The Goring Gap in which the Thames divides the Berkshire Downs from the Chiltern Hills
The Grotto (Ilam House), Left bank

1811: The Grotto -


The Grotto, 1811

1884: The Grotto, Dredge -

The Grotto, Dredge, 1884
The Grotto, Dredge, 1884
© Oxfordshire County Council Photographic Archive; D2510951a

1881: George Leslie, "Our River" -

... the house called the Grotto must be quite familiar to any one who has travelled on the Great Western line.  The house is not very grottoish, or grotesque, but it is a long comfortable white building (recently enlarged) in a perfect situation, with finely timbered grounds, sloping steeply to the water.  A walk along the river bank, beneath the trees, is the place of all others I should choose for a prowl on a fine moonlight night, if I ever became a ghost with walking propensities.
The high ground upon which the Grotto stands runs into the famous Streatley Hill, which forms such a landmark hereabouts, with its little tufts of juniper and numerous flocks of sheep scattered on its sides.

Goring Gap
The Goring Gap

“Aerial” Views of Streatley & Goring -

And when you're here, I'm told that you
Should mount the hill and see the view;
And gaze and wonder, if you'd do
Its merits most completely:
The air is clear, the day is fine,
The prospect is, I know, divine
But most distinctly I decline
To climb the hill at Streatley !
 
But from the Hill, I understand
You gaze across rich pasture-land;
And fancy you see Oxford and
P'raps Wallingford and Wheatley:
Upon the winding Thames you gaze,
And, though the view's beyond all praise,
I'd rather much sit here and laze
Than scale the Hill at Streatley !

[ The complete poem by Ashby Sterry is quoted below Goring Lock. ]

1793:  View towards Bassilden from Streatley Hill, Boydell  Bassilden is Basilden Ferry, just below Gatehampton Railway Bridge

View from Streatley Hill, Boydell,1793
View towards Bassilden, from Streatley Hill. June 1, 1793.
J. Farington R.A. delt. J.C. Stadler sculpt.
(Published) by J. & J. Boydell, Shakespeare Gally. Pall Mall & (No. 90) Cheapside (London)

1793: Streatley & Goring, Boydell’'s History of the Thames -

Streatley and Goring Boydell 1793
Streatley and Goring. June 1, 1793. J. Farington R.A. delt. J.C. Stadler sculpt.
by J. & J. Boydell, Shakespeare Gally. Pall Mall & (No. 90) Cheapside.

Streatley, Havell
Streatley, Havell's Picturesque Views of the Thames

1903: Goring and Streatley, Henry Taunt

Goring and Streatley, Henry Taunt, 1903
Goring and Streatley, Henry Taunt, 1903
© Oxfordshire County Council Photographic Archive; HT9035

Just a shed
We've just a little shed at the bottom of our garden