Tag Archives: henley-on-thames

Two swans perched on a post box in Henley-on-Thames

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TODAY WE PAID a brief visit to Henley-on-Thames. As we walked along the town’s picturesque Market Place, we noticed a post box (pillar box) on the top of which there was a beautifully knitted (or crocheted) pair of swans, one a white adult and the other a grey youngster. This creation was tightly fitted to the convex top of the red post box. It is an example of a ‘post box topper’. All over the parts of England that we have visited during the last few years we have seen many examples of these handmade knitted or crocheted ‘toppers’. The swan topper in Henley is a particularly attractive example. The people who make these decorative woolly hats for post boxes are sometimes known as ‘yarn bombers’.  

I wondered about the history of the toppers. All I could discover was in an article published online in northwichguardian.co.uk on 19 June 2021. It revealed that the Post Office:

“… first began to see these toppers in 2012 over the festive season, although this soon spread to other key times of the year such as Easter. More recently, we have noticed decorations celebrating various frontline workers during the pandemic, including postal workers.”

I first began noticing these folkloric creations in mid-2020 when the covid19 regulations were eased sufficiently to permit us to make day trips from London into the nearby countryside.

Creating toppers involves a lot of work and must surely challenge the creators’ ingenuity. Some of them are quite simple in design, but others, like the swans in the centre of Henley, are intriguingly complex. The toppers are unpretentious works of art which must bring a smile to the faces of many a passerby.

Dusty no more: a town on the Thames

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HENLEY-ON-THAMES is located at the Oxford end of a bridge across the River Thames, which separates the county of Oxfordshire from its neighbour Berkshire. Located on the old main road between London and Oxford, it retains much ‘olde-worlde’ charm. Its streets are lined with many buildings that were constructed in the 18th century and before. Some of these used to be coaching inns but are no longer. However, some of the hostelries that served wayfarers in times long ago are still serving thirsty and hungry customers today, for example: The Red Lion, where William III might have visited, now an upmarket restaurant; and The Catherine Wheel, now a branch of the Wetherspoons company. On a recent visit in April 2022, we enjoyed superb coffee at Pavilion on The Market Place, close to the Town Hall.

Beer lovers will not need reminding that Henley is the home of Brakspear & Sons, the brewery company. Founded in Henley in 1722, beer was brewed in the town since then, although some of the comapany’s products are now brewed elsewhere. Many of the brewery’s older buildings, now converted for new purposes, can be seen alongside New Street. The company’s offices are now located on Bull Courtyard off Bell Street.

The stone bridge across the river was built in 1788. It is the finishing place of the annual Henley Royal Regatta held in summer, ever since its inception in 1839. Near the bridge, stands Henley’s parish church of St Mary the Virgin, which has a 16th century tower. The exterior walls of the southeast corner of the church is an eye-catching chequerboard of alternating masonry and flint squares. The church’s interior has been much modified by the Victorians. The churchyard north of the church is surrounded mainly by almshouses. Immediately next to the north side of the church stands a two-storied, half-timbered building, the Chantry House, some of whose beams come from trees felled in 1461 (according to scientific dating methods). Between 1552 and 1778, this edifice housed a school. Since 1923, it has housed the Parish Rooms.

The churchyard is filled with many gravestones. One of them immediately attracts the visitor as it is surrounded by generous amounts of fresh flowers. It is a memorial to the singer Dusty Springfield (1939-1999), who died in Henley. In the 1990s, Dusty lived by the Thames at Hurley near Henley. While in the area, she suffered from several bouts of breast cancer, the cause of her demise. Her funeral at St Mary’s in Henley was attended by many of her fans and leading lights in the British popular music scene including Elvis Costello, Lulu and the Pet Shop Boys. According to her wishes, Dusty was cremated, and some of her ashes were scattered in Henley and the rest in Ireland.

Dusty was not the only music celebrity to have lived in Henley. A man we met outside his house in the town reminded us that the Beatle George Harrison (1943-2001) had also lived in the town. He also mentioned that Henley’s former MP, the present Prime Minister Boris Johnson, had attended meetings in his home, and that he could tell us a thing or two … but he did not!