Cookham yesterday, Cookham today
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The three Villages, Cookham Village, Cookham Rise and Cookham Dean all have different histories. Until Victorian times Cookham Dean was considered a rough area to live and generally unsafe. This changed drastically with the building of St John the Baptist church in 1845. The Reverend George Hodson was so appalled by the ‘local poverty and unruliness’ that he made it his life’s work to reform the heathen inhabitants! He also started the School there, which moved from a cottage in School Lane to its present site in 1899. Herries School in Cookham Dean was opened in the late 1920s by the widow of a former Governor of the Falkland Islands as a boarding school.
Cookham Village has many attractive houses dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries and up to the last century was very much a working community. In 1858 Holy Trinity School was built, and not only educated the local children but provided a community hall for concerts and meetings.
Cookham Rise is in the middle and then as now, provided food, services and the train station. The Station was opened in 1854 by the Wycombe Railway Company and it transformed life: suddenly it was easy to get to London and other places to work, and easy too for visitors to arrive here. As a result the Rise expanded rapidly.
Cookham Rise School opened in 1908 as the first non-selective secondary school in Berkshire, and continued until it became a primary school in 1964. Another educational landmark was the Nursery School, which was built in 1949. It was the first school ever built by the Nursery Schools Association and visitors came from around the world to study it.
‘The Rise’ expanded again during and after the Second World War as evacuees fled from the Blitz in London. Many stayed on in the houses built to accommodate them and became very much part of the local community. The 1950s and 1960s saw the development of housing at Burnt Oak, Westwood Green, Southwood Gardens and Coxborrow Close, followed by Broomhill. The new shops at Station Parade offered easy parking and great convenience for the rapidly increasing population.
One of the most important contributions to the rural landscape of the area came in 1934, when over 800 acres of land was bought by public subscription (with large contributions coming from John Spedan Lewis at Odney) and handed to the National Trust. The land is now protected for us all to enjoy. Local farmers still exercise their common rights over much of this land. The designations of Green Belt and Conservation Areas (see maps on line/disc) have made a major contribution to the preservation of local character.
Philanthropists have played a large part in shaping the Cookham we know today – with playing fields, land and communal halls being given by generous benefactors. John Lewis and his partner Peter Jones bought Lullebrook manor in 1927 as a country retreat for their staff. It is still there today and has only recently expanded its modern facilities and training centre.
The history of the future will be dominated by the increase in mobility and modern technology. Some families are being priced out of the housing market, while others are moving in with young children. The schools all have healthy registers, the churches are full on Sundays and, thanks to good management and farming practices, the landscape still remains much the same as it has for the last century.
For a more comprehensive history of the area you are recommended to read ‘The Story of Cookham’ by Robin and Valerie Bootle. There are also many other useful books about the area in the Local Studies section of Maidenhead Library.