History
A concealed heritage Withymead was not always a nature reserve. Hidden among the reedbeds and under the trees are the relics of a Victorian boatyard. In the late 1890s, successful Goring boatbuilder Sam Saunders, erected sheds and workshops on the site, then just a riverside meadow. Named the Springfield Works and employing 30 craftsmen, he made all kinds of boats there including yachts, skiffs, punts and powered launches that found a market both at home and abroad. This skilled engineer and entrepreneur soon outgrew the Springfield site and moved his operations to Cowes on the Isle of Wight, taking many of the workforce with him, where he built sea-going craft and became a pioneer of aviation.
Sales and acquisitions
In 1911 Springfield was sold to Hobbs, boatbuilders of Henley, who continued to make rivercraft there for a few years. Production ceased in World War I and never resumed, with the site used afterwards for boat storage only. After World War II Hobbs sold the works to a Mr and Mrs C.W. Wise. This was Anne (who later became Anne Carpmael) and her first husband, known as Jock Wise. They subsequently acquired adjacent land where Captain Athol Tatham had built a house in 1936. This became the Wises’ home and today is the residence of the nature reserve wardens.