History of Slough

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Slough /ˈslaʊ/ is a town and unitary authority (Borough of Slough) in the English county of Berkshire, just to the west of Greater London. Until 1974 the town was in Buckinghamshire.

The town developed in the 19th and 20th centuries from a number of villages, mainly in Buckinghamshire, along the Great West Road, with growth being accelerated by the construction of the Great Western Railway and later by the Slough Trading Estate.

In the 2001 census the

population was 119,070 (est. 122,000 in 2006). It is one of the most ethnically diverse towns in the UK, situated some 22 miles (35 km) west of central London and 20 miles (32 km) east of Reading
.

History

Prehistory

Evidence of Slough's prehistoric past can be found in its archaeology. Britwell and Farnham Royal sit on the Lynch Hill Gravel terraces, which is one of the best areas for prehistoric artefacts in the Thames Valley. Excavations in Cippenham during the early twenty-first century show evidence of human activity through time, with Mesolithic finds, Neolithic pits, a Bronze Age occupation site and cemetery, and late Iron Age/Roman features. There is also evidence of Roman sites (43 AD to 409 AD) from finds of pottery sherds and coins as well as features such as ditches and hearths.[1]

Medieval history

Most of the area was traditionally part of

Upton-cum-Chalvey
.

The

Ice-Age
.

In 1196, one Henry de Slo is mentioned in a Pipe roll - the earliest documentary reference found to Slough.

During the 13th century, King

St Laurence's Church
in Upton is around 900 years old and is the oldest building in Slough. Parts of Upton Court were built in 1325, while St Mary's Church in Langley was probably built in the late 11th or early 12th century, though it has been rebuilt and enlarged several times.

Montem Mound, also known as Salt Hill (originally Salts Hill) is in Chalvey. Its date of origin is not known, but it is now a scheduled ancient monument. Eton College held its 'Eton Montem' ceremonies here until 1844. The surrounding area to the north of Chalvey and the Great West Road is also known as Salt Hill and includes Salt Hill Park. Salt Hill Park once boasted great iron gates, which were subsequently smelted as part of the war effort during World War II.

The stagecoach era

From the mid-17th century,

pubs.[3]

The astronomer William Herschel (1738–1822), and his sister Caroline, produced the first true map of the universe with a 40-foot (12 m) long, 49 inch reflecting telescope he built in his garden in Windsor Road, Slough. A monument in Windsor Road commemorates his achievement. William married and is buried in Church of St Laurence, Upton-cum-Chalvey. It is believed that Joseph Haydn visited Slough and met Herschel during his time there. According to one account, Haydn asked the esteemed astronomer for his opinion on the Biblical story of the seven days of Creation. Herschel's answer is unknown, but - so the story goes - Haydn went back to his lodgings and began to compose his famous oratorio The Creation.[citation needed]

By 1838 and the opening of the

Langley Marish (1,797).[4] If Slough was known at all, it was as a source of bricks, and of hotels where visitors to the royal family at Windsor Castle might lodge.[5]

From the coming of the railway to the founding of the trading estate

The Great Western Railway opened in Slough in June 1838. Initially, opposition from Eton College prevented the construction of a station and trains 'happened' to be held at Slough allowing passengers to board: tickets were sold from the Crown coaching inn and subsequently from the newly built North Star Inn. However, a station was built and opened by June 1840, and

Prince Albert who had first travelled from the trackside at Slough to Paddington on 14 November 1839.[6]

In 1849, a

branch line was completed from Slough Station to Windsor & Eton Central railway station for the Queen's greater convenience. Originally, the headmaster of Eton College, Dr. John Keate, had resisted efforts to place a station closer to Eton College than Slough, because he feared that it would "interfere with the discipline of the school, the studies and amusements of the boys, affecting the healthiness of the place, from the increase of floods, and endangering even the lives of boys."[7]

On 1 January 1845,

prussic acid. With various officials in chase, Tawell fled to Slough Station and boarded a train to Paddington. Fortunately, the electrical telegraph had recently been installed and so a message was sent ahead to Paddington with Tawell's details. Tawell was trailed and subsequently arrested, tried and executed for the murder at Aylesbury
on 28 March 1845. This is believed to be the first time ever that the telegraph had been involved in the apprehension of a murderer.

Even as

Upton Park began,[8] while from 1866 to 1868, Charles Dickens rented Elizabeth Cottage on the High Street, under the name of Charles Tringham.[9] This was most likely to be closer to his mistress, Ellen Ternan
. Dickens' second link to the town was his publisher, Richard Bentley, proprietor of the publishing firm 'Bentley's'.

In 1863 Slough became a local government area for the first time, when a Slough Local Board of Health was elected to represent what is now the central part of the modern Borough. This part of Upton-cum-Chalvey Parish became an urban sanitary district in 1875 and an urban district in 1894.

The Grand Junction Canal spur arrived in 1882, and, during the mid-to-late 19th century, the arrival of the large-scale brickmaking industry into Langley and the area north of the Great West Road, saw dramatic growth northwards encroaching on the very south of the parish of Stoke Poges. This new development saw the population centre of the town move northwards and the name Slough suppressed Upton-cum-Chalvey. The part of that parish not originally included in the Slough Urban District was incorporated in 1900.

The

St Laurence
(Upton) and St Peter (Chalvey). St Laurence's church overlooks Upton Court - now the administrative home of the Slough Observer newspaper - famously said to be haunted by a young woman in a blood-stained nightdress.

Slough has 96

Grade II listed structures include four milestones, Slough station
, and Beech, Oak and Linden Houses at Upton Hospital.

Post-trading estate

1918 saw a large area of agricultural land to the west of Slough developed as an army motor repair depot, used to store and repair huge numbers of motor vehicles coming back from World War I in Flanders.

In April 1920 the Government sold the site and its contents to the Slough Trading Co. Ltd. Repair of ex-army vehicles continued until 1925 when the Slough Trading Company Act was passed allowing the company (renamed

Slough Estates Ltd) to establish an Industrial Estate.[11] Spectacular growth and employment ensued, with Slough attracting workers from many parts of the UK and abroad. Large housing estates were built to cater for these workers and their families, notably Manor Park and Cippenham
.

There was a major extension of the Slough Urban District in 1930. The local government district expanded westward, and was divided into wards for the first time (the new areas of Burnham, Farnham and Stoke as well as the divisions of the old district Central,

Upton). In 1938 the town received its first royal charter and became a municipal borough. See the list of mayors of Slough
, which starts with the charter mayor in 1938, who became the first elected mayor in November 1938.

The new town and the factories being built drew a protest poem in 1937 from

Second World War, the town, which also became home to an Emergency Hospital for casualties from London, experienced a series of air raids, most frequently in October 1940. Local air raid deaths and a smaller number of deaths at the Emergency Hospital account for the 23 civilian lives recorded lost in Slough Municipal Borough.[12]

After the war, several further large housing developments arose to take large numbers of people migrating from war-damaged London, notably the London County Council estates at Britwell and Langley, and the borough council[13] estate at Wexham Court (then outside the area of the borough).

In the early 1970s the main

parish councils
.

On 1 April 1995, the Borough of Slough expanded slightly into Buckinghamshire and Surrey, to take in Colnbrook and Poyle, which received a joint parish council. Slough became a unitary authority on 1 April 1998, with the abolition of Berkshire County Council and the 1973–1998 Borough. The present unitary authority was created a Borough by the town's third Royal charter.

Notes and references

  1. ^ Slough Heritage Survey, Slough Heritage Forum, About 2010
  2. ^ p 46, The History of Slough, Maxwell Fraser, Slough Corporation, 1973
  3. ^ pp. 45–46, The History of Slough, Maxwell Fraser, Slough Corporation, 1973
  4. ^ p 50, The History of Slough, Maxwell Fraser, Slough Corporation, 1973
  5. ^ pp. 55, 70–71, The History of Slough, Maxwell Fraser, Slough Corporation, 1973
  6. ^ pp. 50–52, The History of Slough, Maxwell Fraser, Slough Corporation, 1973
  7. ^ When Railways Were New
  8. ^ p 144, The History of Slough, Maxwell Fraser, Slough Corporation, Slough, 1973
  9. ^ pp. 1026–1028, 1054–1055, Dickens, Peter Ackroyd, Sinclair-Stevenson, London, 1990 (reference checked in paperback, Minerva, London, 1991)
  10. ^ Listed buildings in Slough (referenced 27 November 2006) Archived 16 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ p 109, The History of Slough, Maxwell Fraser, Slough Corporation, 1973
  12. ^ [1] CWGC Cemetery Report and attached casualty record.
  13. ^ p44, The Changing Face of Slough, Slough Museum, Breedon Books, Derby, 2003

External links

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