TO SLOUGH 103 



they " vvaDts to make yer flesh creep," and would 

 have one believe that the present "Ostrich" is the 

 identical buildino; — which it isn't. 



Another cherished tradition of Colnbrook is that 

 King John stayed here on his journey to Eunneymede 

 to sign the famous Magna Charta, the " Palladium of 

 English Liberties," as phrase-makers are pleased to 

 call it. They still show the stranger " King John's 

 Palace," a quaint house which looks on to the road, 

 and is not so old as John's time by some three 

 hundred years. That, however, by no means dis- 

 credits the story to the good folks of Colnbrook. 



A better ascertained historical event is the risino; in 

 favour of the deposed Richard the Second in 1400, 

 when forty thousand men from the West Country 

 lay encamped by the Colne, prepared to descend 

 upon Windsor and London, to seize the usurper, 

 Henry the Fourth. But Henry, fleeing from AVindsor, 

 raised an army in London ; and between the rumours 

 of his coming and treachery in their own ranks, the 

 partisans of Richard faded away. 



XVH 



The lono; stretches of the Bath Road between this 

 and Slough are nowadays enlivened by few incidents 

 or interesting places, although during the last century, 

 and well on into this, the highway was lively enough 

 with Royalties and their escorts, journeying between 

 Windsor and St. James's. The route taken on these 

 occasions was generally through Datchet, and so on 



