The Village in 1913

 

By the eve of the First World War the village had assumed the form it would retain until almost the very end of the century. Another Ordnance Survey 6-inch map was produced in 1913.

 

The Workmen's Club with adjoining house for the caretaker was built in 1884 between the school and the old Crown Cottage and was enlarged by the addition of the Billiard Room in 1894. Along the Street number 8 and 9 was built in the 1870s in between number 3 and number 10. It seems to have been built as two houses but in 1891 is listed as a single dwelling, the Parsonage House and uninhabited, as was the Rectory. The Reverend Arthur Heigham had moved from the Rectory to the Parsonage House some time in late 1889 or early 1890, certainly by St Mark's Day 1890 but was staying in Bath at the time of the 1891 census. The Rectory at that time was presumably being readied for occupation by Lodovick Bligh. Heigham's successor in 1896 moved back into the Rectory within a few weeks of taking up his appointment and the Parsonage House reverted to two houses. In 1899 Miss Winchcombe and her widowed mother moved into number 8 to act as housekeeper for two teachers in number 9. These would have been Miss B and Miss G Matthews, who succeeded Miss Fillingham and Miss Hide in 1892. The latter two ladies had been moved from the Rectory Cottage to number 5 in 1891 to make way for Mr Bligh's coachmen.

 

The old school and school house were now confirmed as number 11 and 12, the old number 12 having been demolished along with its adjoining 13. The replacement for Chantry Cottage and all the other houses along the lower part of the Street having already been numbered from 14 upwards, the number 13 was obviously omitted for sound practical reasons rather than superstition. In the census of 3 April 1891 the two houses are listed as 11 and 11a (numbers 10 and 12 being already allocated), with David Horne in 11 and 11a uninhabited. However the parish magazine dated 27 April tells us that David Horne "has removed into Number 11a" and that George Fisher "will shortly be in the old 'Mission Cottage' which is really Number 11". It is possible that the schoolroom was converted to a house between 1871 and 1881 and initially numbered 11a, with the old schoolhouse already being 11. Around this time the schoolhouse was extended at the back and possibly remained empty until David Horne moved in (from Theale) when the work was complete, the Rector then renumbering the houses the other way round, as they are shown in the 1901 census and are today.

 

At Wimbleton's the three old houses were demolished and replaced by two new ones in 1892. The first tenants were the Lamperd and Newman families and the Rector commented that for the former it would be a great improvement on their previous cottage in Beenham Lane, which was then pulled down. These cottages, in the H-plan style of the later 19th century but now extended, are shown left. The old farm buildings are to the right of the cottages and now converted to a house.

 

Egbert Allen lived in the right hand lodge at the gates on the Pangbourne Road by 1911 and for much of the 20th century and it was common for villagers to leave their bicycles there when going for the bus to Reading. The gates were not usually closed in those days but if they were it meant climbing over the wall at the back of the house to get to the bus stop. Even though the gates might have been open it was rare until quite recently for anyone from outside the village to venture through them, or indeed up the Street. Any stranger who did would have been looked at with suspicion and even asked to leave. This attitude continued even into the second half of the 20th century and the constant flow of people in cars, on foot and on bicycles now is most strange to those of the older generation who remember those days.