You are here:
Colnbrook
Colnbrook maps
Historic maps of Colnbrook and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Colnbrook maps
Colnbrook area books
Displaying 1 of 7 books about Colnbrook and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Colnbrook
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Colnbrook.
Add your memory of Colnbrook
or of a photo of Colnbrook.
King John's Palace in The 60's!
In the 1960's King John's Palace was occupied completely by airline pilots and cabin crews. I was one of those! It was a fun and happy place with something always going on. The Star and Garter and the Ostrich were the two main watering holes. Everyone lived an almost communal life with all doors being open. They were great days with very fond memories!
I wonder where all the occupants are today? I know some are in Twickenham and some in the surrounding country areas. It was a great place to live if you like low flying aircraft!
King John's Palace
King John's Palace is the oldest residence in the village of Colnbrook and has been listed by English Heritage as a Grade II* property because of its age and historic interest. It pre-dates Tudor times to about the 13th century and was visited by Queen Elizabeth I and indeed King John stayed in the footprint area of this nice thatched home/hunting lodge on his way to sign the Magna Carta.
The 'palace' is really a very old manor house, once thatched and the barn nearby is still sometimes occupied by sheep and the River Colne runs within a few hundred yards into the Thames a few miles away.
The famous Cox's Pippin apple was born in the orchard nearby, by Richard Cox back in the 1830's and some tress still remain today.
King John's has also been called The Rookery and Saint John's as it has been a Latin school and once housed fighter pilots of the RAF during WWII.
Nearby is the 11th Century Ostrich Inn which... Read more
Berkshire memories
Where I Grew Up. Born 1944.
My Mum and Dad moved into the village in the 1930's into a new house in Rogers Lane and lived there for 66 years. My father was the village tailor working from a workshop in the back garden. My mother was very involved in the village life, joining the WI and also the secretary of the Old Peoples club for a while. Also a member of the local tennis club. My father was a Special Policeman during and just after the war and was a member of the British Legion. I spent my childhood playing in the fields which surrounded Stoke Poges, which now all but a few have been built on. I was in the Stoke Poges church choir for quite a few years, when Rev and Mrs Bevan where there. I can remember many things from my childhood, including going up to the common and selecting our Christmas tree each year. On moving into Stoke Poges, Mum and Dad were told they had the rights of the common.... Read more
Walks
I used to walk from Farnham Common down Templewood Lane to visit my friend Viv who lived on Rogers Lane in Stoke Poges. It didn't seem like such a long way back then. This would have been between 1957 and 1960. Both sets of our parents are buried in the Memorial Gardens at St. Giles church. Viv and I lost contact for 40 years, and found each other last year through a website. I now live in the USA.
Stoke Poges holds fond memories, dances at the Village Hall, and flirting with the boys walking down the hill.
Rehab Centre Farnham Park
This is the occupational therapy workshop of the Rehabilitation Centre in Farnham Park. It was operated by the Slough Estates Medical facility.
I Was Here in 1973 & 1974
Like the other contributors I was a patient at this fabulous rehab centre, in my case it was twice (1973 and 1974) in restoring a mangled left leg following a motorcycle accident (yet another "sorry mate, didn't see you" driver error).
I fondly remember the camaraderie of the 'inmates'. These were generally people severely damaged by accidents, burns, strokes, cancer. l and the occasional sports person or motor racing driver.
I lived here weekdays from Sunday evening to Friday evening for six months in total, playing snooker in the library most evening, or the occasional escape to the Green Man pub up the road.
I less fondly remember the pain 'inflicted' by the staff in trying to restore strength and mobility. They and the surgeons at High Wycombe General Hospital saved a leg that (by the medical assessment at the time) should have been amputated.
I still cherish one of the hardwood bowls I turned while spending many hours each day on the peddle-lathe. The pool was the high point... Read more
Farnham Park 1981
I was treated at Farnham Park for a back problem in 1981. At the time I had been having various different treatments for six months for supposed sciatica.
In 2007 I had an X-Ray on my back, and an old L1 break was discovered. This I think was the cause of the problem in 1981, but had probably healed itself by the time I was sent to Fanham Park.
At Farnham the staff got me mobile again with exercise and intensive physiotherapy. A group of us spent every evening in the pub.
Though treatment seemed hard at the time it certainly worked. I had thirty painless active years. Only recently has the old injury started causing problems.
The sense of being among comrades was great, and we supported each other. I still remember some of the others who were there at the same time.
Does anyone recall the food? Or the early morning back exercises, the dancing classes, the hydrotherapy pool, the gymn?
... Read more
