Riverside - south bank west of the Tower. Bell Weir Runnymede

Riverside - south bank west of the Tower. Bell Weir Runnymede

This post relates to sites south of the River only. North of the River is Wraysbury

Post to the north Wraysbury Lakes
Post to the east Yeoveney
Post to the south Egham
Post to the west Runnymede Pleasure Grounds and Ankerwycke

Bell Weir
Bell Weir Lock. The lock is named after the earliest lock keeper. The first pound lock here was built in 1811 at the bend by the current recreation ground. The lock was built here in 1817-1818 and called Egham Lock. The weir collapsed because of ice in 1827 and again in 1866. The lock and weir were rebuilt in 1867 and the lock rebuilt again in stone in 1877. A new weir was built in 1904. The Weir attracts wildlife. - woodpeckers, parakeets, kingfishers, sparrow hawks and kestrels, plus foxes, badgers and muntjac.
Bell Weir Lock House – with murals on the outside about Magna Carta done by students from East Berkshire College.

Windsor Road
Runneymede on Thames Hotel. This is the site of the Anglers Rest. This probably dated from the 17th but was rebuilt 1850-1860 when it was tied to the Thomas Harris brewery at Knowle Green, Staines. It was demolished in 1973 and replaced by the Runnymede Hotel. It has been said that the original Anglers Rest was converted from the lock house for Bell Weir.
Cricket Ground. Egham Cricket Club played here until the mid 1960s. In 1928 the Club moved to land here between Windsor Road and the Anglers Rest Hotel. The club played there until 1931 when a lease was obtained on another site on the Windsor Road. Members converted the long grass into a cricket ground. A resident, who had moved into a new house, gave the club his old wooden bungalow which became the pavilion.  In 1950 the landlord died and left instructions that the ground should be placed in trust for the land to be used as a sports ground in perpetuity. Unfortunately another neighbour took the club to court on the issue and the Club their ground in 1966.
World Duty Free Warehouse. Runneymead CDC. This organisation operates retail stores in airports to retail a variety of goods. The company was incorporated in 1996. Until the 1960s this site was used by a variety of chemical companies.
West Surrey Chemical Works. In the 1850s and 1860s this was owned by Robert Paulson Spice, who had come here from Fakenham with expertise in running gas works. He operated what may have been an existing chemical works to process gas manufacture residual products. In 1872 this resulted in a high court action against the site for nuisance and pollution taken out by local farmers. This involved tar flowing into fields and smoke and black specks coming from the process by which commercial black inks were made for the printing industry.  The jury found for Spice. The works was also called ‘Chalkmead Chemical Works’
Copal Varnish Company Ltd. This dated from the mid 1870s and was incorporated in 1883 having been declared insolvent previously. They were the subject of a much quoted legal judgement on the conduct of company officers and were dissolved sometime between 1916 and 1932.
Paripan Varnish Works. In 1886 Randall Brothers who had a chemical works on Bankside moved here. They had been making colours for printing inks and paints since 1855. They began to use Paripan as a trade name ‘Paripan’ the name coming from ‘Paris White Japan’. They were to advertise this using glamour models.  In 1919 they became a public company under the name of Paripan Ltd. And were eventually to become ‘by Royal Appointment. In 1962 they merged with Carson’s Paints of Battersea and by 1973 the works was closed and the buildings demolished
Runneymede Dispersions Ltd. were a subsidiary company of Paripan-Carsons and are now Tennants Inks and Coatings of Cinderford, Gloucestershire.


Yard Mead
Bell Weir Boats. Marina, boat sales etc.
Nichols Boat Yard
Sewage pumping station

Sources
Canal plan. Web site
East Berks College. Web site
Egham Cricket Club, Web site
Grace’s Guide. Web site
Pub History. Web site
Tenannts Inks. Web site
Thames Pilot. Web site
Surrey Industrial History
Where Thames Smooth Waters Flow. Web site

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