Eton Wick

Eton Wick

Parish Church of St John the Baptist
Eton Wick
 Eton Wick shown within Berkshire
OS grid referenceSU945785
Unitary authorityWindsor and Maidenhead
Ceremonial countyBerkshire
RegionSouth East
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town Windsor
Postcode district SL4
Dialling code 01753
Police Thames Valley
Fire Royal Berkshire
Ambulance South Central
EU Parliament South East England
List of places
UK
England
Berkshire

Coordinates: 51°29′49″N 0°38′17″W / 51.497°N 0.638°W / 51.497; -0.638

Eton Wick is a village currently in the English ceremonial county of Berkshire, but traditionally in Buckinghamshire, on the River Thames. It is very close to both the historic towns of Windsor and Eton, as well as Slough and Dorney Lake, the rowing venue for the 2012 Summer Olympics. The village has grown rapidly between the 1880s and the 2000s.[1][2][3][4][5]

History

After the construction of Eton College in the 15th century, a small group of houses were built immediately west to the college grounds. Making up the homes of shoemakers, tailors, and other workers who worked in the college. The hamlet was physically separated from the rest of Eton by land owned by the college, and was known as the wick.[6]

The wick was on the very edge of the parish, on the opposite side of the border adjacent to the village, cottages were built to house farmhands working at nearby Bell Farm. Throughout the 19th century, scholars at Eton College took a personal interest in the village. Building a village hall and a small school in the village, the college was traditionally responsible for the social well-being of the settlement. [7]

In 1880, the owner of Bell Farm, Charles Dorney, sold some of his land for residential building. The new village was called Boveney New Town. After the 1894 Civil Parish act, the Wick was transferred from Eton parish to Boveney parish and became known as Eton Wick. Eton Wick and Boveney New Town were almost immediately next to each other yet both retained their own councils until 1934. The population of the villages during this time was around 500 [8]

After the second world war, both villages were expanded and built into each other as part of the wider national push for more housing, bringing the population up to around 3,000. In 1965 the land surrounding the village was registered as commons land under the Commons Registration Act, meaning the land cannot be developed without permission from the Secretary of State for the Environment [9]

Transport

Eton Wick shares its major transport facilities with Slough, as the route to Windsor by road is circuitous. The M4 and A4 are nearby. At Slough there is access to trains into London Paddington station, and west to places such as Maidenhead, Reading and Bristol.

Local rivers

As it flows from Windsor to Bray it joins with firstly Chalvey Ditch stream and Common Ditch stream to the east of Eton Wick. The River Thames then meets the Boveney Ditch stream just south east of Eton Wick. Boveney Ditch is formed by the merging of Roundmoor (drainage) Ditch and habitual dried up Cress Brook just west of Eton Wick.[10] More recently, the Jubilee River, an artificial secondary channel to the Thames, was built between Maidenhead and Windsor for flood relief. It was completed in 2002 and cuts through the Roundmoor, Chalvey and Common Ditches.[2][5][11][12]

Politics

The village is part of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead and administered by an elected Unitary Authority. The current MP (2007) for the Windsor constituency (of which Eton Wick is a part) is Adam Afriyie (Conservative). The village was administered by Buckinghamshire County Council until 1974, when administration was transferred to Berkshire County Council under the Local Government Act 1972.

Sport and Leisure

Eton Wick has a local football team, Eton Wick F.C., that plays at Hayward's Mead.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "the online repository of historic maps - maps page". Old-Maps. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
  2. 1 2 "Old maps of Britain and Europe from A Vision of Britain Through Time". Visionofbritain.org.uk. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
  3. ↑ "Old maps of Britain and Europe from A Vision of Britain Through Time". Visionofbritain.org.uk. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
  4. ↑ "Get-a-map from Ordnance Survey". Getamap.ordnancesurvey.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
  5. 1 2 "Old Ordnance Survey Maps". Ponies.me.uk. 1999-02-22. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
  6. ↑ http://www.visitoruk.com/Maidenhead/eton-wick-and-boveney-C592-V14152.html
  7. ↑ http://www.visitoruk.com/Maidenhead/eton-wick-and-boveney-C592-V14152.html
  8. ↑ http://www.etonwickhistory.co.uk/briefhistory.html
  9. ↑ http://www.etonwickhistory.co.uk/briefhistory.html
  10. ↑ "Eton Wick: Confluence of Roundmoor Ditch with Cress Brook:: OS grid SU9478 :: Geograph Britain and Ireland - photograph every grid square!". Geograph.org.uk. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
  11. ↑ http://streetmap.co.uk/grid/494535_178495_120
  12. ↑ http://streetmap.co.uk/grid/494535_178495_106

Further reading

External links

Media related to Eton Wick at Wikimedia Commons

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