Introduction

This very attractive house is an eighteenth century brick rebuild of a seventeenth century timber framed building. Evidence of the earlier timber frame can be seen in its north end wall. The chequered brick pattern was very fashionable (see Mrs Partington's house opposite), using bricks which were dark due to over-firing but here they have more recently been picked out in black paint. The house's ownership history can be followed back directly to 1695 through the privately owned deeds but its previous existence was as part of the estate of Christopher and Robert Barker which was based around Southlea on the southern edge of Datchet. Its present name is not found in any documents before 1880 but there may be good historical reasons for its use. During the ownership of Donald Pleasance from about 1960 the house was re-named Holiman's Plat but the older name has recently been reinstated. (Curiously, there was a Holiman family in Datchet in the 17th century but no evidence they ever lived here, while 'plat' can mean ground, land, or place.)

        Owners & Occupants 19th & early 20th century

Edward Newman & family, Undertaker and Estate Agent
The Newman family lived in Datchet for five generations (all using the same first names) since the early 1700 and may have been descendants of a Newman family who owned the Old Bridge House in the High Street in about 1600. Two main branches of the family are known as occupying houses that still exist, the Willows on the riverside corner of Queens Road and St Helen's Cottage. By 1780 the Willows family were fishermen and osier-bed farmers, but it was John Newman the fisherman who also leased St Helen's Cottage from its owner in 1822. It seems that his brother Edward Newman (the elder) moved into St Helen's Cottage after John's death in 1826. Edward was recorded as a joiner in 1798, as a carpenter providing wooden water pipes for the village in 1803 and as making coffins for the parish's paupers in 1819.

At the first census in 1841 Edward's widow Mary was living in St Helen's Cottage with her son Edward who followed in his father's trade as a joiner. By 1861 Edward the younger was both an undertaker and an estate agent, and the house itself was described as an Estate Agency and Fire Insurance Office of the Royal Exchange Company, with a shop and workshop as part of the house. He was also one of the two census enumerators for the village in that year, a position assuming responsibility and the respect of the community.

In 1850 this Edward (the younger) and his wife Jane bought the house for themselves. They had three daughters (Jane, Fanny Elizabeth and Adeline Mary), none of whom ever married and who inherited the house in turn. Adeline Mary was the last to die in 1917 and by her will St Helen's Cottage was directed to be sold and the proceeds donated to the new King Edward VII Hospital in Windsor. (Curiously, there were three spinster sisters living next door at Clifton House during the same period, the daughters of Napoleon Gibbs)

Churchyard Gravestones, to the right of the church porch
Edward Newman St Helen's Cottage Edward the younger (1809-1863), his wife Jane (1814-1888) and daughters: Jane (died 1909), Fanny Elizabeth (died 1916), Adeline Mary (died 1917)		Henry Newman of The Willows Henry 1814-1872 brother Edward 1811-1865 Lucretia1842-1862 John d. 1826 Mary d 1858                                    photos Rob Gordon

This freehold house has a full set of deeds, although the earlier ones are simply cited in an abstract of title rather than existing in the original form. (The most recent ones are not cited here.) Although the house was frequently sold or inherited it seems to have been leased to rent-paying occupants for much of this period, as was typical of the time, though in some cases the tenant took the opportunity to buy when it became possible.