History
The story of Datchet starts at the end of the ice-age. Between 1000 and 6500 years ago there was evidence of people living in the area which was to become Datchet. They did not settle but travelled through the area. First evidence of settled village was 440–2700 years ago (Bronze Age).
Datchet is first mentioned between 990 and 994, when King Ethelred made small grants of land here. Datchet Manor is in the Domesday Book (1085–86) when it was held by Giles de Pinkney. In 1150 the church already existed in Datchet and was given to the abbey of St Albans, Hertfordshire. The Abbot was rector of the parish and had the right to appoint vicars.
There was a ferry at Datchet Ferry which provided a short route from London to Windsor Castle, and was frequently used by royalty. In 1249 King Henry III gave a great oak from his Windsor forest to make a barge for passage from Windsor to Datchet.
In 1350 Edward III gave Datchet Church as part of endowment to his new church and college of St George at Windsor Castle.
In the 17th century, traffic went to London via Horton. Horton Road began to be built up and extended by the wealthy next to the hovels of the poor. The great plague came to Datchet before and after the great plague of London. An unsubstantiated story is that King Charles II kept his mistress Nell Gwynne at Old Bridge House in Datchet.
The ferry was replaced by Datchet Bridge at the end of the High Street in 1706. The bridge was replaced three times but finally demolished in 1851, being the only Thames bridge that has been lost.
From 1742 onwards, the Duke of Montagu and family owned Datchet. In 1790, a workhouse was built in Holmlea Road, and in 1820, an Almshouse belonging to the workhouse was turned into a shop. In 1848, the first train went through Datchet to Windsor and in 1860, Datchet Common's oldest beer house The Plough (now Tesco Express) was in existence. In 1886, Datchet was known as Black Datchet because of a large number of bad characters living there. This was borne out by Aylesbury County Jail having one building known as the 'Datchet Wing' filled mostly with poachers. However in 1889, Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat describes Datchet as a minor riverside resort. He describes both the Manor Hotel and the Royal Stag in his book.
From 1911 to 1914, cars were made at workshops at the end of Holmlea Road, Lord Montagu was the landlord. In 1911, Sir Thomas Sopwith landed his light aircraft in Datchet eight years after the first flight in the USA by Orville Wright. His company built Sopwith biplanes.
Windsor Guards polo grounds in Horton were where the Queen Mother Reservoir now stands. The houses opposite were built in the late 19th century to house the workers on the grounds. 140 Horton Road was an old school house.
In 1931, the Pavilion club was built on Datchet riverside. Dame Vera Lynn sang here and the 'London Set' socialised here. Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson had secret meetings here.
Datchet Village Football Club was formed in 1987. Datchet still has its own River Frontage from where a Small Boat may be Launched.
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Famous quotes containing the word history:
“A poet’s object is not to tell what actually happened but what could or would happen either probably or inevitably.... For this reason poetry is something more scientific and serious than history, because poetry tends to give general truths while history gives particular facts.”
—Aristotle (384–323 B.C.)
“Anything in history or nature that can be described as changing steadily can be seen as heading toward catastrophe.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)
“While the Republic has already acquired a history world-wide, America is still unsettled and unexplored. Like the English in New Holland, we live only on the shores of a continent even yet, and hardly know where the rivers come from which float our navy.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)