By Monica Jones
We know that residents love history about our area. So you may be interested to know about a new book which has come out recently.
Secret Shepperton – England’s Hollywood, by Jill Armitage promises to unveil history and secrets as never before.
The eagle eyed of you will rec-ognise some of the content from history articles run in Shepperton Matters over the year, but you will certainly pick up some interesting facts.
The publisher promises to take us on a jour-ney. From Shepperton’s early origins as an Iron Age settlement nestling on the banks of the Thames, to the crucial role the studios played during war time, to the glitz and glam-our of the heyday of film and with a final stop at Shepperton today.
Indeed Shepperton was the place where the oldest woman in London has been discovered. ‘Shepperton Woman’ as she is known, was found during excavation of a henge in the grounds of Manor Farm on Laleham Road. Her reconstructed head resides as a centre piece at the Museum of London and there is a copy at the Spelthorne Museum.
Did you know that Caesar apparently crossed the Thames at Cowey Sale? And would you know where War Close is in Shepperton? Shepperton apparently had a zoo at one point. That is news to me. As is the story that we nearly had a Disney style theme park.
As well as being very much an agricultural area at one point, Shepperton also had a brick making works and exported bricks to London.
We have had our fare share of glam-ourous visitors but did you know we also had Dick Turpin come by or that ‘Buster’ Edwards once chose to lay low after the great train robbery in a house in Old Forge Crescent?
So take a meander around Shepper-ton’s history. The content jumps around a little, and it is definitely not just about the ‘Hollywood’ as-pect of Shepperton as the title might suggest, but there is a lot to learn and we are sure read-ers will enjoy it.
Secret Shepperton
£15.99
ISBN 9781398107168
Published by Amberly Publishing @amberleybooks
Waterstones, Kindle, KOBO and iBook formats
While we are on the subject of the great and good who have graced Shepperton, we won-der -why do we have no blue plaques? Surely Shepperton is crying out to have them? The blue plaque scheme is run by English Heritage and their website suggests that blue plaques are driven largely by the public’s suggestions. So, if you have an idea for a blue plaque start by sending an email to English Heritage: plaques@english-heritage.org.uk. More infor-mation can be found at www.english-heritage.org.uk and search for ‘blue plaques’.