Hidden Henley

27 3 26

I remember as a young boy walking alongside the wall around the former Fred Cook’s nursery at the junction of the Wargrave Road, and almost opposite the Little Angel, and asking my mother why the top had pieces of broken bottles sticking out. I was told it was to stop “naughty boys trying to climb over”!

There’s an array of broken bottles, as can be seen in my photo, to deter intruders on the wall top alongside Pack & Prime Lane on the opposite side to the Henley College grounds.

There’s another wall that still exists in our town with this same feature on the sharp bend at the foot of Greys Hill, but such fittings are rare nowadays. The current official advice seems to be that if broken glass is intended to be set into mortar on top of wall then it should be at least 2.4 metres off the ground and accompanied by warning signs; but the Occupiers’ Liability Acts appear to discourage this practice. Even so, there are plenty of local examples of aggressive-looking barbed wire, razor wire and spiked tops.

On a different subject but in the same area, should you take a look for yourself here near the same Henley College grounds you may catch a glimpse of the puzzling rails in my second picture. A sign says “PRIVATE COLLEGE GROUNDS” – the remainder of the sign has been obliterated – so it may be best to keep on the public footpath. More rails were visible in the past but must have now become buried within the leaf mould. It’s a curious, well-worn area with the remains of several cricket practice nets now absorbed in the woodlands, along with the disintegrating rubber grip mats. But what was the purpose of the rails?