Cookham (Holy Trinity)

COOKHAM (Holy Trinity), a parish, the head of a union, and formerly a market-town, in the hundred of Cookham, county of Berks, 3½ miles (N. by E.) from Maidenhead; containing 3676 inhabitants. This parish, extending south-westward to Maidenhead Thicket, and comprehending the whole of that waste, is situated on the river Thames, by which it is bounded on the north and east; and comprises by measurement about 10,000 acres, of which nearly 4000 are arable, more than 1000 grass, 93 in orchards, 151 wood, and 884 common. There is a considerable hamlet called Cookham-Dean, about a mile and a half to the west of the village, bordering upon Bisham, and consisting of scattered cottages; it is noted for its orchards, rural scenery, and woodland; and the wildness of its character, in the midst of a highly cultivated neighbourhood, renders it the more attractive to the lover of nature in her simpler form. A bridge has been built across the Thames, which greatly facilitates traffic, and affords ready access out of Buckinghamshire to the Great Western railway. The manufacture of coarse paper is carried on; fairs are held on May 16th and October 11th. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £14. 14. 2.; patron, John Rogers, Esq.; impropriators, the landowners. The great tithes have been commuted for £1252, and the vicarial for £480; there is a vicarial glebe of 7½ acres. Near the entrance into the chancel of the church is a brass plate to the memory of Sir Edward Stockton, vicar of the parish, who died in 1534, and is styled "Pylgrym of Jerusalem, and canon professed of the House of our Lady at Guisbro' in Yorkshire:" this no longer appears, being probably concealed by a pew. Several descendants of General Washington, and Mr. Hooke, the historian of the Roman empire, are interred in the church. There is an episcopal chapel in that part of Maidenhead situated in the parish; and at Cookham-Dean is a church dedicated to St. John, which has a chapelry district attached. The Independents and Wesleyans have places of worship. The poor law union of Cookham comprises 7 parishes or places, and contains a population of 11,060.