Life in 1500s Marlow

The 1500s Town -

The very earliest reference to a named street in Marlow that I have found is the will of Robert Sands of Harleyford, proved 1509, in which the testator left his daughter Jane a house and plot in Oxford Lane, now called Oxford Road. West Street is mentioned in 1574 and a little later we hear of "Hawkins Lane" leading to Hawkins Farm. We know too that the High Street, Dean Street, Spittal Street, Chapel Street, St Peter Street (and what we now call Station Road leading to it), Old Pound Lane and the part of Pound Lane which connects old Pound Lane to the High Street all existed in the 1500s though not necessarily under those names in all cases. In the first few years of the 1600s Quoiting Square (as Quoiting Place) and Potlands are mentioned and it is safe to assume that they were also present in the 1500s. The Potlands (note not "Portlands" as today) area included a footpath down to the river and church. This is now known as Portland Alley. It has been speculated that this might have been an actual roadway in the even more distant past. Similarly the idea of an old roadway connecting Spittal Street at around the site of the Cross Keys to St Peter's Street has been floated. In the 1610s we find mention of the Medmenham Highway (now Henley Road), Dedmere Highway (Dedmere Road) and Gun Lane (now Trinity Road). All were likely also present in the late 1500s at least.

The Danger of Smoke Free Homes..

In the collaborative Hollinshed's Chronicle of England, Scotland and Ireland published in 1577 writer William Harrison wrote that there had been recently a huge increase in domestic building in England. "Never so much oke hath been spent in a hundred years before as in ten years of our time, for everie man almost is a builder, and he that hath bought any small parcel of ground, be it ever so little, will not be quiet till he have pulled downe the old house if anie were there standing, and set up a new after his own device" As well as the new cottages and houses springing up there was much expansion and alteration to the older style homes of the rich. 

The population of England had grown considerably, doubling since the 1510s, so the need for new properties was obvious. It is likely therefore that the footprint of Marlow grew during the Elizabethan era and that individual streets became more crowded with buildings.

The building boom led to a nationwide shortage of timber by the end of the 1500s. Brick and stone buildings were both now commonly used for homes for the better off but wood was still needed for them. According to architectural historian Nickolaus Pevesner the hall of the Old Parsonage in St Peter Street Marlow was constructed the previous century if not earlier, of chalk with stone windows which shows another option that 1500s housebuilders of Marlow may also have used. There was a chalk pit up at Harleyford by the 1550s. The origin of the Old Parsonage is not certainly known.

The raising of the oak frame of a timber framed house occured once the frame had been left to season for a while by the carpenter who crafted it. The raising must have been a significant job, and probably involved helpers other than the householder and carpenter's workmen as it was common to have a little feast, drink distribution and celebration on the day of the raising, which sounds like a community thankyou. 

If you think of a timber framed building of the 1500s you probably picture a black and white or black wood and brick structure but according to the authors of The Cottage Homes of England this blackening of the wood was often done artificially in the 1800s, and Tudor woodwork would have been left naturally greyish most of the time. I have seen elsewhere however reports of house frames being "burnt" before use which implies possible deliberate darkening of the wood. Perhaps it was down to individual choice.

Only a few people had glass windows, the rest had holes in the wall, covered by translucent cloth. Floors downstairs in humble cottages were often of compacted earth. These were skillfully laid and not quite the equivalent of kicking around in the mud as you might imagine. Don't worry though, with unpaved streets 1500s Marlovians had plenty of opportunity to squelch their way about the town following any rainfall.

Chimneys had become common by the mid Elizabethan era, and indeed fancy chimneys, were a status symbol. Poorer people still made do by and large with a hole in the roof to allow the escape of smoke. Some household smoke was thought to cure and strengthen the timber used in the construction, and even to make the inhabitants healthier! It also smoked any cheese or meat hung from the beams and rafters of the house. For this reason the clearing of the air in the home caused by new efficient chimneys was regretted by more than a few people, including William Harrison. He couldn't believe the amount of coughing, choking and rheumatism caused by living in a smoke free home!

Smoke would have deterred domestic flies but it doesn't seem that mice found it too off-putting. Though keeping cats as mousers was common, an attitude of resignation as to living with some mice had to prevail. There were as yet no daddy long legs spiders in English homes however. They cadged a lift on ships from warmer climbs a century later.

A surge in home furnishings also occurred in the homes of all but the poorest (but remember that they made up the majority of the English population). William Harrison wrote that inferior artisans and mean farmers (his description!) "have for the most part learned also to garnish their cupboards with plate, their beds with tapestries and silke hangings, and their tables with carpets and fine naperie".

All household items cost far more in real terms than they do today so that items that we would not consider special were seen as worth singling out as gifts for loved ones and friends in wills. Reynold Shirwood of Marlow who left his will in 1528 as well as his valuable pewter bequeathed tablecloths and napkins. His wife Margaret mentioned napkins too and even a towel alongside her more obviously valuable amber beads, ring, girdle and raw cash.

The poorest people lived in cottages with one or two room downstairs, often with sleeping compartments reached by ladder above them. A yeoman family usually had more rooms downstairs, and might have a fully floored upper storey for sleeping, though that was still reached by ladder not a staircase. It is presumed that any people who could not manage ladders would bed themselves down on the lower floors. Most beds were straw filled pallets. Homeowners could expect beds with frames on which hangings for warmth and privacy could be attached, but other family members in the same household were not always so lucky. Servants did not expect any covering on their beds beyond an over sheet, and maybe not even that.

William, Lord Paget had Great Marlow Manor by grant from Queen Mary in 1554. The manor had been in Crown hands since early in the reign of Henry 8th. Tucher Bold had Harleyford Manor Marlow from 1516. In 1542 he got a license to have a preacher there to officiate worship as his home was so far from the parish church in Marlow. William Lord Paget ended up holding both Harleyford and Great Marlow. The other Marlow manors of the day were Semers or Seymours and Widmere. John, Lord Russell occupied Widmere from 1571. Earlier it was held successively by the Widmere family, the Knight Templars and Knight Hospitallers. 

Little Marlow Manor was in the hands of the abbess of the priory there, until of course the Dissolution.

Commercial life

Marlow is known to have had multiple inns and the like during the 1500s. The Upper Crown existed by 1596 (where Boots is now). Shopkeepers usually served customers from their homes. Marlow for generations had had two fairs a year which provided additional retail opportunities, as did the weekly market. In later times this market focused on meat sales but there is no reason to think it was not a general market in the 1500s.

Self-sufficiency was key for most people rather than commercial consumption. A cottage's garden was the medicine chest, perfumery, and culinary flavouring resource for it's residents. Some would keep bees for honey. It is often said that honey was the only sweetener available in England before the arrival of sugar but that is not strictly true. Sweet birch sap, and pollen from various flowers were available. Sucking the sweet young flowers of white dead nettles was the 1500s version of sucking a lollypop for the kids. Linden tree blossom could also be sucked as a sweet and made into a floral-scented tea. The roots and leaves of angelica plants, cultivated in gardens, also sweetened dishes.

The Bridge 

There had been a bridge crossing the Thames at Marlow since at least the late 1200s. It is presumed that the bridge of 1500s Marlow and earlier stood at the bottom of St Peter Street, as the new bridge constructed in the 1780s certainly did. Davy Shirwood / Sherwood left money for the repair of Marlow Bridge in his 1524 will. Historically the people of Marlow seem to have been pretty poor at maintaining the structure despite our bridge trustees having multiple pieces of land in their hands to rent out and thus gain income for necessary repairs. 

The People

While most people were not too far ranging during their lifetime it shouldn't be presumed that all the residents of the town in the 1500s were from ancient Marlow families. Not many of the last names of 1500s Marlovians were names that had been present in the 1400s and vice versa, implying plenty of population movement, even if it was only to and from the wider local area. A 1524 tax list for the town shows us one resident had come much further away - Henry Conrade the Dutchman. He'd be subject as a foreigner to additional tax. His occupation isn't known though quite a few Dutch and Flemish iron workers came to England at this time. I have some in my own family, though they set up in the Sussex Weald, a known iron making area, rather than Buckinghamshire. 

The countryside

It is an open question as to how native the beech woods of South Buckinghamshire are. What we see today may be largely the result of human manipulation due to the needs of the later furniture trade. That's not to say that beech trees are not native to England, or that the woods around Marlow did not anciently contain beeches. It is thought however that the woods started out as a mix of beech and other native species, most of which were slowly removed by humans so that mixed woodland became beech dominant woodland.  Whatever woods there were would have been used as foraging spots for Marlow's free ranging domestic pigs by those residents who had pannage rights.

Work

Agricultural labouring would have occupied the majority of men, and women also worked on the land as a matter of routine. Marlow wills suggest that sheep were the predominant livestock kept in the town. Married couple Margaret and Reynold Shirwood who died within days of each other, probably from a contagious illness, in 1528 mention in their wills growing barley and wheat. They were clearly doing well as Margaret specified that her farm cart is a horse cart. Horses were expensive and the use of oxen was more usual. She also talked of the ploughs and harrows that she possessed in plural terms, so we know that she and Reynold could make use of at least two teams of workers at once when it came to ploughing and harrowing.

Farms known to have existed in the 1500s are: Blounts, Seymour Court Farm then just known as Seymours or Seymers and presumably part of the lost manor of Seymers, Hawkins Farm, and in Little Marlow Monkton Farm. Most of what we now consider Marlow would have been only farmland. Large swathes of land, were kept as common fields and divided into strips for individual holders. This system would continue for many years after the 1500s.

Field boundaries where they existed historically in England were mostly banks and ditches with a hedge of hawthorn atop the bank. Hawthorn known then as quickthorn or maythorn was chosen as it makes such a good animal barrier. Hedgerows were also strategically planted at intervals with those trees whose leaves provided extra fodder for livestock (cows love young lime leaves and other trees have foliage that can be dried and used for animals in the winter), or berries and hazelnuts for humans. 

Even those who had other trades frequently farmed some land as well. 

I published a reconstructed 1500s trade directory on the blog last year which can be read here. As you will see from that post I found multiple men in Marlow occupied as bargemen, butchers, carpenters, innkeepers (who were often brewers too or at least their wives were), shoemakers and weavers. We also found one off individuals who were bakers, blacksmiths, drapers, glove makers, millwrights, and wood merchants. Obviously we can recover traces of the occupations of only a fraction of Marlow people during this time. Commercial fisherman on the Thames at Marlow are known earlier and later so we can safely presume they existed in the 1500s. 

Servants in grand houses such as the manors were usually male with the exception of laundresses and dairy maids. Only less well off families employed female servants (who were cheaper but carried no distinction). The male and female employees of farming families were routinely referred to as servants despite spending much of or all of their day out working on the land rather than in tasks we would associate with "servants". The word servant also referred to trade apprentices and shop assistants.

Young boys were sent out to fulfill apprenticeships as far afield as London if the example of young Peter Russell of Marlow apprenticed in 1512 is anything to go by.

Religion

The All Saints of the 1500s (not the church we see today) seems to have had a chapel dedicated to Saint Mary and probably still had an altar sacred to Saint Anne as it had done back in 1495 when Radulph Carter wrote his will and mentioned it. When chantry chapels were shut down by Henry 8th the one at Marlow was worth £8 13 shillings and 4 pence. The chantry priest then was a Sir James Grai (Grey, Gray, one of the most common last names in 1500s Marlow, probably in fact the most common).

The church warden accounts of the late 1500s show that the church bells, the ringing apparatus and the clock (vital for the town as virtually no one had any timepiece at home) required constant expenditure. A visit by Elizabeth 1st to Bisham caused one of the bells to be hastily mended in order for her to be saluted. Well you didn't want to upset Queen Lizzie did you? The church bells in the late 1500s were routinely rung at the anniversary of her coronation and on St Hugh's Day. I know what you're thinking- Saint who? Hugh's not well known today but he was once Bishop of Lincoln and Lincoln was the mother church of Marlow. Wills of 1500s Marlovians often mention gifts to the mother church as well as to Marlow church itself. Hugh's feast day was in November. He was the patron saint of amongst other things sick children, and appropriately for Marlow, swans. His pet swan at Lincoln had guarded him while he slept and followed him everywhere he went. 

Above, medieval St Hugh. Public domain image.

In 1595 some players were paid by the church to "play" in the "church loft" the location of which isn't certainly known. Presumably these were performing a religious play for the townspeople. The payment was made in May, the traditional time for Mummers plays. As well as the Church Loft there was also an unplaced "church house" in Marlow. Church lofts are referenced elsewhere, including at West Wycombe, where it was a separate building (and still exists). The phrase could also refer to the musicians' gallery common to churches then and which was usually sited above the rood screen. Plays could be performed on such galleries.

The churchwardens had custody of a set of morris dancing costumes. They were willing to let other parishes borrow these. What morris dancing, rooted as it was in pagan pre-Christian rituals, was thought to have to do with the work of the church is anyone's guess. May Day or midsummer celebrations were the main times for Morris dancing in Tudor England. 

Talking of unusual articles kept in a church, in some earlier Tudor parishes a communal plough was stored there ready for anyone to borrow but there is no evidence of this occurring in Marlow church.

At Little Marlow stood a church dedicated to St John and a small, moated Benedictine priory dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The priory was home to five to six nuns at a time. Margaret Vernun, prioress at the time of the Dissolution, received a transfer to the famous abbey of Malling in Kent, which would have been a significant promotion- albeit a short lived one as that was also forced to close just a couple of years later. The priory site at Little Marlow was given briefly to Bisham Abbey then leased to Elizabeth Restwold and John Titley. Elizabeth was already leasing some of the Priory's other lands when the nuns first left.

Margaret Vernun's origin is unknown but she was clearly from a wealthy family, most prioresses were. Before being based at Little Marlow she had served at St Albans. Margaret was a friend of Thomas Cromwell, to whom she wrote many times. How they met is unknown but the friendship was genuine. She kept and educated his son Gregory at her priory, and it appears Thomas visited her socially at Little Marlow. She and her other nuns had also gone to dine with him and invited him to Little Marlow in return. Entertaining one of the King's senior ministers was perfectly acceptable for a cloistered woman. Nuns in this era don't generally seem to have been as closed off from the world of men as we might suppose, indeed it wasn't an option for any prioress or abbess to live that way. They were landlords and administrators of the finances of their institution, ladies of business. The priory held lands not only in Little Marlow, but at various times also at Great Marlow, Hambledon, High Wycombe, Penn, Taplow, Wendover, Colebrook, Weston Turville, Beaconsfield and Benfield in Berkshire. At one point Margaret borrowed money from Cromwell in order to buy some extra land for the priory which she knew she could quickly turn a profit on. 

The nuns of course had a live-in male chaplain for mass and confession. In 1835 Margaret paid him £5 6 shillings 8d a year. At least one priest engaged by Margaret for her nuns at Little Marlow brought with him his own pupil which he had previously been engaged to educate. It was the norm for parish priests to supplement their incomes by taking in pupils so it is likely that the priest at All Saints church in Marlow had his own little "school" too. No other known educational provision existed in 1500s Marlow.

The taking in of both male and female residential pupils was also very common for 1500s priories. Cromwell junior had left Margaret not long before the Dissolution but Margaret was hoping towards the end of the Priory's life to negotiate the arrival of new residential pupil, a little girl that she had heard of as staying in Bisham. Margaret hoped that if she came the girl would be a comfort to Margaret in her "old age". We know she had had multiple pupils at St Albans and pupils before Gregory Cromwell at Little Marlow too. Such children came from well off families and it is presumed those families paid well for the privilege. A male teacher was provided by his father for Gregory Cromwell at the Little Marlow Priory with Margaret supervising his work. Another little boy shared his lessons. The bringing in of outside teachers seems to have been the usual way of serving the pupils in priories.

As well as her income from pupils and land rentals Margaret raised money by selling wood. The priory owned 8 acres of woodland. Her priory was also entitled to offerings from a chapel at Colebrook, for unknown reasons.

Margaret's distress at the impending loss of her Little Marlow home was poured out in her letters. She pleaded with Cromwell to do what he could for her and her fellow nuns. He secured her the Malling post.When Malling too stood on the brink she again wrote asking to be allowed to sell one of the manors belonging to Malling to fund either a one off lump sum retirement payment or ongoing pensions for her nuns. There was only so much Cromwell could do. In the end the manor sell off was not allowed to take place but Margaret did manage to secure a £40 a year pension for herself.

The closure of Little Marlow happened over several months. First the king's men came to assess whether any nuns aged under 24 were present and if so to declare them no longer nuns. The state didn't want young people starting out in the cloistered life. Margaret had 3 such women and the day they were ordered out she lost most of her community. A few months later the priory was shut entirely and Margaret and her last remaining colleague left. Four servants and a priest lost their places along with the nuns.

Before the Dissolution Henry 8th happily allowed the persecution of the growing number of Protestants in the country who were challenging Catholic beliefs. Marlow did not escape these persecutions. At some point between 1518 and 1521 John Gardiner of Marlow reported his own sister Agnes, by marriage Agnes Ward, also of Marlow for blasphemous (as in Protestant) beliefs. He also pointed the finger at a slew of other Marlovians at the same time, including Reynold Shirwood we heard of earlier in this post. There were clearly other snitches and spies about- poor John "Simonnds" and his wife (probably the same woman as Mrs John "Simon" above) were on a separate occasion charged with having a book of the Gospels written in English. This was a great crime as it implied you were exploring your faith yourself rather than relying on the interpretation from Latin of your approved local priest. Another time John and Isabel Gardiner of Marlow -the same John?- had to be forced to swear to the fact that they had heard Thomas Rave (perhaps Reeve) of Marlow say that pilgrimages were worthless and chapels dedicated to the saints pointless. Rave was already in trouble having been ordered to go to the Bishop of Lincoln to do penance for an unknown religious offence. Whilst in Lincoln he disrupted mass and was clearly unrepentant. The Bishop got rid of him to finish his penance in High Wycombe, unsuccessfully. The fate of the other accused Marlovians is not known to me.

Both Margaret and Reynold Shirwood, and other 1500s residents asked to be buried in the churchyard of Marlow. Burial inside the church itself required deep pockets. The Shirwoods could have afforded it but some people thought expensive memorials an example of sinful pride so would not ask for them regardless. Outside graves were not typically permanently marked in this era. 

Written and researched by Charlotte Day.

©Marlow Ancestors.

Selected Sources=

The Urban Experience: A Sourcebook : English, Scottish, and Welsh Towns, 1450-1700. Kiribati, Manchester University Press, 1983.

Copy of returns of vintners, innkeepers and alehousekeepers 1577 Bucks Archives ref=

D-X423/1 bucks archives

The Cottage Homes of England by Helen Allingham and Stewart D-ck 1909 published by Edward Arnold, London (population increase).

The Holinshed Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland Volume 1, compiled by Raphael Hollinshed for the Stationers Company, 1577, London.

History and Topography of Buckinghamshire by James Joseph Sheahan, published by Longman, Green, Longman and Roberts, 1862.

Many wills including those of Thomas Bevington, Reynold Shirwood, Margaret Shirwood, David Shirwood, Robert Sands. All are at the National Archives.

The Acts and Monuments of John Foxe by John Foxe, revised edition published by Seeley's of London 1856.

Home Counties Magazine article by Miss E.M Walford  (quoting bridge land property records from 1617) https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Home_Counties_Magazine.html?id=_HIaAQAAIAAJ#v=onepage&q=Marlow%20%22high%20street%22&f=false 1899 published by F.E Robinson. Volume one.

Records of Buckinghamshire Volume 5 compiled by James Pickburn 1878 for Buckinghamshire Architectural and Archaeological Society, Aylesbury. Via Google Books. 

Peter Russell of Marlow apprenticeship https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C5522927

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_of_Lincoln

Account of the Nunnery of Little Marlow by Walter De Gray Birch, published in Records Of Buckinghamshire Volume 4, 1871. Via the Archaeology Data Service https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/library/browse/details.xhtml?recordId=3254649&recordType=Journal

Reading and Writing during the Dissolution: Monks, Friars and Nuns  1530-58 by Mary C. Earlier. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2013.

Memorials of the Danvers Family (of Dauntsey and Culworth) by Francis Nottidge Macnamara published by Hardy and Page 1895, London. Via Google Books.

Historic England record for Little Marlow Priory https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archsearch/record?titleId=1036080

Lovelace vs unknown Six Clerks Office National Archives ref=

C 1/1306/53

Landlords Prince Albert Moor Common

Not to be confused with the briefly in existence Prince Albert in Marlow. Both came under Marlow for licensing requirements.

Gaps in dates represent gaps in our knowledge. For full historic lists of pub landlords many with pub histories attached in the Marlow district see the Pub Related Index.

1851-63 Joseph Jones. Wife Mary. Joseph also worked as a butcher.

1868- unknown landlord. Two customers found to have stolen pheasants upon their person in the tap room. They'd been poaching of course. 

1869-72 Edmund Shervall /  Shurville / Shervill / Shervel / Shurvell. Says on census that he was born in Great Marlow. May be the baptism 1836 Medmenham to unmarried mother Elizabeth. Wife was Eliza. Edmund was an agricultural labourer for most of his life including while the landlord of the Prince Albert. Eliza would have ran the pub on a daily basis while Edmund got another wage. This was a common set up in smaller pubs which could not get enough trade to function as the family's only income source. Edmund, Eliza and their children left for West Wickham, Kent.

1872 -86  Richard Ayres who was also a woodman. The J.ps granting Ayres the licence express the wish that he will live up to his prior good character and will not run the premises "in accordance with the very bad traditions" of the place!  In 1885 John Wakefield who lived at the pub was accused of sheep stealing from Barmoor farm Marlow. He worked at Greenlands, Hambledon. Sent to quarter sessions for trial. He seems to have been a relative of the Ayres. 

1886 - 97 Alfred Webb. Wife Sarah. Note: Alfred had a niece with the last name Ayres. This is a very common local last name but may mean Alfred was related to previous landlord Richard Ayres. Alfred's wife Sarah was assaulted by a customer who she had asked to leave in 1894 . [could richard have gone to ship inn cadmore end and died age 58 in 1895]. Alfred was charged with selling liquor at 11.20 pm when the pub should have closed at 10pm. He argued that those in the pub drinking were friends and relatives whom he had invited to have supper and a drink with him after they went to a sale together. They had arrived back at 10.50 pm, the pub had closed on time.  Sat in tap room as it was the only room still with a fire burning and it was a cold night. Bench believed him and case dismissed.

1897- 1902 James Frederick Plumridge. In 1901 used for inquest when a woman Emma Tibbs drowned herself and her 6 month old baby daughter Winifred in the water tank of their new home in Moor Common. Her husband said that his wife had known better times and was depressed at living in small cottage especially when she found the cottage had fleas. She had been up all night dealing with them and was exhausted.

1902 - J Grover or Grove briefly before James Frederick Plumridge again, also briefly. The pub enters a period of instability with frequent landlord changes, suggesting a difficulty in making the business a going concern.

1903 - Henry Talbot landlord. Customer jailed for assaulting him. Grabbed throat and tried to push him into the fire. Customer was disorderly and had been asked to leave premises.

1905 - Frederick Ward

1908 - Charles Read transferred to George Ambrose 

1910 Frank Edwin Wallace  who transferred licence to Thomas Plowman.

1910-1914 Thomas Plowman. He was  on the census as a widower (wife had been Emily originally from Bisham Berkshire). Thomas was originally from Sussex and had worked as a carpenter in the years before he took on the pub. He lived with his daughter Elizabeth and little grandson at the Prince Albert.

We generally list landlords up to around the time of the first world war. The pub is still there today.

Researched by Charlotte Day. 

Selected sources - 

England and Wales Censuses transcribed by me from microfilm except 1911=

"England and Wales Census, 1911," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X7KQ-2JV : 22 July 2019), Thomas Plowman, Hambledon House, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom; from "1911 England and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO RG 14, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey.

and 1881 West Wickham "England and Wales Census, 1881", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q27W-92K7 ), Entry for Edmund Shervell and Eliza Shervell, 1881.

Windsor and Eton Express 12th September 1868. British Newspaper Archive, via the BNA. South Bucks Standard 26th October 1894 and 19th March 1897 both British library archives, via the BNA. Maidenhead Advertiser May 8th 1901 as above.

South Bucks Free Press 28 December 1872 

Duttons directory 1863.

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N6DJ-X8R

©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to use this information with credit to the blog.

Jesse Collins Widow Research And Will

 Will of widow Jesse Collins of Great Marlow. Will written 1838, proved 1843.

Says she of sound mind and understanding.

Executor to pay any debts, funeral expenses and probate costs she has.

To the sons of her niece Mary Brown - Henry, James, Robert and  William £5 each.

To Mary Jane Blackwell and Sarah daughters of her niece Mary .... £5 each.

To Robert, Mary and Jesse [Jesse is female] children of her late nephew Robert Harper £5 each.

Jane, Rebecca, Robert and Stephen children of her nephew William Harper £5 each.

James, William, Rebecca, Robert and Jane children of her niece Jesse Bavin £5 each. And to Jesse Bavin herself £5 too plus a chest of drawers, brass warming pan, a ... pot and all her wearing apparel.

To Charlotte Carter, widow of her nephew Robert Carter £10 and to Charlotte's children Jane and Robert £5. 

To Robert son of her niece Mary Carter £10, a plain oak chest,a pair of blankets, a pair of sheets, one quilt.

To widow Elizabeth Walters of Little Marlow £5.

To widow Catherine Butler late Catherine Carr daughter of George Collins £5.

Her silver watch to William Collins son of John Collins. This watch was previously owned by that John Collins.

All residual property to Jesse Bavin daughter of her late sister Jane Carter [presumably the same Jesse Bavin niece of testator mentioned above].

Executor Robert Harper son of her nephew Robert Harper appointed executor.

Witnessed by Henry Beckett carpenter of Great Marlow and W.L Ward solicitor of Great Marlow.

Notes:

Jesse was born Jesse Harper. She married Robert Collins in 1789  when aged about 32. Robert was a publican whose precise premises are unknown. He died in 1826 aged 73. Jesse was one of the executors of his will and inherited half his possession with other relatives getting the rest. Jesse lived in a medium sized cottage with garden at Marlow Common in 1833.

Jesse Bavin was the wife of turner / chair maker and publican William Bavin. More on him here.

Will transcribed by Charlotte Day and then summarised here by her from a will held at the National Archives, Kew. Research also by Charlotte Day.

1833 Parochial Assessment Great Marlow Quoiting Square / Oxford Terrace

 The original assessment working notebooks with related correspondence from 1833 (to be used for the 1834 parish rates readjustment) have been preserved by my family. There are handwritten corrections to circa 1839. The notebooks are fragile however so I am gradually transcribing it on this blog so it is not lost. I am transcribing the parts in the order that chimes in with other research I am doing.

Layout I have used is:

Name

Property

Assessed Annual Worth

Any notes by me in square brackets

By Charlotte Day.

Quoiting Place [Quoiting Square] and Oxford Terrace [in Oxford Road. Note the assessors went out of property order in parts of this section. They did not say which properties were in Oxford Terrace and which in Quoiting Place, though in many cases I do nevertheless know where the properties mentioned were located].

Widow Dolby

House and yard

£8

*****

Robert Wakelin [a bricklayer. Wife Hannah]

House and yard

£8

*****

David Jones

House and yard

£8

*****

George Reading

House, yard and sheds

£9

*****

John Boulter

Crown and Anchor house [pub] and garden [This was Oxford Terrace, in Oxford Road]

£8

*****

David Evans [a chimney sweep who employed at least 2 men by 1842. May also have worked c.1848-53 as a "fire defender". Biography of his wife here] 

House and garden

£5

*****

Levi White [Later landlord of the Three Tuns]

House and garden

£5

*****

John Beaver

Cottage and garden

£3

*****

John Suthery

Cottage and garden

£4

*****

William Bryant

The Lodge house and garden [Oxford Road]

£6

*****

Thomas Piggott 

House and gardens near the Lodge [Oxford Road]

£8

*****

Sir William Robert Clayton M.P [At The Cottage, later Quoitings House, not to be confused with Oxford Cottage]

Dwelling house with conservatory, stables, coach houses, coach yard, shrubbery, walks, kitchen garden, green house, lawn and other convenient offices [off Oxford Road]

£70

"A small cottage at The Cottage" [usually gardeners lodge]

£2

*****

John Lloyd Locke Clayton

Dwelling house, yard, stable, coach house, offices and garden

£30 [Oxford House?]

*****

William East

Six almshouses in the occupation of poor widows "if rateable" [Oxford Road, William presumably a trustee or guardian of these charity properties] each:

£3

*****

John Flint

House, yard, stables, coach house and large walled garden [probably at end of Hayes Place, which opened onto the side of Quoiting Square]

£15

Wood house and garden adjoining

£2

****

Robert Looseley

Cottage and garden

£5

*****

John Cox

Shop and garden 

£5

House in front, woodhouse, gardens and yard

£6 10 shillings

****

John Tanner Hitchcock [in 1832 acquitted on a charge of stealing an umbrella from a fellow drinker at the Red Lion in nearby West Street. He had simply picked up the wrong umbrella. His wife was Ann nee Badger of Bisham who died in 1847. John was of Colnbrook at the time of their 1805 marriage. A corn dealer. In same property, which he rented, in 1840]

House yard and garden

£5 

*****

Joseph Martin

House and garden

£5

*****

William Gunnell [Quoiting Place]

House yard and garden

£5

*****

James White jnr

Cottage and garden

£4

*****

Joseph Cox [wheelright, likely working for Thomas Cox below]

Cottage and garden

£3

*****

William Bavin [Quoiting Place, a chairmaker there since at least 1830. Later a beer retailer who moved to St Peter's Street to run the Two Brewers by 1837 and was later at the first incarnation of the Carpenter's Arms. For more see here] .

House, shop and shed

£6 10 shillings

*****

Michael Field [Marlow doctor and horse racing enthusiast. He died 1834]

House etc

£4

*****

Gilman [a blacksmith, no first name]

House, shop, Shoeing house, yard etc

£10

*****

William Ward [Quoiting Place]

Six Bells Beer House, yard and garden

£9 ( Read his will here) List of proprietors of the Six Bells is available here

*****

Robert Ward [Quoiting Place]

House and garden

£6

*****

William Creswell [Quoiting Place, he was a shoemaker, who had previously ran the Six Bells]

House and garden

£5 10 shillings

*****

Thomas Cox [Quoiting Place, a wheelwright. Had workshop premises behind this that don't seem to be mentioned here!]

Cottage and garden

£4 10 shillings

*****

Joseph Horne

House and yard

£8

*****

Robert Clark (probably a builder).

House and garden 

£6

*****

Richard Way [came to Marlow in the early 1800s from Ockley. Wife Rebecca. He died 1836, Rebecca in 1821. Richard was a farmer in the 1820s. I am unsure if he was still farming in the 1830s. Their son Richard was a carpenter in West Street (later High Street), while another son was a poulterer in the High Street - see here - and another a publican. For the latter see here].

House and yard

£5 10 shillings

*****

William Stallwood [died 1837].

The Three Logerheads [Quoiting Place. Three Loggerheads pub, later the Queen], house and yard

£7

List of occupiers of the Loggerheads/Queen - see here

This assessment continued in a second post here

1700s Quoiting Square residents here.

1700s Oxford Road residents here

1700s West Street residents here

To find all mentions of an individual or family here, use the A-Z Person Index on the top drop down menu. 

To find other streets/areas in the assessment, search for them in the Specific shops, streets etc index here. 

 For posts about everyday life in Marlow for the people mentioned here see the post index here

Will Summary Mary Dorell Of Great Marlow 1849

 I obtained a copy of this PCC will from the National Archives, Kew. This I transcribed and now summarize here.

MARY DORELL / DORREL WIDOW. WILL PROVED 1849.

Asks for burial at Great Marlow Church.

Executors to invest £130 in public stocks for the benefit of her grandson John Dorell Bowen son of Thomas Bowen of Great Marlow until John is 21 when he is to receive the £130. If he dies before 21 both the lump sum and the income from it's investment go equally to testator's children= Joseph Dorell, Elizabeth Brooks, Jane Harding and Eliza Moss.

Son Joseph £130.

Daughters as above equal share in testator's wardrobe contents.

Household furniture and effects to be equally divided between son and daughters.

Rest of personal estate after debts paid to her three daughters as above.

Son in law Thomas Bowen and friend Robert ... executors.

Witnesses W.L Ward of Great Marlow and Henry Anthony bookbinder of Great Marlow. [Ward was the solicitor]

NOTES:

Mary Dorell widow of Great Marlow [Aka Mary Dorrell] Written 1847. Proved 1849.

Asks to be buried Marlow Churchyard.

Executor to invest £130 and take the dividends, interest and produce of that until testator's grandson John Dorell Bowen son of Thomas Bowen publican of Great Marlow is 21 then John gets it himself. If John died before then it to be divided between testator's son Joseph Dorell and daughters Elizabeth Brooks, Jane Harding and Maria Moss.

£130 to son Joseph Dorell.

Her wardrobe to be divided equally between her daughters.

Household goods divided equally between her son and daughters.

Anything else remaining in her estate after funeral costs and debts paid to be divided between her daughters.

Executors: son in law Thomas Bowen and friend Robert Footitt.

Testator made mark rather than sign.

Witnessed by W.L Ward solicitor and Henry Anthony bookbinder, both of Great Marlow.

Notes:

Mary was the widow of John Dorell / Dorrell. The family came from Oxfordshire. Mary lived in a cottage in Quoiting Square Marlow, very close to the Red Lion, owned first by Thomas Bowen senior, father of Thomas Junior, and then passed by will to Mary Dorrell's daughter in law also called Mary Dorrell who had married George Dorrell. If you are scratching your head at that- Mary of the will's son George and daughter Priscilla both married Bowens, the children of Thomas Bowen senior. I hope that helps explain the family!

Mary's daughter Priscilla, wife of Thomas Bowen Junior, predeceased her. The Bowens, a father and son both called Thomas, ran the Red Lion in Marlow for many years. Sadly young Thomas Dorell Bowen did not live to see his legacy payable at age 21. He died aged 16 and shares a grave marker with Mary. See the image  here

Mary's son George, not mentioned in the will, was also a Marlow publican.

Will witness W.L Ward was William Lakin Ward, solicitor of the High Street. 

Executor Robert Footitt was a High Street chemist.

Transcribed and then summarised from a will held at the National Archives Kew by Charlotte Day.

©Marlow Ancestors

To find all mentions of an individual here use the A-Z Person Index in the top drop down menu where you will also find a link to our other will posts and a grave marker image index.  

©Marlow Ancestors. Reproduction permitted with credit.

Hayes Place, Great Marlow

Earliest name "The Hayes". 

This is a very short street off West Street. None of the cottages wherein your Marlow Ancestors may have lived survive. Picture above shows the street in 2020, looking out towards West Street. Residents there would have had foot access round to Quoiting Square the other way and can also be given the address Quoiting Place as Quoiting Square was then known. Though in the heart of town in terms of being near to the river, High Street and main shopping areas Hayes Place was less than 10 minutes walk from open countryside going up Oxford Road or West Street. Though the homes there were crowded together there was just enough space for most to have small  gardens.

The first mention I have of homes on the site is 1832. In 1833 there were 15 households in "The Hayes". This was generally a poor address, though not grindingly poor or rough in the way areas like Dean Street were considered to be at the time.

Most of those who lived in the street had always been amongst the less well off but Hayes Place also provided refuge for some who had known better things- Robert Smith who had had a successful hairdressing business in Spittal Street became insolvent and went to live at number 13 for a few months in 1845 for instance.

On the 1833 assessment the properties in the street range from probably a one room very tiny cottage - that  occupied by "late Jane Moore" with an assessed annual value of only £1 10 shillings up to three houses valued at £6 10 shillings a year each, in the occupations of " late George Ward" [a butler whose wife Patience was a dressmaker. They left the town for Taplow in late 1832*], "Robert Reid" and "late Hunt". Note that these three houses appear to have been set off back from Hayes Place proper, and could be accessed just as easily from Quoiting Square. Jane Moore may have moved away from her tiny cottage recently at the time of the assessment but she was back later. She was a middle aged unmarried woman who worked as an laundress and a lace maker at different times.

Involvement in the lace making, satin stitch, laundry and paper making trades (as rag sorters in the latter case) plus domestic service were the most common traceable occupations for Victorian and Edwardian female residents of the street while involvement in agriculture, paper making, wood related crafts and brewing (most of the brewery workers will have worked at Wethered's brewery only about 5 minutes or so walk away) was common amongst male residents.

Someone not keen to gain employment or look after his responsibilities was 1833 resident Richard Lodge. Repeatedly in the 1840s he was fined or jailed for having abandoned his two sons John and William in Marlow.  There is no mention of their mother. John and William were together in the Marlow parish workhouse at the time of the 1841 census. They were both said to be 8. Could be twins but ages on censuses can be hazy and were rounded up and down. After the boys were beyond the age of being his legal responsibility Richard still found himself regularly before the courts for absconding from the Wycombe Union Workhouse. 

Talking of not taking responsibilities seriously - as the years went by properties in Hayes Place were not kept up to standard by their owner. In 1901 their sanitary condition was considered by Marlow Urban Council's medical officer as being likely to injure the health of the tenants with poor quality drains and cess pits too close to the homes.

Not enough had been done to remedy the situation by 1910 when drain water had seeped through the floor of the scullery of one cottage. Five other cottages [from other sources numbers 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6] shared two improperly built cess pits. The yard soil at the back of the cottages there was badly contaminated by waste water. It was decided that some of the outhouses had to be rebuilt and all the drains replaced plus the yard properly surfaced. It seems that this work took several years to actually happen.

In 1913 the council again inspected the area and found that five of the eight cottages were not in a fit state for human inhabitation.  At last action was properly taken. All 8 had their sculleries rebuilt on the order of the council because they were damp and unsanitary. The same year the residents had three wash houses built for them to share. This was for the common use of all 8 households. The yard was paved, cesspits removed, and new drains put in. 

It needs to be pointed out that the owner of these cottages was the very wealthy Sir William Clayton who had more than enough means to remedy the situation for his tenants but it took years of asking him and his agents for him to do so.

The road itself, originally a private road, was taken over by the council in 1906 / 07 and paved for the first time.

Given the conditions it is not surprising that some residents of the Place dreamed of moving far away. Robert and Edward White Shaw [Aka just Shaw or just White] who lived in Hayes Place with their widowed 45 year old mother Marion [AKA Mary Ann] in 1901 did just that, emigrating to Canada. Marion worked as a chair caner in 1901. She died at Hayes Place the next year. 

*In 1830 the their two year old daughter Patience junior died. The Reading Mercury of 26th July that year described how the child's father was away on an excursion in the country when little Patience became ill. She died swiftly leaving her mother "inconsolable with grief" and unable to tell her husband about their loss because she had no address for him. Married butler's usually lived in with their employers while their family lived in a nearby cottage. There is a reasonable probability given that George Ward worked for the Claytons in nearby Oxford Lane.

 

*****

*To read about Victorian Hayes Place residents Charles and Charlotte Flint (he an embroider) and Charles' family see this post here. I don't want to repeat myself by dealing with them here when I have already done a post featuring them.

To find posts about other historic Marlow addresses see the "Specific Shops, Streets...Etc" index here.

All mentions of a person on this blog can be found on the Person Index on the top drop down menu. 

Researched by both Charlotte Day and Kathryn Day. Pic by Kathryn, words by Charlotte.

©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to use this research or image for family or local history purposes if you credit this blog and link here.

Sources: 

1833 parochial assessment working notebooks, in custody of our family, transcribed by Charlotte.

Census transcribed from microfilm by Charlotte. Census information always remains Crown copyright.

London Gazette, Volume 3, 1845. Published by T Neuman and digitized by Google.

Buckinghamshire Council Report for 1913. 

South Bucks Standard 7th June 1901, April 8th 1910 and 8th May 1913 British Library Archives via the BNA.

Death certifications, GRO.

Will of Robert Colbourne the elder of Great Marlow Will 1839

  .

Robert Colbourne the elder, gentleman of Great Marlow. Proved 1839

Son Robert the old clock and all the cabinets then in his [the son's] parlour.

Rest of personal property equally between testator's children John, Robert, William, Sarah the wife of William Joy and Jane the wife of [?Harry Sale?] If any of the children die then their share of the property to be divided between his or her children . The son John's share to be invested by testator's son in law William Joy in government stock and the interest and profit of that to go to son John and after his death to John's children.

Son in law William Joy the executor.

Witnessed by W.L Ward of Great Marlow [This was William Lakin Ward a lawyer of the High Street] and Thomas Mathews grocer of Great Marlow. [Probably son of William Mathews grocer.See here]

See here for Great Marlow 1833 Parochial Assessment and it's description of property then occupied by Robert Colbourne jun in the High Street. 

Note the deceased Robert died at the home of his son in Marlow.  He is described in his death notice in the Oxford Herald as formerly of Shipston on Stour (Warwickshire)

Will transcription index for this blog here

Will transcribed and summarised by me Charlotte Day from a copy obtained from the National Archives, Kew. ©Marlow Ancestors. Reuse this summary if you like for family or local history purposes if you credit this blog.

Will William Ward Of The Six Bells

William Ward otherwise Piddleward. Beer retailer of Great Marlow. Proved 1849.

All furniture, china, books and pictures to wife Elizabeth as well as his freehold property the Six Bells beer house in Quoiting Square. She is the will's executor.

After her death pub to be sold by Sheldon Joseph Wilkinson of Great Marlow for the benefit of all testator's children.

Residue of goods to Sheldon Joseph Wilkinson.

Witnessed by Joseph Sheldon Wilkinson [note reversal of the man's first and middle names compared with in the main body of will] surgeon and Ralph Spicer.

Notes: Ralph Spicer was a lawyer who lived in West Street nearby. Wilkinson was a surgeon based in the High Street. You can obtain your own copy of the PCC will from the National Archives.

Look under Pub Related, Will Transcriptions and Person Index for similar posts.

List of proprietors of the Six Bells available here

©Marlow Ancestors. You are welcome to use my will transcription summary for family and local history purposes with credit to this blog.

But None Of Us Are Perfect! New Court and Globe House

UPDATED NOVEMBER 2024

New Court house and outbuildings were, controversially at the time, built in 1875-77 partially on what had previously been the grounds of Globe House in the High Street. I am uncertain how old Globe House was though I think that it was probably the home of Luke Medwin in the 1780s. There was another house too which stood next to it also fronting onto the High Street and also demolished to make way for the stable and other buildings of New Court.

Between (at least) the 1810s and 1840s the Hone family owned that other house and much of the land behind it which would become the site of the New Court grounds. John Hone left his High Street home to his son also called John in his will written in 1813 and proved 1819.

In 1831 the Hone property was empty. Two years later it was described as consisting of the house, lawn, greenhouses, pleasure garden, orchard, kitchen garden, stables, large store house and coach houses and had an estimated annual value of £50 a year.

John junior had married Susannah Gage daughter of the vicar of Bisham in 1822. She did own the house after his death but I haven't got John's will and their daughter Susannah junior who died young in 1844 left all her (unspecified) property to her mother so it is possible the house went first to Susannah junior.

Globe House meanwhile was occupied by Stephen Gardiner a merchant in 1841 and by Elizabeth Welch in 1851. It was worth £12 a year in 1833. Behind it were sheds and a yard. 

George Davenport lived there from at least 1861 to the time of his death in 1869. George had earlier in his life been declared insane due to religious mania and a generosity of habit that was considered irrational. George had for instance refused to prosecute a man who stole his coat on the grounds that none of us are perfect! He also couldn't stop giving money away to the point that the wellbeing of himself, his wife and their children was considered to be under threat. Thus the official declaration of insanity. 

By the time he moved to Marlow poor George was a widower. He had a paid companion to "watch" him, as well as four other servants. He died of apoplexy in 1869 aged 61. His obituaries speak of his great generosity to the Marlow poor so those impulses of his hadn't been entirely curbed.

53 year old Esther Wethered, who had an independent income, was resident in the house in 1871. Née Peel she was the widow of Florence James Wethered who had for years been the Vicar of Hurley near Marlow before his death in 1867. Their son Florence Thomas was also Vicar of Hurley. If you are puzzled about these two male uses of the name Florence, don't be. For most of history males were the only bearers of the name.

Esther moved out of Globe House to The Cottage, Oxford Road. Despite the name, The Cottage was not little, but a good sized house. There Esther died in 1903. With her at both of her Marlow homes as well as in Hurley was her long term parlour maid / housemaid Emily Eaton who was originally from Caversham.

Esther had actually wanted to move from Globe House into the Old Workhouse building which was put up for sale by the parish. She put in an offer of £1200 for the building but withdrew from the deal after the offer had been accepted, causing some ructions.

On a more positive note, Esther was a dedicated supporter of the Cottage Hospital both in terms of financial donations and practical gifts for the inpatients such as eggs for their breakfast.

In 1875 Frederic William Berger was the owner of Globe House and it was he who knocked it down, and the house next door which had been occupied by William Vincent Baines a coal and salt merchant in 1871. The demolition in itself didn't get people's backs up, it was what he replaced them with. The street frontage of the property was the stable block and coach house plus a brick entrance archway, the new house being well back from the road. Nowhere else in England, lamented the Bucks Herald, would you be allowed to put the back end of your stables onto a town's main street. For others the red brick of those stables and the size of the arch were a vulgarity no matter where they were placed. In the building trade and architecture community the archway in particular was seen as a triumph of design however.

Globe House had had an archway entrance too, there are some old photos of Marlow which show it however this was itself apparently not hugely old as property descriptions of what I believe to be Globe House in the late 1700s say that the arch then had a room at the top, something which the photographed arch clearly does not so that must be a later archer.

The architect of New Court was not a Marlow man but the builder of the stabling and archway was, Thomas Corby, based right next door to the new stable block. He, his father and their workers built so much of Marlow at the time. I will do a separate post on him and his work in the future. He may have actually built the house as well.

Frederic Berger had previously been living at Court Garden house in Marlow. Hence the not very original New Court title for his new home. He was a horticultural enthusiast famed in gardening circles, especially for the full orchard within a glass house he had at Court Garden. He had much less space to play with - between 2.5 and 3 acres depending on what source you believe - at New Court. But he made sure to include a gardener's lodge within his plans, a vital thing for attracting and keeping the most skilled head gardeners. The grounds also contained substantial glass houses, a vinery, a small orchard and pleasure grounds. Inside the house were seven bedrooms, a morning room, study, dining room, drawing room and kitchen.

Unfortunately Frederic died in 1878 and the house was sold. I could not decipher the name of the person who bought it. It was sold again in 1880 by Mr Norman Layton. See my post on the Rookery in Marlow here for more of how he fits into the Marlow story. 

In 1883 Jane Ward, widow bought the house for her and her (grown up) children. Née Hoane she was a Marlow woman born 1814. Her husband William Lakin Ward was of Essex origin but by then practised in Marlow as a successful solicitor. He was the Clerk to the local Magistrates and the Clerk of the Commissioner of Property, Land and Income Taxes in Marlow. Many a Marlow will I have transcribed from the Victorian era was witnessed or drawn up by him. He died in 1872 before the family moved to New Court. 

Jane was one of those women who were able to vote for the first time when County Councils were first formed in 1889. Not only did she vote  but she banded together with a group of other Marlow women to nominate a (male) candidate to represent Marlow. This level of engagement with the full electoral process so early on was highly unusual for women.

Jane donated books to the town's new Institute's library in 1890 and supported other charities too. 

A list of those attending her funeral and laying wreathes include her household staff - butler Mr Flint, housekeeper Mrs Stretton [Sarah, listed as the cook 1901 census], maids Miss Curd and Miss Sure, head gardener Mr Turnedge and under gardeners Messrs Brinsden and Silver. 

Her grave in All Saints churchyard is shown above.

Her children were also active in local affairs. Daughter Elizabeth never married but filled her time with concern for improving the lives of the poor. She even studied for an examination in domestic hygiene to help her understanding in this area. She also liked gardening and was involved with the parish church. She died aged just 38 in 1888.

Jane's son George Rolls Ward was a mad keen cricketer from his schooldays onwards. He served as the captain of Marlow Cricket Club and Honorary Secretary of Bucks County Cricket Club at different times as well as being a churchwarden, Chairman of Marlow Gas Company and JP. He too never married. He died of pneumonia in 1907 aged 57.

As Jane herself died soon afterwards and in 1908 the house was again up for sale. By this time it had gained the mod con of a bathroom!

Mrs Robert Forrest, widow, was living in the property in 1918 when her daughter Nesta married William Wain of the RAF. Nesta married secondly William Duncan Forbes Liston in 1921. They made their home at New Court but with this we are stretching beyond my normal blog time period so I'll leave it there with just a few more notes. Nesta added a library extension to the house in 1931. She left New Court and the grounds to the people of Marlow. Since the end of the house as a private residence several of the specimen trees which once graced the garden such as the mulberry and Judas trees have been lost though the wellingtonia redwood still soars into the sky. The house still stands however, divided into multiple residences for older people. The archway and stable block remain next to the High Street. You can walk through the arch into a little shopping complex built onto the one time grounds of the house. 

More posts about individual houses in Marlow, big and small, can be found under the "Specific Shops, Streets...Etc" menu option. That's also the place to look for other High Street related posts.

More grave photos on the menu under Graves.

See the Person Index for all mentions of any person on the blog.

Post researched and written by Charlotte Day.

Research sources:

PCC will John Hone held at National Archives Kew and transcribed by me.

1833 parochial assessment surveyor's working notebooks held by my family and transcribed by me.

Census - my transcription of census page images on microfilm.

Bucks Herald 30th October 1875 and April 27th 1907.  Newspapers held by the British Library and accessed via the BNA. 

Boyle's Court and County Guide 1869, digitized by Google.

Death and marriage certificates obtained from the GRO.

Post Office Directory of Northants, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire. Edited by ER Kelly. Published by Kelly and Company London. 1869.

Building News and Engineers Journal, volume 31. Copy held by University of Michigan. Digitized by Google. Other loose physical pages possibly from a different edition of the same publication.

Gardener's Weekly Magazine and Floricultural Cabinet 1863, digitized by Google.

Great Marlow Parish Registers, old transcription by myself.

Reading Mercury 11th December 1875. Copy held in the British Library Archive, accessed via their partnership with the BNA.

Researched and written by Charlotte Day, photos and additional research by Kathryn.

©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to use this material for family or local history purposes with credit to this blog and a link here.

Marlow Races- a History

Updated August 2023.

If your ancestors lived in Great Marlow or nearby they may well have had a fun, or fraught, day out at the horse races which were held in meadow by the river annually from the 1700s until 1847, probably with some breaks in service.

My first reference to them is in 1725 when William Lofting's animal was amongst the winners and the local MP Edmund Waller was one of those who put up prizes. The next references are from 1728 and 1731. There may not have been many competitors then as the same few animals seem to win most of the races. A minimum number of runners were usually required for the winners prize to be rewarded. In 1728 this saw two hacks entered into one race just so the single race horse competing could legitimately claim the prize for "winning". I believe the races took a break after 1731 before returning in 1752. 

 In 1755 Sylvester Law* proprietor of the Upper Crown in the Market Place offered transport from there out to the course. Sylvester was an early supporter and promoter of the races. Two years later, then of the Cross Keys, he hosted a meeting of the race subscribers at which the main order of the day was to decide how the event could be organised to do less damage to the meadow it was hosted in. Descriptions of the course in 1833 mention a standing crop almost ready to harvest within the field. The perimeter and space between the river and course had been kept clear for racing and spectators but the field as a whole was naturally not reserved exclusively just for 2 or 3 days racing a year. It was leased to a farmer and strict warnings were made about the trouble which would ensue if horses or spectators trampled the harvest! The course itself was marked by wooden posts put in before each year's racing. The Gentleman's Magazine description of the races in 1752 tells of male and female  spectators (the latter in their best colourful dresses) rushing this way and that way across the field both on foot and in their carriages so as to keep sight of favoured horses. The result was chaos with the writer fearing "one half of the company should be trampled down by the other". You can see why Sylvester was probably fighting a losing battle as to prevent damage to the field! 

 I struggle to find many later 1700s references to the races. By the mid 1820s they were certainly back by the river however and once again they gained some national notice. In between times they may have been run but on too small a scale to leave a trace in the historical record  There may also have been another minor lapse in early 1830s. 

Talking of small scale, these races were very much for ponies rather than horses. The minimum height of a horse for entry was given at just 11 or 12 hands at different times. The maximum height for most events where there was one was just 14 hands. They are frequently referred to as the "pony races" in contemporary sources. 

The early races were more geared towards the amateur performers. Only ponies that had won less than £50 prize money could attend the meeting. The animals ran in simple races, weight handicapped by the animal's age. There was a race just for "aged" animals, which seems to have been those of 6 years of age and upwards. In the 1800s however the sport was of a higher calibre thanks to patronage by Sir William Clayton who offered a silver cup trophy and was a honourary race steward. Some reports say that he was the one who started the races in the first place. Obviously not in the 1750s, but this may indicate that they did fall away for some time before an 1820s revival.

Races were certainly not over the flat only, jump races were just as much a part of the schedule on many a year's programme in the 1800s. Flat racing then tended to be restricted to just two or three races a day but with each spread into multiple heats so there was plenty of action. In between these races were 'matches*', races between the horses of (usually) two individuals as the result of a challenge issued in advance. Such matches were very common at smaller race meets at the time and were often the events held to have the keenest excitement for locals. Anyone who wished to propose such a match needed to register their interest in advance at the Crown and the organisers would accommodate them as the schedule allowed. It was also to the Crown you should go to register your horse for entry into any race, and to pay the entrance fee. (In the early years, the White Horse was also used for this role.) A very few races had no fee to enter, usually when the meeting was otherwise well supported. If you were lucky and won you would earn a prize purse, with some races quaintly requiring the winner to give a share of it to the owner of the horse that came second. In other years, the owner had to give some of the prize money to the Stewards to cover the costs of running the meeting. In 1756 this "gift" was one guinea and was to pay for "flags, drums, etc". In the same year the winner was also required to make a donation towards the cost of organising the following years races. Many later races were run for a mixture of the prize purse and / or plate plus a sweepstake taken from the stake paid by all entrants. The second place horse might get their stake back. 

Every year the mix of races and rules as to who could or could not enter each one varied so this information is based on lots of sources.  There was always at least one race solely for locally owned horses and another for those owned by subscribers to the event only. At other times entries for individual events were restricted to for instance horses beaten earlier in the day. On many occasions it was stipulated that the winner had to be offered to sale after the race - but the owner was not obliged to accept a low price for the animal. In 1840 the winner of the 20 sovereigns plate was to be to be offered for sale for £100, while the winner of a hurdle race would be presented for £70. 

All races and heats involved going either once or twice round the circular course. Contemporary descriptions describe how trees obscured part of the route from spectators. There were basic wooden stands erected between the river and the course to help. A spot in these could also be reserved at the Crown in advance. In 1833, the course got a temporary  more luxurious painted wooden grandstand, previously erected at Ascot, according to a sign displayed outside. This caused some mirth in fashionable visitors who thought it pretentious for a country race meet! 

There were also booths selling toys and gingerbread, and sideshows offering amongst other things "dancing booths" and a kind of coconut shy with meat replacing the coconuts atop of sticks. Let's hope the "prize" didn't hang round too long. A band always attended, but they halted playing during the race itself. 

Fashionable visitors came from a wide area to attend. A special "covered van" came from Reading to bring in visitors each day. The races were advertised long in advance by placards on the roads into town and also by notices in the press. Visitors spoke of the bustle apparent in the streets as the meeting drew near. Sweetly, the rising demand for ribbons to decorate caps and bonnets is mentioned. It was traditional to wave a handkerchief in the air as well as you cheered the riders along. Of course not everybody attending could necessarily afford to dress for the occasion. Visitors walking in with hob nail boots and shabbier clothes get somewhat sarcastically mentioned alongside the better dressed and their attractive prancing ponies and carriages. The image of passing bargemen on the river slowing up to try and get a glimpse of the action is a reminder not everyone who wanted to attend was free to do so. 

An image of the races, from an illustration dated 1833 that formerly hung in the Chequers Hotel, courtesy of Michael Eagleton 

So who was riding those dashing ponies? Local stable lads and younger grooms were the usual choices. However there were just-starting-out jockeys who went on tours of small events in the hope of getting noticed and being thus offered more lucrative rides elsewhere. Frank Butler* incorporated Marlow into just such a tour in 1839. He later won his place in racing history by bagging the famous St Leger, the Oaks, the Two Thousand Guineas and the Derby plus many other races. Frank was the nephew of the then famous jockey brothers the Chifneys but struggled at first to establish his own career, hence the Marlow outing. 

The 1839 race meet he visited was a few years later sneeringly described in the New Sporting Magazine. The trainers it said were just local tenant farmers, the whole event more like "playing at racing" than real sport. Frank's horse it claimed had been recently injured and wasn't the best quality even before that but it still had a good chance given the state of the competition at Marlow! Some of the horse and rider pairings were allegedly so inexperienced that out of control horses shot off and dumped their jockeys into the river. It is important to qualify this chaotic description with a note that the publication was snobbish and it was fashionable to sneer at anything "provincial" or involving the participation of working class / farming people.

The article did concede that the setting was beautiful with the ample nearby woods a great place to sneak off to for some flirtation if you met someone at the races. To get to the woods you could take a little ferry rowing boat across the river. Watching the races from the convenient hill on that opposite bank was still favoured by many it reported. 

Fourth rate as the magazine declared the competition to be it was exciting enough to have quite a significant effect on one elderly lady in 1824. Fearing a horse would run her over, she collapsed insensible. After several days of hovering near death she recovered so well that the lameness which she had suffered from for a decade was cured! No cure from illness is recorded for a stout lady who provided a soft landing for a jockey who was catapulted from his horse and into her chaise in 1833. Neither seems to have been hurt but the lady's parasol was broken. The horse had apparently been startled by the shadow of some streamers hanging from one of the booths falling across it's path. 

Some attempt was made to prevent spectators from getting close to flying hooves as there were rope barriers. A bell rung to tell you to duck behind those barriers before a new race started. The course was additionally patrolled by a steward armed with a club he was not afraid to use if you did not remove yourself from the course when asked. Parish Constable Sadler (employed in a private capacity by the race organisers to keep the course clear) was found guilty of inflicting a head wound on race visitor Mr Rawlins in 1836. A dispute had arisen on where racegoers could safely stand, and what authority these race marshalls had. Henry Stallwood, one of the tithing men at this time was implicated in the assault but was not proceeded against. As the wound was not severe, and a certain amount of rough justice had been inflicted on Sadler by the indigent crowd, a small amount of compensation was awarded to Rawlins. (The crowd had attempted to duck both Sadler and Stallwood in the river.) Small wonder all things considered that many ladies and young boys chose to watch the races from the slopes on the other side of the river in the 1700s - boys up the trees for a good view, ladies more decorously seated on the ground. They were still having trouble keeping the course clear in 1841 when the Bucks Gazette decried the "disgraceful manner in which numbers of persons persisted in crowding on the course while the later races were run." Several people were injured then, one man fairly badly. 

On arrival, the jockeys had to register and declare their colours. In 1752 these were displayed as coloured silk waistcoats for the jockeys. In the early 1830s the Marlow jockeys were described as wearing elegant coloured caps and silk jackets on their top half and a more workaday lower outfit of "corduroy unmentionables", worsted stockings and chunky boots. At the first bell they were required to weigh in. This was done in public. At the second bell, they had to mount and the course was cleared. At the third ring, they were off! And of course the winning jockey needed to be weighed again at the conclusion of the race. They were allowed to use both the whip and spurs on their rides. 

 In the 1840s the event was sufficiently big to have a Race Ball to celebrate it's conclusion. The patrons of this tended to be the same as the subscribers to the race meeting overall. It was hosted at the Upper Crown. The races were celebrated in quite a different way at the Three Tuns run by Widow Aycott. She hosted a special cock fight on the morning of each days racing, between the "gentlemen" of Bucks and Berks in 1753. 

The races happened over two (occasionally three) days either Tuesday and Wednesday or Wednesday and Thursday in either July or August with a ball (if held) the day after or the Friday after their conclusion.

The earliest mentions of the racing by the way refer to an Autumn event rather than a Summer one. (October often). Not that a Summer date guaranteed good weather. Twice a day's racing was entirely lost to a weather washout. At other times the weather at least put off the gentlefolk from attending.

Not everyone in Marlow looked forward to the races. Religious objection to the sport were always high and the event was responsible for a certain amount of crime. To be fair I found only four recorded case of pickpocketing (the inevitable silver pocket watches) at the race course itself. Coming and going to and from Marlow or leaving your Marlow home or business unattended while you watched the horses posed a greater risk. For instance the Windsor and Eton Express reported a spate of thefts from properties including the Coach and Horses public house in West Street which occurred while the occupants were at the races in 1841.

Religious objection sprung both from the fact the event offered a bar for public drinking and of course gambling. This happened unofficially between friends and discreetly between strangers too. The rules concerning gambling at the course varied over time, but in the 1830's descriptions given of the event by a comfortably off visitor recorded that everyone expected to lay wagers openly at the course. Reports of the meeting in the 1750s also tell of open wagering between sportsman. No mention is made of gambling ladies but they may have just been more discreet. Later notices that advertised the event sometimes stated that no "gambling devices" would be allowed on the field - this is not the same as banning gambling altogether as the devices mentioned refer to cards and dice played for money. In the first few decades of the 1800s at least the selling of alcohol on the course was restricted to subscribers of the meeting. 

With money at stake came the temptation for race fixing. In 1831 attempts were made to poison the mare Adelaide at the course. Fortunately her groom would not take the £20 offered to him by a stranger for committing the deed. The guilty man was caught but escaped. 

Lord William Pitt Lennox reported in his memoirs that the stable boy he hired to ride his horse Fidelio at Marlow failed to ride it to win in the first few heats of his race. Seeing the boy in close conference with a dubious looking man who was taking bets inflamed William's suspicion. At the last minute he mounted the horse himself and managed to win. The boy fled. 

A happier pairing was Marlow farmer and horse owner / trainer John Cresswell, and his jockey George Ward who lived in Quoiting Square. Several decades later their speed was still talked of. Mr Cresswell also participated in races for wagers outside of the official race meeting. His big rival, in a friendly way, was a Mr Andrews. This man bought a very old, one eyed, lame in both legs horse from John's brother James Cresswell (also a horse owner whose animals successfully competed at the races) and to satisfy a wager proved that he could tend and train it up to be a capable trotting horse. Not I should say at Marlow races. 

While most racing was of that good humoured fun-based nature rather than fiercely competitive, that didn't preclude matters getting fractious. The Clerk of the Course was sued for damages in 1836 by a man he got into a fight with and results of races were disputed all the way to courts of law at least twice.

The races occurred for the last time, formally at least, in 1847. The 1848 and 1849 meetings were planned but cancelled. Attempts to revive the meeting in the early 1860s got nowhere. There had been rumblings in the last few years of unnamed individuals wishing to "sabotage" the event. Clearly there is more to the cancellation of the races than meets the eye but everyone involved was careful to make only the broadest of hints, probably fearful of an accusation of slander or libel! It was latter said that Sir William Clayton, having lost both the 1842 and 1847 elections to be Marlow M.P became tired of supporting the town who did not support him. And so he withdrew his financial support and patronage from events such the races and town ball. They may be right. 

Later Victorian Marlovians turned their racing interest towards rowing races. Sporting challenges between individuals eventually came to be focused around getting teams together and having a football or cricket match rather than pitting horses together in competition. The loss of wealthy patrons who wanted to focus on more prestigious racing elsewhere or other sports probably had a role too. 

Some wealthier individuals did maintain race horses later, such as Colonel Owen Williams in the 1890s, they just had to go a bit further to compete. By then racing was much more professional and serious. One of William's jockeys, James Watkins, was killed while exercising a race horse at Temple Park. The horse stumbled and fell on James. He was taken to the Cottage Hospital in Marlow but never regained consciousness and died shortly after, age 22. [October 1890]

Mention should also be made of the occasional steeple chase held at Marlow, mainly before 1850. One in 1836 received coverage in the national press. It finished "over a hedge onto the turnpike road". The course was marked out with flags, at least partially. Going the wrong side of these, and the resulting back tracking required cost Mr Westbrook and his grey Grimaldi the race. He was beaten by a neck by Mr Webb's Holbeiness. 

*"Marlow Victoria", a local racing pony of renown, was advertised in national racing press in the late 1830s and early 1840s as available for the sort of matches mentioned above. (Not necessarily held at Marlow.) She would run against a fellow 13.1 hands high pony over 2 miles for a prize of £35 (sometimes more), with the money to be put down at the Greyhound Inn in Spittal Str. Handicaps would allow for a race against a slightly smaller or bigger pony. Her owner was John Creswell. (Cresswell) The Gaming Act of 1845 declared all betting contracts illegal so no action could be taken to legally recover money won by a wager and not paid.  

Researched and written by Charlotte Day with additional research by Kathryn Day.

More Information:

To find every mention of an individual on the blog use the A-Z Person Index in the top drop down menu. Thousands of people get a mention! For more posts like this about sport in old Great Marlow and everyday life in general for our ancestors,  see the General History option here

*1 If you are otherwise interested in Sylvester as a man you will find a summary of his will as transcribed by me in an earlier post on this blog here. 

*2 To find out more about Frank's life and career see this Jockeypedia article https://sites.google.com/site/jockeypedia/butler-frank He was not of Marlow origin.

Some research sources:

General Evening Post, October 1756, September 27th 1757 - digitised by Google. 

The Newcastle Courant, 26th October 1725. Copy held at the British Library. Accessed by me via the BNA July 2020.

The Whitehall Evening Post or London Intelligencer January 1755 digitized by Google from a copy at the Bavaria State Library. Accessed May 2020.

The New Sporting Magazine 1854.

Celebrities I have Known, memoir by William Pitt Lennox 1876.

Colburns Kalender of Amusements for Town & Country  (H Colburn 1840), digitised by Google, accessed May 2011

Windsor and Eton Express 10th June 1843 and 21st August 1841 via the BNA, accessed June 2019.

Bells Weekly Messenger 30th August 1824,  as above

Bells Sporting Life clippings circa 1840.

Windsor and Eton Express 30th July 1831, as above. 

The London Magazine; Or, Gentleman's Monthly Intelligencer. United Kingdom: C. Ackers, 1752.

Wikipedia article about Frank Butler accessed July 2020.

Private letter.

Victoria County History of Buckingham, ed. by William Page, Constable, London. 1908 edition. 

Spirit Of The Times: A chronicle of the turf etc (Volume 12, Issue 32, 1842)

A History of Steeple-Chasing by William Charles Arlington Blew. (J C Nimmo, 1901)

Bucks Gazette 21st August 1841. 

*1 If you are otherwise interested in Sylvester as a man you will find a summary of his will as transcribed by me in an earlier post on this blog here. 

*2 To find out more about Frank's life and career see this Jockeypedia article https://sites.google.com/site/jockeypedia/butler-frank He was not of Marlow origin.

©Marlow Ancestors.