A couple of weeks ago I was worried about filling a full page with a tattered Ordnance map well over 100 years old.

In fact it created more feedback than usual and requests to feature more of it: I had only shown the northern 'Marefield' area of the town. In fact I can find at least two more sections with many changes from today. 

Here we have the South East section. Starting near the top: New Road is unsurfaced and yet to be named Claremont Road, and Claremont Gardens did not exist, with only a pedestrian access to Chapel Street. Marlow Fields, like Marefield, is another largely forgotten name now.

The Marlow Furniture Company, Duchess Place, off Dedmere Road, is just shown as 'Timber Yard'. A few weeks ago in this column I included a picture of its burnt out remains after a major fire.  The Institute had only just been built and the walled south side of Institute Road enclosed the extensive gardens of Marlow Place.

The Railway Hotel was not renamed The Marlow Donkey until 30 years later, and across an undeveloped Lock Road is the Cattle Market and Cattle Pens, alongside the original and much missed Railway Station with Goods Yard and Goods Shed.

I wish I had a good picture of the Cattle Market: the best I can do is a member of the Pinches family with a prize bull, and a similar picture below shows a very young John White from Widmere Farm (brother of Rachel Brown). An enlargement of a part of one further photo shows the main building, and the signboard reads 'Great Marlow Cattle Market' with the surprising information that it is operated by Laurence, Son & Laird, best known as High Street Estate Agents. 

The elegant Suffolk Lodge is still there, tucked away behind Station Road and Little Boltons, but now remanded Marlow Lodge. At the date of this map it was occupied by Mr Emile Enoch, who was a well known music publisher and  responsible for the formation of the Music Publishers Association in 1881. Up to this date there had been no copyright on printed sheet music.

A postcard in my collection has a sepia view of the Lodge and is addressed to a Miss Agnew in Southend, and the correspondence on the reverse side is interesting.  It reads 'I thought you would like to see the house where I am. You can only see a part of the garden, and it is much prettier than it looks here. Probably I shall be going to Margate next Wednesday for a week. There are a number of apple trees and the apples are just delicious. Suppose you are very busy with school again. Much love, Auntie C.'  Possibly 'Auntie C' was Emile Enoch’s wife!    


Contact Michael at michael@jazzfans.co or 01628 486571.