| Wimbish Lives and Scenes | ||
| These
are pictures that I have of Wimbish, a small village in
Essex where my Paternal forebears, surname Barker, lived
for a number of generations. I visited Wimbish in 1980
and thirty years later, in June 2010, returned and have
added modern photos to show what the old places depicted
years ago are like today. If anyone has any information
about the scenes or people in the pictures, about Wimbish
or the Barker families of the village, or has additional
pictures they could share with me, or any other related
comments they would like to make, I would be delighted to
hear from them via the email link here. Contact Author. This page has been updated with many new photos added. As a result all photos have been renumbers |
||
| Before showing pictures of Wimbish let me start with three forebears of mine who were Wimbish residents. | ||
| Mary or Mary Ann Barker nee Wright aged around 35. Mary-Ann was born between 1806 and 1811. Picture taken c1860. Her husband was James Barker, b.4.5.1806 d.18.9.1886 (Possibly buried in Wimbish Churchyard - see photos 111 - 112) | Mary-Ann's daughter, Ann Barker, aged about 16 - 18. Ann was born 1842. Picture taken c1860s | John Barker son of Anne and born when she was 15. John was my maternal great grandfather. (But see also photo 26-27 re subsequent doubt of identification. Other photos of John Barker appear below) |
| AND HERE'S HOW THEY RELATE TO ME | ||
Family Tree 1 Note
1 Anne Barker more properly Ann, Note 2 I have a note that Mary Clayden's parents were William Clayden and Anne Note 3 I have a note that Isaac Wright's parents were Isaac Wright and Elizabeth Cornhill 4 |
|
| THE LIFE of ANN BARKER |
| 1842 | |
| 1851 | Ann Barker aged 8 shown as living with father James Baker (ag lab) mother Mary Ann (schoolmistress) and siblings Jacob and Charlotte |
| ???? | Ann's mother dies |
| 1857 | Ann's son John born 8th October. The family story is that John Barker (photo 3) was the result of a union between a 14-year old Ann Barker and someone named Saville at a house where she was in service. John was given his mother's surname.. |
| 1861 | Ann Barker aged 19 living with widowed father James, her son John aged 3, and visitor William Chapman, also 19 at 60 Mill Road. |
| 1861 |
|
| 1871 | Ann Chapman (nee Barker) living with widowed father James and her husband William. Their children Lizzie (6) and Mary Ann (9). Also John Barker (13). Address 18 Radwinter Road. Date of this photo unknown. Ann looks to be in her early 20s, so photo could date from 1860s. |
| 1875 | Ann Barker
with children Sarah and James by William Chapman. |
| 1881 | Ann Chapman (nee Barker) living with widowed father James and her husband William Chapman. Their children Sarah (8) James (6) and Harriet (3).Address 16 Mill Road. |
| 1886 | James Barker dies. The Memoriam card card states that he was interred at Wimbish Churchyard so perhaps his wife, Mary, was too - see photos 111-112 |
| 1886? | Ann Barker with Fred, the last of her sons. She was aged about 44 here. |
| 1891 | Ann Chapman (nee Barker) living with husband William. Their children James (16) Harriet (13) (domestic servant) and Frederick (7). Address Mill Road |
| 1897 | Photo taken 22nd May at Epping Forest. John Barker stands far right with his hand on his mother Ann's shoulder. She is about four weeks from her 55th birthday. This photo also appears as photo 30 further down this page with a list of the rest of those seen. |
| 1901 | Ann Chapman (nee Barker) living
with husband William. Their son Frederick (17). |
| 1904 | Ann died 9th December aged 62. |
| Vine Cottage 1926. The bull nosed Morris belonged to George Ingram, a relative of the Chapman family, who took the photo. | Vine Cottage, Mill Road, 1930, photo also taken by George Ingram. | Vine Cottage, Mill Road, 1955 |
| Vine Cottage, Mill Road, 1980 Vine Cottage was originally two tenements, one at first occupied by Ann and William Chapman and later fully occupied by them. Before the water tower was erected in the 1940s water came from wells or the village pump. When the 1980 picture (photo 21) was taken the cottage was being re-thatched by a Polish thatcher who said previous re-thatchings had been done one on top of each other for many years. |
||
| Two views of Vine Cottage, now known as Thatch Holme, taken in June 2010 | |
| ANN BARKER'S GRANDPARENTS | |
| At Howlett End, Wimbish, is the cottage where John Barker and Ruth Watson lived and paid rent in 1839. Now divided into two and much extended and altered inside it may have been one cottage at one time. The residents of both cottages were extremely helpful and we were delighted to be shown around their homes.The two cottages are pictures above from both ends. The original building extended only to the two chimneys originally. | |
| Left - An original fireplace in one of the cottages. Right - An aerial view of the cottages probably taken in the 1950s. At one time the chimneys at each end formed their limits, so it can be seen that they have already been extended on the left and rear, with the new left side front door also added. The roofs not only look different but were at slightly different levels, so exactly what alterations took place in earlier time is difficult to judge but it is believed that they may at one time have been just one cottage. (photo courtesy Alan Rolandson) | |
| Here the cottage is seen almost centre of picture and seems to have either only one front door or the second porch had not yet been built.(Photo courtesy Janet Swan) | A photo of the right hand side of the cttage before the extension built (Photo courtest Alan Rolandson) |
| John Barker was Anne's first child.
Quite a character, he would have known a great many
Wimbish people, including those referred to by his mother
in a letter written just before she died on the 9th
December 1904. She refers to a 'Boy Portway', probably
the son of a Mrs Portway who was known by another
relative of mine who visited Wimbish in the 1920s and
earlier. She also refers to 'Bet' and 'Suddy', who were
Mr and Mrs Marshall who farmed 'The Maypole', probably a
reference to Maypole Farm, a place where William Chapman
was working when aged 63 and feared being 'put off'
because it was 'a very bad year for corn'. Lizzie Chapman
was one of Anne and William's daughters. She went away in
service but returned to look after her parents in their
old age but died before her father in 1930. He died on
the 18th January 1931. Right - Jesse Portway and wife. Jesse was born in 1863 in Radwinter to Charles and Mary Portway. They had a family of children, Joseph b1861, Jesse 1863, Cecilia 1870, Winfred 1877, and William (age not given). His father Charles was a bricklayer. |
||
| More about the Barkers | ||
| Identified by a great uncle of mine as a young John Barker c1877. | Said to be John Barker. On the reverse of the photo is the date 1910. If correct this would make John 53 years old, so perhaps it is actually of his half brother James aged 37. Picture taken at Saffron Walden. (Compare with pictures of John in the 1890s below) | A known picture of James Barker dated 1908 |
| John Barker Birth Cirtificate |
| Marriage cert of John Barker and Rosa Ann Marshal on which John's first name is given as Harry, which is a mystery as everywhere else he appears as John. His eldest son was called Harry, however. Also his father's name is given as John Barker (dead), which compounds the mystery as on his birth cert above no father is given and his grandfather was James, we have to go back to his great grandfather to find a John. |
| John Barker stands with his hand on the shoulder of his mother, Ann Barker. Back centre is John's half brother, James (seen as a baby in photo 23). Centre left is John's wife, Rosa Ann Marshall. The rest of the people are John and Rosa's children. Back left is Harry James, Middle centre is Lily Florence (my grandmother). Ernest William and Albert John are front left and right respectivley. Photo taken 22nd May 1897 in Epping Forest. | Another family photo from close to the time of the one on the left. The back row is the same except that John and James have changed positions. The front row is also the same. Middle centre is Rosa Ann Marshall with Lily Florence on her left and Ann Elizabeth (see picture of her older in photo 37 below), John and Rosa's eldest daughter, on her right. John had gone to live and work in London; he and Rosa were married in 1876. |
| Life gives rise to some profound comparisons. I knew my grandmother, Lily Florence Barker, not as a seemingly innocent, even niaive girl as seen in photos 30 and 31 above, but as a lady as old as her mother (see photo 38) and as an even older ladty than Ann Barker is in photo 30. She was ravaged by the trials of life, especially by the enforced absence of her husband daring WW1, and as a result became a woman who my father, her son, was upset by the image of a domineering and eccentric woman that she became. I remember many things about her but perhaps the most vivid is her London accent, broad to the point of caricature, if that's possible with language. 'Yes' was always 'Yerse', setting her apart from people around her where she lived in Meadvale, Surrey, twenty miles south of the capital. | |
| Ernest William Barker (seen in pictures 30 - 31 at front right) in military uniform, possibly during WW1 (Picture courtesy Alison Cook) | |
| Birth cert of Lily Barker | |
| An earlier picture, c1880, of Rosa Ann Marshall and her son Harry James | John Barker with his grandsons (two of Lily Florence's children) Charles (left) and Albert c1913. Lily was living at Meadvale, Surrey, with her husband, Charles Moore, but could not afford to keep two of her sons who went to live in London with her elder sister, Ann Elizabeth (Annie - see photo 37 below) |
| This picture has written on the back 'Grandfather JOHN Barker at Barking HOME OF HIS SISTER MARY-ANNE'. The words in capitals have been added to the original caption. | Ann Elizabeth Barker (see photo 31), who was generally known as Annie, and her son Jimmy. |
Lily Florence Moore (nee Barker), my grandmother, in Redhill, Surrey, with her grandson Ian in the 1940s. (see her as a girl in photos 39 and 40) |
This
page continues below with: - Generation table Photos of Wimbish people and places past and present Emails from people with Wimbish or Barker connections The memories of Ben Taylor of Wimbish |
| A direct line of 8 generations from John Barker and Ruth Watson |
| No
Picture available |
James Barker, son of John Barker and Ruth Watson. bp.4.5.1806 d.19.9.1886 - Siblings were James b.1802 d1804, Mary bp mar1808, George bp 31.7.1814, Sarah 1815/16,Jacob bp18.2.181, Peter bp 20.5.1823 | |||||
| Ann Barker, daughter of James Barker b.17.6.1842 d.9.12.1904. | ||||||
| John Barker, Illegitimate son of Anne Barker, b..8.10.1857 m.Rosa Ann Marshall 1876. Children were Ann Elizabeth, Harry James, Lily Florence, Ernest William and Albert John | ||||||
| Lily Florence Barker, daughter of John Barker and Rosa Ann Marshall. b.27.6.1884 m.Charles William Moore d.1971 (she is seen much older in photo 46 above) | ||||||
![]() |
John Alfred Moore, son of Charles William Moore and Lily Florence Griffith. b.21.1.1906 Married Winifred Maud Griffith 1936 d October 2000. | |||||
| Alan John Moore, son of John Alfred Moore and Winifred Griffith. b.19.12.38 Owner of this website. Pictured in 1958 (looks a lot different now - see photos 113 and 116). Married Muriel Margaret Brown 7.9.1963. Children Steven Alan and Andrew John. | ||||||
| Steven Alan Moore, son of Alan Moore and Muriel brown. b.12.7.1964 Married Gill Parish | ||||||
| Jack Steven Moore, son of Steven Moore and Gill Parish. | ||||||
| WIMBISH SCENES - More Pictures of Howlett End |
41 |
|
| The White Hart at Howlett end in Wimbish, still a public house today | The sign of the White Hart June 2010 |
4c 42 |
| The White Hart in June 2010 | Mr Jeffrey, one time proprietor of the White Hart, and his daughter Joan. (Photo courtesy Janet Swan) |
45 |
|
| Howlett End. In 1981 George Ingram, a distant relative of mine, identified the lady at the gate as Kate Buck of the Post Office, and the man in the cart as Mr Stone, the local baker. It is possible that the man wearing a white apron could be Ben Buck, father of Frank, and the man on the right could be postman Sid Coe. (see info from Jaqueline Harrup after photo 91) (postcard Alan Moore collection) | The same scene in June 2010 in the evening sun. |
| These three pictures are details from picture 5a above | ||
| The couple by the gate | The central two men with the horse and cart | The postman. |
| George Swan and Arthur Gibbs at
tohe old Post Office, Howlett End (with enlargement of
the two men) (photo courtsey Janet Swan) |
|
| Mr Turner on the right stands with his coal lorry in almost the same spot as the men with the horse and cart on photo 44 (photo courtsey Janet Swan) | The local shop and Post Office, outside which Arthur Gibbs, the man minding the pram, is standing. The baby in the pram is possibly Rosie Burrows (see picture 90) |
| The old Post Office and shop at Howlett End viewed from opposite directions in June 2010 | |
| The old Post Office and shop at Howlett End and its house sign in June 2010 | |
Mr Norden shoe-ing a pony at his blacksmith's shop in the slip road halfway between the old chapel and the 184 Road before World War One. (Photo courtesy Janet Swan) 57 |
|
Wimbish
winners at the 1927 Saffron Walden Horse Show . Ted
Langham is holding the reigns of the front horse. Sid
Saville is holding the reigns of the back horse. In the
cart are Stan Saville, holding reigns, and Will Swan. 58 |
|
Date unknown, possibly 1920s. Caption states . . . . A Double funeral. The
Dell. (Photo courtesy Janet Swan) 59 |
|
| The Star Inn from an old postcard (postcard Alan Moore collection) | The inn is now a private house |
The old star in June 2010, hidden by high hedges. 62 |
|
Outside the old Star Inn, Wimbish, are
from l-r: Sid Coe, Laurie Coe, George Swan, Charlie
Taylor, Ben Taylor and Oliver Taylor. 63 |
|
Another
look at how the Star used to be. The pub sign is just
visible on the left. In the wagon is Jack Wright the
blacksmith. William Swan is on the horse preparing to go
to a traction engine rally at Elms Farm, Wimbish 64 |
|
| Mill Road cottages 1930s (Photos courtesy Janet Swan) | |
| Mill Road - you can see Vine Cottage behind the man on the left. This looks as though it was taken from roughly the same spot as the picture of Vine Cottage in 1930 (picture 27 below). (postcard Alan Moore collection) | When members of the
Portway family lived there in the early 20th century
these houses were known as Collier Row. They were also
known as Westley Terrace (being next to Westley Farm),
and Mill Road Cottages. (postcard Alan Moore collection) |
| Mill Road Cottages June 1980 | |
| Wimbish Windmill from an old photograh (courtesy Janet Swan) | Detail from the bottom right corner of photo 12b which shows a man with a horse and cart. The windmill was situated almost opposite Vine Cottage in Mill Road, which can be seen behind it. The windmill no longer exists but the hexagonal base can still be seen. |
| All that now remains of the windmill in Mill Road | |
Sitting with the driver is Sarah Minnie Chapman, later to become Mrs Everard Ingram. Note size of cart wheel relative to young man besdie it. (Photo courtesy Janet Swan) 74 |
| New House Farm. This postcard was among the effects of my grandmother, presumably passed down from her father.(postcard Alan Moore collection) | Threshing at New House Farm c1890 | |
New House Farm pictured in June 2010 not quite as above due to the trees obscuring it more, but showing it as having few changes made to it. 77 |
||
79 |
|
| Rowney Corner early 1900s. Two houses pictures with two people outside the right hand one. (postcard Alan Moore collection) | The same scene in June 2010 |
| Wimbish
School left, and detail of the man in the
cart right (postcard Alan Moore collection) |
|
| Wimbish school in June 2010 | |
| Wimbish Scool 1911 (photo courtesy Janet Swan and Beryl Young) | |
| A road in Wimbish near the White Hart pub. The mission hall is on the left of the road in both photos.(postcards Alan Moore collection) | |
85 |
86 |
| The same scene as in photo 83 taken June 2010. The mission hall is (only just) visible above the silver car and behind the cente telephone pole. | The mission hall, date unknown but possibly 1950s or 60s. It has been converted into a dwelling. There was a saw pit in front of it which may explain the wood piles. (photo courtesy Janet Swan) |
| The house seen above has been extended | |
88 |
89 |
| The mission room has been doubled in size as a dwelling. | The original 1874 plaque |
| (Both photos taken June 2010) | |
| An Email from Jacquline Harrup, whose mother was born and bred in Wimbish, identified the baby in the pram as Rosie Burrows. She also sent the pictures below. | ||
| The girl on the left is Jacqueline's mother, Bessie Franklin; the baby in the pram is Rosie Burrows, and the girl on the right is Rosie's sister Christine. Jacqueline's mother was born in 1920 so the picture would have been taken around 1930. | The water cart visiting the village during a drought c1933. The people are (from left to right) Joe Moule, Mrs.Cornell (with bucket), her daughter Mary Cornell, my maternal grandmother Fanny Franklin (nee Portway), Alice Portway (in black), Mrs.Rosie Smithers, Eileen Taylor (with woolly hat), William Raven (bending down), Mrs.Eliza Moule (carrying bucket), and three children - one of whom was Maurice Taylor, son of Ben Taylor, and another was probably Ron Smith. | |
| Jacqueline's mother also said that Kate Buck (in pictures 44 and 46) was the sister of Frank Buck (referred to in picture 52). Frank also had a brother Herbert who married late in life, and another brother who's name her mother can't remember (a rare lapse of memory!). Photo no.44 was taken before her mother's time (she was born in 1920), and she had never heard of Mr.Stone the baker. She seems to think the man wearing a white apron could be Ben Buck, father of Frank, and the man on the right could be postman Sid Coe. | ||
| Grateful thanks to Jacqueline Harrup and her mother for the above pictures and information. | ||
| All Saints Church, Wimbish 2010
(courtedy of the Wimbish Church website) |
Wimbish Church from a postcard (postcard Alan Moore collection) |
Images by the 95 96 |
|
| Wimbish Church June 2010 | The altar |
| An old bell from a postcard (postcard Alan Moore collection) | The old bell seen left pictured in June 2010 |
| Looking through the screen to the chancel | Church window |
| The old Rectory close to the church | View into the nave |
| The war 1914-18 war memorial contains the names of some well known Wimbish families | Old bells kept inside the church |
| Wall plaque to Mary Wiseman who
died in 1654 (photo courtesy Beryl Young) |
Wall plaque to members of the
Taylor family |
| This small but fine brass is to Sir John de Wantone, 1347, and Ellen, his wife (photo courtesy Beryl Young) | |
| There is a slight dicrepancy concerning the tower of Wimbish Church. The above drawings found in the church are dated 1880 and show 'the existing tower' and 'the proposed tower'. The photo 35p below left, also found in the church, is a Victorian photo of the church with its tower intact. Yet the account of the church history states that the tower was detroyed by lightening in 1740, and the new tower pulled down because it was unsafe in 1883 . Although the drawing in 35m differs slightly from photo 35p they are alike enough to seem to be the same. And if the tower in 35n had not been built by 1880 it seems a little early for it to have become unsafe only three years later. | ||
| The Victorian church | The same view in June 2010 | |
| Showing where the tower once stood | The two sides of a gravestone inscribed with the name Mary Ann Wright. It is not known if it is the same Mary Wright who married James Barker. | |
| VISITS to WIMBISH I have made two visits to Wimbish. The first was in August 1980 in the company of George Ingram. The second was in June 2010 wife my wife, Muriel, when we met with fellow Barker descendant Jason Young and his wife Beryl. |
|
| Alan Moore (left) at Wimbish Church, and George Ingram at Radwinter Church in 1980 | |
| In the lefthand photo are Jason Young and his wife Beryl at Wimbish in June 2010. In the righthand photo are from l-r Alan Moore, Jason Young, Beryl Young and Muriel Moore. Jason and Alan are descendants of Ruth and John Barker. | |
| Email
received May 2008 - My Great Grandfather was
Jesse Barker born in 1852 in Wimbish and his father
was George Barker born in 1815 in Wimbish and died
in 1855 in Hackney, Jesse had a number of siblings
also born in Wimbish - George 1837 (died later that
year), Mary 1838, Harriet 1844, Sarah 1847, John
1855, George 1859. I have not managed to trace the family
further back. Regards, John Barker |
||
| Email
received March 2009 - I believe my gt gt gt grandfather
was George Barker who married Hannah Taylor, they had
a daughter Harriet (b1844) who married Charles
Stracey and had a daughter Emily (b1867) who married
Alexander Strudwicke and had a daughter Rosamond who
was my grandmother. As I am researching
our family history, I would love to hear from anyone
who is related to this family. I think I have
already been in touch with John Barker who is cited
on your pages. Sarah Davidson |
||
Flora Louise Bramston |
||
| Email received August 2009 - I wanted to let you know how interesting your website is. The photos you have found are wonderful. My grandfather was Ernest William Barker (parents John Barker and Rosa Ann Marshall). I often go and visit his grave (although he died before I was born so never knew him) and have searched around the cemetery (in Streatham, London) for other Barkers as I wonder where John, Rosa and the rest of the family were buried? It is a very large cemetery so I could well have missed their stones. Kind Regards, Alison Cook (nee Barker) | ||
| WIMBISH MEMORIES The Reminiscences of Ben Taylor |
||||
| INTRODUCTION .....Ben Taylor was born in
Wimbish, like his father and his grandfather. In fact, it
is said that his family of Taylors can be traced back in
the district for nearly 500 years. He was born in the
house known as Star Cottage, one of ten children. He had
three sisters and six brothers and,except for one child
who died in his teens, all his brothers have lived to
over seventy years of age. He has lived all his life in
the village, save for the time he spent in the army
during the First World War. He went to the village
school, and his name and deeds are forever enshrined in
the pages of the old punishment book. He married a local
girl, in fact she was the girl next door - and they were
blessed with over fifty very happy years together. Left
- Ben Taylor in his yard (Photo
courtesy Janet Swan) From Gunters Farm to Causeway
End. Threshing at new House Farm
c1890 .....We next come to the White Hart, which has been a Public House for many years. When I went to school a fair or feast was held on, the green adjoining the White Hart on the first Friday and Saturday in May. There were swinging boats, coconut shies and many other entertainments and everyone had a good time. Across the green the village blacksmith lived in the house now known as the Old Forge. The blacksmiths shop was near the house, and is standing to this day, though it is now used as a garage. As a boy, along with several others, I would watch Mr. Norden making horseshoes and then fitting them to horses. He was an excellent tradesman. He taught himself music and played the organ at the Mission Hall, which is now used for storing furniture. The Old Forge was sold, so he bought the cottage near the Mission Hall and built himself a blacksmiths shop there. The cottage was known in those days as Osbornes Cottage, but is now called Little Amberden. His son started the first cycle shop and garage in Wimbish. The cycle showrooms were in the shed with the large window still standing next to the house. Petrol was sold in two gallon cans. During the first World War Mr. Norden opened a garage at Newport near the station, and closed his smithy at Wimbish. In the meantime the Old Forge was carried on by a man named Cocane until taken over by Mr. Jack Wright. Later Mr. Wright bought himself a cottage further along the Thaxted road and built himself a new blacksmiths shop there. Opposite the Old Forge on the green was a sawpit where men could be seen occasionally, sawing tree trunks into planks.
.....Further along the A130, about
100 yards from the Old Forge, opposite Little Gowers
Farm, stood the wheelwrights shop and cottage,
owned by a man named Blanks. Mr. Blanks was also the
Village Bobby. I well remember being told of an occasion
of a Flower Show that was being held in the meadow
between Westleys and the cottages in Collier Row. Mr.
Blanks had said he intended staying the night in the
field to keep an eye on the exhibits, which had been,
brought there on the eve of the Show. .....Along the road further the Post Ofice and Village Stores was situated. The shop was originally run from the two thatched houses next to the Post Office and was owned by Mr. Harrison. Where the Post Office is now was a Public House, known as either; The Oak or The Royal Oak, Mr. Harrison ran a covered wagon to London twiee a week with chickens, eggs, pigs and other farm produce, and brought back all kinds of supplies for the shop. Mr. Benjamin Buck, who married Miss Harrison, considerably enlarged the business. In addition to being the local undertaker he sold at the shop bread, coal, flour and clothes, as well as running a pork butchers shop, killing his own pigs or purchasing them from the village people or from market. The killing shop, as it was called, is still there. Usually two or three pigs were killed each week. During the weekend the killing shop was turned into a brewery. Many people brewed their own. beer for harvest, the water coming from local ponds. I have carried many buckets of water from the ponds to fill the copper. A few days later, when the beer was made, it was buckets again, taking the beer to the house whose owner had brewed it. It was then put into wooden barrcls and kept. The grain from the brewery was put in boxes or tubs outside the shop to feed the pigs. This was in lieu of payment for the use of the brewery. Care had to be taken not to get the sugar mixed with the paraffin or the coal with the coffin boards, salt with the whiting balls or ipecacuanha wine with the mineral waters. Next to the killing shop was the mangling room. There was a large mangle, approximately eight feet by four feet, box-shaped and filled with stones. One penny was charged for mangling the washing. .....The Saffron Walden Weekly had
to be delivered on Saturday to Elder Street and Wimblsh
Green. Several of the Coe family served as errand boys
for Mr. Buck, as did the Taylors, followed by the Swans.
The Bucks owned about fifteen cottages at Howlett End. At
the back of the shop was a well - the only really good
drinking water in the area. In the summer, however, it
was often dry, which meant either a tramp of half a mile
to Well Mead Spring in the valley owned by Broadoaks Farm
or drinking the water from. local ponds if these hadn't
dried up too. The Post Office and village stores (Postcard from Alan moore collection) .....The Star Inn was kept by Charles Marshall, but when I first remember the Star it was looked after by Mr. Sharp, followed by Mr. Wright. He kept cows, and milk was sold by him at the door. The next tenant was Henry Giftin, an ex P. C., who had a straight leg. He held the licence for fifteen years or more. He gave up the licence in 1915 or 16, when Mrs. Coe became the tenant for a few years, although her son, Laurie, ran the pub. He also owned several horses, carts and traps and, ran, a carriers business to Saffron Walden and back. He would also hire them out for weddings and other parties. War wounds and old age caused him to retire in December, 1969. I knew the Star for over seventy years, and enjoyed many a happy night with its rough and noisy customers. Many stories were told and jokes enjoyed, often while playing Dominoes, Rings, Darts or Ring-the-Bull, during which time several pints, of beer were consumed. I first remember mild beer there costing 2d per pint, and the last pint before the Star closed as a public house on Monday December 22nd 1969 cost 1/lOd. It had been a public house for nearly 100 years and held by Laurie Coe for over fifty. The Star public house. The lady standing by the cart is Mrs Giffin and on the pony is Henry Giffin. The man with the bike and beard is James Taylor and one of the children is Ben Taylor's youngest sister. (Photo courtesy Janet Swan)
Jason Young, a descendant of the Barker family that lived in Wimbish for many years up to the early 1900s, and his wife, Beryl, at the Franklin cemetery in June 2010. (photo Alan Moore). .....A quarter of a mile along the road is the drive leading to Elms Farm, once owned by the Franklin family and now farmed by the Wiseman family. A quarter of a mile further on is the drive to Broadoaks. This farm. and house are very old. Many stories are told of secret hiding places, some of which I have seen. Along the road to Thaxted at the end of the Wimbish boundary is a small cottage. The parish boundary passes through the living room, so the people living there could cook their meals in Wimbish and eat them in Thaxted.
From
Ricketts Farm to the A 130 Mill
Road to Tye Green. The Mission Room (here called the chapel) on the left (postcard from Alan Moore collection) .....Pinkneys Farm was a fair
sized farm, and there were eight to ten horses kept and
between eight and twelve men employed. Mr. William
Wiseman was farming here when I first remember it.
Opposite the farm was a pond, known as the sheep pond, in
which the sheep were dipped, but I remember it first for
the many slides I had on it during the winter. Just past
the pond was a small cottage owned by Jack Parking and
his wife, Sally. Jack was a cobbler, and his work was
strong but very clumsy. As a schoolboy he made me a pair
of boots I could wear on either foot. Jack had a club
foot, but could run pretty fast, as many of my school
friends knew, as he chased them from his orchard, helping
them over the hedge with his club foot. Collier Row as Ben Taylor would have known it.(postcard from Alan Moore collection) ....Westleys Farm was farmed by
Henry Giffin when I first remember it. Westleys, the
house, was rented by Mr. William Bruty. He had a groom, a
gardener and a butler. He had shooting parties every
weekend and his shoot exceeded 3,000 acres and included
Rowney Wood. Twenty or thirty beaters were employed for
Friday and Saturday, with a wage of 2/6d per day with a
lunch of bread and cheese and beer. This was the main
income for many single men during the winter. Wimbish windmill (postcard from Alan Moore
collection) Tye
Green to Ellis Green. Maypole farmhouse showing stud and beam work during restoration in 1992 (Photo courtesy Janet Swan) ....A Salvation Army Hall was built near the farm early in 1900. Further down the road is a house, part thatch and part slate, which had an off-licence for the sale of beer. It was known as The Pudding. This later became a nursery and was known as White House. A quarter of a mile down the road was Garretts Farm. Mr. Ridgewell farmed here at the turn of the century and it was later farmed by Mr. H. Raven and his son, John. This farm was hit by bombs during the Second World War.
From
Lower House Farm to the School via Wimbish Lower Green. Wimbish School 1911, with around 50 children in all. (Photo courtesy Janet Swan)
. Tye
Green to Wimbish Church Bygones. The site of Ben Taylor's yard pictured in 1980 Index
List Locations Other Than Farms ...... Barb Field - Brick House - Broomfield Cottages - Cement Factory Hill - Cobblers Cottage - Collier Row (Now Mill Road Cottages) - Debden Aerodrome - Dell (The) - Dissenters Cemetery - Dottley Lane - Elder Street - Ellis Green & Moat - Four Turn Hill- Joe &. the Donkey - Howlett End - Little Amberden - Little Stonnards - Lower Green - Mellay - Middle Field Ley - Mill House (Tye Green) - Newport - Oak (Or Royal Oak) P.H. - Osbornes Cottage - Parish Barn - Post Office - Pudding (The) - Pyckle (The) - Radwinter - Rowney Corner - Saffron Walden - St. Helens - Sampford - Star - Thaxted - Thunderley Hall - Tithe Barn - Tye Green - Upper Green - Well Mead Spring - White Hart P.H. - White House - Wildings - Wimbish Green. General Subjects ........ Blacksmith - Bombs - Brewery - Conditions of Employment - Cafe (Elder Street) - Cobbler - Cycle shop and Garage - Edison Gem phonograph - Essex Show - Fair (at White Hart) - Flower Show - Hurdle maker - Killing Shop - Mangle Room - Miller and Baker (Wim. Gn.) - Miller (Tye Green) - Off-licence and shop - Old Forge - ponds - Ring the Bull - Sawpit - Sheep Farming - Steam Engine (portable) - Mill - Steam Roller - Thatching - Threshing - Tower for taking levels - Toys (Wooden) - Undertaker - Village Shop - Water supplies for drinking and Wells - Wheelwrights Shop - Windmills - Postmills - Wind-pump. Farms ....... Abbots Manor - Broadoaks - Causeway End - Cole End - Elms - Freemans - Garretts - Georges - Gunters - Highams - Hodges - Joyces - Little Gowers - Lower House - Maypole - Marshalls - Mellors - NewHouse - Pinkneys - Ricketts - Rayments - Stonnards - Tiptofts - Westleys - Wimbish Hall. Personal and Family Names ....... Belfrey, Jack - Blanks, Mr - Bruty, Wm. - Buck, Benjamin - Challis, Jack - Chapman Family - Chapman, Darkin - Coe Family - Cornell, Joe - Cracknell (Fish Man) - Cromp, Tom - Ellis, Mr. - Franklin Family - Frost, Joe, - Frost, Billy - Giffin, Henry - Hare, John Bunyan - Harrison, Mr. & Miss - Haywards of Saffron Walden (Tailors) - Holt, Miss - Kettley, Charles - Marshall, Chap. (Star Inn) - Munson family - Norden, Mr. - OConnor, Billy - Osborne, Saul - Pallett, Jim - Parkings family - Raven, H. & Son - Ridgewell, Mr. - Sharp, Mr. - Smith, Mr. & Miss, Schoolmaster - Swan family - Stalley's - Stock's - Taylor family - Thompson, Mr. - Wiseman family - Wright, Jack - Wright of Star Inn - Wright, Mrs. (Lr. House Farm) - Religion, Education, Social etc ....... Wimbish Church (All Saints) - Sunday School - Services - Choir - Outings - Drum and Fife band - St. Pauls Church - Vicarage Meadow - Wimbish Newsletter - Rev. Walsh (Vicar) - First World War - Second World War - Fire Watchers - Rev. W.P. Witcutt, (Vicar) - Mission & Mission Hall - Salvation Army - Thunderley Church - Wimbish Parish Council - Recreation Hut - Gladstone League - Saffron Walden Weekly News - Wimbish School - Marshall, Mr. and sister Betsy. |
||||
| Acknowledgements are due
to the late Ben Taylor [author], Fred Haslock
[editorial], the late G W Ingram [Index] and the late Mrs
M Haslock [cover artwork] who produced the book
containing these memoirs, Janet Swan for all the typing
and duplicating work, and Muriel Corke for the drawing of
the windmill in Mill Road as it was around 1900. Fred
Haslock was the school headmaster and chairman of the
Wimbish Parish Council at the time the memoirs were
produced and deserves thanks for ensuring that this
valuable record exists. These memoirs are from the Wimbish Village website at www.wimbish.org.uk and have been adapted from the free download available there. Photos have been added. George.W.Ingram, who created the index for Ben Taylor's memoirs, pictured at his Hendon home on July 27th 1990, the day before his 90th birthday. It was with George that I made my first visit to Wimbish in August 1980. It was to be thirty years before I made a return visit in June 2010. AJM |
||||
| If you have any information
about the scenes or people depicted on this page, or
about Wimbish or the Barker families of the village, or
have additional pictures you could share with me, or have
any other related comments you would like to make, I
would be delighted to hear from you via the email link
below. Alan Moore Contact Author. |
||||
| This is a page on Alan Moore's website www.redhill-reigate-history.co.uk | ||||