Dorney
Dorney maps (2 available)
Map of Berkshire
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
Personalised maps
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Dorney books (6 available)
So You Think You Know? High Wycombe
Hardback
- 1 photos on Dorney appear in 2 Frith books - View photos of Dorney
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Dorney and Berkshire
Dorney memories
Read and share memories of Dorney and Berkshire inspired by Frith photos
Picking wild violets
My friend Jean and I used to pick wild violets in the wood just along the towpath on the right hand side of this picture. The wood was a carpet of yellow celandines in Spring and the scent from the wild violets was reward in itself. We lived in Dorney Reach so most of our childhood was spent by the river Thames. Further back from this picture on the other side of the riverbank was Monkey Island Hotel.
Contributed by Monica Peck
Sunday afternoons by the river
We used to visit Dorney Reach a lot when I was a child as it was one of our favourite Sunday afternoon walks.
We used to park and then walk down to the river passing the church on the way. The path was always shady and cool even in the hottest summer weather.
Contributed by Linda Ellis
Bell Ringing
The is the church I was baptised in. As I child I used to go bell ringing here (St James the Less). We used to climb up the very narrow stairwell being very careful not to slip. Every week we used to practise. There were six bells and I used to ring No.4. Our teacher would stress to us not to break the stay as it was very expensive to replace so I always felt nervous ringing the bell. Goodness knows what it must have sounded like when we were learning as all of Dorney Reach and Dorney village would have heard.
Contributed by Monica Peck
Berkshire memories
Bell Ringing
The is the church I was baptised in. As I child I used to go bell ringing here (St James the Less). We used to climb up the very narrow stairwell being very careful not to slip. Every week we used to practise. There were six bells and I used to ring No.4. Our teacher would stress to us not to break the stay as it was very expensive to replace so I always felt nervous ringing the bell. Goodness knows what it must have sounded like when we were learning as all of Dorney Reach and Dorney village would have heard.
A memory of Dorney contributed by Monica Peck
Extracts From Dorney & Berkshire books
Our last view shows Dorney Reach with the Berkshire bank on the left. This tranquil stretch of towing path, now
part of the splendid Thames Path long distance footpath, has had its tranquillity rudely shattered. Now, in the
middle distance an elegant duck egg blue-painted steel bridge carries the ceaseless roar of the M4 motorway
across the River Thames, in effect the latest Maidenhead by-pass.
An extract from from"Maidenhead Photographic Memories".
From the arches of the Georgian Guildhall the
camera looks down White Hart Street. The
buildings on the right replace medieval market
place encroachment. On the left the open area was
until 1947 occupied by fine 16th- and 17th-century
timber-framed buildings, unforgivably demolished
for an aborted road improvement scheme.
An extract from from"High Wycombe - A History & Celebration".
The ancient open space of Frogmoor had from 1877 until the Second World War a fine cast-iron fountain and
well trimmed trees. Note the four gables of the old Hen and Chickens on the left (rebuilt in 1888).
An extract from from"High Wycombe - A History & Celebration".
IN 1801, according to the first national
census, the borough had a population of
2,349 consisting of 565 families living in
448 houses, while the rest of the town, the
ancient ‘foreigns’, had a further 1,899 people,
397 families living in 370 houses.
An extract from from"High Wycombe - A History & Celebration".
Arthur Vernon,
Architect and Mayor
The career of Arthur Vernon, architect and JP, born in 1846, is a good example of Wycombe’s
new class of industrialists and professionals. In 1870, having finished his training with the architect
E B Lamb, he succeeded his father as land agent to the Earl of Beaconsfield (the ennobled Benjamin
Disraeli) at Hughenden, and was appointed JP in 1875. Elected a town councillor and alderman in 1870,
he was elected to Buckinghamshire County Council at its inception in 1889 and appointed a magistrate
for the county in 1895. Elected mayor for the first time in 1882, he was mayor again in 1883, 1891,
1905 and 1906. He was president of the Chamber of Commerce from 1899 to 1906, a captain of
Wycombe Fire Brigade from its founding in 1868 until 1881, and President of the Surveyors Institution
in 1902–03. In between all this he found time to design very many buildings in the town besides the
Grammar School and Priory Road School. These included a temperance hall in Flackwell Heath, a lodge
for Hughenden, schools, buildings in the town centre, churches, the former Conservative Club at No
28 High Street of 1897, and many houses.
An extract from from"High Wycombe - A History & Celebration".