Slough, Buckinghamshire
Historical Description
Slough, a town in Upton-cum-Chalvey and Stoke Poges parishes, Bucks, on the G.W.R., on which it forms an important station at the junction of the branch to Windsor, 2 miles NNE of Windsor, 1½ mile N of Eton, and 18½ miles from London. It stands on gravelly soil, is remarkably salubrious, and has grown rapidly from the condition of a village to that of a well-built and rapidly increasing town. It includes Upton Park, consisting of numerous first-class residences, with a fine view of Windsor Castle, also Herschell House, the seat of successively Sir Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel and his son Sir John Frederick William Herschel, where the former erected his large telescope, and made most of his discoveries. It is a seat of petty sessions, and has a head post office, some good hotels, and a weekly market for cattle, which is held on Tuesday. The Leopold Institute and Public Hall in the High Street, erected in 1887, is a large building of red brick, containing a large room capable of seating 600 persons, a library and reading-room, and other apartments. The British Orphan Asylum is a fine building opposite the railway station, originally built for an hotel, and having accommodation for over 200 children. The church of St Mary in Church Street, was originally erected in 1837, but was greatly altered and enlarged in 1876-78, and is now a fine building with over 1000 sittings. The old parish church of St Lawrence, Upton, is a small but ancient Norman building, consisting of chancel, nave, S aisle with N porch and central tower. It contains some ancient brasses and some good stained windows. There is a church at Chalvey dedicated to St Peter, which was erected in 1860-61 from the designs of the late G. E. Street, B.A., and is a handsome building, consisting of chancel, nave, N porch, and western bell turret. There are also Roman Catholic, Congregational, Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan chapels. The living of Upton-cum-Chalvey, with St Lawrence and St Peter, is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford; net value, £392, in the gift of the Bishop of Oxford. Area of the parish of Upton-cum-Chalvey, 1943 acres; population, 7700.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Buckinghamshire | |
Civil parish | Stoke Poges | |
Hundred | Stoke | |
Poor Law union | Eton |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1539.
Churches
Church of England
dedication unknown
Civil Registration
Slough was in Eton Registration District from 1894 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Slough from the following:
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Buckinghamshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Slough 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 Buckinghamshire papers online:
Visitations Heraldic
A full transcript of the Visitation of Buckinghamshire, 1634 is online