Aug 06 2021 19 mins 4
The turnpike the train and the bridge, MP for the pocket borough of Bisham, ghostly copybooks? Victorian Gothic makeover and new chapel for the Church, selling land to fund lavish lifestyles .
George Henry the Younger was the first Vansittart heir to be born at Bisham, the Estate comprised 1800 acres the landscape was changing with new modes of transport. The Hatfield to Reading Turnpike came through Bisham. From 1826 to 1881, the Marlow Flier offered a twice daily coach service to London in only 3 hours. In 1832 Tierney Clark designed a new stone suspension bridge across the Thames. The Wycombe Railway Company opened the line as far as High Wycombe on 1st August 1854 via Wycombe Junction and Cookham. During George Henrys minority, the estate was run by the trustees. The Abbey was leased to his aunt Caroline and her husband Augustus East. The guardian of the 2 young boys (George Henry and Augustus Arthur) was Henry Windsor the 8th Earl of Plymouth. In 1840, faded blotted copy books were found. Were these the books from the story of Lady Hoby whose ghost walks through the great hall.
GHV took over the running of the Bisham estate in 1844. Trees for timber, osier beds provided willow. The 4 farms: provided wheat, barley and oats and pasture for the animals. In March 1845 GHV became deputy lieutenant of Berkshire. Bisham Church had a Victorian Gothic makeover and the Williams Chapel was built at a cost of £2000, funded by Owen Willams of Temple House. The memorials in this chapel are all of copper. In Dec 1851 GH married Catherine Elizabeth Steuart (b 1828) from Scotland and in July 1852 he became MP for Berkshire.‘ the parishes of Great and Little Marlow, Medmenham and Bisham made up the Borough of Marlow, .., the Squire of Bisham exercised a powerful influence in the result. Indeed Bisham was generally regarded as the key to the borough.’
George Henry created a road to the railway station at Cookham. In June 1855 he instructed Messrs Rolls to sell 3 miles of valuable FISHERY, And twelve Lots of Valuable FREEHOLD BUILDING GROUND for Residences of a superior class and enjoy a right of way to the river for mooring their skiffs or fishing punts but not for trading purposes. In May 1857 George Henry’s brother Augustus Arthur married the Hon Rachel Irby. A further Building plot Sale held at the Compleat Anglers Hotel in Bisham (owned by the Wethered family) in 1858, delightfully situated on the bank of the Thames at Bisham, close to the beautiful suspension bridge. Oct 1858 Bisham Church choir concert under the direction of the vicar (Powell) with all first and second class seats being full. The Royal East Berks Agricultural association held their annual Ploughing match at Park farm on 5th Oct 1858. 40 teams entered.
At Christmas 1860 a ball was given for 200 of the elite of Berkshire and the Abbey was illuminated with gas from the works erected on the estate. The hall is lighted up with a very handsome chandelier throwing out jets of gas forming stars. In August, Bisham School held their annual festival in the Bisham Abbey Park. In 1867 the businessmen of Great Marlow partly funded a railway linking Great Marlow to the GWR Wycombe branch. The line opened on in 1873, known as the Marlow Donkey. 1874– George Henry’s mother, Ann Mary, and his wife, Katherine died. George Henry married Constance Charlotte Craven age 38 in 1876, producing only a daughter who died young. On the death of George Henry in 1885, the Bisham estate passed via his uncle, the Revd Edward Neale. Edward Ernest inherited the estate aged 75.
Episode researched, written and narrated by Sheila Featherstone-Clark.
Image is the Great Hall, Bisham. Sound effects from Freesound.org
