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The parish
of Cookham lies on the River Thames at the north-east
edge of Berkshire, close to the border with Buckingamshire.
Cookham
has three villages: Cookham Village, Cookham Rise and Cookham
Dean.
Cookham
Village, the original settlement, has a delightful High Street
that has changed little over the centuries.
Cookham
Rise, now boasting a modern shopping centre, grew up around
the railway station on the Maidenhead to Marlow branch line.
Cookham
Dean, an attractive residential area, is noted for its cherry
blossom in the spring, and Winter Hill, an outstanding viewpoint
in Cookham Dean, is now owned by the National Trust.
Today
Cookham is a popular Thameside resort boasting many fine restaurants
and inns, an ideal destination to visit. The
Bel and the Dragon, dating from 1417, is said to be one of
the oldest licensed public houses in England.
Cookham
makes a good base for visitors with a number of walks along
the Thames Path and for exploring nearby National Trust property.
In the
third week of July the ceremony of Swan Upping takes place
at Cookham. At this time the Royal Swankeeper catches all
the new cygnets and assigns ownership.
Cookham
has had several notable residents. The artist Sir Stanley
Spencer (1891-1959) lived in Cookham until his death. Spencer
used the village scenery as the background to many of his
paintings and the
Stanley Spencer Gallery, housed in the Methodist Chapel
he attended, houses a permanent exhibition of his works.
Another
famous resident was Kenneth Grahame, author of 'The Wind
in the Willows', who lived at Cookham Dean with his grandmother.
The writer was inspired by Winter Hill and many river scenes
between Cookham and Henley.
Guglielmo
Marconi, the pioneer of wireless communication, lived at Cookham
Rise, where he is believed to have conducted experimental
transmissions in 1897.
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Cookham
