IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Cliveden Road, MAIDENHEAD, SL6 0ER

There had been earlier grand houses on this hilltop, but this one dates from 1855. In the Buckinghamshire volume of 'The Buildings of England', Pevsner describes it as 'Big, Early Tudor'. Big it certainly is, but it puzzles me that Pevsner seems not to have noticed the building's French flavour. The turret seen here is one rather French feature, but there are others: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3816827 Taplow Court was built right next to an old churchyard, and may even have encroached upon it - notice the tomb within a few feet of a window.

A very strange place indeed. Two churches, it seems, have stood here - the first built in the 7th century, the second demolished in the 19th (though just when is not clear). Looming over the churchyard is Taplow Court - a vast chateau of a house, Victorian Gothick, built in about 1855. But the most unlikely element here - and the earliest - is Taeppa's Mound, a massive Saxon burial mound, said to date from about 620 AD: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3814805 Photo taken on a January day of fast-changing light, with sunny spells, heavy showers, and rainbows.

Pevsner (in the Buckinghamshire volume of 'The Buildings of England') is content to describe the style of this Victorian building as 'Early Tudor'. To me it seems odd that he overlooked details such as the window and doorway seen here - very French in inspiration, not at all English.

This hilltop site was used for burials for well over a thousand years. The oldest evidence takes the form of an Anglo-Saxon barrow, said to date from about 620 AD, and apparently pre-Christian: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3814805 From later centuries not a lot remains - a number of tomb-slabs, and half a dozen or so grander tombs, from the 18th and 19th centuries. The tomb shown here is the grandest of the lot - though modest in scale when seen beside the barrow. The inscription is somewhat weathered, but I was able to make out the family name Villiers. (Other names to be found nearby include Onslow and Grenfell). I took the photo on a January afternoon - with black cloud and heavy showers taking their turn amid spells of bright light from a low sun.

This seventh century burial mound stands in the grounds of Taplow Court. It is 15 feet high, 80 feet in diameter and 240 feet in circumference. It would later be surpassed by Sutton Hoo, but when the Taplow site was excavated in 1883 it was the richest Saxon burial in the country. Interred beneath the mound was a single individual - interpreted by archaeologists as a local chieftain - buried with grave goods including a sword, three spears, two shields, drinking horns and glass beakers. These are now displayed in the British Museum.

This seventh century burial mound stands in the grounds of Taplow Court. It is 15 feet high, 80 feet in diameter and 240 feet in circumference. It would later be surpassed by Sutton Hoo, but when the Taplow site was excavated in 1883 it was the richest Saxon burial in the country. Interred beneath the mound was a single individual - interpreted by archaeologists as a local chieftain - buried with grave goods including a sword, three spears, two shields, drinking horns and glass beakers. These are now displayed in the British Museum.

In Domesday Book Taplow appears as Thapeslau http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/SU9182/taplow/ - a name which scholars interpret as meaning 'the burial place of Taeppa', It is said that Taeppa was an Anglo-Saxon chieftain, and when the mound was excavated in 1883 opulent grave-goods were found, along with a fragmentary skeleton - enabling the site to be dated to circa 620 AD. The Anglo-Saxon barrow stands on a hilltop overlooking the Thames, within the area later enclosed as St Nicolas' churchyard. A church which stood nearby was demolished in Victorian times, in connection with the building of Taplow Court. What has come to light more recently is that an earlier - Anglo-Saxon - church once occupied the site:http://www.indigogroup.co.uk/edge/Taplow.htm So it seems that less than a century after the burial of Taeppa, the pagan site was adopted by early Christians. Whatever the archaeological evidence, this is a memorable spot - the Anglo-Saxon barrow in among the battered 18th century tombs, and all enclosed within the grounds of Taplow Court. The place leaves you with a powerful impression of the layers of human history.

Taplow Court, once the home of Lord and Lady Desborough, has been beautifully restored and is now the Headquarters of SGI UK - a lay Buddhist organisation.

To be found on a tomb-chest near the north-west corner of the yard. The family name on the tomb is Grenfell, and the horn-like objects are known in heraldry as clarions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarion_(heraldry) 'Grenfell' would appear to derive from the same root as the name 'Grenville', as both families share the same arms.