The St Leonards Road Cedar Tree Early 1800s From our Then and Now series See also Then and Now Index The History Zone Windsor People Page Royal Windsor Home Page In March 2011, this magnificent tree was threatened with felling Windsor residents successfully saved it! Read More on Our Forum Here

The cedar tree in St Leonard's Road around 1908-1910 In 2006 a postcard of the above Edwardian view was lost in the post on its way to us so we hope to find another somewhere! (Not found one yet - March 2011!). In the meantime we include above the only remaining scan of the view believed to be originally photographed and published by T E Cochrane, a local commercial photographer and postcard publisher, who lived just around the corner at 27 Queens Road, Windsor. The family also lived at one time in St Leonards Avenue. The date of the view is around 1908-1910. A second view of the cedar tree looking south west taken at a similar time though not by Cochrane. The Cedar Tree, 8th February 2007, on a snowy morning. The cedar tree in St Leonards Road pre-dates St Leonards Road by a long way. The following history was prepared by G Percy Harris in 1960. The cedar tree in St Leonards Road formerly stood in the garden of Clewer House School. It was in 1839 that my grandfather, William Redford Harris, brought his school from Abingdon and settled it in Clewer House. He was a familiar figure in those far-off days and was often to be seen riding through the town and in the Great Park. He was a magistrate and became Mayor of Windsor in 1864. His two sons, my father, William Hetherington, and my uncle, John Oberlin, joined their father in the conduct of the school and later on their brother-in-law, William N Barker, brought his pupils from the Enfield Palace School and the two schools were amalgamated. My father played an active part in the town. He was involved in the founding of the Albert Institute, was a Charriott trustee and took a keen interest in the Windsor and Eton Building Society and the 'British School'. His brother Oberlin was Mayor of Windsor in 1883. My father retired from the school and left Windsor in 1885 and Oberlin emigrated with his family to Tasmania in 1887. Thereafter Mr Barker carried on for a few years but at about the end of the century what remained of the school suffered the fate common to private schools of the day and was finally closed. The house was demolished and the extensive gardens, playground, and field were used to make new roads and to provide the land for many small villas. The only features now remaining (in 1960) are the cedar tree, 'The Cottage' in Queen's Road, which was our school sanatorium and the large house in Alma Road, now converted into flats, which was the 'Lower School' carried on by Oberlin Harris. 'The Cottage' was once occupied by Mr A W Mason, Hon. Secretary of the Windsor and Eton Society. G Percy Harris Mr Harris also writes of his family's other connections with Windsor including his great great grandfather, the Rev. Alexander Redford, the first minister of the Congregational Church in William Street (demolished in the 1970s). His co-pastor was Mr Harris's maternal grandfather, Dr John Stoughton, and his son Wilberforce founded the book publishers, Hodder and Stoughton. Mr Harris vividly remembers back in the 1890s the Windsor residents of those days, the Oxleys, Harpers, Shipleys, Caleys, Durants and others. One of the lay clerks at St George's Chapel, Thomas Dyson, taught Mr Harris and the boys of Clewer House School to sing. It is interesting how our magnificent old tree has links with very many of the well-known names of Victorian Windsor life. The question remains 'How old is the tree?' It seems unlikely that it was a sapling in 1839 when the school moved in. It is far more likely to have been planted some time after Clewer House was built, the date of which remains unknown but could have been back in the 1780s perhaps. We will continue to look for more information about the tree's earlier days as it grew into the famous and much-loved landmark it is today. Sadly in March 2011 the tree has been threatened with felling. Residents were up in arms as no consultations had taken place and the feeling was that the borough officers were rushing the decision to for purely cash reasons even though the tree was in excellent condition and still comparatively young. Read More on Our Forum In our article about the film Carry on Cabby, (1963) we include these images of the same area of St Leonards Road, from both sides of the cedar tree. Queens Road has been renamed Rigby Road for the purposes of the film. the cedar tree is to the left, with The Trooper Public House beyond at no.97. Martin's Garage dating from 1914, at nos. 103-105, is to the right of centre and the Ex-Servicemen's Club to the right at no. 107. The same area from the other side, at the junction of St Mark's Road. The cedar tree is to the right, with Martin's Garage to the left and the Ex-Servicemen's Club to the right of centre and a café further to the right. St Leonards Road and Cedar Tree in 2004

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