Maps
1829: A Tour on the Banks of the Thames -
Following the course of the stream, we pass a range of hills to the left, known as the Quarry Hills,
whose appearance, covered as they are to the very summit, with foliage of every kind and description,
is most imposing, adding a charm to the scene, at once unexpected and pleasing.
The paths of these woods, which we had not time to unravel, seem by no means strange to the lads and lasses of the neighbouring villages,
many of whom we met in boats, merrily making their way for the woods, there to spend in harmless mirth a happy, and, we hope, a deserved holiday.
It was amusing to hear (after they had landed and made way into the deep recesses of these wooded heights) the echo of their voices,
now calling for their companions, lost in the trackless maze, and then the loud peals of laughter, occasioned by their sudden and unexpected recognition.
Absorbed in beholding the magnificence of these hills, and our attention fixed by observing the happiness of its human inhabitants,
the ground is insensibly passed over, and we arrive at a part of the river within a short distance of Great Marlow,
studded over with numerous little aits, on which oziers are grown, whose wild luxuriance imparts an additional charm,
which, to be properly felt, must be seen. These aits form, in fact, a complete Archipelago, but on a very small scale.
1950:
Riverside Retreat at Quarry Woods, photo by Eric de Mare
2006: The same house -
Gibraltar Island Footbridge, 2006
Map: Woottens Boatyard
Right bank 01628 484244
Quarry Woods
1792: Picturesque Views on the Thames by Samuel Ireland -
THE scenery of this neighbourhood is truly beautiful : the Quarry Woods extend a confiderable distance, and form a noble screen on the Berkshire side of the river.
1880: Quarry Cottage, Henry Taunt -
Quarry Cottage, Henry Taunt, 1880
© Oxfordshire County Council Photographic Archive;
1899: Quarry Woods, Francis Frith -
1899: Quarry Woods, Francis Frith
Quarry Woods, Mortimer Menpes, 1906
1992: Skyscan's Aerial View of Quarry Woods in The Secret Thames -
Skyscan's Aerial View of Quarry Woods.
Quarry Woods, 2004
Crotchet Castle by Thomas Love Peacock (1785-1866) -
In one of those beautiful valleys, through which the Thames (not
yet polluted by the tide, the scouring of cities, or even the minor
defilement of the sandy streams of Surrey) rolls a clear flood
through flowery meadows, under the shade of old beech woods, and
the smooth mossy greensward of the chalk hills ... in one of those
beautiful valleys, on a bold round-surfaced lawn, spotted with
juniper, that opened itself in the bosom of an old wood, which rose
with a steep, but not precipitous ascent, from the river to the
summit of the hill, stood the castellated villa of a retired
citizen.
Ebenezer Mac Crotchet, Esquire ...
The more effectually to sink the Mac, he
christened his villa "Crotchet Castle," and determined to hand down
to posterity the honours of Crotchet of Crotchet. He found it
essential to his dignity to furnish himself with a coat of arms,
which, after the proper ceremonies (payment being the principal),
he obtained, videlicet: Crest, a crotchet rampant, in A sharp;
Arms, three empty bladders, turgescent, to show how opinions are
formed; three bags of gold, pendent, to show why they are
maintained; three naked swords, tranchant, to show how they are
administered; and three barbers' blocks, gaspant, to show how they
are swallowed ...
He was not without a plausible pretence for styling his villa a
castle, for, in its immediate vicinity, and within his own enclosed
domain, were the manifest traces, on the brow of the hill, of a
Roman station, or castellum, which was still called the "Castle" by
the country people. The primitive mounds and trenches, merely
overgrown with greensward, with a few patches of juniper and box on
the vallum, and a solitary ancient beech surmounting the place of
the praetorium, presented nearly the same depths, heights, slopes,
and forms, which the Roman soldiers had originally given them.
From this cartel Mr. Crotchet christened his villa.
1881: George Leslie -
… Nothing can be finer than Quarry Woods …
1889: Jerome K Jerome, waxes quite poetic -
… the river itself is at its best here.
Down to Cookham, past the Quarry Woods and the meadows, is a lovely reach.
Dear old Quarry Woods!
with your narrow, climbing paths,
and little winding glades,
how scented to this hour you seem
with memories of sunny summer days!
How haunted are your shadowy vistas
with the ghosts of laughing faces!
how from your whispering leaves
there softly fall the voices of long ago!
1906: G.E.Mitton -
… the famous Quarry
Woods, held by many to be superior even to the Clieveden Woods.
In some points
they are, and not the least of these is that they are traversed by several
roads, while those at Clieveden are kept strictly private.
The woods are
composed almost wholly of beech, the tree that loves the chalk, here so
abundant, and only a few patches of larch may be seen in clumps among them.
Beginning at the water's edge, rising above the curious white castle with
harled walls called Quarry Hill, now to let, the woods continue in a straight
line inland, getting further and further from the river as they go.
It is
difficult to say at what season of the year they are the most beautiful.
In
early spring, before the buds burst, if looked at in the mass, there is to be
seen a kind of purple bloom made by the myriad buds, which is not found in any
mixed woods.
In spring the buds burst out into that tender indescribable green,
like nothing else in the world, and the new-born leaves,
suspended from their dark and almost
invisible twigs, are for all the world like fronds of giant maidenhair.
In the
autumn the whole ground is one blaze of rich burnt-sienna, a carpet of leaves
laid so industriously that not a speck of the bare brown earth appears; and
from this rise the stems smooth and straight, lichen-covered every one, and
thus transformed to brilliant emerald.
Where the light strikes through the
rapidly thinning branches, they have the very glow of the stones themselves.
It is an enchanted wood, and at any moment a wizard might peep out from behind one
of those magic trunks.
1793: View of Marlow from Quarry Woods -
Great Marlow. June 1, 1793.
J. Farington R.A. delt. J.C.Stadler sculpt.(Published)
by J. & J. Boydell, Shakespeare Gally. Pall
Mall & (No. 90) Cheapside London.
1793: View of Marlow from Quarry Woods -
Court Garden, and Great Marlow. June 1, 1793.
J. Farington R.A. delt. J.C. Stadler sculpt. (Published) by J. & J. Boydell,
Shakespeare Gally. Pall Mall & (No. 90) Cheapside London)
1900s: I bet Quarry Woods residents wish it still looked like this, but the A404 and its bridge are now right across this view -
View of Marlow from Quarry Woods, 1900s
©
Buckinghamshire County Council, may be used for any non profit legal purpose.
Map: Longridge Centre
Right bank, 01628 483252
Upstream to A404 Bridge
Estuary
PLA
QEII Br
Barrier
Tower Br
Custom Ho
London Br
; Frost Fairs
Cannon St Rb
The Great Stink
Southwark Br
Millenium Br
Blackfriars Rb
Blackfriars Br
Waterloo Br
Charing Cross Rb
Westminster Br
Lambeth Br
Vauxhall Br
Victoria Rb
Chelsea Br
Albert Br
Battersea Br
Battersea Rb
Wandsworth Br
Fulham Rb
Putney Br
Hammersmith Br
Barnes Rb
Chiswick Br
Kew Rb
Kew Br
RICHMOND
Twickenham Br
Richmond Rb
Richmond Br
TEDDINGTON
Kingston Rb
Kingston Br
Ditton Slip
Hampton Br
MOLESEY
SUNBURY
Walton Br
Desborough Cut
SHEPPERTON
Chertsey Br
CHERTSEY
M3 Br
Laleham Slip
PENTON HOOK
Staines Rb
Staines Br
Runnymede Br
BELL WEIR
Magna Carta Is
OLD WINDSOR
Albert Br
Datchet
Victoria Br
Black Potts Rb
ROMNEY
Eton
Windsor Br
Windsor Rb
Windsor Slip
Elizabeth Br
BOVENEY
Dorney Lake
York Cut
Summerleaze Fb
MonkeyIsland
New Thames Br
BRAY
Bray Slip
Maidenhead Rb
Maidenhead Br
Below Boulters
BOULTERS
Cliveden
Hedsor
COOKHAM
Cookham Slip
Cookham Br
BourneEnd RFb
Quarry Woods
A404 Br
MARLOW
Marlow Br
Bisham
TEMPLE
HURLEY
Medmenham
Culham Ct
Aston Slip
HAMBLEDEN
Temple Is
Fawley Ct
Remenham
Regatta
Phyllis Ct
Henley Slip
Leander
Red Lion
Henley Br
Angel on Br
Landing
Hobbs Boatyard
Hobbs Slipway
MARSH
Hennerton
Bolney
Wargrave
Shiplake Rb
R.Loddon
SHIPLAKE
Sonning Br
SONNING
Dreadnought
K&A Canal
CAVERSHAM
Reading Br
Caversham Br
Reading Slip
Purley
MAPLEDURHAM
Hardwick Ho
Whitchurch Br
WHITCHURCH
Hartswood Reach
Gatehampton Rb
Goring Gap
Goring Br
GORING
Swan
CLEEVE
Moulsford
Moulsford Rb
Papist Way Slip
Winterbrook Br
Wallingford Br
BENSON
Shillingford Br
R.Thame
DAYS
Burcot
Clifton Hampden
Clifton Church
Clifton H Br
Barley Mow
Long Wittenham
CLIFTON
Appleford Rb
Sutton Courtenay
Sutton Br
CULHAM
Culham Cut Fb
Abingdon Slip
Abingdon
Abingdon Br
ABINGDON
Nuneham Rb
Nuneham
Nuneham Park
Radley Boats
SANDFORD
Rose Island
Kennington Rb
Isis Br
Iffley Mill
IFFLEY
Oxford Rowing
Isis
Donnington Br
Riverside Slip
Boathouses
Punting
Lower Cherwell
Upper Cherwell
Islip
Head of River
Salters Steamers
Folly Br
Bacons Folly
Oxford Fb
Osney Fb
Weir stream
Osney Rb
Bullstake Stream
Osney Marina
OSNEY
Osney Br
Four Rivers
OLD RIVER
CANAL
Medley Weir Site
Medley Fb
Bossoms
Perch
Trout
GODSTOW
Godstow Nunnery
Godstow Br
Thames Br
KINGS
River Evenlode
EYNSHAM
Swinford Br
Oxford Cruisers
PINKHILL
Farmoor
Stanton Harcourt
Bablock Slip
Arks Weir Site
NORTHMOOR
Harts Fb
//Rose Revived
Newbridge
//Maybush
River Windrush
below Shifford
SHIFFORD
Shifford Fb
Tenfoot Fb
Trout Inn
Tadpole Br
RUSHEY
Old Mans Fb
RADCOT
Radcot Cradle Fb
Swan Inn
Radcot New Br
Radcot Old Br
GRAFTON
Eaton Hastings
Kelmscott
Eaton Fb
BUSCOT
Bloomers Hole Fb
Trout Inn
St Johns Br
ST JOHNS
Halfpenny Br
Marina Slip
LIMIT
Inglesham
Hannington Br
Kempsford
Castle Eaton Br
Marston Meysey
A419 Br
Cricklade
SOURCE?
THAMES HEAD
SEVEN SPRINGS