By Nick Pollard
This lovely postcard dating from about 1910 is entitled ‘The Village – Shepperton’ and is look-ing south along the High Street from approximately opposite where the Village Hall is now. At the time, this road was called Highfield Road as it led from the original settlement by the river to the common fields which surrounded the village, before the Enclosure Acts of the mid-19th century took them into private ownership. The area began to develop as the commercial hub of the village after the railway station opened in 1864, indeed some early postcards call this ‘Station Road’, but that was never an official name. As the majority of new housing was built nearer the station, it made sense for the shops to be here too.
On the left of the picture is Wood’s Stores, which was a tobacconists but also operated the ‘Shepperton Library’, a private subscription service for borrowing books. These were common before public libraries were widespread. The building is of course Curchods Estate Agents to-day. Beyond it, after a gap (now High Street News, Mango Cafe and Quality Fruit) is the butcher’s shop of George Wheatley with its canopy overhanging the pavement, horse-drawn delivery cart and bicycles outside. The Connect charity shop now occupies the premises. Fur-ther down a sign for Walter Moore & Co, coal merchant, is visible on the original card. In the far distance the end wall of Charles Newman’s post office stores is covered by a huge painted sign advertising that he was also a horse and carriage proprietor. There were no restrictions on signage in those days! The building was replaced by Lordsbridge House in 1927.
‘Swan Upping’ a talk by the King’s Swan Marker David Barber, will be the subject of the next meeting of the Sunbury and Shepperton Local History Society at 8pm on Tues 21st November at Halliford School, Russell Road, Shepperton. All welcome, £2 admission for non-members.