Nestled amongst an urban area, this tiny grove of trees appears to have escaped development by the skin of its teeth. It was once part of the Cippenham Lodge farmland, which covered most of the local land and stretched as far as the area now occupied by Slough Trading Estate.
Though we’ve never been able to identify anything that looks like watercress when we visit, presumably watercress was once grown here, which is reflected not just in the name of the grove, but also in nearby Cress Road.
Some local historians have speculated that the grove is the site of the long-lost Queen Anne’s well, though others favour sites near the Montem Mound or Church Street, Chalvey. The well was said to have healing waters beneficial for the eyes, and Queen Anne reputedly had the water shipped to Windsor Castle in bucketloads.
The grove’s claim to the historic site is based on some stonework that was once there. Robert Tighe and James Davis (1858) Annals of Windsor state:
“The well and the original stone trough and spout may yet be traced among the pretty grove of trees…”
Local tradition says the well was filled in with the building of a nearby school, and the stonework taken away for a horse trough.
Whether it is or isn’t the site of the historic well, which may forever remain a mystery, there seems to have been sufficient doubt to prevent the area being bulldozed and developed. And in 2010 Slough Borough Council designated it a non-statutory or informal nature reserve.
If you also have an interest in landmark buildings, come out of the nature area on the Keel Drive side to see Britain’s first ever purpose-built Hindu temple, dating from 1981.
Things to note: to access the grove you need to be able to navigate some shallow steps (shown in the pictures). I wouldn’t recommend it for buggies unless you have a decent all-terrain model, and I wouldn’t consider it wheelchair friendly – sorry.
Although the area is tiny and you won’t have far to walk, the paths and steps can get quite muddy and slippery in wet weather. Please take care, especially of any junior cachers, as there is unfenced water throughout the grove.
Many thanks to Slough Borough Council for permission to place the geocache, and the https://insearchofholywellsandhealingsprings.com// website (Pixyled Publications) for being a great source of information.
The Little Bridges series was started by Stanthews in 2009 to highlight small footbridges in remote parts of Wiltshire. Since then the series has been expanded by others all over the country and starting to spread fast. There is a stats listing run by Billiethecat, so you can see how many Little Bridges you have found, you can find it here:- https://littlebridgesseries.wordpress.com/ . If you would like to add to the series, please contact Stan on stanthews@aol.com and he will give you a number for your bridge, to qualify, the bridge must be a foot bridge too small for vehicles, please make sure your title exactly matches “Little Bridges # xxxx then the name” including spaces so it will get picked up and added to stats list.
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