Village Matters

Nick Pollard

The Thames at Shepperton

This postcard, dating from the 1930s, shows the River Thames in the area of Shepperton Lock, looking north east. It must date from after 1935, as the Desborough Cut which was opened in that year can be seen at top right.

The Three Fishes

This month’s picture shows a group of people in front of the Three Fishes public house in Green Street, c1930. Above their heads a sign proudly advertises the products of the Isleworth Brewery, who had acquired the pub in 1889, but in fact by the time of the photo this brewery had been taken over by Watney Coombe Reid of Mortlake.

Library and High Street C1950

This postcard, dating from just after the Second World War, looks north along Walton High Street, with the Odeon cinema on the right, and the library with its distinctive conical-roofed tower, on the left.

Kempton Park in World War One

This photo shows dozens of military lorries lined up at the Army Service Corps Depot, Kempton Park, during the First World War. The racecourse grandstands can be seen in the background of the picture with, just in front of them, wooden huts used to house all the troops based at the depot.

The Swan Hotel

The Swan Hotel in Manor Road stands on a site which has been an inn since at least 1769, although the present building dates from the late 1870s.

New Zealand Avenue 1959

We know this photo of New Zealand Avenue was taken in 1959, because the film being advertised at the Regal cinema on the right, ‘Jet Storm’ starring Richard Attenborough, was released in that year.

William Schaw Lindsay – Lord of the Manor of Shepperton

I have mentioned William Schaw Lindsay in a previous article about the great flood of 1877, but I thought I would outline a bit more of his very full life. He was Lord of the Manor of Shepperton from 1857 until his death 20 years later, and during that time did much to reform the village. Perhaps his most lasting achievement was to bring the railway to Shepperton in 1864, after the collapse of Walton Bridge made access to the nearest station at Walton problematic.

The Lendy Lion

The ‘Lendy Lion’ is today a well-known centrepiece of the Walled Garden in Lower Sunbury, but this in is fact its third home. As seen in this photo dating from about 1905, it was originally erected beside the Thames, just opposite St. Mary’s Church.