for the danger or cost of passing it

The country around Maidenhead is highly cultivated, richly adorned with villas, mansions, and woodlands, and very picturesque. The views of the wooded slopes on the Bucks bank of the river are surpassingly beautiful, and no portion of the Thames from the source to the sea is better known to artists, anglers, and boating men than that which is to be found between Maidenhead and Marlow. There are also many pleasant walks and drives in the neighbourhood, and hence all through the summer it is crowded with tourists and visitors. The town consists chiefly of one long street, running from E to W; it extends from the bridge to Folly Hill, or as it is now called Castle Hill; it is in-toe parish of Bray along the S side and in that of Cook-ham along the N side. There are many good houses in the-outskirts, and during recent years two new suburbs have come into existence, known as Maidenhead Court and Ray Park. The town-hall, which stands in the High Street, is a building of red brick with dressings of stone in the Renaissance style of architecture. It was almost entirely rebuilt in 1879, and it contains a large hall capable of seating 500 persons, a market-hall, public offices, and a police court, with police offices and cells. There is a small Oddfellows' Hall in South Street A recreation ground of 14 acres in extent was presented to the town in 1889 by William Henry Grenfelly Esq., of Taplow Court, and is in the Grenfell Road, and in 1890 Kidwell's Park, about 12 acres in extent, and situated in the centre of the town, was also presented by the then mayor, James Daniel Morling Pearce, Esq., of Crauford Hall. The bridge was rebuilt in 1772 by Sir R. Taylor at a cost of £20,000, is a handsome structure, and comprises seven large-semicircular arches of stone and three smaller arches of brick. The G.W.R. passes immediately S of the town, and sends off a branch along its W side to a transit over the Thames 3½ miles to the N towards High Wycombe and Thame. The viaduct carrying the main line over the river, immediately E of the town, has two flat elliptical arches each 128 feet in span, besides eight land arches, and is constructed almost entirely of brick. This bridge, which was designed by the late Sir Isambard Brunei, and is locally referred to as " Brunei's masterpiece," is said to be the greatest span of brick-built bridge extant, and possesses some remarkable acoustic peculiarities. A large and commodious station of the G.W.R. stands in the town at the junction of the Wycombe branch with the main line, 24 miles from Paddington. The town contains the-ecclesiastical parishes of St Andrew and St Mary Magdalene, and of St Luke. The former of these was formed in 1875 out of the parishes of Bray and Cookham, and the latter in 1866 entirely out of Cookham parish. The living of St Andrew and St Mary Magdalene is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford; gross value, £439 with residence. The church is in the High Street, was originally a chantry founded in 1270 by Queen Margaret, second consort of Edward I., was rebuilt on the same site in 1724, and again rebuilt in 1826. The present church is a structure of brick in mixed styles, and is not specially interesting. The living of St Luke is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford; gross value, £410, in the-gilt of the Bishop of Oxford. The church is a modern building of freestone in the Early English style. The church of St Mark, erected in 1873 for the use of the inmates of Cookham Union Workhouse, is a cruciform building of stone, and is served by the clergy of St Luke's. St Peter's, a chapel of ease to St Luke's, is a small building of corrugated iron in the Marlow Road. St Paul's Church, in the High Town Road, a building of red brick in the Early English style, was. erected in 1887-89, and is a chapel of ease to the church of All Saints. Boyne Hill is an ecclesiastical parish which is noticed separately. The Roman Catholic church in the Cookham Road is a fine building of red brick, flint, and stone, in the Early English style, and there are Baptist, Particular Baptist, Congregational, Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan chapels. There are almshouses for eight poor men and their wives, with an endowment of about £250 a year, and there are several useful and valuable charities. The town has a head post office, a county police station, an inland revenue office, two banks, several good hotels, and is a seat of petty sessions and a polling place. There is a corn market every Wednesday, and there were formerly three annual fairs. There are a cycle manufactory, four large breweries, and a large corn-mill, the latter being driven by the weir-water from a solid stone lock known as Boulters Lock, on the river, about half a mile above the bridge. The town was chartered by Edward III., and is now governed by a high steward, a mayor, 4 aldermen, and 12 councillors, who also act as the urban sanitary authority. The borough has a commission of the peace and a police force. The area of the borough is. 2123 acres, and the population, 10,607 persons. Population. of the ecclesiastical parish of St Andrew and St Mary, 3167; and of St Luke, 5473.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Church Records

The register St. Andrew and St. Mary Magdalene dates from the year 1862.

The register of St. Luke's dates from the year 1866.

Churches

Church of England

Baptist

Congregational

Methodist

Roman Catholic

Civil Registration

Maidenhead was in Cookham Registration District from 1894 to 1896 and Maidenhead Registration District from 1896 to 1974

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Maidenhead from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Maidenhead)
• Kelly's Directory of Berkshire, 1915

Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Berkshire is available to browse.

Maps

Online maps of Maidenhead are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Berkshire papers online:

• Reading Mercury
• Windsor and Eton Express
• Berkshire Chronicle

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitations of Berkshire 1532, 1566, and 1665-6 is available online.

Workhouse

The Maidenhead Poor Law Institution is a building of brick, built in 1836, to hold 220 inmates.