Salt Hill Park in Slough

Transcript

Park life is plentiful

LAST week we learned that Salt Hill Park has been awarded the prestigious Green Flag Award for excellence. Like many of Slough’s parks, it is steeped in history going back to the early medieval period. As part of the Green Flag Award, I was commissioned by Slough Borough Council to research and write its history, the highlights of which I would like to share with you.

On March 21, 1907, the park was given to the people of Slough by James Elliman, a local businessman and benefactor to Slough. He made his fortune by the manufacture of ‘Elliman’s Embrocation’, which was a ligament for horses. The factory was in Wellington Street. Elliman was also responsible for building the old Drill Hall, also on Wellington Street, and giving land and money for Slough Public Hall and Slough Fire Brigade’s HQ in Mackenzie Street (all of which have now been demolished).

The main part of the park was originally part of an ancient farm called Plowley’s Farm, which is perpetuated in the name Plowley’s Lane, adjacent to the Horlicks factory on Stoke Poges Lane. The Horlicks factory was built on the site of the original farmhouse. This farm was granted to Eton College sometime after the school’s foundation in 1441.

The name ‘Plowley’ can be traced back in the records held by Eton College to the late 13th century, when land was held by ‘Simon de Pozhele’. The farm remained college property until 1823, when the fields of Stoke Poges were enclosed and the land which made up Ploughley’s Farm was swapped for other land in Chalvey, belonging to Francis Godolphin, Duke of Leeds.

The Duke of Leeds owned this land until 1902, when it was purchased by James Elliman, who wrote to Slough Urban District Council with a view to donating the land to ‘promote the physical development and wellbeing of the people of Slough’. He then went about laying out the park with a budget of £5,000, a project which he estimated would take some three years to complete. In 1904, the boundaries of the Salt Hill Playing Fields were marked out. Two of these markers still exist and are inscribed ‘JE 1904’. Some 146 ornamental specimen trees were planted. The external boundaries of the park were surrounded by a wrought iron fence and the main entrance gates of the park were surmounted by four great decorative eagles. Sadly, all this ornamental metalwork was removed during WW2 to help with the war effort.

Salt Hill Lodge, adjacent to the entrance, was constructed in 1905 and designed by the celebrated architect Sir Reginald Blomfield. Blomfield also designed ‘The Barn’, which started life as a large pavilion. After James Elliman had completed the park and buildings, his estimated £5,000 had grown to a huge £31,750. Despite this, he left £10,000 for future maintenance costs.

In March 2007, the centenary of the park was marked by the planting of a tree by descendants of James Elliman. The Salt Hill Playing Fields have flourished for more than 100 years and the Green Flag award shows that the park is still being kept and maintained in a fashion of which James Elliman would have approved.

Captions for Images

• LOOKING BACK: The Barn in Salt Hill Park, designed by the famous architect Sir Reginald Blomfield in 1909. Below, the beautiful wrought iron gates in 1905. They were taken down in WW2 to aid the war effort.
• PLAYTIME: Children playing in the park amongst the newly planted ornamental trees in 1909.

Images

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