In the early 1950’s Park Road, where I lived in Henley-on-Thames when young, was all but empty of vehicles as were most streets here. Few families owned a car, although I was fortunate that my father was an engineer and so we were an exception. For a “treat”, which would be laughable to children nowadays, my parents would take me past The Catherine Wheel after dark to see the neon illuminations! These have now long gone.
It must have been a curious sight in its earlier days of being an inn since Hart Street would have been divided in the middle by what was reported as a “stack of buildings” with Fisher Row on the north side and Butcher Row on the south. No prizes for guessing what was for sale there! These were demolished in 1765 in preparation for the new bridge – which is still in heavy use today, although no longer referred to as “new”! On their website we read that in a will of 1499 it was known as “Le Katharine Whele and it paid a rent of one Angel or 100 old pence (in 1564) towards the upkeep of the bridge”.
It was a busy coaching inn for centuries and then more recently has been a popular Berni restaurant and now part of Wetherspoons. Curiously, bones and skeletons were found during some building work in the 1950’s and this has led to suggestions that there may have been a charnel house on this same site. This was a place where human remains were stored. They were often located, as here, near to a church to take the various bones that were unearthed during grave-digging. Also included in its long history is a time when it issued its own bronze and copper token money for use locally to supplement the national currency. More “hidden” items for the curious include the old door on the front which is no longer in use and has been blocked off, but its ornamental surround and old boot scraper remain. There are a fairly new set of gates in front of its enlarged outside area for customers and incorporates the motifs “Est.” and “1500’s” on the opposing sides of the gates. There’s a Henley Society blue plaque on the front wall. Currently, there’s a display of rowing club blazers inside with an information sheet that goes back to a boat club in Cambridge whose coats were “blazing red” and inspired the expression “blazer”.
But the logo on the sign, and even the welcome mat, show an image of St Catherine, who was gruesomely tortured because of her religion on the wheel for which she became known, back in the years c300.
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