This post is about summer in late Victorian and pre First World War Marlow. The season obviously meant different things to different people. For some it was a period of hot intense labour in the fields. For others it was time to leave Marlow altogether and holiday elsewhere. A surprising large number of Marlow houses were let out for the "river season", and then there were the houseboats that arrived, some staying for weeks. In good weather, the hotels and lodging houses were full, and visitors could find themselves staying in more unconventional places such as above shops (Or more pleasantly perhaps, they could cadge a room at Hambledon Lock). The arrival of tourists affected even those not in position to enjoy much leisure time themselves. It meant busier streets at the very least. And there may be an annual Sunday School treat or Slate Club or works outing to look forward to.
Enthralling Beauty
The beauty of nearby Quarry Woods was known far and wide.
It was a popular spot for campers, if sometimes a crowded one. The fact that some set up camp wherever they decided to stop for the night caused tension with riverside home owners who complained of opening their shutters to find campers on their lawns! Most kept to more secluded spots - though some were still technically trespassing on the larger estates when they did so. The stretch of river between Marlow and Henley was also celebrated, and there was a standing joke that you could always find at least a couple of artists set up opposite Bisham church trying to capture the scene. This part of the river was described by John Greville Fennell in his 1867 Thames guide as one that brought a "constant succession of scenes of sylvan beauty" that struck the gazer and left him or her marvelling with "enthralled imagination" at the loveliness of the scene. And that was not the most fulsome of descriptions by any means!
Official picnic parties apply here
Day trippers from London at least didn't need to find somewhere to stay. These '"Harrys" as they were often dismissively known, were usually the ones blamed for any sort of misbehaviour. Cheap day excursion tickets were available to Marlow from London stations - valid for travel on certain trains only from 1st May - 31st October. In 1880, one of these excursion tickets, third class, from Paddington to Marlow would cost you 3s 6d. If you could demonstrate you were a "genuine" picnic or other pleasure party, of at least 10 persons, (6 if all travelling first class) you could also get lower train fares. Perhaps you had to let the station master examine your picnic hamper! These lower fares were no good for a spontaneous large family outing as you needed to apply for them in advance and in writing.
For most the river was the focus of their trip so luckily Great Western Railways would transport your boat for you should you be fortunate enough to own one. This was at an added cost of course. If your craft was small enough to fit in the guards van or if it could be strapped to the top of an ordinary passenger carriage, it would cost you 2d a mile with a minimum charge of 5s and reductions were possible if at least 4 crew were traveling on the same train. Larger boats had to travel in expensive coaches of their own. For most, hiring a boat was much more practical. The boat houses such as Haynes, Shaws, and Meakes and Redknapp offered all kinds of river craft from punts and canoes to steam launches. Alternatively many inns and hotels could provide you with the smaller vessels (sometimes by partnering with one of the same boathouses).
Advertising the fact that you could provide facilities for boating parties and fisherman was a way for hotels and inns to cash in on these tourists who may have just wanted somewhere to eat or someone to provide them with a picnic. If you were on a big group outing or a "beanfeast" , perhaps organised by a workplace, then some establishments turned their nose up at serving you. They did not want the reputation of somewhere where guests looking for a little genteel rest would be disturbed by a large noisy group. So at times the Fishermen's Retreat and the Crown Hotel advertised they did not accept "beanfeasts" but on the other hand, the Railway Hotel (later the Marlow Donkey) welcomed them. For longer stays, Dickens's Dictionary of the Thames (1889 edition) said the numerous hotels and accomodation providers in town catered for "tourists of all classes".
Some of our visitors came some way to enjoy the riverside. In 1899 Great Western formed an alliance with Great Central Train company to bring visitors in from the Midlands area. The first train was an excursion one from Leicester which arrived in early July, bringing a large party for a day on the river. Or whatever part of the day was left after the time taken to travel here.
The boating parties were described as frequently "noisy and half drunken" and their habit of landing at the parish churchyard and "tramping over the graves" lead to many complaints.
1873, July 18 1914 as above
South Bucks Standard - 25th September 1891, 14 October 1892, 11th August 1893, 13 April 1894, 14th July 1899, 22 June 1900, 5 July 1901, 10 June 1904, 6 July 1906 as above
Bucks Gazette - 3 November 1832, as above
London Courier and Evening Gazette 8 November 1832, as above
©Marlow Ancestors