Hidden Henley
weekly feature about curiosities in Henley-on-Thames and the surrounding area
Category: Uncategorized
-
You might say that this is the essence of Hidden Henley: something that hundreds of people walk over every day and never notice! A few years ago the sight in my picture and the thought of how they were used in the past caused considerable discussion during my Hidden Henley guided walks. Outside number 21…
-
My picture shows where water empties in the Thames at a point on Thameside in Henley between the public launching slipway at the foot of New Street and the green building on the river which is still marked where the Hooper family rented out pleasure boats. Is this the output of the curious Assendon (sometimes…
-
My picture shows the Kings Road side of Henley Town Hall on a December early morning in dim light, but you may be able to make out that one of the lower windows is different from the rest. It’s the same story on the other side of this outstanding building, which we usually only view…
-
Has anyone reading this encountered any of these curious cast metal markers with their dome top and presumably a ground spike of considerable size? This one reads “Henley Borough Boundary 1908” and can be found to one side of Pack & Prime Lane as the bridleway starts its gradual ascent towards Rotherfield Greys; just after…
-
The Royal Family have been more than ever in the news recently and this week I’m inviting you to look at a Royal connection from 1953. The Fairmile (sometimes written as two words) is an exceptionally fine introduction to Henley when approaching from the Oxford side. William Morris described it as “the loveliest approach to…
-
This week a story of the power of love and of differing views about the “facts” back in the 18th century; the busy ghost of Mary Blandy has been seen not just around Blandy House in Hart Street in our town, but at Oxford Castle, Turville, Hambleden, our Kenton Theatre, Catherine Wheel and where my…
-
With Remembrance Day this weekend it seems topical to remind readers that it was a local man who played a large part in the poppies that we associate with this time of the year. Although during World War 1 so much countryside was turned into fields of mud after extensive fighting and bombing, yet despite…
Hidden Henley 