IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Bury Mews, Bury Lane, RICKMANSWORTH, WD3 1FR

The terraced cottages are dated 1883 and 1884. What a pity that some properties have had flush-fitting windows installed, of a pattern totally out of keeping with the original sashes.

Built in 1894.

The Almshouses were bequeathed by John Beresford who made his fortune from dealing in gunpowder during the English Civil War between 1642 and 1651. This is not the original location of the almshouses, these replacement dwellings having been built here in Bury Lane in 1894. Chesswood Court is the modern residential building behind.

Town Ditch is the main watercourse of the old field drain system built to improve and manage drainage in the town many years ago. It starts as an outfall from the River Chess to the east of the town before flowing into the River Colne to the west. Here it is, tucked away between buildings, viewed looking downstream from the Bury Lane bridge. Please see Image in the grid square to the east for the preceding image in the sequence.

Taken in December 1972, this photo shows Ebury Hall at the corner of Bury Lane and Ebury Road. It was donated by Lord Ebury in 1901 to the Parish of Rickmansworth and had been used as a meeting place by local organisations since then.However, it closed during the late 1970s and was then partly demolished although the front of it remains to this day. Offices now occupy this building and its postcode is WD3 1BH. The bridge and road in the foreground used to be known as the Water Splash with a stream crossing over it. However, it was built over in late 1963 after the ford froze in the Winter of 1962/3.

Taken in May 1982, this photo shows Ebury Hall at the corner of Ebury Road and Bury Lane. It dates from 1901 and was named after Lord Ebury. However, it closed as a public meeting place in the late 1970s and is now used as offices. The road to the left of Ebury Hall is Bury Lane which led to The Bury in the distance. There used to be a stream, known as the watersplash, which crossed Bury Lane just beyond Ebury Hall, but it froze during the severe Winter of 1962/3 and was subsequently culverted in the Autumn of 1963.

The range on the left is timber framed, and of medieval origin. Cherry and Pevsner (in the Hertfordshire volume of 'The Buildings of England') say 'the nucleus . . . is late medieval half-timber work'. But what caught my eye as I walked along Church Street was the taller 18th century range, with its Gothicky windows and pretty porch. The timber-framed part of the building appears - at the moment - to be in use as offices.